SOAP::Lite(3)

📦
version 1.27 · 8 versions
, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💅 SOAP::Lite(3) 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

SOAP::Lite — Perl's Web Services Toolkit 🫶

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

okay so SOAP::Lite is literally a collection of Perl modules that gives you a simple and lightweight interface to the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) — both on the client side and the server side. no cap. 💖

🚨 PERL VERSION WARNING 🚨

⚠️ bestie, this warning is real — please read it:
  • As of version SOAP::Lite version 1.05, no perl versions before 5.8 will be supported.
  • SOAP::Lite 0.71 will be the last version of SOAP::Lite running on perl 5.005.
  • Future versions of SOAP::Lite will require at least perl 5.6.0.
  • If you have not had the time to upgrade your perl, you should consider this now.

🦋 OVERVIEW OF CLASSES AND PACKAGES 🦋

  • lib/SOAP/Lite.pm
    • SOAP::Lite — main class, provides all the logic 👑
    • SOAP::Transport — transport backend
    • SOAP::Data — data objects
    • SOAP::Header — header data objects
    • SOAP::Serializer — serializes data structures to SOAP messages
    • SOAP::Deserializer — deserializes SOAP messages into SOAP::SOM objects
    • SOAP::SOM — SOAP message objects
    • SOAP::Constants — provides access to common constants and defaults
    • SOAP::Trace — tracing facilities
    • SOAP::Schema — provides access and stub(s) for schema(s)
    • SOAP::Schema::WSDL — WSDL implementation for SOAP::Schema
    • SOAP::Server — handles requests on server side
    • SOAP::Server::Object — handles objects-by-reference
    • SOAP::Fault — provides support for faults on server side
    • SOAP::Utils — a set of private and public utility subroutines
  • lib/SOAP/Packager.pm
    • SOAP::Packager — provides an abstract class for implementing custom packagers
    • SOAP::Packager::MIME — provides MIME support to SOAP::Lite
    • SOAP::Packager::DIME — provides DIME support to SOAP::Lite
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/HTTP.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Client — client interface to HTTP transport
    • SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Server — server interface to HTTP transport
    • SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI — CGI implementation of server interface
    • SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Daemon — daemon implementation of server interface
    • SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Apache — mod_perl implementation of server interface
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/POP3.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::POP3::Server — server interface to POP3 protocol
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/MAILTO.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::MAILTO::Client — client interface to SMTP/sendmail
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/LOCAL.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::LOCAL::Client — client interface to local transport
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/TCP.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::TCP::Server — server interface to TCP protocol
    • SOAP::Transport::TCP::Client — client interface to TCP protocol
  • lib/SOAP/Transport/IO.pm
    • SOAP::Transport::IO::Server — server interface to IO transport

💅 METHODS 💅

quick vibe check: all accessor methods return the current value when called with no arguments, while returning the object reference itself when called with a new value. This allows the set-attribute calls to be chained together, bestie. 🔥

💖 new(optional key/value pairs) 💖

$client = SOAP::Lite->new(proxy => $endpoint)

Constructor! Many of the accessor methods defined here may be initialized at creation by providing their name as a key, followed by the desired value. The example provides the value for the proxy element of the client. 🎀

💖 transport(optional transport object) 💖

$transp = $client->transport( );

Gets or sets the transport object used for sending/receiving SOAP messages.

See SOAP::Transport for details. 🚀

💖 serializer(optional serializer object) 💖

$serial = $client->serializer( )

Gets or sets the serializer object used for creating XML messages.

See SOAP::Serializer for details. ✨

💖 packager(optional packager object) 💖

$packager = $client->packager( )

Provides access to the SOAP::Packager object that the client uses to manage the use of attachments. The default packager is a MIME packager, but unless you specify parts to send, no MIME formatting will be done.

See also: SOAP::Packager. 🎁

💖 proxy(endpoint, optional extra arguments) 💖

$client->proxy('http://soap.xml.info/ endPoint');

The proxy is the server or endpoint to which the client is going to connect. This method allows the setting of the endpoint, along with any extra information that the transport object may need when communicating the request.

This method is actually an alias to the proxy method of SOAP::Transport. It is the same as typing:

$client->transport( )->proxy(...arguments);

Extra parameters can be passed to proxy() — see below. 👇

  • compress_threshold — See COMPRESSION in HTTP::Transport.
  • All initialization options from the underlying transport layer
    • The options for HTTP(S) are the same as for LWP::UserAgent's new() method.
    • A common option is to create a instance of HTTP::Cookies and pass it as cookie_jar option:
my $cookie_jar = HTTP::Cookies->new()
$client->proxy('http://www.example.org/webservice',
   cookie_jar => $cookie_jar,
);
  • For example, if you wish to set the HTTP timeout for a SOAP::Lite client to 5 seconds, use the following code:
my $soap = SOAP::Lite
 ->uri($uri)
 ->proxy($proxyUrl, timeout => 5 );
  • See LWP::UserAgent.

💖 endpoint(optional new endpoint address) 💖

$client->endpoint('http://soap.xml.info/ newPoint')

It may be preferable to set a new endpoint without the additional work of examining the new address for protocol information and checking to ensure the support code is loaded and available. This method allows the caller to change the endpoint that the client is currently set to connect to, without reloading the relevant transport code. Note that the proxy method must have been called before this method is used. 🛰️

💖 service(service URL) 💖

$client->service('http://svc.perl.org/Svc.wsdl');

SOAP::Lite offers some support for creating method stubs from service descriptions. At present, only WSDL support is in place. This method loads the specified WSDL schema and uses it as the basis for generating stubs. 🧚

💖 outputxml(boolean) 💖

$client->outputxml('true');

When set to a true value, the raw XML is returned by the call to a remote method.

The default is to return a SOAP::SOM object (false). 📦

💖 autotype(boolean) 💖

$client->autotype(0);

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->autotype(boolean);

By default, the serializer tries to automatically deduce types for the data being sent in a message. Setting a false value with this method disables the behavior. 🔍

💖 readable(boolean) 💖

$client->readable(1);

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->readable(boolean);

When this is used to set a true value for this property, the generated XML sent to the endpoint has extra characters (spaces and new lines) added in to make the XML itself more readable to human eyes (presumably for debugging). The default is to not send any additional characters. 🌸

💖 headerattr(hash reference of attributes) 💖

$obj->headerattr({ attr1 => 'value' });

Allows for the setting of arbitrary attributes on the header object. Keep in mind the requirement that any attributes not natively known to SOAP must be namespace-qualified. If using $session->call ($method, $callData, $callHeader), SOAP::Lite serializes information as:

<soap:Envelope>
  <soap:Header>
    <userId>xxxxx</userId>
    <password>yyyyy</password>
  </soap:Header>
  <soap:Body>
    <myMethod xmlns="http://www.someuri.com">
      <foo />
    </myMethod>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

The attributes, given to headerattr are placed into the Header as:

<soap:Header attr1="value">

💖 bodyattr(hash reference of attributes) 💖

$obj->bodyattr({ attr1 => 'value' });

Allows for the setting of arbitrary attributes on the body object. Keep in mind the requirement that any attributes not natively known to SOAP must be namespace-qualified. See headerattr. 🫶

💖 default_ns($uri) 💖

Sets the default namespace for the request to the specified uri. This overrides any previous namespace declaration that may have been set using a previous call to ns() or default_ns(). Setting the default namespace causes elements to be serialized without a namespace prefix, like this:

<soap:Envelope>
  <soap:Body>
    <myMethod xmlns="http://www.someuri.com">
      <foo />
    </myMethod>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Some .NET web services have been reported to require this XML namespace idiom. 🌈

💖 ns($uri,$prefix=undef) 💖

Sets the namespace uri and optionally the namespace prefix for the request to the specified values. This overrides any previous namespace declaration that may have been set using a previous call to ns() or default_ns().

If a prefix is not specified, one will be generated for you automatically. Setting the namespace causes elements to be serialized with a declared namespace prefix, like this:

<soap:Envelope>
  <soap:Body>
    <my:myMethod xmlns:my="http://www.someuri.com">
      <my:foo />
    </my:myMethod>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

💖 use_prefix(boolean) 💖

Deprecated. Use the ns() and "default_ns" methods described above. 💀

Shortcut for "serializer->use_prefix()". This lets you turn on/off the use of a namespace prefix for the children of the /Envelope/Body element. Default is 'true'.

When use_prefix is set to 'true', serialized XML will look like this:

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope ...attributes skipped>
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <namesp1:mymethod xmlns:namesp1="urn:MyURI" />
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

When use_prefix is set to 'false', serialized XML will look like this:

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope ...attributes skipped>
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <mymethod xmlns="urn:MyURI" />
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

Some .NET web services have been reported to require this XML namespace idiom. 🦋

💖 soapversion(optional value) 💖

$client->soapversion('1.2');

Okay so about the version setting: if no parameter is given, it returns the current version of SOAP that the client object is using to encode requests. If a parameter is given, the method attempts to set that as the version of SOAP being used.

The value should be either 1.1 or 1.2.

envprefix(QName) 💅

$client->envprefix('env');

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->envprefix(QName);

Gets or sets the namespace prefix for the SOAP namespace. The default is SOAP.

The prefix itself has no meaning, but applications may wish to choose one explicitly to denote different versions of SOAP or the like. iykyk ✨

encprefix(QName) 🎀

$client->encprefix('enc');

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->encprefix(QName);

Gets or sets the namespace prefix for the encoding rules namespace. The default value is SOAP-ENC.

While it may seem like an unnecessary operation to set a value that isn’t relevant to the message, such as the namespace labels for the envelope and encoding URNs, the ability to set these labels explicitly can prove to be a great aid in distinguishing and debugging messages on the server side of operations. fr fr, debugging is a whole vibe. 🦋

encoding(encoding URN) 🌸

$client->encoding($soap_12_encoding_URN);

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->encoding(args);

Where the earlier method dealt with the label used for the attributes related to the SOAP encoding scheme, this method actually sets the URN to be specified as the encoding scheme for the message. The default is to specify the encoding for SOAP 1.1, so this is handy for applications that need to encode according to SOAP 1.2 rules.

typelookup 🔥

$client->typelookup;

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->typelookup;

Gives the application access to the type-lookup table from the serializer object. See the section on SOAP::Serializer.

uri(service specifier) 💀

Deprecated alert, bestie: the uri subroutine is deprecated in order to provide a more intuitive naming scheme for subroutines that set namespaces. In the future, you will be required to use either the ns() or default_ns() subroutines instead of uri().
$client->uri($service_uri);

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->uri(service);

The URI associated with this accessor on a client object is the service-specifier for the request, often encoded for HTTP-based requests as the SOAPAction header. While the names may seem confusing, this method doesn’t specify the endpoint itself. In most circumstances, the "uri" refers to the namespace used for the request.

Often times, the value may look like a valid URL. Despite this, it doesn’t have to point to an existing resource (and often doesn’t). This method sets and retrieves this value from the object. Note that no transport code is triggered by this because it has no direct effect on the transport of the object.

multirefinplace(boolean) 🫶

$client->multirefinplace(1);

This method is a shortcut for:

$client->serializer->multirefinplace(boolean);

Controls how the serializer handles values that have multiple references to them. Recall from previous SOAP chapters that a value may be tagged with an identifier, then referred to in several places. When this is the case for a value, the serializer defaults to putting the data element towards the top of the message, right after the opening tag of the method-specification. It is serialized as a standalone entity with an ID that is then referenced at the relevant places later on.

If this method is used to set a true value, the behavior is different. When the multirefinplace attribute is true, the data is serialized at the first place that references it, rather than as a separate element higher up in the body. This is more compact but may be harder to read or trace in a debugging environment. ngl, debugging brain says “why would you do this,” but compactness girlies stay winning. 😭

parts( ARRAY ) 🍓

Used to specify an array of MIME::Entity's to be attached to the transmitted SOAP message. Attachments that are returned in a response can be accessed by SOAP::SOM::parts().

self 👑

$ref = SOAP::Lite->self;

Returns an object reference to the default global object the SOAP::Lite package maintains. This is the object that processes many of the arguments when provided on the use line.

The following method isn’t an accessor style of method but neither does it fit with the group that immediately follows it:

call(arguments) 💖

$client->call($method => @arguments);

As has been illustrated in previous chapters, the SOAP::Lite client objects can manage remote calls with auto-dispatching using some of Perl’s more elaborate features. call is used when the application wants a greater degree of control over the details of the call itself. The method may be built up from a SOAP::Data object, so as to allow full control over the namespace associated with the tag, as well as other attributes like encoding. This is also important for calling methods that contain characters not allowable in Perl function names, such as A.B.C.

The next four methods used in the SOAP::Lite class are geared towards handling the types of events that can occur during the message lifecycle. Each of these sets up a callback for the event in question:

on_action(callback) ⭐

$client->on_action(sub { qq("$_[0]") });

Triggered when the transport object sets up the SOAPAction header for an HTTP-based call. The default is to set the header to the string, uri#method, in which URI is the value set by the uri method described earlier, and method is the name of the method being called. When called, the routine referenced (or the closure, if specified as in the example) is given two arguments, uri and method, in that order.

.NET web services usually expect "/" as separator for "uri" and "method". To change SOAP::Lite’s behaviour to use uri/method as SOAPAction header, use the following code:

$client->on_action( sub { join '/', @_ } );

on_fault(callback) 🌈

$client->on_fault(sub { popup_dialog($_[1]) });

Triggered when a method call results in a fault response from the server. When it is called, the argument list is first the client object itself, followed by the object that encapsulates the fault. In the example, the fault object is passed (without the client object) to a hypothetical GUI function that presents an error dialog with the text of fault extracted from the object (which is covered shortly under the SOAP::SOM methods).

on_nonserialized(callback) 🧚

$client->on_nonserialized(sub { die "$_[0]?!?" });

Occasionally, the serializer may be given data it can’t turn into SOAP-savvy XML; for example, if a program bug results in a code reference or something similar being passed in as a parameter to method call. When that happens, this callback is activated, with one argument. That argument is the data item that could not be understood. It will be the only argument. If the routine returns, the return value is pasted into the message as the serialization. Generally, an error is in order, and this callback allows for control over signaling that error. not me being the data item that couldn’t be understood 💀

on_debug(callback) 🙈

$client->on_debug(sub { print @_ });
Deprecated: use the global +debug and +trace facilities described in SOAP::Trace.

Note that this method will not work as expected: instead of affecting the debugging behaviour of the object called on, it will globally affect the debugging behaviour for all objects of that class.

💖 WRITING A SOAP CLIENT 💖

This chapter guides you to writing a SOAP client by example.

The SOAP service to be accessed is a simple variation of the well-known hello world program. It accepts two parameters, a name and a given name, and returns "Hello $given_name $name".

We will use "Martin Kutter" as the name for the call, so all variants will print the following message on success:

Hello Martin Kutter!

🦋 SOAP message styles 🦋

There are three common (and one less common) variants of SOAP messages.

These address the message style (positional parameters vs. specified message documents) and encoding (as-is vs. typed).

The different message styles are:

  • rpc/encoded — Typed, positional parameters. Widely used in scripting languages. The type of the arguments is included in the message. Arrays and the like may be encoded using SOAP encoding rules (or others).
  • rpc/literal — As-is, positional parameters. The type of arguments is defined by some pre-exchanged interface definition.
  • document/encoded — Specified message with typed elements. Rarely used.
  • document/literal — Specified message with as-is elements. The message specification and element types are defined by some pre-exchanged interface definition.

As of 2008, document/literal has become the predominant SOAP message variant. rpc/literal and rpc/encoded are still in use, mainly with scripting languages, while document/encoded is hardly used at all.

You will see clients for the rpc/encoded and document/literal SOAP variants in this section.

✨ Example implementations ✨

💅 RPC/ENCODED 💅

Rpc/encoded is most popular with scripting languages like perl, php and python without the use of a WSDL. Usual method descriptions look like this:

Method: sayHello(string, string)
Parameters:
   name: string
   givenName: string

Such a description usually means that you can call a method named "sayHello" with two positional parameters, "name" and "givenName", which both are strings.

The message corresponding to this description looks somewhat like this:

<sayHello xmlns="urn:HelloWorld">
  <s-gensym01 xsi:type="xsd:string">Kutter</s-gensym01>
  <s-gensym02 xsi:type="xsd:string">Martin</s-gensym02>
</sayHello>

Any XML tag names may be used instead of the "s-gensym01" stuff — parameters are positional, the tag names have no meaning.

A client producing such a call is implemented like this:

use SOAP::Lite;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite->new( proxy => 'http://localhost:81/soap-wsdl-test/helloworld.pl');
$soap->default_ns('urn:HelloWorld');
my $som = $soap->call('sayHello', 'Kutter', 'Martin');
die $som->faultstring if ($som->fault);
print $som->result, "\n";

You can of course use a one-liner, too...

Sometimes the rpc/encoded interfaces get described by WSDL definitions, and a WSDL that accepts "named" params with rpc/encoded looks like this:

<definitions xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
  xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:s0="urn:HelloWorld"
  targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld"
  xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
  <types>
    <s:schema targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld">
    </s:schema>
  </types>
  <message name="sayHello">
    <part name="name" type="s:string" />
    <part name="givenName" type="s:string" />
  </message>
  <message name="sayHelloResponse">
    <part name="sayHelloResult" type="s:string" />
  </message>

  <portType name="Service1Soap">
    <operation name="sayHello">
      <input message="s0:sayHello" />
      <output message="s0:sayHelloResponse" />
    </operation>
  </portType>

  <binding name="Service1Soap" type="s0:Service1Soap">
    <soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"
        style="rpc" />
    <operation name="sayHello">
      <soap:operation soapAction="urn:HelloWorld#sayHello"/>
      <input>
        <soap:body use="encoded"
          encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"/>
      </input>
      <output>
        <soap:body use="encoded"
          encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"/>
      </output>
    </operation>
  </binding>
  <service name="HelloWorld">
    <port name="HelloWorldSoap" binding="s0:Service1Soap">
      <soap:address location="http://localhost:81/soap-wsdl-test/helloworld.pl" />
    </port>
  </service>
</definitions>

And the message that matches this schema is giving:

<sayHello xmlns="urn:HelloWorld">
  <name xsi:type="xsd:string">Kutter</name>
  <givenName xsi:type="xsd:string">Martin</givenName>
</sayHello>

A web service client using this schema is literally just this, bestie:

use SOAP::Lite;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite->service("file:say_hello_rpcenc.wsdl");
eval { my $result = $soap->sayHello('Kutter', 'Martin'); };
if ($@) {
    die $@;
}
print $som->result();

You may of course also use the following one-liner, because sometimes you just want the whole thing on one line and honestly? valid:

perl -MSOAP::Lite -e 'print SOAP::Lite->service("file:say_hello_rpcenc.wsdl")\
  ->sayHello('Kutter', 'Martin'), "\n";'

And a web service client with no service description looks like this:

use SOAP::Lite;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite->new( proxy => 'http://localhost:81/soap-wsdl-test/helloworld.pl');
$soap->default_ns('urn:HelloWorld');
my $som = $soap->call('sayHello',
   SOAP::Data->name('name')->value('Kutter'),
   SOAP::Data->name('givenName')->value('Martin')
);
die $som->faultstring if ($som->fault);
print $som->result, "\n";

🌸 RPC/LITERAL 🌸

SOAP web services using the document/literal message encoding are usually described by some Web Service Definition. Our web service has the following WSDL description:

<definitions xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
  xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
  xmlns:s0="urn:HelloWorld"
  targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld"
  xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
  <types>
    <s:schema targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld">
      <s:complexType name="sayHello">
        <s:sequence>
          <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="name"
             type="s:string" />
          <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="givenName"
             type="s:string" nillable="1" />
        </s:sequence>
      </s:complexType>

      <s:complexType name="sayHelloResponse">
        <s:sequence>
          <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="sayHelloResult"
             type="s:string" />
        </s:sequence>
      </s:complexType>
    </s:schema>
  </types>
  <message name="sayHello">
    <part name="parameters" type="s0:sayHello" />
  </message>
  <message name="sayHelloResponse">
    <part name="parameters" type="s0:sayHelloResponse" />
  </message>

  <portType name="Service1Soap">
    <operation name="sayHello">
      <input message="s0:sayHello" />
      <output message="s0:sayHelloResponse" />
    </operation>
  </portType>

  <binding name="Service1Soap" type="s0:Service1Soap">
    <soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"
        style="rpc" />
    <operation name="sayHello">
      <soap:operation soapAction="urn:HelloWorld#sayHello"/>
      <input>
        <soap:body use="literal" namespace="urn:HelloWorld"/>
      </input>
      <output>
        <soap:body use="literal" namespace="urn:HelloWorld"/>
      </output>
    </operation>
  </binding>
  <service name="HelloWorld">
    <port name="HelloWorldSoap" binding="s0:Service1Soap">
      <soap:address location="http://localhost:80//helloworld.pl" />
    </port>
  </service>
 </definitions>

The XML message (inside the SOAP Envelope) look like this — yes, that's really how it's written, we keep it:

<ns0:sayHello xmlns:ns0="urn:HelloWorld">
   <parameters>
     <name>Kutter</name>
     <givenName>Martin</givenName>
   </parameters>
</ns0:sayHello>

<sayHelloResponse xmlns:ns0="urn:HelloWorld">
   <parameters>
       <sayHelloResult>Hello Martin Kutter!</sayHelloResult>
   </parameters>
</sayHelloResponse>

And this is the SOAP::Lite implementation for the web service client, ✨ iconically ✨:

use SOAP::Lite +trace;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite->new( proxy => 'http://localhost:80/helloworld.pl');

$soap->on_action( sub { "urn:HelloWorld#sayHello" });
$soap->autotype(0)->readable(1);
$soap->default_ns('urn:HelloWorld');

my $som = $soap->call('sayHello', SOAP::Data->name('parameters')->value(
   \SOAP::Data->value([
       SOAP::Data->name('name')->value( 'Kutter' ),
       SOAP::Data->name('givenName')->value('Martin'),
   ]))
);

die $som->fault->{ faultstring } if ($som->fault);
print $som->result, "\n";

🦋 DOCUMENT/LITERAL 🦋

SOAP web services using the document/literal message encoding are usually described by some Web Service Definition too. Our web service has the following WSDL description:

<definitions xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
   xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
   xmlns:s0="urn:HelloWorld"
   targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld"
   xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
  <types>
    <s:schema targetNamespace="urn:HelloWorld">
      <s:element name="sayHello">
        <s:complexType>
          <s:sequence>
             <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="name" type="s:string" />
              <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="givenName" type="s:string" nillable="1" />
          </s:sequence>
         </s:complexType>
       </s:element>

       <s:element name="sayHelloResponse">
         <s:complexType>
           <s:sequence>
             <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="sayHelloResult" type="s:string" />
           </s:sequence>
       </s:complexType>
     </s:element>
   </types>
   <message name="sayHelloSoapIn">
     <part name="parameters" element="s0:sayHello" />
   </message>
   <message name="sayHelloSoapOut">
     <part name="parameters" element="s0:sayHelloResponse" />
   </message>

   <portType name="Service1Soap">
     <operation name="sayHello">
       <input message="s0:sayHelloSoapIn" />
       <output message="s0:sayHelloSoapOut" />
     </operation>
   </portType>

   <binding name="Service1Soap" type="s0:Service1Soap">
     <soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"
         style="document" />
     <operation name="sayHello">
       <soap:operation soapAction="urn:HelloWorld#sayHello"/>
       <input>
         <soap:body use="literal" />
       </input>
       <output>
         <soap:body use="literal" />
       </output>
     </operation>
   </binding>
   <service name="HelloWorld">
     <port name="HelloWorldSoap" binding="s0:Service1Soap">
       <soap:address location="http://localhost:80//helloworld.pl" />
     </port>
   </service>
</definitions>

The XML message (inside the SOAP Envelope) look like this:

<sayHello xmlns="urn:HelloWorld">
  <name>Kutter</name>
  <givenName>Martin</givenName>
</sayHello>

<sayHelloResponse>
  <sayHelloResult>Hello Martin Kutter!</sayHelloResult>
</sayHelloResponse>

You can call this web service with the following client code 🫶:

use SOAP::Lite;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite->new( proxy => 'http://localhost:80/helloworld.pl');

$soap->on_action( sub { "urn:HelloWorld#sayHello" });
$soap->autotype(0);
$soap->default_ns('urn:HelloWorld');

my $som = $soap->call("sayHello",
   SOAP::Data->name('name')->value( 'Kutter' ),
   SOAP::Data->name('givenName')->value('Martin'),
);

die $som->fault->{ faultstring } if ($som->fault);
print $som->result, "\n";

💅 Differences between the implementations 💅

So you may have noticed there's, like, barely any difference between the rpc/encoded, rpc/literal and the document/literal example's implementation. Not a vibe check fail, that's just how it is. In fact, from SOAP::Lite's point of view, the only differences between rpc/literal and document/literal that parameters are always named.

In our example, the rpc/encoded variant already used named parameters (by using two messages), so there's no difference at all. Zero. None. Iconic.

You may have noticed the somewhat strange idiom for passing a list of named parameters in the rpc/literal example:

my $som = $soap->call('sayHello', SOAP::Data->name('parameters')->value(
   \SOAP::Data->value([
       SOAP::Data->name('name')->value( 'Kutter' ),
       SOAP::Data->name('givenName')->value('Martin'),
   ]))
);

While SOAP::Data provides full control over the XML generated, passing hash-like structures require additional coding. That's the whole tea. 🍵

👑 WRITING A SOAP SERVER 👑

See SOAP::Server, or SOAP::Transport. That's it, that's the whole section, go read those. 💖

🔥 FEATURES 🔥

🎀 ATTACHMENTS 🎀

SOAP::Lite features support for the SOAP with Attachments specification. Currently, SOAP::Lite only supports MIME based attachments. DIME based attachments are yet to be fully functional — so like, they're coming, but not today bestie.

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

🌈 Client sending an attachment 🌈

SOAP::Lite clients can specify attachments to be sent along with a request by using the SOAP::Lite::parts() method, which takes as an argument an ARRAY of MIME::Entity's.

use SOAP::Lite;
use MIME::Entity;
my $ent = build MIME::Entity
  Type        => "image/gif",
  Encoding    => "base64",
  Path        => "somefile.gif",
  Filename    => "saveme.gif",
  Disposition => "attachment";
my $som = SOAP::Lite
  ->uri($SOME_NAMESPACE)
  ->parts([ $ent ])
  ->proxy($SOME_HOST)
  ->some_method(SOAP::Data->name("foo" => "bar"));

Client retrieving an attachment 🎀

So like, when the response comes back with attachments in it? You grab them with the SOAP::SOM::parts() accessor. Iconic.

use SOAP::Lite;
use MIME::Entity;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite
  ->uri($NS)
  ->proxy($HOST);
my $som = $soap->foo();
foreach my $part (${$som->parts}) {
  print $part->stringify;
}

Server receiving an attachment 💌

Servers literally do the same thing as clients — they hit up the SOAP::SOM module to get at the attachments that got transmitted to them. Bestie solidarity.

package Attachment;
use SOAP::Lite;
use MIME::Entity;
use strict;
use vars qw(@ISA);
@ISA = qw(SOAP::Server::Parameters);
sub someMethod {
  my $self = shift;
  my $envelope = pop;
  foreach my $part (@{$envelope->parts}) {
    print "AttachmentService: attachment found! (".ref($part).")\n";
  }
  # do something
}

Server responding with an attachment 🦋

If a server wants to send an attachment back to whoever called it, all it has to do is return MIME::Entity objects alongside SOAP::Data elements — or honestly any other data you meant for the response. That's it, that's the whole vibe.

package Attachment;
use SOAP::Lite;
use MIME::Entity;
use strict;
use vars qw(@ISA);
@ISA = qw(SOAP::Server::Parameters);
sub someMethod {
  my $self = shift;
  my $envelope = pop;
  my $ent = build MIME::Entity
  'Id'          => "<1234>",
  'Type'        => "text/xml",
  'Path'        => "some.xml",
  'Filename'    => "some.xml",
  'Disposition' => "attachment";
  return SOAP::Data->name("foo" => "blah blah blah"),$ent;
}

✨ DEFAULT SETTINGS ✨

Okay so listen — even though this feature looks like autodispatch, they have (almost) nothing in common. Not even cousins. What this one actually does is let you set up default settings, so every object you create after that point gets initialized with the proper defaults. Very main-character-of-the-file energy.

Say you want a shared proxy() or uri() for all the SOAP::Lite objects in your app — you can just do this:

use SOAP::Lite
  proxy => 'http://localhost/cgi-bin/soap.cgi',
  uri => 'http://my.own.com/My/Examples';

my $soap1 = new SOAP::Lite; # will get the same proxy()/uri() as above
print $soap1->getStateName(1)->result;

my $soap2 = SOAP::Lite->new; # same thing as above
print $soap2->getStateName(2)->result;

# or you may override any settings you want
my $soap3 = SOAP::Lite->proxy('http://localhost/');
print $soap3->getStateName(1)->result;

Any SOAP::Lite property can be propagated this way, no cap. And important: changes you make in object copies won't touch the global settings. You can still change the global settings yourself with the SOAP::Lite->self call, which hands you back a reference to the global object. Whatever parameter you hand it will update that object — and yeah, you can even set it to undef, bestie:

SOAP::Lite->self(undef);

The use SOAP::Lite syntax also lets you set up default event handlers for your code. Say you've got a bunch of different SOAP objects and you want them all sharing the same on_action() (or on_fault(), for that matter) handler. Sure, you could specify on_action() during initialization for every single object — exhausting — but you can also just do:

use SOAP::Lite
  on_action => sub {sprintf '%s#%s', @_};

and boom, that's now the default handler for all your SOAP objects. You can still override it by specifying a handler for one particular object. Peep t/*.t for an example of an on_fault() handler. 👀

⚠️ Heads up though: since use ... executes at compile time, all your use statements run before the script ever executes, and that can give you some truly unexpected results. Look at this:
use SOAP::Lite proxy => 'http://localhost/';
print SOAP::Lite->getStateName(1)->result;

use SOAP::Lite proxy => 'http://localhost/cgi-bin/soap.cgi';
print SOAP::Lite->getStateName(1)->result;

Both SOAP calls are gonna go to 'http://localhost/cgi-bin/soap.cgi'. Yeah. Both. 😭 If you want use to actually run at run-time, stick it in an eval:

eval "use SOAP::Lite proxy => 'http://localhost/cgi-bin/soap.cgi'; 1" or die;

Or alternatively, this slay:

SOAP::Lite->self->proxy('http://localhost/cgi-bin/soap.cgi');

💅 SETTING MAXIMUM MESSAGE SIZE 💅

One feature of SOAP::Lite is being able to control the maximum size of a message that a SOAP::Lite server is allowed to process. To control it you just define $SOAP::Constants::MAX_CONTENT_SIZE in your code, like so:

use SOAP::Transport::HTTP;
use MIME::Entity;
$SOAP::Constants::MAX_CONTENT_SIZE = 10000;
SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI
  ->dispatch_to('TemperatureService')
  ->handle;

🌀 IN/OUT, OUT PARAMETERS AND AUTOBINDING 🌀

SOAP::Lite gives you access to all the parameters — both in/out and out — and does some extra little chores for you on top. Let's look at this example, bestie:

<mehodResponse>
  <res1>name1</res1>
  <res2>name2</res2>
  <res3>name3</res3>
</mehodResponse>

In that case:

$result = $r->result; # gives you 'name1'
$paramout1 = $r->paramsout;      # gives you 'name2', because of scalar context
$paramout1 = ($r->paramsout)[0]; # gives you 'name2' also
$paramout2 = ($r->paramsout)[1]; # gives you 'name3'

or

@paramsout = $r->paramsout; # gives you ARRAY of out parameters
$paramout1 = $paramsout[0]; # gives you 'res2', same as ($r->paramsout)[0]
$paramout2 = $paramsout[1]; # gives you 'res3', same as ($r->paramsout)[1]

So basically: if the server returns return (1,2,3) you'll get 1 as the result, and 2 and 3 as out parameters. Easy.

But if the server returns return [1,2,3] you get an ARRAY reference from result() and undef from paramsout(). Different vibe entirely.

Results can be arbitrarily complex — array references, objects, anything, and result() will still hand them over. And if only one parameter comes back, paramsout() gives you undef.

Now here's the juicy part 🔥 — if one of your output parameters has the same signature (name + type) as one of your input parameters, that parameter gets mapped into your input automatically. Like:

Server Code:

sub mymethod {
  shift; # object/class reference
  my $param1 = shift;
  my $param2 = SOAP::Data->name('myparam' => shift() * 2);
  return $param1, $param2;
}

Client Code:

$a = 10;
$b = SOAP::Data->name('myparam' => 12);
$result = $soap->mymethod($a, $b);

And after all that, $result == 10 and $b->value == 24! Magic?? Sort of. ✨

Autobinding is the one doing it for you. It works with objects too, with one single difference: you don't have to worry about the name or the type of the object parameter. Check the PingPong example (examples/My/PingPong.pm and examples/pingpong.pl):

Server Code:

package My::PingPong;

sub new {
  my $self = shift;
  my $class = ref($self) || $self;
  bless {_num=>shift} => $class;
}

sub next {
  my $self = shift;
  $self->{_num}++;
}

Client Code:

use SOAP::Lite +autodispatch =>
  uri => 'urn:',
  proxy => 'http://localhost/';

my $p = My::PingPong->new(10); # $p->{_num} is 10 now, real object returned
print $p->next, "\n";          # $p->{_num} is 11 now!, object autobinded

👑 STATIC AND DYNAMIC SERVICE DEPLOYMENT 👑

Let's scrutinize the deployment process, shall we. When you're designing your SOAP server you can consider two kinds of deployment: static and dynamic. For both of them, static and dynamic, you should specify MODULE, MODULE::method, method or PATH/ when creating / useing the SOAP::Lite module. The difference between static and dynamic deployment is that with 'dynamic', any module that isn't present gets loaded on demand. See the SECURITY section for the detailed description. 🕵️

When you statically deploy a SOAP Server, you need to know all the modules handling SOAP requests beforehand. Like, beforehand beforehand.

Dynamic deployment lets you extend your SOAP Server's interface by simply installing another module into the dispatch_to path (see below). Very glow-up of it.

STATIC DEPLOYMENT EXAMPLE

use SOAP::Transport::HTTP;
use My::Examples;           # module is preloaded

SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI
   # deployed module should be present here or client will get
   # 'access denied'
  -> dispatch_to('My::Examples')
  -> handle;

For static deployment you should specify the MODULE name directly.

Also, use static binding when you have several different classes in one file and you want to make them available for SOAP calls. 🫶

DYNAMIC DEPLOYMENT EXAMPLE

use SOAP::Transport::HTTP;
# name is unknown, module will be loaded on demand

SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI
  # deployed module should be present here or client will get 'access denied'
  -> dispatch_to('/Your/Path/To/Deployed/Modules', 'My::Examples')
  -> handle;

For dynamic deployment you can specify the name either directly — in which case it'll be required with no restriction at all — or indirectly, with a PATH. And in that case, the ONLY path that will be available is the PATH you gave to the dispatch_to() method. For info on how to handle this situation, see the SECURITY section.

SUMMARY

dispatch_to(
  # dynamic dispatch that allows access to ALL modules in specified directory
  PATH/TO/MODULES
  # 1. specifies directory
  # -- AND --
  # 2. gives access to ALL modules in this directory without limits

  # static dispatch that allows access to ALL methods in particular MODULE
  MODULE
  #  1. gives access to particular module (all available methods)
  #  PREREQUISITES:
  #    module should be loaded manually (for example with 'use ...')
  #    -- OR --
  #    you can still specify it in PATH/TO/MODULES

  # static dispatch that allows access to particular method ONLY
  MODULE::method
  # same as MODULE, but gives access to ONLY particular method,
  # so there is not much sense to use both MODULE and MODULE::method
  # for the same MODULE
);

On top of all that, SOAP::Lite also supports an experimental syntax that lets you bind a specific URL or SOAPAction to a CLASS/MODULE or an object. Experimental, bestie — you heard it here. 🙈

For example:

dispatch_with({
  URI => MODULE,        # 'http://www.soaplite.com/' => 'My::Class',
  SOAPAction => MODULE, # 'http://www.soaplite.com/method' => 'Another::Class',
  URI => object,        # 'http://www.soaplite.com/obj' => My::Class->new,
})

Okay so first up, bestie: URI gets checked before SOAPAction. You can absolutely use both dispatch_to() and dispatch_with() in the same server, but lowkey remember that dispatch_with() has a higher order of precedence — dispatch_to() only gets checked after URI and SOAPAction have been checked. 👑

See also: EXAMPLE APACHE::REGISTRY USAGE, "SECURITY".

✨ COMPRESSION ✨

SOAP::Lite gives you the option to enable transparent compression over the wire. Compression can be enabled by specifying a threshold value (in the form of kilobytes) for compression on both the client and server sides. 🎀

Note: Compression currently only works for HTTP based servers and clients.

Client Code

  print SOAP::Lite
    ->uri('http://localhost/My/Parameters')
    ->proxy('http://localhost/', options => {compress_threshold => 10000})
    ->echo(1 x 10000)
    ->result;

Server Code

  my $server = SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI
    ->dispatch_to('My::Parameters')
    ->options({compress_threshold => 10000})
    ->handle;

For more information, see COMPRESSION in HTTP::Transport. 🫶

🔒 SECURITY 🔒

For security reasons, the existing path for Perl modules (@INC) will be disabled once you have chosen dynamic deployment and specified your own "PATH/". If you wish to access other modules in your included package, you have several options, bestie:

  1. Switch to static linking:
use MODULE;
$server->dispatch_to('MODULE');

Which can also be useful when you want to import something specific from the deployed modules:

use MODULE qw(import_list);
  1. Change use to require. The path is only unavailable during the initialization phase. It is available once more during execution. Therefore, if you utilize require somewhere in your package, it will work. ✅
  2. Wrap use in an eval block:
eval 'use MODULE qw(import_list)'; die if $@;
  1. Set your include path in your package and then specify use. Don't forget to put @INC in a BEGIN{} block or it won't work. For example,
BEGIN { @INC = qw(my_directory); use MODULE }

🦋 INTEROPERABILITY 🦋

💻 Microsoft .NET client with SOAP::Lite Server 💻

In order to use a .NET client with a SOAP::Lite server, be sure you use fully qualified names for your return values. For example:

return SOAP::Data->name('myname')
                 ->type('string')
                 ->uri($MY_NAMESPACE)
                 ->value($output);

In addition, see the comment about default encoding in .NET Web Services below. 👀

🪄 SOAP::Lite client with a .NET server 🪄

If you're experiencing problems when using a SOAP::Lite client to call a .NET Web service, it is recommended you check, or adhere to, all of the following recommendations:

✨ Declare a proper soapAction in your call ✨

For example, use:

on_action( sub {
  'http://www.myuri.com/WebService.aspx#someMethod'; } )

✨ Disable charset definition in Content-type header ✨

Some users have said that Microsoft .NET prefers the value of the Content-type header to be a mimetype exclusively, but SOAP::Lite specifies a character set in addition to the mimetype. This results in an error similar to:

Server found request content type to be 'text/xml; charset=utf-8',
but expected 'text/xml'

To turn off this behavior specify use the following code:

use SOAP::Lite;
$SOAP::Constants::DO_NOT_USE_CHARSET = 1;
# The rest of your code

✨ Use fully qualified name for method parameters ✨

For example, the following code is preferred:

SOAP::Data->name(Query  => 'biztalk')
          ->uri('http://tempuri.org/')

As opposed to:

SOAP::Data->name('Query'  => 'biztalk')

✨ Place method in default namespace ✨

For example, the following code is preferred:

my $method = SOAP::Data->name('add')
                       ->attr({xmlns => 'http://tempuri.org/'});
my @rc = $soap->call($method => @parms)->result;

As opposed to:

my @rc = $soap->call(add => @parms)->result;
# -- OR --
my @rc = $soap->add(@parms)->result;

✨ Disable use of explicit namespace prefixes ✨

Some user's have reported that .NET will simply not parse messages that use namespace prefixes on anything but SOAP elements themselves. For example, the following XML would not be parsed:

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope ...attributes skipped>
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <namesp1:mymethod xmlns:namesp1="urn:MyURI" />
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

SOAP::Lite allows users to disable the use of explicit namespaces through the use_prefix() method. For example, the following code:

$som = SOAP::Lite->uri('urn:MyURI')
                 ->proxy($HOST)
                 ->use_prefix(0)
                 ->myMethod();

Will result in the following XML, which is more palatable by .NET:

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope ...attributes skipped>
  <SOAP-ENV:Body>
    <mymethod xmlns="urn:MyURI" />
  </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

✨ Modify your .NET server, if possible ✨

Stefan Pharies <stefanph@microsoft.com>:

SOAP::Lite uses the SOAP encoding (section 5 of the soap 1.1 spec), and the default for .NET Web Services is to use a literal encoding. So elements in the request are unqualified, but your service expects them to be qualified. .Net Web Services has a way for you to change the expected message format, which should allow you to get your interop working. At the top of your class in the asmx, add this attribute (for Beta 1):
[SoapService(Style=SoapServiceStyle.RPC)]

Another source said it might be this attribute (for Beta 2):

[SoapRpcService]

Full Web Service text may look like:

<%@ WebService Language="C#" Class="Test" %>
using System;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Xml.Serialization;

[SoapService(Style=SoapServiceStyle.RPC)]
public class Test : WebService {
  [WebMethod]
  public int add(int a, int b) {
    return a + b;
  }
}

Another example from Kirill Gavrylyuk <kirillg@microsoft.com>:

"You can insert [SoapRpcService()] attribute either on your class or on operation level".

<%@ WebService Language=CS class="DataType.StringTest"%>

namespace DataType {

  using System;
  using System.Web.Services;
  using System.Web.Services.Protocols;
  using System.Web.Services.Description;

 [SoapRpcService()]
 public class StringTest: WebService {
   [WebMethod]
   [SoapRpcMethod()]
   public string RetString(string x) {
     return(x);
   }
 }
}

Example from Yann Christensen <yannc@microsoft.com>:

using System;
using System.Web.Services;
using System.Web.Services.Protocols;

namespace Currency {
  [WebService(Namespace="http://www.yourdomain.com/example")]
  [SoapRpcService]
  public class Exchange {
    [WebMethod]
    public double getRate(String country, String country2) {
      return 122.69;
    }
  }
}

Special thanks goes to the following people for providing the above description and details on .NET interoperability issues:

  • Petr Janata <petr.janata@i.cz>,
  • Stefan Pharies <stefanph@microsoft.com>,
  • Brian Jepson <bjepson@jepstone.net>, and others

💖 TROUBLESHOOTING 💖

😭 SOAP::Lite serializes "18373" as an integer, but I want it to be a string!

Okay so SOAP::Lite guesses datatypes from the content you give it, using a set of common-sense rules. Those rules are not 100% reliable, though they fit for most data.

You can force the type by passing a SOAP::Data object with a type specified:

my $proxy = SOAP::Lite->proxy('http://www.example.org/soapservice');
my $som = $proxy->myMethod(
    SOAP::Data->name('foo')->value(12345)->type('string')
);

You may also change the precedence of the type-guessing rules. Note that this means fiddling with SOAP::Lite's internals — this may not work as expected in future versions.

The example above forces everything to be encoded as string (this is because the string test is normally last and always returns true):

my @list = qw(-1 45 foo bar 3838);
my $proxy = SOAP::Lite->uri($uri)->proxy($proxyUrl);
my $lookup = $proxy->serializer->typelookup;
$lookup->{string}->[0] = 0;
$proxy->serializer->typelookup($lookup);
$proxy->myMethod(\@list);

See SOAP::Serializer for more details. ✨

🫠 +autodispatch doesn't work in Perl 5.8

There is a bug in Perl 5.8's UNIVERSAL::AUTOLOAD functionality that prevents the +autodispatch functionality from working properly. The workaround is to use dispatch_from instead. Where you might normally do something like this:

use Some::Module;
use SOAP::Lite +autodispatch =>
    uri => 'urn:Foo'
    proxy => 'http://...';

You would do something like this:

use SOAP::Lite dispatch_from(Some::Module) =>
    uri => 'urn:Foo'
    proxy => 'http://...';

💀 Problems using SOAP::Lite's COM Interface

Can't call method "server" on undefined value

You probably did not register Lite.dll using regsvr32 Lite.dll.

Failed to load PerlCtrl Runtime

It is likely that you have Perl installed in two different locations and the location of ActiveState's Perl is not the first instance of Perl specified in your PATH. To rectify, rename the directory in which the non-ActiveState Perl is installed, or be sure the path to ActiveState's Perl is specified prior to any other instance of Perl in your PATH.

🧐 Dynamic libraries are not found

If you are using the Apache web server, and you are seeing something like the following in your webserver log file:

Can't load '/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/.../XML/Parser/Expat/Expat.so'
  for module XML::Parser::Expat: dynamic linker: /usr/local/bin/perl:
  libexpat.so.0 is NEEDED, but object does not exist at
  /usr/local/lib/perl5/.../DynaLoader.pm line 200.

Then try placing the following into your httpd.conf file and see if it fixes your problem.

<IfModule mod_env.c>
    PassEnv LD_LIBRARY_PATH
</IfModule>

😭 SOAP client reports "500 unexpected EOF before status line seen

See Apache is crashing with segfaults.

💥 Apache is crashing with segfaults

Using SOAP::Lite (or XML::Parser::Expat) in combination with mod_perl causes random segmentation faults in httpd processes. To fix, try configuring Apache with the following:

RULE_EXPAT=no

If you are using Apache 1.3.20 and later, try configuring Apache with the following option:

./configure --disable-rule=EXPAT

See http://archive.covalent.net/modperl/2000/04/0185.xml for more details and lot of thanks to Robert Barta <rho@bigpond.net.au> for explaining this weird behavior.

If this doesn't address the problem, you may wish to try -Uusemymalloc, or a similar option in order to instruct Perl to use the system's own malloc.

Thanks to Tim Bunce <Tim.Bunce@pobox.com>. 🫶

😵 CGI scripts do not work under Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)

CGI scripts may not work under IIS unless scripts use the .pl extension, opposed to .cgi.

🧚 Java SAX parser unable to parse message composed by SOAP::Lite

In some cases SOAP messages created by SOAP::Lite may not be parsed properly by a SAX2/Java XML parser. This is due to a known bug in org.xml.sax.helpers.ParserAdapter. This bug manifests itself when an attribute in an XML element occurs prior to the XML namespace declaration on which it depends. However, according to the XML specification, the order of these attributes is not significant.

http://www.megginson.com/SAX/index.html

Thanks to Steve Alpert (Steve_Alpert@idx.com) for pointing on it. 🌸

🔥 PERFORMANCE 🔥

🌈 Processing of XML encoded fragments

SOAP::Lite is based on XML::Parser which is basically wrapper around James Clark's expat parser. Expat's behavior for parsing XML encoded string can affect processing messages that have lot of encoded entities, like XML fragments, encoded as strings. Providing low-level details, parser will call char() callback for every portion of processed stream, but individually for every processed entity or newline. It can lead to lot of calls and additional memory manager expenses even for small messages. By contrast, XML messages which are encoded as base64Binary, don't have this problem and difference in processing time can be significant. For XML encoded string that has about 20 lines and 30 tags, number of call could be about 100 instead of one for the same string encoded as base64Binary.

Since it is parser's feature there is NO fix for this behavior (let me know if you find one), especially because you need to parse message you already got (and you cannot control content of this message), however, if your are in charge for both ends of processing you can switch encoding to base64 on sender's side. It will definitely work with SOAP::Lite and it may work with other toolkits/implementations also, but obviously I cannot guarantee that.

If you want to encode specific string as base64, just do SOAP::Data->type(base64 => $string) either on client or on server side. If you want change behavior for specific instance of SOAP::Lite, you may subclass SOAP::Serializer, override as_string() method that is responsible for string encoding (take a look into as_base64Binary()) and specify new serializer class for your SOAP::Lite object with:

my $soap = new SOAP::Lite
  serializer => My::Serializer->new,
  ..... other parameters

or on server side:

my $server = new SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Daemon # or any other server
  serializer => My::Serializer->new,
  ..... other parameters

If you want to change this behavior for all instances of SOAP::Lite, just substitute as_string() method with as_base64Binary() somewhere in your code after use SOAP::Lite and before actual processing/sending:

*SOAP::Serializer::as_string = \&SOAP::XMLSchema2001::Serializer::as_base64Binary;

Be warned that last two methods will affect all strings and convert them into base64 encoded. It doesn't make any difference for SOAP::Lite, but it may make a difference for other toolkits.

🎀 BUGS AND LIMITATIONS 🎀

  • No support for multidimensional, partially transmitted and sparse arrays (however arrays of arrays are supported, as well as any other data structures, and you can add your own implementation with SOAP::Data).
  • Limited support for WSDL schema.
  • XML::Parser::Lite relies on Unicode support in Perl and doesn't do entity decoding.
  • Limited support for mustUnderstand and Actor attributes.

🦋 PLATFORM SPECIFICS 🦋

🍓 MacOS

Information about XML::Parser for MacPerl could be found here:

http://bumppo.net/lists/macperl-modules/1999/07/msg00047.html

Compiled XML::Parser for MacOS could be found here:

http://www.perl.com/CPAN-local/authors/id/A/AS/ASANDSTRM/XML-Parser-2.27-bin-1-MacOS.tgz

🚀 Transport Modules

SOAP::Lite allows one to add support for additional transport protocols, or server handlers, via separate modules implementing the SOAP::Transport::* interface. The following modules are available from CPAN:

  • SOAP-Transport-HTTP-Nginx — SOAP::Transport::HTTP::Nginx provides a transport module for nginx (http://nginx.net/)

⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

You can download the latest version SOAP::Lite for Unix or SOAP::Lite for Win32 from the following sources:

You are welcome to send e-mail to the maintainers of SOAP::Lite with your comments, suggestions, bug reports and complaints.

🌸 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 🌸

Special thanks to Randy J. Ray, author of Programming Web Services with Perl, who has contributed greatly to the documentation effort of SOAP::Lite.

Special thanks to O'Reilly publishing which has graciously allowed SOAP::Lite to republish and redistribute the SOAP::Lite reference manual found in Appendix B of Programming Web Services with Perl.

And special gratitude to all the developers who have contributed patches, ideas, time, energy, and help in a million different forms to the development of this software. 🫶

🧚 HACKING 🧚

Latest development takes place on GitHub.com. Come on by and fork it.

git@github.com:redhotpenguin/perl-soaplite.git

Also see the HACKING file.

Actively recruiting maintainers for this module. Come and get it on! 👑

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Please use rt.cpan.org or github to report bugs. Pull requests are preferred.

Copyright (C) 2000-2007 Paul Kulchenko. All rights reserved.

Copyright (C) 2007-2008 Martin Kutter

Copyright (C) 2013 Fred Moyer

🌈 LICENSE 🌈

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

This text and all associated documentation for this library is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/

💖 AUTHORS 💖

Paul Kulchenko (paulclinger@yahoo.com)

Randy J. Ray (rjray@blackperl.com)

Byrne Reese (byrne@majordojo.com)

Martin Kutter (martin.kutter@fen-net.de)

Fred Moyer (fred@redhotpenguin.com)

And that's the whole SOAP::Lite(3) page, bestie 🫶 — footer vibes say perl v5.42.0, dated 2024-03-04. Go forth and slay your SOAP 💅✨

📦 where this page comes from