# Adding a port to a service

A port defines an individual endpoint by specifying a single address for a binding. The port contains a 'binding' attribute that references a binding and an address element that provides a specification for the endpoint.

Services are used to group sets of related ports together. Ports within a service have the following relationship:

- None of the ports communicate with each other (for example, the output of one port is not the input of another).
- If a service has several ports that share a port type, but employ different bindings or addresses, the ports are alternatives. Each port provides semantically equivalent behavior (within the transport and message format limitations imposed by each binding).
- You can determine a service's port types by examining its ports. Using this information a user can determine if a given machine supports all the operations needed to complete a given task.

To add a port to a service, follow these steps:

1. In the Graph view, right-click the service you want to add a port to, then click Add Child > Port.
2. Type the name of the port in the dialog. Click Finish. The name of the port should provide it with a unique name amongst all the ports defined within the service.
3. A Binding defines the message format and protocol details for operations and messages defined by a particular port type. You can either create a new binding for your port, re-use an existing one, or import one. Refer to the related tasks for more details.
4. Type any information about the port you want the user to read in the Documentation field.

Tip: You can also create a port using the Outline view by right-clicking your service under the Services folder and clicking Add Child > Port. Your port (regardless of which view you create it in) will appear in both the Graph view and the Outline view.

Related concepts
Editing WSDL files with the WSDL Editor

Related tasks
Creating a new WSDL file
Editing WSDL files

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