I have done a few use cases on WSO2-ESB including protocol mediation with transformation and service-chaining.
In all of them I had to manually write the wsdl for the proxy service. Having experienced other vendor products including Oracle and Tibco where wsdl generation is done by the tool.
Would it be right to assume in WSO2 ESB one needs to manually write the wsdl file to expose a proxy service on any protocol, do not see any documents calling that out.
Considering the usage of wsdl in practical use cases.
I have seen posts stating "you can give the WSDL available at your Axis2 service" but most of real time use cases would not be pass through and have custom request and response.
Thanks,
Wajid
I'm also confused with manual wsdl creation. As far as I can see there are gaps in wsdl proxy description. When I do wsdl proxy with WSO2 I have to indicate wsdl to expose
its either as:
"none" and I have only mediate function exposed
"same contract" and this breaks the whole idea of proxy because after that clients read original wsdl and go straight to original server access point.
or and I have several options to make my own wsdl.
With rich SOAP API (hundreds of methods) none of above work well, considering that manual support of exposed WSDL is rather cumbersome.
I wonder if there is more adequate way for proxying WSDL?
You can use java2wsdl generator tool to achieve the WSDL generation.
For the proxies, if you try to restrict access for some operations in your backend service, you can attach customized wsdl to the proxy.
The customization has to be done by yourself and it is simple..
If you want to generate a wsdl fro your service, jsut deploy the service in wso2as, and check the service dashboard, wsdl option to view the wsdls.
I have seen some of the SOAP- Example- Mediators. I have not found a transformation based on the endpoint-WSDL.
I want to send some nested named array in json or POX and that data should go into a complete namespaced headered (username, password) SOAP-Request based on the names.
All the examples I have found had either a very simple wsdl or the namespaces were static in the XSL-Transformation.
It should be possible to do that, as I see in for example php-NuSOAP. You feed it with a wsdl-endpoint, the operation you want to execute and the parameter-array, and it calls the Webservice.
I am looking for a solution which is not too much hardcoded for every single service, so the proxy still works when the wsdl changes and Server Clients get changed.
As far as I understand the payload factory mediator in (https://stackoverflow.com/a/12969814/2277620) you would have to hardcode the soap-format in the mediator.
If WSO2 is the wrong tool for that I'd like to have a hint which tool could help.
Thanks in advance!
Marco.
For my understanding, you want to have a proxy, but it's backend service/wsdl may vary..
What , you can do is, you can save the wsdl (dynamic wsdl)in registry and point that in your proxy. whenever you edit the wsdl, proxy will automatically adopt to that..But the request, which you send to your backend should follow the wsdl definitions..It is totally client side responsibility..
I am new to web services. I have a requirement in my project. They gave me a wsdl file and a web service link and document about the description of methods.
In the documentation there is method called retriveDocuments with request parameters request, loginUser, loginPassword, systemId, maxResults, searchCriteria.
They want me call webservice and get the required documents and show them in app.
My question is how do I call web service and how do I pass all these parameters and get the result?
Most likely this a SOAP service. Your programming language (such as Java) should have tools allowing you to generate a SOAP client for the service, using the WSDL. Once you have the cient code, it should be easy to pass your parameters, make the call, and get the result. There are lots of tutorials on the Web, but you can start researching from there.
Working on a docuSign integration with Coldfusion and need assistance in making the SOAP request using WS security.
Your question is a little short on detail, but I presume you mean the Web Services SOAP security extension.
We had to do this a few years back when communicating with a .NET web service. The basic idea is that you provide a set of extra SOAP headers that contains security info such as:
Timestamp
Username
Password
Etc
To do this you need to create a new XML document as per the standard defined here. Next you will need to write code to create the SOAP headers. This means:
Create your remote web service object, e.g.
var objWebSvc = createObject("webservice", "http://remoteURL?WSDL");
Creating an XML document to represent the new headers
Populating it with the required info (such as username and timestamp etc.)
Adding the XML document to the web service object, using addSOAPRequestHeader()
Call your remote web service
Then of course if and when they call your web service you'll need to parse out those headers from their SOAP request and validate them. That can be done by grabbing the XML using getSOAPRequestHeader() and parsing out the info.
I found this to be an error prone task and (basically) a royal pain. The web service we integrated with eventually dropped the requirement, apparently becuase the any web services trying to connect that were not native .NET were having a hard time implementing the specification.
Good luck!
I blogged this a while back. See if this helps:
http://onlineanthony.blogspot.com/2010/05/using-ws-security-for-soap-in.html
What is WSDL? How is it related to SOAP? Where does REST fit in all of that?
A WSDL is an XML document that describes a web service. It actually stands for Web Services Description Language.
SOAP is an XML-based protocol that lets you exchange info over a particular protocol (can be HTTP or SMTP, for example) between applications. It stands for Simple Object Access Protocol and uses XML for its messaging format to relay the information.
REST is an architectural style of networked systems and stands for Representational State Transfer. It's not a standard itself, but does use standards such as HTTP, URL, XML, etc.
Example: In a simple terms if you have a web service of calculator.
WSDL: WSDL tells about the functions that you can implement or exposed to the client. For example: add, delete, subtract and so on.
SOAP: Where as using SOAP you actually perform actions like doDelete(), doSubtract(), doAdd(). So SOAP and WSDL are apples and oranges. We should not compare them. They both have their own different functionality.
Why we use SOAP and WSDL: For platform independent data exchange.
EDIT: In a normal day to day life example:
WSDL: When we go to a restaurant we see the Menu Items, those are the WSDL's.
Proxy Classes: Now after seeing the Menu Items we make up our Mind (Process our mind on what to order): So, basically we make Proxy classes based on WSDL Document.
SOAP: Then when we actually order the food based on the Menu's: Meaning we use proxy classes to call upon the service methods which is done using SOAP. :)
Every time someone mentions SOAP/WSDL, I think of objects and classes defined in xml...
"You use SOAP just the same way that you would any PHP class. However, in this case the class does not exist in the local applications file system, but at a remote site accessed over http."
...
"If we think of using a SOAP service as just another PHP class then the WSDL document is a list of all the available class methods and properties. "
http://www.doublehops.com/2009/07/07/quick-tutorial-on-getting-started-with-soap-in-php/comment-page-1/
..and whenever someone talks about REST I think of HTTP's commands (request methods) like POST, GET and DELETE
SOAP -> SOAP(Simple object access protocal) is the application level protocal created for machine to machine interaction. Protocol defines standard rules. All the parties who are using the particular protocol should adhere to the protocol rules. Like TCP, It unwinds at transport layer, The SOAP protocol will be understood by Application layer( any application which supports SOAP - Axis2, .Net).
WSDL -> SOAP message consist of SoapEnevelope->SoapHeader and SoapBody. It doesn't define what would be message format? what are all the transports(HTTP,JMS) it supports? without this info, It is hard for any client who wants to consume the particular web service to construct the SOAP message. Even if they do, they won't be sure, it'll work all the time. WSDL is the rescue. WSDL (Web Service description Language) defines the operations, message formats and transport details for the SOAP message.
REST -> REST(Representational state transfer) is based on the Transport. Unlike SOAP which targets the actions, REST concerns more on the resources. REST locates the resources by using URL (example -http://{serverAddress}/employees/employeeNumber/12345) and it depends on the transport protocol( with HTTP - GET,POST, PUT, DELETE,...) for the actions to be performed on the resources. The REST service locates the resource based on the URL and perform the action based on the transport action verb. It is more of architectural style and conventions based.
You're not going to "simply" understand something complex.
WSDL is an XML-based language for describing a web service. It describes the messages, operations, and network transport information used by the service. These web services usually use SOAP, but may use other protocols.
A WSDL is readable by a program, and so may be used to generate all, or part of the client code necessary to call the web service. This is what it means to call SOAP-based web services "self-describing".
REST is not related to WSDL at all.
SOAP stands for Simple (sic) Object Access Protocol. It was intended to be a way to do Remote Procedure Calls to remote objects by sending XML over HTTP.
WSDL is Web Service Description Language. A request ending in '.wsdl' to an endpoint will result in an XML message describing request and response that a use can expect. It descibes the contract between service & client.
REST uses HTTP to send messages to services.
SOAP is a spec, REST is a style.
Wikipedia says "The Web Services Description Language is an XML-based language that provides a model for describing Web services". Put another way, WSDL is to a web service, as javadoc is to a java library.
The really sweet thing about WSDL, though, is that software can generate a client and server using WSDL.
Some clear explanations (for SOAP and WSDL) can be found here as well.
Difference between a SOAP message and a WSDL?
REST is light-weight in terms of encoding, much more useful for light weight devices i.e. non strict APIs.
REST is format independent. XML, HTML, JSON all options are available.
REST provides abilities for on 2 point message transfer (not surprising since REST stands for REpresentational State Transfer) where WSDL/SOAP interaction is multiple point message interaction.
REST does not require a new extension for XML messages, where in WSDL/SOAP this is the case.
WSDL/SOAP uses multiple transport protocols, REST relies on only HTTP. Therefore WSDL/SOAP can be used like a RESTful way, however simple requests can be overly complicated/heavy weighted.
A simple analogy: REST is like a motoboy delivers your food easy and quick. XML extended WSDL/SOAP more like UPS delivery, more structured and serious stuff but comes with a cost.
A WSDL document describes a webservice. It specifies the location of the service and the methods of the service using these major elements:
data types using in webservice
data elements for each operation
describe the operations that can be performed and the messages envolved
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a messaging protocol that allows programs that run on disparate operating systems to communicate using http and xml.