ted.byers has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I have read the documentation for useragent, and have made it work properly in terms of connecting to a server that requires a client side certificate, with full validation. However, while I can correctly construct the XML required for the SOAP data, I can't seem to send it correctly to the server. I have tried function request in two ways: $ua->request($r,'fsd.xml'); AND $ua->request($r,$data);, but in both cases, I get an exception from the server complaining that it gets no data.

I guess this boils down to two questions: 1) How do I send SOAP XML data? 2) How would I write a CGI program, on one of my own servers, that I could use to verify that the SOAP XML data is received correctly (NB: I know well how to write CGI scripts to process form data, but this isn't form data.)

I'd appreciate any insights you can provide. I have read the documentation, but it isn't clear enough for me to resolve this.

Thanks

Ted

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: I don't understand how to send SOAP data using LWP's user agent
by Corion (Patriarch) on Sep 08, 2014 at 17:51 UTC

    Assuming that $r is a HTTP::Request, I would pass the request data in using the ->content method of HTTP::Request instead of relying on the magic of LWP::UserAgent picking up the correct file or knowing what to do with $data.

    Also, have you looked at what SOAP::Lite XML would construct as a request? If you can get SOAP::Lite to construct the request for you, maybe you can compare that with the request your program constructs and find the difference?

[reply]
[d/l]
[select]

      Thanks

      The content function of HTTP::Request was the key. I also used the header function to set the content type as text/xml. That got it working, in the sense I now have proof that my code is sending content, and that the server is processing it.

      I did look at SOAP::Lite, but it seemed like overkill as all these guys use SOAP for is to structure the XML messages it expects to receive and those it sends in response.

      Thanks

      Ted

[reply]
Re: I don't understand how to send SOAP data using LWP's user agent
by Anonymous Monk on Sep 09, 2014 at 00:36 UTC
[reply]

      Thanks. That's a little light reading. ;-)

      Ted

[reply]
Re: I don't understand how to send SOAP data using LWP's user agent
by iguanodon (Priest) on Sep 09, 2014 at 12:19 UTC
[reply]
[d/l]

      Thanks.

      Alas, I do not have access to the server logs. I did not create this server, and do not have access to it's code. What I have learned is that the guys responsible have coded it in Java, as a servlet. It does not handle errors well (key java exception data is passed to the client rather than processed server side; with only suitably sanitized but useful error messages being sent to the client). I regard passing a full stack trace to a client as poor practice; but that's just me I suppose.

      I will have to look into the SOAPAction HTTP header. At present, I only set the content type header as text/xml

      I will definitely take a look at use of $q->param('POSTDATS'); to get data that was not collected from a form.

      Thanks again

      Ted

[reply]

Back to Seekers of Perl Wisdom