Provided by: libsoap-lite-perl_1.09-1_all 
NAME
SOAP::Data - this class provides the means by which to explicitly manipulate and control
all aspects of the way in which Perl data gets expressed as SOAP data entities.
DESCRIPTION
The SOAP::Data class provides the means by which to explicitly manipulate and control all
aspects of the way in which Perl data gets expressed as SOAP data entities. Most of the
methods are accessors, which like those in SOAP::Lite are designed to return the current
value if no new one is passed, while returning the object reference otherwise (allowing
for chained method calls). Note that most accessors (except value) accept a new value for
the data object as a second argument.
METHODS
new(optional key/value pairs)
$obj = SOAP::Data->new(name => 'idx', value => 5);
This is the class constructor. Almost all of the attributes related to the class may
be passed to the constructor as key/value pairs. This method isn't often used directly
because SOAP::Data objects are generally created for temporary use. It is available
for those situations that require it.
name(new name, optional value)
$obj->name('index');
Gets or sets the current value of the name, as the object regards it. The name is what
the serializer will use for the tag when generating the XML for this object. It is
what will become the accessor for the data element. Optionally, the object's value may
be updated if passed as a second argument.
type(new type, optional value)
$obj->type('int');
Gets or sets the type associated with the current value in the object. This is useful
for those cases where the SOAP::Data object is used to explicitly specify the type of
data that would otherwise be interpreted as a different type completely (such as
perceiving the string 123 as an integer, instead). Allows the setting of the object's
value, if passed as a second argument to the method.
uri(new uri, optional value)
$obj->uri('http://www.perl.com/SOAP');
Gets or sets the URI that will be used as the namespace for the resulting XML entity,
if one is desired. This doesn't set the label for the namespace. If one isn't provided
by means of the prefix method, one is generated automatically when needed. Also allows
the setting of the object's value, if passed as a second argument to the method.
prefix(new prefix, optional value)
$obj->prefix('perl');
Provides the prefix, or label, for use when associating the data object with a
specific namespace. Also allows the setting of the object's value, if passed as a
second argument to the method.
attr(hash reference of attributes, optional value)
$obj->attr({ attr1 => 'value' });
Allows for the setting of arbitrary attributes on the data object. Keep in mind the
requirement that any attributes not natively known to SOAP must be namespace-
qualified. Also allows the setting of the object's value, if passed as a second
argument to the method.
value(new value)
$obj->value(10);
Fetches the current value encapsulated by the object, or explicitly sets it.
The last four methods are convenience shortcuts for the attributes that SOAP itself
supports. Each also permits inclusion of a new value, as an optional second argument.
actor(new actor, optional value)
$obj->actor($new_actor_name);
Gets or sets the value of the actor attribute; useful only when the object generates
an entity for the message header.
mustUnderstand(boolean, optional value)
$obj->mustUnderstand(0);
Manipulates the mustUnderstand attribute, which tells the SOAP processor whether it is
required to understand the entity in question.
encodingStyle(new encoding URN, optional value)
$obj->encodingStyle($soap_11_encoding);
This method is most likely to be used in places outside the header creation. Sets
encodingStyle, which specifies an encoding that differs from the one that would
otherwise be defaulted to.
root(boolean, optional value)
$obj->root(1);
When the application must explicitly specify which data element is to be regarded as
the root element for the sake of generating the object model, this method provides the
access to the root attribute.
TYPE DETECTION
SOAP::Lite's serializer will detect the type of any scalar passed in as a SOAP::Data
object's value. Because Perl is loosely typed, the serializer is only able to detect types
based upon a predetermined set of regular expressions. Therefore, type detection is not
always 100% accurate. In such a case you may need to explicitly set the type of the
element being encoded. For example, by default the following code will be serialized as an
integer:
$elem = SOAP::Data->name('idx')->value(5);
If, however, you need to serialize this into a long, then the following code will do so:
$elem = SOAP::Data->name('idx')->value(5)->type('long');
EXAMPLES
SIMPLE TYPES
The following example will all produce the same XML:
$elem1 = SOAP::Data->new(name => 'idx', value => 5);
$elem2 = SOAP::Data->name('idx' => 5);
$elem3 = SOAP::Data->name('idx')->value(5);
COMPLEX TYPES
A common question is how to do you created nested XML elements using SOAP::Lite. The
following example demonstrates how:
SOAP::Data->name('foo' => \SOAP::Data->value(
SOAP::Data->name('bar' => '123')));
The above code will produce the following XML:
<foo>
<bar>123</bar>
</foo>
ARRAYS
The following code:
$elem1 = SOAP::Data->name('item' => 123)->type('SomeObject');
$elem2 = SOAP::Data->name('item' => 456)->type('SomeObject');
push(@array,$elem1);
push(@array,$elem2);
my $client = SOAP::Lite
->readable(1)
->uri($NS)
->proxy($HOST);
$temp_elements = SOAP::Data
->name("CallDetails" => \SOAP::Data->value(
SOAP::Data->name("elem1" => 'foo'),
SOAP::Data->name("elem2" => 'baz'),
SOAP::Data->name("someArray" => \SOAP::Data->value(
SOAP::Data->name("someArrayItem" => @array)
->type("SomeObject"))
)->type("ArrayOf_SomeObject") ))
->type("SomeObject");
$response = $client->someMethod($temp_elements);
Will produce the following XML:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:namesp2="http://namespaces.soaplite.com/perl"
SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<namesp1:someMethod xmlns:namesp1="urn:TemperatureService">
<CallDetails xsi:type="namesp2:SomeObject">
<elem1 xsi:type="xsd:string">foo</elem1>
<elem2 xsi:type="xsd:string">baz</elem2>
<someArray xsi:type="namesp2:ArrayOf_SomeObject">
<item xsi:type="namesp2:SomeObject">123</bar>
<item xsi:type="namesp2:SomeObject">456</bar>
</someArray>
</CallDetails>
</namesp1:test>
</SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
In the code above, the @array variable can be an array of anything. If you pass in an
array of numbers, then SOAP::Lite will properly serialize that into such. If however you
need to encode an array of complex types, then simply pass in an array of other SOAP::Data
objects and you are all set.
COMPOSING MESSAGES USING RAW XML
In some circumstances you may need to encode a message using raw unserialized XML text. To
instantiate a SOAP::Data object using raw XML, do the following:
$xml_content = "<foo><bar>123</bar></foo>";
$elem = SOAP::Data->type('xml' => $xml_content);
SOAP::Lite's serializer simple takes whatever text is passed to it, and inserts into the
encoded SOAP::Data element verbatim. The text input is NOT validated to ensure it is valid
XML, nor is the resulting SOAP::Data element validated to ensure that it will produce
valid XML. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the developer to ensure that any XML data used
in this fashion is valid and will result in a valid XML document.
MULTIPLE NAMESPACES
When working with complex types it may be necessary to declare multiple namespaces. The
following code demonstrates how to do so:
$elem = SOAP::Data->name("myElement" => "myValue")
->attr( { 'xmlns:foo2' => 'urn:Foo2',
'xmlns:foo3' => 'urn:Foo3' } );
This will produce the following XML:
<myElement xmlns:foo2="urn:Foo2" xmlns:foo3="urn:Foo3">myValue</myElement>
SEE ALSO
SOAP::Header, SOAP::SOM, SOAP::Serializer
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to O'Reilly publishing which has graciously allowed SOAP::Lite to republish
and redistribute large excerpts from Programming Web Services with Perl, mainly the
SOAP::Lite reference found in Appendix B.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 2000-2004 Paul Kulchenko. All rights reserved.
This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same
terms as Perl itself.
AUTHORS
Paul Kulchenko (paulclinger@yahoo.com)
Randy J. Ray (rjray@blackperl.com)
Byrne Reese (byrne@majordojo.com)