Wsdl - Webservice Client

[Axel Fuchs]

Hi, I am learning how to use WSDL but none of the Ruby Cookbook book
samples work any longer. So I created this example:

#!/usr/bin/ruby

require 'soap/wsdlDriver'
wsdl='http://www.abundanttech.com/webservices/deadoralive/deadoralive.wsdl'
driver=SOAP::WSDLDriverFactory.new(wsdl).create_rpc_driver

XSD::Charset.encoding = 'UTF8'
result = driver.getTodaysBirthdays(nil)

The question is: How do I access the elements of result in this example
and print them out? When I use MAC wsdl client, it look like result is a
XML structure.

Thanks!

 

[Brian Candler]

Hi, I am learning how to use WSDL but none of the Ruby Cookbook book
samples work any longer. So I created this example:

#!/usr/bin/ruby

require 'soap/wsdlDriver'
wsdl='http://www.abundanttech.com/webservices/deadoralive/deadoralive.wsdl'
driver=SOAP::WSDLDriverFactory.new(wsdl).create_rpc_driver

XSD::Charset.encoding = 'UTF8'
result = driver.getTodaysBirthdays(nil)

The question is: How do I access the elements of result in this example
and print them out? When I use MAC wsdl client, it look like result is a
XML structure.

I'm afraid I can't answer your question directly, but the soap4r which
comes bundled with ruby (1.8 at least) is very old. It's better if you
install the latest soap4r from rubygems:

sudo gem install soap4r

then you get a bunch of useful stuff, including wsdl2ruby.rb. Create an
empty directory, cd into it, then run this:

wget
http://www.abundanttech.com/webservices/deadoralive/deadoralive.wsdl
wsdl2ruby.rb --wsdl deadoralive.wsdl --type client

This creates a bunch of interface code including sample client,
DeadOrAliveClient.rb

Add the following two lines to the top of DeadOrAliveClient.rb (to make
it use the rubygems version of soap4r, not the old bundled one)

require 'rubygems'
gem 'soap4r'

Then run it using:

ruby DeadOrAliveClient.rb
ruby -d DeadOrAliveClient.rb # to get wiredumps

Note that the DeadOrAliveHttpGet port/binding isn't implemented (and the
client barfs when it gets to that point). Just use the DeadOrAliveSoap
interface.

HTH,

Brian.

 

[Axel Fuchs]

Brian,
I really appreciate your help. I tried your steps and they all work. I
can see all the data in the wire dump. But how can I get to it using one
of these methods? There must be a way to extract the information.

Thanks,
Axel

 

[Brian Candler]

I
can see all the data in the wire dump. But how can I get to it using one
of these methods? There must be a way to extract the information.

It's simply the result from the method call, which is an object of class
GetTodaysBirthdaysResponse.

Unfortunately, soap4r can't break it down further for you, because the
stupid WSDL doesn't say any more than that it contains a
getTodaysBirthdaysResult which is simply a collection of any XML
elements (note <s:any />)

<s:element name="getTodaysBirthdaysResponse">
<s:complexType>
<s:sequence>
<s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"
name="getTodaysBirthdaysResult">
<s:complexType>
<s:sequence>
<s:element ref="s:schema" />
<s:any />
</s:sequence>
</s:complexType>
</s:element>
</s:sequence>
</s:complexType>
</s:element>

So this is essentially untyped XML. soap4r can't build you an OO
interface into this; you just have to dig down into the returned XML for
yourself, like this.

$ irb --simple-prompt

=>

Wire dump:
...
=> #<GetTodaysBirthdaysResponse:0xb7620900 @getTodaysBirthdaysResult=...

result.methods - methods => ["getTodaysBirthdaysResult", "getTodaysBirthdaysResult="]
br = result.getTodaysBirthdaysResult

=> #<GetTodaysBirthdaysResponse::GetTodaysBirthdaysResult:0xb76207fc
@schema=...
@diffgram=...=> ["diffgram", "diffgram=", "__xmlele_any", "set_any", "schema",
"schema="]=> #<SOAP::Mapping::Object:0x..fdbb0aecc
{}NewDataSet=#<SOAP::Mapping::Object:0x..fdbb0abac
{}Table=[#<SOAP::Mapping::Object:0x..fdbb0ab34 {}FullName="Cunningham,
Walter"...

br.diffgram['NewDataSet'] => #<SOAP::Mapping::Object:0x..fdbb0abac {}Table=[...
br.diffgram['NewDataSet']['Table'][0]

=> #<SOAP::Mapping::Object:0x..fdbb0ab34 {}FullName="Cunningham, Walter"
{}BirthDate="03/16/1932" {}DeathDate="" {}Age="78"
{}KnownFor="Astronauts - Other" {}DeadOrAlive="Alive">

br.diffgram['NewDataSet']['Table'][0]['FullName'] => "Cunningham, Walter"

So despite all the complexity of SOAP and WSDL, it doesn't help you at
all. Why don't you suggest that they change to JSON instead

HTH,

Brian.

 

[Axel Fuchs]

Brian,
thank you very much for your help. This is really unnecessarily complex.
The only reason I am interested in SOAP is so that I can access the
patent data information from the European Patent Office (see my other
post).
Thanks again,
Axel

 

[Akshay Jangid]

Hi All,

I have created a stand alone webservice tool to access any webservice
using ruby.
Just give the url , it will show you all the available method and let u
access them.
You need ruby gem Saop4r for it. It uses WSDL2Ruby as the core
implementation.
you can download my source code from the attachment to this post or
below location :-
http://docs.google.com/uc?id=0By8L7...WJiMWQtNGEzYzdjNDBiMzU0&export=download&hl=en

The attachment is a .jpg file.Change its extension to .zip and then
unzip it.

Read the main.rb file for more instructions....
Email me at (e-mail address removed) for feedback or any queries.....

Regards,
Akshay Jangid

Attachments:
http://www.ruby-forum.com/attachment/4872/webservice_in_ruby.zip