How to create a SOAP Client in Java using SAAJ

Hi Guys,

Today, I am going to show that how you can consume a SOAP WS using SAAJ framework. SAAJ is shipped with JSE 1.6 and above.

What is SAAJ?

SOAP with Attachments API for Java (SAAJ) is mainly used for dealing directly with SOAP Request/Response messages which happens behind the scenes in any Web Service API. It allows the developers to directly send and receive soap messages instead of using JAX-WS.

To know more about SAAJ framework, please check official documentation – http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/5/tutorial/doc/bnbhg.html

I am going to use an open service available at http://www.webservicex.net/. We will be calling Geo IP method. This method is for fetching the country name and its code based on the IP address supplied as input. . You can get the complete WSDL here – http://www.webservicex.net/geoipservice.asmx?WSDL.

First of all, you need to build the SOAP request message that we need to send. To know how the SOAP request should like, you can used Soap UI tool. The required SOAP request message for GeoIP looks like below:

<soapenv:envelope xmlns:web="http://www.webservicex.net/" xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soapenv:header> </soapenv:header>
   <soapenv:body>
      <web:getgeoip>        
         <web:ipaddress>172.168.0.45</web:ipaddress>
      </web:getgeoip>
   </soapenv:body>
</soapenv:envelope>

Now let’s see how you need to construct this message using SAAJ framework and send the request: SAAJSoapClient.java

import javax.xml.soap.*;

public class SAAJSoapClient {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {
        // Create SOAP Connection
        SOAPConnectionFactory soapConnectionFactory = SOAPConnectionFactory.newInstance();
        SOAPConnection soapConnection = soapConnectionFactory.createConnection();

        // Send SOAP Message to SOAP Server
        String wsdlURL = "http://www.webservicex.net/geoipservice.asmx?WSDL";
        SOAPMessage soapResponse = soapConnection.call(createSOAPRequest(), wsdlURL);

        // print SOAP Response
        System.out.print("Response SOAP Message:");
        soapResponse.writeTo(System.out);

        soapConnection.close();
    }

    /**
     * Creat SOAP Request message
     * 
     *  Construct SOAP Request Message:
        <soapenv:envelope xmlns:web="http://www.webservicex.net/" xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
               <soapenv:header></soapenv:header>
               <soapenv:body>
                      <web:getgeoip>
                         <web:ipaddress>172.168.0.45</web:ipaddress>
                      </web:getgeoip>
               </soapenv:body>
        </soapenv:envelope>
     * @return
     * @throws Exception
     */
    private static SOAPMessage createSOAPRequest() throws Exception {
        MessageFactory messageFactory = MessageFactory.newInstance();
        SOAPMessage soapMessage = messageFactory.createMessage();
        SOAPPart soapPart = soapMessage.getSOAPPart();

        String serverURI = "http://www.webservicex.net/";

        /** 
         * Construct SOAP Envelope
         * <soapenv:envelope xmlns:web="http://www.webservicex.net/" xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"></soapenv:envelope>
         *  
         */
        SOAPEnvelope envelope = soapPart.getEnvelope();
        envelope.addNamespaceDeclaration("web", serverURI);

        /**
         * Construct SOAP Body 
         * 
         * <soapenv:body>
                      <web:getgeoip>
                         <web:ipaddress>172.168.0.45</web:ipaddress>
                      </web:getgeoip>
               </soapenv:body>
         *  
         */
        SOAPBody soapBody = envelope.getBody();
        SOAPElement soapBodyElem = soapBody.addChildElement("GetGeoIP", "web");
        SOAPElement soapBodyElem1 = soapBodyElem.addChildElement("IPAddress", "web");
        soapBodyElem1.addTextNode("172.168.0.45");

        /**
         * Construct SOAP Header
         * 
         * <soapenv:header></soapenv:header>
         */
        MimeHeaders headers = soapMessage.getMimeHeaders();
        headers.addHeader("SOAPAction", serverURI  + "GetGeoIP");

            soapMessage.saveChanges();

        /* Print the request message */
        System.out.print("Request SOAP Message:");
        soapMessage.writeTo(System.out);
        System.out.println();

        return soapMessage;
    }
}

Execute it. You will see SOAP response message in your console.

<soap:envelope xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soap:body>
      <getgeoipresponse xmlns="http://www.webservicex.net/">
         <getgeoipresult>
            <returncode>1</returncode>
            <ip>172.168.0.45</ip>
            <returncodedetails>Success</returncodedetails>
            <countryname>United States</countryname>
            <countrycode>USA</countrycode>
         </getgeoipresult>
      </getgeoipresponse>
   </soap:body>
</soap:envelope>

That is it. Easy isn’t it? Hope you guys likes it.

Soon, I will create a generic class for SOAP WS consumption based on SAAJ framework and will upload it on GitHub. Just stay tuned.
That’s it guys for today. Critics/suggestions are very much welcome.

Have a nice day ahead.

Cheers!