WS-Policy

Web Services Policy 1.5 - Primer is an introductory description of the Web Services Policy language. This document describes the policy language features using numerous examples. The associated Web Services Policy 1.5 - Framework and Web Services Policy 1.5 - Attachment specifications provide the complete normative description of the Web Services Policy language. This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. A list of current W3C publications and the latest revision of this technical report can be found in the W3C technical reports index at A list of changes in this version of the document and a diff-marked version against the previous version of this document are available. Please send comments about this document to the [email protected] mailing list (public archive ) with a subject that is prefaced with [ws-policy-primer]. This document was produced by a group operating under the 5 February 2004 W3C Patent Policy . W3C maintains a public list of any patent disclosures made in connection with the deliverables of the group; that page also includes instructions for disclosing a patent. An individual who has actual knowledge of a patent which the individual believes contains Essential Claim(s) must disclose the information in accordance with section 6 of the W3C Patent Policy . This document, Web Services Policy 1.5 - Primer , provides an introductory description of the Web Services Policy language and should be read alongside the formal descriptions contained in the WS-Policy and WS-PolicyAttachment specifications. for policy assertion authors who need to know the features of the language and understand the requirements for describing policy assertions. Each major section of this document introduces the features of the policy language and describes those features in the context of concrete examples. 2. Basic Concepts: Policy Expression covers the basic mechanisms of Web Services Policy. It describes how to declare and combine capabilities and requirements of a Web service as policy expressions, attach policy expressions to WSDL constructs such as endpoint and message, and re-use policy expressions. 3. Advanced Concepts: Policy Expression this is the advanced section that provides more in-depth materials for policy implementers and assertion authors. It explains the basics of normalizing policy expressions, merging policies, determining the compatibility (intersection) of policies, the policy data model, the policy expression and the extensibility points built into the Web Services Policy language. 4. Versioning Policy Language provides examples and best practices on versioning of the policy language itself, mostly intended for policy implementers. The Web Services Policy 1.5 - Guidelines for Policy Assertion Authors specification provides guidelines for designing policy assertions and enumerates the minimum requirements for describing policy assertions in specifications. This is a non-normative document and does not provide a definitive specification of the Web Services Policy language. B. XML Namespaces lists all the namespaces that are used in this document. (XML elements without a namespace prefix are from the Web Services Policy XML Namespace.) Web services are being successfully used for interoperable solutions across various industries. One of the key reasons for interest and investment in Web services is that they are well-suited to enable service-oriented systems. XML-based technologies such as SOAP, XML Schema and WSDL provide a broadly-adopted foundation on which to build interoperable Web services. The WS-Policy and WS-PolicyAttachment specifications extend this foundation and offer mechanisms to represent the capabilities and requirements of Web services as Policies. Service metadata is an expression of the visible aspects of a Web service, and consists of a mixture of machine- and human-readable languages.