You use and access all of Validate's features via an Application Programming Interface (API). The Validate API has been specifically designed to be

• easy to learn, understand and use
• Accessible from many different programming languages and Integrated Development Environments (IDEs)
• Accessible from many different host operating systems

The Validate API is delivered as a web service. We have used the SOAP protocol to deliver the service because it helps us meet the design goals above and it's becoming (or has already become) the de-fact way of serving and consuming web services.

 You use Validate by referencing the service in you host application. It's a similar methodology to adding a library or DLL to a project. Instead of a reference file you add a reference to a special sort of XML Scheme document known as a WSDL (Web Services Description Language) file. The WSDL file contains everything you need to know about how to use the Validate service.

The usual methodology to adding the Validate (or any) web service is to introduce the WSDL file to your Development IDE. Most IDEs have this functionality build in and its usually a very simple procedure.

Once the WSDL has been reference you will find all of Validates functionality available to you as methods. It's just like calling a DLL function.