To document SOAP Web Services, Document! X can directly read from a WSDL document (see the Fundamentals section below for a step by step guide to adding a new Web Service, selecting WSDL File as the Web Service Definition Source).

Most Web Services will publish a WSDL document automatically, typically available by calling the root service uri with a ?WSDL suffix, e.g. http://api.microsofttranslator.com/V2/Soap.svc?WSDL

REST Web Services do not enjoy a single commonly implemented definition standard, but Document! X can automatically determine the structure of your web service using several different sources, which your web service may or may not already publish:

WADL (Web Application Definition Language) Document: This REST version of the popular WSDL standard has not seen wide adoption, but if your web service architecture is able to generate a WADL document, Document! X can use it. See the Fundamentals section below for a step by step guide to adding a new Web Service, selecting WADL File as the Web Service Definition Source.

OpenApi / Swagger: An open standard specifically designed for documenting REST Apis. See the Fundamentals section below for a step by step guide to adding a new Web Service, selecting OpenApi / Swagger API Definition as the Web Service Definition Source.

WCF REST Help Page: If your REST service is implemented using WCF REST, a help page is automatically available that Document! X can use to determine the structure of your Web Service. The help page is available by calling the root service uri with a /Help suffix, e.g.  . See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-GB/library/ee230442.aspx for more information on the WCF REST Help Page. See the Fundamentals section below for a step by step guide to adding a new Web Service, selecting WCF REST Help Page as the Web Service Definition Source.

ASP.NET Web Api Help Page: If your REST service is implemented using ASP.NET Web Api, Document! X can use the help pages feature to determine the structure of your Web Service, and to discover Xml comments you have included in your service source code. For ASP.NET Web Api 2, the help pages functionality is automatically included in the new project template. For earlier versions of Web Api you can add this feature to your Web Api project in Visual Studio as a nuget package - see http://www.asp.net/web-api/overview/creating-web-apis/creating-api-help-pages for more information.

1. Click the Application Menu button at the top left of the Ribbon;
2. Select the New page;
3. Choose Empty Project from the available Project Types;
4. On the New Project dialog, type a descriptive Project Name for the new project; 
5. You can optionally choose a specific directory in which to save your project by editing the Project Directory field; the project will by default be saved to a subdirectory of the default New / Save directory which is configurable in the Options editor (Paths page).
6. Click Ok;

The new empty documentation project will be created and opened for edit. You can now add the Web Service(s) that you wish to document:

1. Click the Add Web Service Ribbon button on the Project Ribbon tab.
2. Use the displayed dialog to define the kind and location of the Web Service Definition for the Web Service that you would like to document. If your Web Service does not expose a Web Service Definition, untick the Read Web Service Definition from an existing source option.
3. Click Ok.

The Web Service be added to the Project Explorer under the Web Services node. You can expand down through the Web Service node to tick / untick individual elements in order to include / exclude them from the generated output. Repeat the process above to add additional Web Services to this project.

A Content File will be created and added to the project under the Content Files node for each added Web Service. You can use this Content File to author additional content in the pages that Document! X will automatically generate.

If your Web Service is a SOAP Web Service that includes embedded XSD Schemas, those XSD Schemas will also be added to the Project and a Content File created for each one so that you can document them together with the Web Service which uses them.

If you would like to supplement the content of the pages automatically generated by Document! X and HelpStudio, you can do so using the Document! X and HelpStudio Content File Editor.

The Content File Editor allows you to review and author content for any item for which a reference documentation page is generated.

To open the Content File Editor:

1. Expand the Content Files node on the Project Explorer.
2. Locate the Content File for the item you wish to author content for.
3. Right click on the Content File and select Edit.
4. The Content File will be opened for edit. The tree on the left hand side of the editor shows you a hierarchical view of the item you are documenting.
5. Drill down and select an item from the tree and the related documentation pages will be shown in the right hand side of the editor.
6. Type directly in the editable portions of the page on the right hand side of the editor.
7. Select a specific content type from the toolbar / vertical menu to edit a specific type of content (e.g. Summary, See Also, Keywords).

Content File Editor Movies

Conceptual information is a key part of reference documentation, providing a high level introduction, tutorials or other conceptual information. You can easily create conceptual topics in Document! X and HelpStudio.

1. Click the New Topic button on the Project Ribbon tab, or use the Ctrl+T shortcut key.
2. The new Topic will be created in the currently selected Topic Category on the Project Explorer (or under the (Un-categorized) node if no category is selected) and will be opened for edit.
3. Type your conceptual content directly in the editable area of the Topic Editor.

You can find more information on Topic Editing in the Topic Editor topic.

Conceptual Authoring Movies

The settings that govern Web Service Documentation generation are defined in the Build Profile editor. In a new project there is a single Build Profile but you can define many build profiles if you want to create multiple outputs with different settings.

To edit Web Service documentation settings:

1. Expand the Build Profiles node in the Project Explorer.
2. Select the Build Profile that you wish to edit.
3. Right click on the Build Profile and select Edit.
4. The Build Profile will be opened for edit.

In the Build Profile editor, you can find the Web Service Settings page under the Reference Documentation section.

An essential part of delivering a complete documentation set is ensuring that all the items have been documented. Document! X includes the Undocumented Items tool to quickly and easily identify undocumented items.

To identify undocumented items:

1. On the Tools Ribbon Tab, click the Undocumented Items button;
2. If your project contains more than one Build Profile, select the Profile for which you wish to find undocumented items;
3. Tick the Item Types (e.g. Class, Method, Schema, Column) that you wish to check for undocumented items;
4. Tick the Content Types that items must have to be considered documented (just Summary by default);
5. Tick the Content Sources that should be used when checking for content;
6. Click the Execute button. Any undocumented items will be listed in the results grid.

See the Undocumented Items topic for more information.

Find Undocumented Items Movies

Click the  Build Ribbon button on the Project ribbon tab to build your Web Service reference documentation.

Refer to the Deployment topic for more information on how to deploy your documentation to other machines.