Cannot read string value from SOAP response in Java

Question

My understanding of web services is very limited, and I am struggling reading the returned value from the SOAP response envelope. Everything else seems to be working just fine.

I was tasked with creating a web service, and do so by re-purposing a Java project already configured for another web service. I went ahead and cloned the working web service project and started to modify it so that it does what's needed (or at least I had hoped that was the case).

The webservice seems to be relying on a configuration file named cxf.xml, contents pasted below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:jaxws="http://cxf.apache.org/jaxws" xmlns:cxf="http://cxf.apache.org/core" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd http://cxf.apache.org/jaxws http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/jaxws.xsd">
<import resource="classpath:META-INF/cxf/cxf.xml" />
<import resource="classpath:META-INF/cxf/cxf-extension-soap.xml" />
<import resource="classpath:META-INF/cxf/cxf-servlet.xml" />


<jaxws:endpoint id="documentOperations" implementor="mypackage.service.DocOperationsImpl" address="/documentOperations">
    <jaxws:properties>
        <entry key="schema-validation-enabled" value="true" />
        <entry key="jaxb-validation-event-handler">
            <bean class="mypackage.interceptor.ValidationEventHandler" />
        </entry>
    </jaxws:properties>

    <!--  This regulates the authentication process -->
    <jaxws:inInterceptors>
        <ref bean="logInBound" />
        <ref bean="saajInInterceptor" />
        <ref bean="wss4JInInterceptor" />        
    </jaxws:inInterceptors>


    <jaxws:schemaLocations>
        <jaxws:schemaLocation>DocOperations.xsd</jaxws:schemaLocation>
    </jaxws:schemaLocations>

</jaxws:endpoint>


<!-- Remaining part cut off, as more than likely irrelevant -->

The WSDL, generated automatically, is defined below:

<!-- Published by JAX-WS RI (http://jax-ws.java.net). RI's version is JAX-WS RI 2.2.10-b140319.1121 svn-revision#7b34660d6bc70e587e8ec81a17e4d76af68816a6. -->
<!-- Generated by JAX-WS RI (http://jax-ws.java.net). RI's version is JAX-WS RI 2.2.10-b140319.1121 svn-revision#7b34660d6bc70e587e8ec81a17e4d76af68816a6. -->
<definitions targetNamespace="http://service.myservice.com/" name="DocOperations">
<types>
    <xsd:schema>
        <xsd:import namespace="http://service.myservice.com/" schemaLocation="http://localhost:7001/DocumentWebService/DocOperations?xsd=1"/>
    </xsd:schema>
</types>
<message name="hideDocument">
    <part name="parameters" element="tns:hideDocument"/>
</message>
<message name="hideDocumentResponse">
    <part name="parameters" element="tns:hideDocumentResponse"/>
</message>
<portType name="DocOperations">
    <operation name="hideDocument">
        <input wsam:Action="http://service.myservice.com/DocOperations/hideDocument" message="tns:hideDocument"/>
        <output wsam:Action="http://service.myservice.com/DocOperations/hideDocumentResponse" message="tns:hideDocumentResponse"/>
    </operation>
</portType>
<binding name="DocOperationsImplPortBinding" type="tns:DocOperations">
    <soap12:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http" style="document"/>
    <operation name="hideDocument">
        <soap12:operation soapAction="http://service.myservice.com/DocOperations/hideDocument"/>
        <input>
            <soap12:body use="literal"/>
        </input>
        <output>
            <soap12:body use="literal"/>
        </output>
    </operation>
</binding>
<service name="DocOperations">
    <port name="DocOperationsImplPort" binding="tns:DocOperationsImplPortBinding">
        <soap12:address location="http://localhost:7001/DocumentWebService/DocOperations"/>
    </port>
</service>
</definitions>

The DocOperations.xsd is defined below:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:tns="http://service.myservice.com/" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" version="1.0" targetNamespace="http://service.myservice.com/" elementFormDefault="qualified" attributeFormDefault="qualified">

   <xs:element name="hideDocumentResponse" type="xs:string" /> 

   <xs:element name="documentID" type="xs:string" />
   <xs:element name="fileNetGUID" type="xs:string" />
   <xs:element name="comments" type="xs:string" />


</xs:schema>

I have two classes: DocOperations and DocOperationsImpl, both defined below:

DocOperations:

@WebService(name = "DocOperations")
@SOAPBinding(parameterStyle = ParameterStyle.WRAPPED, style = Style.DOCUMENT)
@BindingType(javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPBinding.SOAP12HTTP_BINDING)
public interface DocOperations {

    public static final String SUCCESS = "success";
    public static final String FAILURE = "failure";

    @WebMethod(operationName = "hideDocument", action = "http://service.myservice.com/DocOperations/hideDocument")
    public String hideDocument(@WebParam(name = "documentID", targetNamespace="http://service.myservice.com/") String documentID, @WebParam(name = "fileNetGUID", targetNamespace="http://service.myservice.com/") String fileNetGUID, @WebParam(name = "comments", targetNamespace="http://service.myservice.com/") String inputComments);

}

DocOperationsImpl:

@WebService(endpointInterface = "mypackage.service.DocOperations", serviceName = "DocOperations")
@BindingType(javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPBinding.SOAP12HTTP_BINDING)
public class DocOperationsImpl implements DocOperations {
    @Override   
    public String hideDocument(String documentID, String fileNetGUID, String inputComments) {
        [...]
   }
}

The hideDocument method either returns SUCCESS or FAILURE.

The method is invoked correctly, and performs the operations it should. I can see from the server-side logs that the string that the method returns is the SUCCESS (this is corroborated by what I see in the SOAP response envelope). However, when the client tries to read the string value, it always reads null.

This is the soap request envelope:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
 <soap:Header>
    <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
      <wsse:UsernameToken wsu:Id="UsernameToken-1">
        <wsse:Username>TESTUSER</wsse:Username>
        <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">TESTPASSWORD</wsse:Password>
     </wsse:UsernameToken>
    </wsse:Security>
  </soap:Header>
  <soap:Body>
   <ns2:hideDocument xmlns:ns2="http://service.myservice.com/" xmlns:ns3="http://service.myservice.com/">
     <ns2:documentID>44951196459</ns2:documentID>
     <ns2:fileNetGUID>{2F6DE08D-78FB-40E8-95B4-F466167D157D}</ns2:fileNetGUID>
     <ns2:comments>Test</ns2:comments>
   </ns2:hideDocument>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

It gets interpreted correctly.

This is the soap response envelope:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soap:Body>
      <ns1:hideDocumentResponse xmlns:ns1="http://service.myservice.com/">
        <return xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://service.myservice.com/" xsi:type="xs:string">success</return>
      </ns1:hideDocumentResponse>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

However, the java variable returned from the method is null:

String documentWasHidden = webServiceClient.hideDocument(documentID, fileNetGUID, commments);
System.out.println("Value of documentWasHidden = " + documentWasHidden);

My guess, is that the namespaces in the tag shouldn't be there, however I don't know if and what modifications are necessary to DocOperations.xsd (or some other place).

Any help?

Additional notes: I am using cxf-2.6.0, wsdl4j-1.6.2 and wss4j-1.6.5, and the web service is deployed as an EAR to WebLogic 12C (12.1.3).

Answer 1

Found a workaround to deal with this silly problem.

First, I modified the SOAPBinding annotation on the DocOperations class:

@SOAPBinding(parameterStyle = ParameterStyle.BARE, style = Style.DOCUMENT)

Using this annotation, each web service method can only receive one input parameter. Because I had a need to pass three, I created a custom Java class, with getters/setters for three properties:

@XmlRootElement(name = "DocumentToHide", namespace = "http://service.myservice.com")
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@BindingType(javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPBinding.SOAP12HTTP_BINDING)
public class FileInfo implements Serializable {

  private static final long serialVersionUID = -4652784599316765768L;

  private String documentID;

  private String fileNetGUID;

  private String comments;

  public String getDocumentID() {
      return documentID;
  }

  public void setDocumentID(String documentID) {
      this.documentID = documentID;
  }

  public String getFileNetGUID() {
      return fileNetGUID;
  }

  public void setFileNetGUID(String fileNetGUID) {
      this.fileNetGUID = fileNetGUID;
  }

  public String getComments() {
      return comments;
  }

  public void setComments(String comments) {
      this.comments = comments;
  }

}

Then, I modified the DocOperations.xsd file, to make it so that the input parameters would be recognized.

I replaced the below lines:

<xs:element name="documentID" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name="fileNetGUID" type="xs:string" />
<xs:element name="comments" type="xs:string" />

With:

<xs:element name="DocumentToHide" type="tns:DocumentToHide" />

<xs:complexType name="DocumentToHide">
    <xs:sequence>
        <xs:element name="documentID" type="xs:string" />
        <xs:element name="fileNetGUID" type="xs:string" />
        <xs:element name="comments" type="xs:string" />
    </xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>

Finally, the wsimport command generated, along with others, the FileInfo class, which I then used in the java code:

FileInfo documentToHide = new FileInfo();
documentToHide.setDocumentID(documentID);
documentToHide.setFileNetGUID(fileNetGUID);
documentToHide.setComments(commments);
String documentWasMigrated = documentMigrationWebServiceClient.hideDocument(documentToHide);

The string is now being read correctly.

The SOAP request envelope now looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soap:Header>
       <wsse:Security xmlns:wsse="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd" xmlns:wsu="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd">
         <wsse:UsernameToken wsu:Id="UsernameToken-1">
            <wsse:Username>TESTUSER</wsse:Username>
            <wsse:Password Type="http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-username-token-profile-1.0#PasswordText">TESTPASSWORD</wsse:Password>
         </wsse:UsernameToken>
       </wsse:Security>
    </soap:Header>
    <soap:Body>
       <ns2:DocumentToHide xmlns:ns2="http://service.myservice.com/">
          <ns2:documentID>44951196459</ns2:documentID>
          <ns2:fileNetGUID>{2F6DE08D-78FB-40E8-95B4-F466167D157D}</ns2:fileNetGUID>
          <ns2:comments>Test</ns2:comments>
       </ns2:DocumentToHide>
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The SOAP response looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soap:Body>
      <hideDocumentResponse xmlns="http://service.myservice.com/">success</hideDocumentResponse>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

And thankfully enough, it can be read.

Still puzzled, though, as to why it is now working with the BARE setting and wasn't when it was WRAPPED.