WSDL first-support for PL/1 and IMS using RD/z

Credit Suisse would like to be able to create from a WSDL file: (1) Web service providers (i.e. IMS Inbound), and (2) Web Service Requesters (i.e. IMS Callout). In order to support creation of these two types of applications, IBM Rational Developer for System z (RD/z) could be enhanced in the following ways:

Support generation of a PL/I structures for the request/response XML Schemas of a selected WSDL operation:

The type mappings from XSD to PL/I types would be configurable in a preference table.
Unbounded arrays will be assigned a fixed upper bound by the user via an interactive UI or automatically using a preference.
Unbounded strings will be limited to 32K as this is the maximum length of a PL/I scaled char field.
Variable and unbounded arrays will be mapped to REFERs in PL/I (similar to ODO in COBOL).
The complexity and size of generated PL/I structures is limited to respective compiler limits; for example, PL/I supports up to a 15-dimensional array.
Mappings between XML elements/attributes and PL/I data members are recorded in *.mapping files that can be edited.
Support generation of PL/I Compiled XML Converters using generated PL/I structures, WSDL, and *.mapping files:

For Web Service Providers (IMS Inbound), PL/I structures larger than 32K are transmitted in multiple segments using GU/GN, ISRT.
For Web Service Requesters (IMS Callout), PL/I structures larger than 32K would be sent using the IMS Synchronous Callout API, i.e. ICAL.
Consistent with the current IMS SOAP Gateway architecture, there will be one XML converter per WSDL operation.

Support generation of IMS PL/I transactional template programs that include the generated PL/I structures:

IMS PL/I application as Web Service provider: contains code for multi-segment buffering of structure larger than 32K.
IMS PL/I application as Web Service requester: contains ICAL stub.
These enhancements represent a staged approach that works within the limits of the PL/I language. The hope is that the PL/I language will continue to evolve to support interaction with emerging interface technologies.

One issue was discussed regarding the assignment of a fixed upper bound to unbounded arrays. The question was whether or not the WSDL file should continue to specify maxOccurs="unbounded" even though the XML conversion backend does have a limit specified. We agreed that the WSDL should continue to specify "unbounded" because the client would be notified via a SOAP fault if and when the real limit is exceeded. It was also mentioned that the upper bound could be added to the WSDL as an annotation, providing some guidance to the consumer of the service.