title: Does the existence of a .wsdl file mean files must be generated?
body: <p>When I'm tasked with dealing with connecting to web services, I've always found the appropriate .wsdl file, ran WSDL2Java.bat, and incorporated those Java files into my Java project.  Then I've successfully completed my project that needs to access data via web services. </p>
  
  <p>My question is, are there other ways to use the .wsdl file to access web services? ( I'm not talking about creating classes for different languages ).  For example, I have documentation describing one company's web services.  The examples it shows in it's documentation are essentially dumps of HTTP Post requests.  Is this "web services"?  It looks to me that the .wsdl file is merely used as a reference to make the correct Post requests.  I could just make text templates and plug in the right values, and send them out, right?  I really feel like I'm missing something here.</p>
  
  <p>Am I a web-services illiterati?</p>