Re^5: SOAP::Lite, .NET, and complex structures

The steps I use are as follows:

Publish the proper WSDL (generate with Pod::WSDL) after having annotated your (dispatchable) classes with POD as described for classes in Pod::WSDL's documentation.
Please check that the generated WSDL actually contains nice-looking descriptions of your classes (properly marked as complex types).
Don't try to "construct" your complex types. Use normal hash-based perl objects. Return them (or arrays of them) directly.

I'll try to find the time to put up a working example soon.

Update:

Example of annotated class:

package Wholesale::Addon;

=begin WSDL
  _ATTR productid    $int      doc for attr.
  _ATTR name         $string   doc for attr.
  _ATTR description  $string   doc for attr.
  _ATTR price        $int      doc for attr.
  _ATTR windowIncr   $int      doc for attr.
  _ATTR computerIncr $int      doc for attr.
  _ATTR deferred     $boolean  doc for attr.
  _ATTR addonid      $int      doc for attr.
  _ATTR added        $dateTime doc for attr.
  _ATTR username     $string   doc for attr.
=end WSDL
=cut
sub new
{
  my $class = shift;
  my ($productid, $name, $description, $price, $windowIncr, 
      $computerIncr, $deferred, $addonid, $added, $username)  = @_;
  bless {
    productid    => $productid,
    name         => $name,
    description  => $description,
    price        => $price,
    windowIncr   => $windowIncr,
    computerIncr => $computerIncr,
    deferred     => $deferred,
    addonid      => $addonid,
    added        => $added,
    username     => $username
  }, $class;
}

#... methods omitted for brevity.

1;
[download]

Example (excerpt) of complexType generated by Pod::WSDL:

<complexType name="WholesaleAddon">
    <sequence>
        <element name="productid" nillable="true" type="xsd:int">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="name" nillable="true" type="xsd:string">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="description" nillable="true" type="xsd:string">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="price" nillable="true" type="xsd:int">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="windowIncr" nillable="true" type="xsd:int">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="computerIncr" nillable="true" type="xsd:int">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="deferred" nillable="true" type="xsd:boolean">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="addonid" nillable="true" type="xsd:int">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="added" nillable="true" type="xsd:dateTime">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
        <element name="username" nillable="true" type="xsd:string">
            <wsdl:documentation>doc for attr.</wsdl:documentation>
        </element>
    </sequence>
</complexType>
[download]

Example of method returning a list of complex values:

package Wholesale;
use Wholesale::Addon;

# other methods ommitted for brevity

=begin WSDL
  _DOC                       doc for method.
  _IN     username  $string  doc for param.
  _RETURN @Wholesale::Addon  doc for returnval.
=end WSDL
=cut
sub list_attached_addons
{
  # process arguments
  my $self = shift;
  my ($username) = @_;

  my @addons;
  
  # <snip>
  #   construct a list of Wholesale::Addon objects
  #   here using Wholesale::Addon->new(...) passing
  #   data retrieved from the database.
  # </snip>
  
  return @addons;
}

1;
[download]

Example (excerpts) of WSDL generated by Pod::WSDL for above method:

<wsdl:operation name="list_attached_addons" parameterOrder="username">
  <wsdl:documentation>doc for method.</wsdl:documentation>
  <wsdl:input message="impl:list_attached_addonsRequest" name="list_at
+tached_addonsRequest" />
  <wsdl:output message="impl:list_attached_addonsResponse" name="list_
+attached_addonsResponse" />
</wsdl:operation>

<wsdl:operation name="list_attached_addons">
  <wsdlsoap:operation soapAction="" />
  <wsdl:input name="list_attached_addonsRequest">
    <wsdlsoap:body encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/enco
+ding/" namespace="http://127.0.0.1:2233/Wholesale" use="encoded" />
  </wsdl:input>
  <wsdl:output name="list_attached_addonsResponse">
    <wsdlsoap:body encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/enco
+ding/" namespace="http://127.0.0.1:2233/Wholesale" use="encoded" />
  </wsdl:output>
</wsdl:operation>

<wsdl:message name="list_attached_addonsRequest">
  <wsdl:part name="username" type="xsd:string">
    <wsdl:documentation>doc for param.</wsdl:documentation>
  </wsdl:part>
</wsdl:message>

<wsdl:message name="list_attached_addonsResponse">
  <wsdl:part name="list_attached_addonsReturn" type="tns1:ArrayOfWhole
+saleAddon">
    <wsdl:documentation>doc for returnval.</wsdl:documentation>
  </wsdl:part>
</wsdl:message>

<complexType name="ArrayOfWholesaleAddon">
  <complexContent>
    <restriction base="soapenc:Array">
      <attribute ref="soapenc:arrayType" wsdl:arrayType="tns1:Wholesal
+eAddon[]" />
    </restriction>
  </complexContent>
</complexType>
[download]

That all works fine for me.

Are you doing anything terribly more complicated than that?

-David.

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Re^6: SOAP::Lite, .NET, and complex structures by MidLifeXis (Monsignor) on Aug 16, 2007 at 15:15 UTC
Nope, that is pretty much it. One thing I did find, however, is a size issue of some sort or another. For example, this list with 9 elements is parsed correctly by the .Net WebServices Studio tool. Read more... (2 kB) But the same response with an array size of 10 returns a `There is invalid data at the root level. Line 1, position 1.` error from that tool. Here is the data that is returned (retrieved by sending a request by hand to the service via telnet) Read more... (2 kB) Whatever the cause, It is a little bit frustrating, to say the least :) I am almost to the point of tossing the .NET WebService Studio tool, except that it works with our existing production server. I will update shortly to see if a different version of Apache (the current production setup) causes this to behave. Update: Happens in the production version of apache as well (1.3), so it does not look like it is related to Apache. In production, the break point is going from 6 to 7 items in the array. Update 2: Oh yeah. I forgot to say, replace all of the localhost:80 stuff with the local server name. It gets replaced on the server side automatically. *grrrr* --MidLifeXis	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^7: SOAP::Lite, .NET, and complex structures by erroneousBollock (Curate) on Aug 16, 2007 at 16:42 UTC
I haven't used that tool... only `wsdl.exe` It has worked for me thus far. -David	[reply] [d/l]