Profile as SOAP Web Service (dynamic response)
This section explains how to create a profile that is acting as a SOAP web service and sends a dynamic response back to the client that called this web service.
Please import the following profile and set it to active: Profile-Profile_as_web_service_dynamic_response.pak
Phase 1
Open the profile and navigate to phase 1. There you can see the event-driven Input Agent of type HTTP.
(1) Specifies the URL under which your web service can be accessed. So here https://<URL/IP Integration Server>/dw/Request/addition_web_service
(2) Use option POST.
(3) Must be set.
(4) Use this value. This has the effect that the WSDL file is generated on the basis of the source and target structure. In addition, the response of the web service is then dynamic, i.e. based on the data of the target tree (more on this later). More details in section WSDL File .
(5) Must be set.
(6) This option must be set so that we can generate the response for the web service from the target tree (more on this later).
Phase 2
The document type here must be XML (is set in the Main Settings), as we want to process incoming SOAP XML messages.
(7) Set this checkbox.
(8) Necessary for parsing the received XML file into the source structure. See section Phase 3 below and section XML (Document Type).
(9) Use the value V3. Note: The XML parser V4 can also be used, but this is not necessary.
Phase 3
Now switch to phase 3. We want to create a simple calculator web service that adds two numbers and returns the result in the response.
To do this, we first need an XML source structure that holds the two numbers to be added in the fields intA and intB in node Add, see also (8). Note: Note the match codes of the fields and nodes that are required for XML source structures.
In the target structure, we simply create the node AddResult with field result, on which we use a function to add the values of the source structure fields intA and intB.
Integration Unit
Select the XMLNoTemplateUnit and enter the value AddResult in parameter Root node name. You can ignore all other parameters.
Response Route
Insert a Response Route Custom Class with class DefaultWebServiceResponse and set the content to Output of IU.
This Response Route provides the XML response of the web service. See items (4) and (6), target structure and Integration Unit.
Note: The response has the encoding UTF-8.
WSDL File
Now we can look at the WSDL file of the web service. The WSDL file is created automatically by Lobster_data.
To do this, enter the following URL in the browser. This is the same URL that is used to call the web service (1), but the suffix ?wsdl is added at the end.
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https://<URL/IP Integration Server>/dw/Request/addition_web_service?wsdl |
Below you will find further information on the WSDL file, which you can ignore for the time being.
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 DataCockpit/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 target structure as shown in the screenshot above. Make sure to use the mandatory prefix Service:
Type of WSDL Creation
If the value WSDL returning job status is used in (4), the WSDL file is only created based on the source structure. In addition, the response of the web service is then "static", i.e. it only contains the job number of the profile started by the web service call and does not obtain any data from the target tree.
If the value WSDL based on destination tree is used in (4), the WSDL file is created based on the source and target structure. In addition, the response is then generated dynamically based on the data of the target tree. Details on this can be found in section Profile as SOAP Web Service (dynamic response). The following procedure is used to generate the element definition.
The name of the field/node in the target 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 target 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 target 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 target structure. Therefore, the root nodes of the source and target 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
We will show you how to call such a web service in sections Calling SOAP Web Service with Profile in Input Agent, Calling SOAP Web Service with Profile in Function and Calling SOAP Web Service with Profile in Response Route.