5.4.1 MetaEdit+ API Tool

In order to support calls made via SOAP, MetaEdit+ provides a SOAP server and the WSDL file that contains the definitions of the API commands for external applications. The user interface for these functions is the API Tool.

API Tool

Figure 5–9. API Tool.

To use the API:

1)	Start the API Tool from the Launcher’s toolbar, or by selecting Repository \| API Tool from the Launcher menu.
2)	In the API Tool’s Server settings pane, set the hostname and port information for your SOAP server if necessary: the default values should suffice in normal use. You can also toggle the event log on or off. Additionally, press the Save WSDL button to write out the WSDL definition file for your SOAP client if it is needed.
3)	Start the API server by pressing the Start Server button. MetaEdit+ is now ready to receive and process the API requests.
4)	Execute the external application that utilizes the API.
5)	Stop the API server by pressing the Stop Server button.

If event logging is enabled, the log of incoming and processed SOAP requests will be shown in the text box in the lower part of the API Tool window. To update the log view, press the Update Log button. To clear the log view, press the Clear Log button. To view the full XML source for a SOAP request entry, place the cursor in that entry and press the View Entry XML button.