Note: The RCSB PDB Web Services is still under development. Please send any requests or bugs to info@rcsb.org
Software developers can now write tools to communicate with the RCSB PDB resources using the web services framework. Web services uses an XML messaging system specifically designed to help client-side software applications interact with website functionality. In addition to allowing platform independent development, a major advantage to the XML messaging system is that changes to website functionality will not impact client-side development. Another advantage to using XML/text-based messaging system is that it allows communication via HTTP. This is especially useful for developing distributed applications in environments with tight security restrictions. Developers can write efficient and manageable distributed tools without having to worry about low-level communication details. This is an ideal architecture for workflow tools that rely on functionality from multiple sites such as NCBI, PDB, and EBI.
Web Services Client Examples
RCSB PDB Web Services JAVA API
The RCSB PDB web services description language (WSDL) is http://www.pdb.org/pdb/services/pdbws?wsdl
JAVA API provides details of the available web services from the RCSB PDB.