As you know, Lobster_data is capable of receiving data via an HTTP(S) Input Agent. Now, we want to receive data via SOAP XML (over HTTP), process it with a profile, and additionally, provide the caller of the web service with the SOAP request structure via WSDL file.

Please create a new profile Act_As_Web_Service and choose the event-driven Input Agent of type HTTP(S).

images/download/attachments/73600312/Input_Agent_EN-version-1-modificationdate-1620116985996-api-v2.png

(1) Enter /myWebService.

(2) Set this checkbox.

Creating Source Structure

images/download/thumbnails/73600312/Quellstruktur_2_EN-version-1-modificationdate-1620116986001-api-v2.png

Create a new profile, set the document type to XML, since will have to process an XML SOAP file. The source structure is based on the following XML. See also section XML to XSD (to Structure).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Data>
	<Article name="Jacket" group="Clothing">
		<Number ean="4711">123</Number>
		<Description>Waterproof</Description>
	</Article>
</Data>

Click button 1:1 Mapping and save the profile. Now we are almost done.

Calling the Web Service

Open a web browser and type in the following URL (unless you modified the setting in configuration file ./etc/startup.xml):
http://<IP or URL of Integration Server>/dw/Request/myWebService (consider upper/lower case and fill in the IP or URL of your Integration Server).

The following error message appears.

Your request could not be processed due to unknown/mismatched parameters

This error message is ok as far as it goes, because we have not sent any data (with parameters). But it is already a partial success.

WSDL File

To get the WSDL file displayed in your browser, use the same URL and add the suffix ?wsdl, so http://<IP or URL of Integration Server>/dw/Request/myWebService?wsdl

The WSDL file is automatically created by Lobster_data.

...

Ignoring Nodes and Fields During WSDL Generation from Source Structure

If you want certain nodes or fields to be ignored when the WSDL file is automatically generated from the source structure, you can achieve this by specifying value _exclude_ in the node attribute or field attribute Portal control.

Defining a Service Name for the WSDL File

The default service name in the WSDL file created by Lobster_data is ProfileService. If you want to define your own service name, you can do that in the source and destination structure as shown in the screenshot above. Make sure to use the mandatory prefix Service:

Destination Structure and WSDL

If the WSDL file is created on the basis of the destination tree, then the destination structure of the profile is used in addition to the source structure. The procedure for the creation of the element definition is as follows.

The name of the field/node in the destination structure (without _val or _attr) is used or the description of the field/node if it exists. This makes it possible to use elements with the same name within the definition, which is not possible in the destination structure itself.

If the description of a node contains the string _exclude_, then this node is skipped in the WSDL generation.

Using Unique Root Element Names

When the WSDL file is generated based on the destination structure, it is assumed that the XML root elements in the generated request and response structure are unique. The XML names are generated from the match codes of the nodes/fields in the source structure and from the names of the nodes and fields, or the node names defined in the field description in the destination structure. Therefore, the root nodes of the source and destination structure should not have the same name. If same names are unavoidable, the dynamic WSDL generation cannot be used and astatic WSDL has to be used instead. This WSDL file usually has to be created manually or reworked.

Static WSDL Creation

As an alternative to the dynamic generation of the WSDL file, you can save the WSDL file under ./conf/wsdl/<URL address suffix>.wsdl. The character / has to be replaced with a _ in the file name. The file is searched for under this path and used instead of the dynamically generated WSDL if it exists, is readable, and not empty. In the file, you can adjust the area of the response, which is embedded in WSDL requests, accordingly.

Calling the Web Service Without Error Response

So how can we test our web service profile? Please refer to section Call Web Service with Profile in Input Agent for that.