SOAP Compat +

Premium SOAP webservices compatibility module for high-performance parsing and generation of delimited datasets in BoxLang+ applications.

This component is only available to Boxlang+/++ subscribers only but can be installed in conjunction with the bx-plus Module with a limited trial.

The bx-compat-soap module provides comprehensive SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) web services functionality for BoxLang applications. It provides Compatibility for existing CFML Axis-based web services functionality. This module enables you to create and manage SOAP-based web services with automatic WSDL generation, request/response handling, and full support for complex data types.

Features

• 🌐 Automatic WSDL Generation - Generate standards-compliant WSDL documents from BoxLang classes

• 🔄 SOAP Request/Response Handling - Parse and process SOAP envelopes with namespace support

• 🎯 Type Coercion - Automatic type conversion between SOAP XML types and BoxLang types

• 📋 Metadata Extraction - Extract function metadata for WSDL operation definitions

• 🚀 Web Context Support - Full integration with BoxLang web request/response cycle

• ⚡ SOAPAction Routing - Automatic routing based on SOAPAction headers or XML body

Installation

Install the module using CommandBox:

box install bx-compat-soap

Usage

Creating a SOAP Web Service

To create a SOAP web service, simply create a BoxLang class with remote methods:

/**
 * Calculator Web Service
 */
class {
    
    /**
     * Add two numbers
     * @a First number
     * @b Second number
     * @return The sum
     */
    remote numeric function add( required numeric a, required numeric b ) {
        return arguments.a + arguments.b;
    }
    
    /**
     * Get user information
     * @userId The user ID to lookup
     * @return User struct
     */
    remote struct function getUser( required string userId ) {
        return {
            id: arguments.userId,
            name: "John Doe",
            email: "[email protected]"
        };
    }
    
    /**
     * Get list of users
     * @limit Maximum number of users to return
     * @return Array of user structs
     */
    remote array function getUsers( numeric limit = 10 ) {
        var users = [];
        for( var i = 1; i <= arguments.limit; i++ ) {
            users.append({
                id: i,
                name: "User #i#"
            });
        }
        return users;
    }
    
    /**
     * This method is NOT accessible via SOAP (not marked as remote)
     */
    public numeric function multiply( required numeric a, required numeric b ) {
        return arguments.a * arguments.b;
    }
}

Accessing the WSDL

The WSDL is automatically generated and accessible via the ?wsdl parameter:

http://yourserver/path/to/Calculator.bx?wsdl

SOAP XML Request Format

Send SOAP requests to your service endpoint using standard SOAP envelope format:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <soapenv:Body>
        <ns1:add soapenv:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
            xmlns:ns1="http://DefaultNamespace">
            <a xsi:type="xsd:double">5.0</a>
            <b xsi:type="xsd:double">10.0</b>
        </ns1:add>
    </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

SOAP Response Format

The service returns standard SOAP responses:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
    <soap:Body>
        <addResponse xmlns="http://boxlang.ortussolutions.com/soap/">
            <return>15.0</return>
        </addResponse>
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Error Handling (SOAP Faults)

Errors are returned as standard SOAP faults:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
    <soap:Body>
        <soap:Fault>
            <faultcode>Server</faultcode>
            <faultstring>Method not found or not accessible: multiply</faultstring>
            <detail>Only methods with access="remote" can be invoked via SOAP</detail>
        </soap:Fault>
    </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Consuming SOAP Web Services

Using createObject()

The easiest way to consume a SOAP web service is using BoxLang's createObject() function:

// Create a SOAP web service instance
ws = createObject( "webservice", "http://example.com/Calculator.bx?wsdl" );

// Call methods directly on the web service object
result = ws.add( 5, 10 );
writeOutput( "5 + 10 = #result#" );

// Call methods with named arguments
user = ws.getUser( userId = "123" );
writeOutput( "User: #user.name# (#user.email#)" );

// Get multiple results
users = ws.getUsers( limit = 5 );
for( user in users ) {
    writeOutput( "#user.id#: #user.name#<br>" );
}

Advanced SOAP Client Usage

For more control over the SOAP request, you can configure the web service instance:

// Create web service with custom configuration
ws = createObject( 
    "webservice", 
    "http://example.com/Calculator.bx?wsdl",
    {
        timeout: 30,
        username: "admin",
        password: "secret"
    }
);

// Call methods
result = ws.complexCalculation( 
    operation = "multiply",
    values = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
);

Handling SOAP Faults

SOAP faults are automatically converted to BoxLang exceptions:

try {
    ws = createObject( "webservice", "http://example.com/Calculator.bx?wsdl" );
    
    // Try to call a non-remote method (will throw exception)
    result = ws.multiply( 5, 10 );
    
} catch( any e ) {
    writeOutput( "SOAP Error: #e.message#" );
    writeOutput( "Detail: #e.detail#" );
}

Supported Data Types

Simple Types

• string → xsd:string

• numeric → xsd:double

• boolean → xsd:boolean

• date → xsd:dateTime

Complex Types

• binary → xsd:base64Binary

• struct → apachesoap:map or xsd:complexType

• array → Array type with sequential items

• any → xsd:anyType