Getting NullPointerException when consuming Java web service using PHP

Question

I'm getting the following error when attempting to consume a Java web service using PHP: java.lang.NullPointerException .

I think it boils down to passing the parameter correctly . However, this link didn't work in my case (providing an stdClass object).

Here is the relevant part of the WSDL

...
<message name="queryByPartyId">
    <part name="parameters" element="tns:queryByPartyId"/>
</message>
...
<operation name="queryByPartyId">
    <soap:operation soapAction=""/>
    <input><soap:body use="literal"/></input>
    <output><soap:body use="literal"/></output>
    <fault name="ServiceFault"><soap:fault name="ServiceFault" use="literal"/></fault>
</operation>

Relevant PHP code:

//things I've tried

//$theResponse = $soapClient->queryByPartyId("12345");
//$theResponse = $soapClient->__soapCall("queryByPartyId", array("queryByPartyId"=>12345));
//$theResponse = $soapClient->__soapCall("queryByPartyId", array("12345"));


//$addRequest = new stdClass();
//$addRequest->queryByPartyId = 12345;
//$theResponse = $soapClient->queryByPartyId($addRequest);

$theResponse = $soapClient->queryByPartyId(array("queryByPartyId"=>12345));

var_dump($theResponse);

The formatted dump of $theResponse :

object(SoapFault)#9 (10) { 
    ["message":protected]=> string(30) "java.lang.NullPointerException" 
    ["string":"Exception":private]=> string(0) "" 
    ["code":protected]=> int(0) 
    ["file":protected]=> string(51) "/path/to/index.php" 
    ["line":protected]=> int(82) 
    ["trace":"Exception":private]=> array(2) { 
        [0]=> array(6) { 
            ["file"]=> string(51) "/path/to/index.php" 
            ["line"]=> int(82) 
            ["function"]=> string(6) "__call" 
            ["class"]=> string(10) "SoapClient" 
            ["type"]=> string(2) "->" 
            ["args"]=> array(2) { 
                [0]=> string(14) "queryByPartyId" 
                [1]=> array(1) { 
                    [0]=> array(1) { 
                        ["queryByPartyId"]=> int(12345) 
                    } 
                } 
            } 
        } 
        [1]=> array(6) { 
            ["file"]=> string(51) "/path/to/index.php" 
            ["line"]=> int(82) 
            ["function"]=> string(14) "queryByPartyId" 
            ["class"]=> string(10) "SoapClient" 
            ["type"]=> string(2) "->" 
            ["args"]=> array(1) { 
                [0]=> array(1) { 
                    ["queryByPartyId"]=> int(12345) 
                } 
            } 
        } 
    } 
    ["previous":"Exception":private]=> NULL 
    ["faultstring"]=> string(30) "java.lang.NullPointerException" 
    ["faultcode"]=> string(8) "S:Server" 
    ["detail"]=> object(stdClass)#6 (1) { 
        ["exception"]=> object(stdClass)#7 (1) { 
            ["stackTrace"]=> object(stdClass)#8 (1) { 
                ["frame"]=> array(40) { 
                    [0]=> string(0) "" 
                    [1]=> string(0) "" 
                    [2]=> string(0) "" 
                    [3]=> string(0) "" 
                    [4]=> string(0) "" 
                    [5]=> string(0) "" 
                    [6]=> string(0) "" 
                    [7]=> string(0) "" 
                    [8]=> string(0) "" 
                    [9]=> string(0) "" 
                    [10]=> string(0) "" 
                    [11]=> string(0) "" 
                    [12]=> string(0) "" 
                    [13]=> string(0) "" 
                    [14]=> string(0) "" 
                    [15]=> string(0) "" 
                    [16]=> string(0) "" 
                    [17]=> string(0) "" 
                    [18]=> string(0) "" 
                    [19]=> string(0) "" 
                    [20]=> string(0) "" 
                    [21]=> string(0) "" 
                    [22]=> string(0) "" 
                    [23]=> string(0) "" 
                    [24]=> string(0) "" 
                    [25]=> string(0) "" 
                    [26]=> string(0) "" 
                    [27]=> string(0) "" 
                    [28]=> string(0) "" 
                    [29]=> string(0) "" 
                    [30]=> string(0) "" 
                    [31]=> string(0) ""
                    [33]=> string(0) ""
                    [35]=> string(0) "" 
                    [36]=> string(0) "" 
                    [37]=> string(0) "" 
                    [38]=> string(0) "" 
                    [39]=> string(0) "" 
                } 
            } 
        } 
    } 
} 

Update #1

WSDL comment: Generated by JAX-WS RI at http://jax-ws.dev.java.net. RI's version is JAX-WS RI 2.1.7-b01- Generated by JAX-WS RI at http://jax-ws.dev.java.net. RI's version is JAX-WS RI 2.1.7-b01- .

Update #2

No element tags were found in the WSDL, however a schema location was present. When loaded, the following element tag was found

<xs:complexType name="queryByPartyId">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="queryByPartyIdInMsg" type="tns:queryByPartyIdInMessage" minOccurs="0"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
<xs:complexType name="queryByPartyIdInMessage">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="partyId" type="xs:string" minOccurs="0"/>
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

Update #3

Solution:

$addRequest = new stdClass();
$queryByPartyIdInMsg = new StdClass();

$queryByPartyIdInMsg->partyId="12345";
$addRequest->queryByPartyIdInMsg = $queryByPartyIdInMsg;

$theResponse = $soapClient->queryByPartyId($addRequest);

var_dump($theResponse);

Once you find the element structure, the link mentioned previously actually helped to find the solution .

Answer 1

Take a second look at the wsdl file, somewhere in there, you'll see something like this:

<element name="queryByPartyId">
    <complexType>
        <element name="foobar" type="foo:int"/>
    </complexType>
</element>

This is the description of what the service expects you to pass when calling it. the inner elements have name and type attributes. To translate that into a call, just do this:

$response = $soapClient->queryByPartyId(array('foobar'=> 123456));
var_dump($response);

The wsdl should also contain a description of what the service will return:

<element name="queryByPartyIdResponse">
    <complexType>
        <element name="PartyReturn" type="xs:SomeType" />
    </complexType>
</element>

In this example, the response will be an object (or whatever your soapclient returns) with 1 property: PartyReturn , that property will be of the type SomeType . If it's a custom type (a Java class) the wsdl file will contain a description of that, too.

In your case:

$response = $soapClient->queryByPartyId(
    array('queryByPartyIdInMsg' => array('PartyId' => 123456))
);

Or perhaps you'll need to wrap the queryByPartyIdInMsg sub arrays into another array, because both complexTypes have a minOccurs of 0 (suggesting an array)