Consume Java CXF WS exposed over SOAP from ServiceStack client - web-services

Context:
I'd like to use ServiceStack to build a SOAP client in order to consume an existing Java CXF WebService, exposed over SOAP with defined WSDL (I have no control over the WS itself). I may need to add a couple of extra headers the SOAP envelope for authorization purposes.
Question:
Would all of the above be possible, and if so, what are the gotchas? If there are any specific examples, links would be welcome.

Actually the other way round of having other clients consuming ServiceStack web services would make more sense.
Using ServiceStack to consume other clients is not an ideal strategy. ServiceStack server and client supports a coarse-grained, DTO-first approach, it wouldn't handle variations in this theme that other frameworks spit out.

Related

In Fuse how can i migrate soap services into rest

I need to use camel cxfrs for rest and i have soap wsdl and all code .
I need to use cxfrs and then add all business logic(as it was implemented in soap).
The service impl is probably (hopefully) just Java logic that the REST service can re-use. The only things that change are the URL's to call the operations and the format of the data in the payload.
The SOAP services generally already have an interface or service impl w/ the SOAP annotations. All you need to do is add the JAX-RS annotations on top of them and boom! You'll have a REST service.
If you want to convert from XML to JSON based payloads.. CXF has some auto-JSON providers. However, at that point you'd probably want to break from the SOAP dependencies and might as well re-implement the models as Jackson-based objects.

how to return RESTFUL response from a JAX-WS WebService

I have a JAX-WS WebService running and I want to add a RESTFUL method in it to return HTTP response, without writing a new service.
Is there any way to do it?
Thanks a lot
JAX-WS is an API for SOAP Webservices, with are based on XML transmission of information, not some data over http - the REST way.
What is your services stack? Metro, axis2?
If you use CXF it provides you the possibility to serve both kinds.
Also you may join the two technologies in the same application.

Common framework for POST over HTTP and SOAP over HTTP webservices

We have a bunch of services that support Post over HTTP similar to normal web app processing where in a form is sent via post and also SOAP over HTTP via the IBM soap gateway, our design is slightly messy today as we had combined a lot of processing logic tied to the transport protocol where we parse the XML contents via DOM parser and have seperate classes for Post and SOAP over HTTP, etc. We want to streamline this such that we have a common service class independent of transport that serves for both SOAP and POST over HTTP. I did find that Apache CXF supports both JAX-RS and JAX-WS via single service class. Does this mean I can use the JAX-RS similar to Form posting over HTTP and JAX-WS for the SOAP. The idea is we don't want to change any of the existing consumers client code and just stream line at the provider end. Any suggestion to this regard is welcome. Thanks.

regarding webservices

I've started learning about webservices recently. Have few question about that:
For webservice, is it always necessary that source should provide wsdl or any other way possible to consume it without needing wsdl?
Till a while ago, I was doing server side XMLhttp post in classic ASP to do modifications in external application & to push data in my application from external application. I'm confused - is that very different from webservice or can be called a sort of webservice(ofcourse without based on SOAP). Any major difference or it is just protocol difference bw webservice and server side XMLhttp post?
Web services can be made asynchronous?(Something like AJAX call through javascript)
Are there any different types of webservices ? (for e.g is there difference bw, webservice providing stock quotes and webservice provided by google)
1.For webservice, is it always necessary that source should provide wsdl or any other way possible to consume it without needing wsdl?
WSDL is a document that publishes an interface. As long as a client complies to the inteface, it is guaranteed to be able to "talk" to the web service. Having said that WSDL is a formal way for a specification when there are many stakeholders. You can proceed without one, as long as you somehow know what the web service expects. Just wrap the application data in a SOAP envelope and send it to the web service. As long as you send what the web service expects (in the SOAP envelope or the application data) and in the way they are expected e.g. transport HTTP etc. it does not matter for the WS if you have used a WSDL or not.
2.Till a while ago, I was doing server side XMLhttp post in classic ASP to do modifications in external application & to push data in my
application from external application. I'm confused - is that very
different from webservice or can be called a sort of
webservice(ofcourse without based on SOAP). Any major difference or it
is just protocol difference bw webservice and server side XMLhttp
post?
In very simple terms web service is XML over some application protocol (usually HTTP). Could be SOAP based or REST. To understand more on this you should read about Service Oriented Applications
3.Web services can be made asynchronous?(Something like AJAX call through javascript)
They could but it is more complicated than that.
4.Are there any different types of webservices ? (for e.g is there difference bw, webservice providing stock quotes and webservice
provided by google)
Not sure what you ask here. Each web service offers something.
I will try to be very simple here:
The W3C defines a "Web service" as "a software system designed to
support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network".
That means first requisite for any software to be web-service is that it should not depend upon platform or software i.e a web service made on java stack can be consumed by client in .net stack on windows or java stack on android.
If your server side implementation XMLhttp post suffice this ,its a
web service.
Types of Web services
Actually, there is no overall and clear categorization on types of web services. But two most popular are :
SOAP based web services. :It use XML messages that follow the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) standard, an XML language defining a message architecture and message formats(WSDL).
REST based web services. With evolution of WEb 2.0 emphasis has been moving away from SOAP based services towards representational state transfer (REST) based communications.[3] REST services do not require XML, SOAP, or WSDL service-API definitions.Read here to get a easy explanation of REST
Need of WSDL to consume SOAP web services?
To consume a SOAP service we only require SOAP endpoint and XML message format. WSDL is a pre-requisite for automatic client side code generation through Java and .NET SOAP frameworks.
Asynchronous web services
Making web services asynchronous is possible.But complexity depends upon frameworks used, for example AXIS2 in JAVA has easy implementation of this.

What are WSDL, SOAP and REST?

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.