Provided by: libsoap-wsdl-perl_2.00.10-2_all 
NAME
SOAP::WSDL - SOAP with WSDL support
Overview
For creating Perl classes instrumenting a web service with a WSDL definition, read
SOAP::WSDL::Manual.
For using an interpreting (thus slow and somewhat troublesome) WSDL based SOAP client,
which mimics SOAP::Lite's API, read on.
Creating Interface classes is the recommended usage.
Did I say you should create interface classes following the steps in SOAP::WSDL::Manual?
If you're migrating from earlier versions of SOAP::WSDL, you should read the MIGRATING
documentation.
The stuff below is for users of the 1.2x SOAP::WSDL series. All others, please refer to
SOAP::WSDL::Manual
SYNOPSIS
my $soap = SOAP::WSDL->new(
wsdl => 'file://bla.wsdl',
);
my $result = $soap->call('MyMethod', %data);
DESCRIPTION
SOAP::WSDL provides easy access to Web Services with WSDL descriptions.
The WSDL is parsed and stored in memory.
Your data is serialized according to the rules in the WSDL.
The only transport mechanisms currently supported are http and https.
METHODS
new
Constructor. All parameters passed are passed to the corresponding methods.
call
Performs a SOAP call. The result is either an object tree (with outputtree), a hash
reference (with outputhash), plain XML (with outputxml) or a SOAP::SOM object (with
neither of the above set).
call() can be called in different ways:
• Old-style idiom
my $result = $soap->call('method', %data);
Does not support SOAP header data.
• New-style idiom
my $result = $soap->call('method', $body_ref, $header_ref );
Does support SOAP header data. $body_ref and $header ref may either be hash refs or
SOAP::WSDL::XSD::Typelib::* derived objects.
Result headers are accessible via the result SOAP::SOM object.
If outputtree or outputhash are set, you may also use the following to access response
header data:
my ($body, $header) = $soap->call('method', $body_ref, $header_ref );
wsdlinit
Reads the WSDL file and initializes SOAP::WSDL for working with it.
Is called automatically from call() if not called directly before.
servicename
portname
call
You may set servicename and portname by passing them as attributes to wsdlinit:
$soap->wsdlinit(
servicename => 'MyService',
portname => 'MyPort',
);
CONFIGURATION METHODS
outputtree
When outputtree is set, SOAP::WSDL will return an object tree instead of a SOAP::SOM
object.
You have to specify a class_resolver for this to work. See class_resolver
class_resolver
Set the class resolver class (or object).
Class resolvers must implement the method get_class which has to return the name of the
class name for deserializing a XML node at the current XPath location.
Class resolvers are typically generated by using the generate_typemap method of a
SOAP::WSDL::Generator subclass.
Example:
XML structure (SOAP body content):
<Person>
<Name>Smith</Name>
<FirstName>John</FirstName>
</Person>
Class resolver
package MyResolver;
my %typemap = (
'Person' => 'MyPersonClass',
'Person/Name' => 'SOAP::WSDL::XSD::Typelib::Builtin::string',
'Person/FirstName' => 'SOAP::WSDL::XSD::Typelib::Builtin::string',
);
sub get_class { return $typemap{ $_[1] } };
1;
You'll need a MyPersonClass module in your search path for this to work - see
SOAP::WSDL::XSD::ComplexType on how to build / generate one.
servicename
$soap->servicename('Name');
Sets the service to operate on. If no service is set via servicename, the first service
found is used.
Returns the soap object, so you can chain calls like
$soap->servicename->('Name')->portname('Port');
portname
$soap->portname('Name');
Sets the port to operate on. If no port is set via portname, the first port found is used.
Returns the soap object, so you can chain calls like
$soap->portname('Port')->call('MyMethod', %data);
no_dispatch
When set, call() returns the plain request XML instead of dispatching the SOAP call to the
SOAP service. Handy for testing/debugging.
ACCESS TO SOAP::WSDL's internals
get_client / set_client
Returns the SOAP client implementation used (normally a SOAP::WSDL::Client object).
EXAMPLES
See the examples/ directory.
Differences to previous versions
• WSDL handling
SOAP::WSDL 2 is a complete rewrite. While SOAP::WSDL 1.x attempted to process the WSDL
file on the fly by using XPath queries, SOAP:WSDL 2 uses a Expat handler for parsing
the WSDL and building up a object tree representing it's content.
The object tree has two main functions: It knows how to serialize data passed as hash
ref, and how to render the WSDL elements found into perl classes.
Yup you're right; there's a builtin code generation facility. Read SOAP::WSDL::Manual
for using it.
• no_dispatch
call() with no_dispatch set to true now returns the complete SOAP request envelope,
not only the body's content.
• outputxml
call() with outputxml set to true now returns the complete SOAP response envelope, not
only the body's content.
• servicename/portname
Both servicename and portname can only be called after calling wsdlinit().
You may pass the servicename and portname as attributes to wsdlinit, though.
Differences to previous versions
The following functionality is no longer supported:
Operation overloading
The SOAP standard allows operation overloading - that is, you may specify SOAP operations
with more than one message. The client/server than can choose which message to send. This
SOAP feature is usually used similar to the use of methods with different argument lists
in C++.
Operation overloading is no longer supported. The WS-I Basic profile does not operation
overloading. The same functionality as operation overloading can be obtained by using a
choice declaration in the XML Schema.
readable
Readable has no effect any more. If you need readable debug output, copy the SOAP message
to your favorite XML editor and run the source format command. Outputting readable XML
requires lots of programming for little use: The resulting XMl is still quite unreadable.
on_action
Setting on_action is not required any more, the appropriate value is automatically taken
from the WSDL. on_action is a no-op, and is just here for compatibility issues.
Differences to SOAP::Lite
readable
readable is a no-op in SOAP::WSDL. Actually, the XML output from SOAP::Lite is hardly
readable, either with readable switched on.
If you need readable XML messages, I suggest using your favorite XML editor for displaying
and formatting.
Message style/encoding
While SOAP::Lite supports rpc/encoded style/encoding only, SOAP::WSDL currently supports
document/literal style/encoding.
autotype / type information
SOAP::Lite defaults to transmitting XML type information by default, where SOAP::WSDL
defaults to leaving it out.
autotype(1) might even be broken in SOAP::WSDL - it's not well-tested, yet.
Output formats
In contrast to SOAP::Lite, SOAP::WSDL supports the following output formats:
• SOAP::SOM objects.
This is the default. SOAP::Lite is required for outputting SOAP::SOM objects.
• Object trees.
This is the recommended output format. You need a class resolver (typemap) for
outputting object trees. See class_resolver above.
• Hash refs
This is for convenience: A single hash ref containing the content of the SOAP body.
• xml
See below.
outputxml
SOAP::Lite returns only the content of the SOAP body when outputxml is set to true.
SOAP::WSDL returns the complete XML response.
Auto-Dispatching
SOAP::WSDL does does not support auto-dispatching.
This is on purpose: You may easily create interface classes by using SOAP::WSDL::Client
and implementing something like
sub mySoapMethod {
my $self = shift;
$soap_wsdl_client->call( mySoapMethod, @_);
}
You may even do this in a class factory - see wsdl2perl for creating such interfaces.
Debugging / Tracing
While SOAP::Lite features a global tracing facility, SOAP::WSDL allows one to switch
tracing on/of on a per-object base.
This has to be done in the SOAP client used by SOAP::WSDL - see get_client for an example
and SOAP::WSDL::Client for details.
BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
• $obj == undef does not work in perl 5.8.6 and perl 5.8.7
Due to some strange behaviour in perl 5.8.6 and perl 5.8.7, stringification
overloading is not triggered during comparison with undef.
While this is probably harmless in most cases, it's important to know that you need to
do
defined( $obj->get_value() )
to check for undef values in simpleType objects.
• perl 5.8.0 or higher required
SOAP::WSDL needs perl 5.8.0 or higher. This is due to a bug in perls before - see
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mail/Message/perl5-porters/929746 for details.
• Apache SOAP datatypes are not supported
You currently can't use SOAP::WSDL with Apache SOAP datatypes like map.
If you want this changed, email me a copy of the specs, please.
• Incomplete XML Schema definitions support
This section describes the limitations of SOAP::WSDL, that is the interpreting SOAP
client. For limitations of wsdl2perl generated SOAP clients, see
SOAP::WSDL::Manual::XSD.
XML Schema attribute definitions are not supported in interpreting mode.
The following XML Schema definitions varieties are not supported in interpreting mod:
group
simpleContent
The following XML Schema definition content model is only partially supported in
interpreting mode:
complexContent - only restriction variety supported
See SOAP::WSDL::Manual::XSD for details.
• Serialization of hash refs does not work for ambiguous values
If you have list elements with multiple occurences allowed, SOAP::WSDL has no means of
finding out which variant you meant.
Passing in item => [1,2,3] could serialize to
<item>1 2</item><item>3</item>
<item>1</item><item>2 3</item>
Ambiguous data can be avoided by providing data as objects.
• XML Schema facets
Almost no XML schema facets are implemented. The only facets currently implemented
are:
fixed
default
The following facets have no influence:
minLength
maxLength
minInclusive
maxInclusive
minExclusive
maxExclusive
pattern
enumeration
SEE ALSO
Related projects
• SOAP::Lite
Full featured SOAP-library, little WSDL support. Supports rpc-encoded style only. Many
protocols supported.
• XML::Compile::SOAP
Creates parser/generator functions for SOAP messages. Includes SOAP Client and Server
implementations. Can validate XML messages.
You might want to give it a try, especially if you need to adhere very closely to the
XML Schema / WSDL specs.
Sources of documentation
• SOAP::WSDL homepage at sourceforge.net
<http://soap-wsdl.sourceforge.net>
• SOAP::WSDL forum at CPAN::Forum
<http://www.cpanforum.com/dist/SOAP-WSDL>
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There are many people out there who fostered SOAP::WSDL's development. I would like to
thank them all (and apologize to all those I have forgotten).
Giovanni S. Fois wrote a improved version of SOAP::WSDL (which eventually became v1.23)
David Bussenschutt, Damian A. Martinez Gelabert, Dennis S. Hennen, Dan Horne, Peter Orvos,
Mark Overmeer, Jon Robens, Isidro Vila Verde and Glenn Wood (in alphabetical order)
spotted bugs and/or suggested improvements in the 1.2x releases.
JT Justman and Noah Robin provided early feedback and bug reports for the 2.xx pre-
releases.
Adam Kennedy checked and suggested improvements on metadata and dependencies in the 2.xx
pre-releases.
Andreas 'ac0v' Specht constantly asked for better performance.
Matt S. Trout encouraged me "to get a non-dev-release out."
CPAN Testers provided most valuable (automated) feedback. Thanks a lot.
Numerous people sent me their real-world WSDL files and error reports for testing. Thank
you.
Noah Robin contributed lots of documentation fixes, and the mod_perl server, and
eventually joined SOAP::WSDL's development. Thanks.
Mark Overmeer wrote XML::Compile::SOAP - competition is good for business.
Paul Kulchenko and Byrne Reese wrote and maintained SOAP::Lite and thus provided a base
(and counterpart) for SOAP::WSDL.
LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2004-2008 Martin Kutter.
This file is part of SOAP-WSDL. You may distribute/modify it under the same terms as perl
itself
AUTHOR
Martin Kutter <martin.kutter fen-net.de>
REPOSITORY INFORMATION
$Rev: 851 $
$LastChangedBy: kutterma $
$Id: WSDL.pm 851 2009-05-15 22:45:18Z kutterma $
$HeadURL: https://soap-wsdl.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/soap-wsdl/SOAP-WSDL/trunk/lib/SOAP/WSDL.pm $