SOAP Web Services

Consume SOAP web services with BoxLang's fluent SOAP client

New in BoxLang 1.8.0 - BoxLang provides a powerful, fluent SOAP client for consuming SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2 web services. The soap() BIF automatically parses WSDL documents, discovers available operations, and provides intelligent type conversion between SOAP XML and BoxLang types.

🚀 Quick Start

// Create SOAP client from WSDL
ws = soap( "http://webservices.oorsprong.org/websamples.countryinfo/CountryInfoService.wso?WSDL" );

// Invoke operations using invoke() method
countries = ws.invoke( "ListOfContinentsByName" );
dump( countries );

// Pass arguments as struct
countryInfo = ws.invoke( "CountryISOCode", { sCountryName: "United States" } );
dump( countryInfo );

📋 Key Features

• 🔍 Automatic WSDL Parsing - Discovers operations, parameters, and types from WSDL

• 🎯 Simple Invocation API - Call SOAP operations using the invoke() method

• 🔄 Automatic Type Conversion - Converts SOAP XML types to BoxLang types automatically

• 📦 Smart Response Unwrapping - Automatically unwraps single-property SOAP responses

• 🔒 Authentication Support - HTTP Basic Auth for secured services

• ⏱️ Configurable Timeouts - Control request timeouts

• 📊 SOAP 1.1 & 1.2 - Supports both SOAP versions with automatic detection

• 🔧 Custom Headers - Add custom HTTP headers as needed

• 📈 Statistics Tracking - Monitor invocations, successes, and failures

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📋 Table of Contents

• Quick Start

• Key Features

• The soap() BIF

• Configuration Methods

• Invoking SOAP Operations

• Real-World Examples

• Client Information Methods

• Automatic Type Conversion

• WSDL Discovery

• Error Handling

• Best Practices

• Advanced Usage

• SOAP vs REST

• Summary

🎯 The soap() BIF

The soap() BIF creates a fluent SOAP client from a WSDL URL. The client automatically discovers available operations and allows you to invoke them using the invoke() method.

Basic Syntax

soapClient = soap( wsdlUrl );

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
wsdlUrl	string	Yes	The URL to the WSDL document describing the web service

Return Value

Returns a BoxSoapClient instance configured with all operations discovered from the WSDL.

---

🔧 Configuration Methods

The SOAP client provides fluent configuration methods that can be chained:

timeout( seconds )

Set the request timeout in seconds.

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
    .timeout( 60 ); // 60 second timeout

withBasicAuth( username, password )

Configure HTTP Basic Authentication for secured services.

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
    .withBasicAuth( "myuser", "mypassword" );

header( name, value )

Add a custom HTTP header to all requests.

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
    .header( "X-API-Key", "your-api-key" )
    .header( "X-Client-Version", "1.0" );

soapVersion( version )

Override the SOAP version (normally auto-detected from WSDL).

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
    .soapVersion( "1.2" ); // Force SOAP 1.2

Valid values: "1.1" or "1.2"

Chaining Configuration

All configuration methods return the client instance for fluent chaining:

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
    .timeout( 30 )
    .withBasicAuth( "user", "pass" )
    .header( "X-Custom", "value" )
    .soapVersion( "1.2" );

// Now invoke operations
result = ws.myOperation( args );

---

🎬 Invoking SOAP Operations

Once you have a SOAP client, invoke operations using the invoke() method:

Syntax

// No arguments
result = ws.invoke( "operationName" );

// Single argument
result = ws.invoke( "operationName", "singleValue" );

// Struct/map of named arguments
result = ws.invoke( "operationName", { arg1: "value1", arg2: "value2" } );

// Array of positional arguments
result = ws.invoke( "operationName", [ "value1", "value2" ] );

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
operationName	string	Yes	The name of the SOAP operation to invoke
args	any	No	Arguments for the operation - can be a single value, struct/map of named arguments, or array of positional arguments

---

🌍 Real-World Examples

Example 1: Country Information Service

// Create client from public WSDL
ws = soap( "http://webservices.oorsprong.org/websamples.countryinfo/CountryInfoService.wso?WSDL" );

// Get list of continents
continents = ws.invoke( "ListOfContinentsByName" );
dump( continents );

// Get country info by ISO code
countryInfo = ws.invoke( "CountryISOCode", { sCountryName: "United States" } );
println( "ISO Code: " & countryInfo );

// Get capital city
capital = ws.invoke( "CapitalCity", { sCountryISOCode: "US" } );
println( "Capital: " & capital );

// Get country currency
currency = ws.invoke( "CountryCurrency", { sCountryISOCode: "US" } );
dump( currency );

Example 2: Weather Service

// Weather service with authentication
ws = soap( "http://example.com/weather.wsdl" )
    .withBasicAuth( "apiuser", "apipass" )
    .timeout( 30 );

// Get weather by zip code
weather = ws.invoke( "GetWeatherByZipCode", { zipCode: "90210" } );

println( "Temperature: " & weather.temperature & "°F" );
println( "Conditions: " & weather.conditions );
println( "Humidity: " & weather.humidity & "%" );

Example 3: Payment Gateway

// Secure payment service
ws = soap( "https://secure.paymentgateway.com/api/v1?wsdl" )
    .withBasicAuth( "merchant_id", "api_secret" )
    .header( "X-Client-ID", "your-client-id" )
    .timeout( 45 );

// Process payment
result = ws.invoke( "ProcessPayment", {
    amount: 99.99,
    currency: "USD",
    cardNumber: "4111111111111111",
    expiryMonth: 12,
    expiryYear: 2025,
    cvv: "123",
    billingAddress: {
        street: "123 Main St",
        city: "Anytown",
        state: "CA",
        zip: "12345"
    }
} );

if ( result.approved ) {
    println( "Payment approved! Transaction ID: " & result.transactionId );
} else {
    println( "Payment declined: " & result.declineReason );
}

Example 4: CRM Integration

// Salesforce SOAP API example
ws = soap( "https://login.salesforce.com/services/Soap/u/58.0" )
    .timeout( 60 )
    .header( "X-SFDC-Session", sessionId );

// Query accounts
accounts = ws.invoke( "query", {
    queryString: "SELECT Id, Name, Industry FROM Account WHERE Industry = 'Technology' LIMIT 10"
} );

// Create new contact
newContact = ws.invoke( "create", {
    sObjectType: "Contact",
    FirstName: "John",
    LastName: "Doe",
    Email: "[email protected]",
    AccountId: "001XX000003DHJ0"
} );

println( "Created contact with ID: " & newContact.id );

Example 5: Shipping Service

// UPS/FedEx-style shipping service
ws = soap( "https://shipping.example.com/ShipService?wsdl" )
    .withBasicAuth( "account_number", "api_key" )
    .timeout( 30 );

// Get shipping rates
rates = ws.invoke( "GetShippingRates", {
    origin: {
        address: "123 Warehouse Rd",
        city: "Los Angeles",
        state: "CA",
        zip: "90001"
    },
    destination: {
        address: "456 Customer St",
        city: "New York",
        state: "NY",
        zip: "10001"
    },
    package: {
        weight: 5.5,
        length: 12,
        width: 10,
        height: 8,
        units: "inches"
    }
} );

// Display rates
rates.each( ( rate ) => {
    println( "#rate.service#: $#rate.cost# (#rate.deliveryDays# days)" );
} );

// Create shipment
shipment = ws.invoke( "CreateShipment", {
    service: "GROUND",
    origin: originAddress,
    destination: destAddress,
    package: packageDetails
} );

println( "Tracking number: " & shipment.trackingNumber );

---

📊 Client Information Methods

The SOAP client provides several methods to inspect and understand the web service:

getOperationNames()

Returns an array of all available operation names.

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" );
operations = ws.getOperationNames();
dump( operations );
// Output: ["operationOne", "operationTwo", "operationThree"]

hasOperation( operationName )

Check if a specific operation exists.

if ( ws.hasOperation( "GetCustomer" ) ) {
    customer = ws.invoke( "GetCustomer", { customerId: 123 } );
}

getOperationInfo( operationName )

Get detailed information about a specific operation.

info = ws.getOperationInfo( "GetCustomer" );
dump( info );
// Output:
// {
//     name: "GetCustomer",
//     soapAction: "http://example.com/GetCustomer",
//     inputMessage: "GetCustomerRequest",
//     outputMessage: "GetCustomerResponse",
//     inputParameters: [
//         { name: "customerId", type: "int", namespace: "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" }
//     ],
//     outputParameters: [
//         { name: "customer", type: "Customer", namespace: "http://example.com/types" }
//     ]
// }

getStatistics()

Get client usage statistics.

stats = ws.getStatistics();
dump( stats );
// Output:
// {
//     totalInvocations: 42,
//     successfulInvocations: 40,
//     failedInvocations: 2,
//     wsdlUrl: "http://example.com/service.wsdl",
//     serviceEndpoint: "http://example.com/service",
//     operationCount: 15,
//     createdAt: "2024-12-05T10:30:00Z"
// }

toStruct()

Convert the entire client to a struct representation.

clientInfo = ws.toStruct();
dump( clientInfo );
// Output:
// {
//     wsdlUrl: "http://example.com/service.wsdl",
//     serviceEndpoint: "http://example.com/service",
//     serviceName: "MyService",
//     targetNamespace: "http://example.com/",
//     bindingStyle: "document",
//     operations: [...],
//     soapVersion: "1.1",
//     timeout: 30,
//     statistics: {...}
// }

---

🔄 Automatic Type Conversion

One of the most powerful features of BoxLang's SOAP client is automatic type conversion between SOAP XML types and BoxLang types.

XML Schema Types to BoxLang

BoxLang automatically converts XML Schema types to appropriate BoxLang types:

XML Schema Type	BoxLang Type	Example
xsd:string	String	"hello"
xsd:int, xsd:integer	Integer	42
xsd:long	Long	9223372036854775807
xsd:float, xsd:double, xsd:decimal	Double	3.14159
xsd:boolean	Boolean	true, false
xsd:date, xsd:dateTime	DateTime	now()
xsd:base64Binary	ByteArray	Binary data
Complex types	Struct	{ field1: "value", field2: 123 }
Arrays/Lists	Array	["item1", "item2", "item3"]

Intelligent Casting

When xsi:type information is present in the SOAP response, BoxLang uses it to cast values accurately:

<!-- SOAP Response -->
<result xsi:type="xsd:int">42</result>

// BoxLang automatically converts to integer
result = ws.invoke( "myOperation" ); // result = 42 (integer, not "42" string)

Without xsi:type, BoxLang attempts intelligent casting:

// "123" → 123 (integer)
// "3.14" → 3.14 (double)
// "true" → true (boolean)
// "2024-12-05T10:30:00Z" → DateTime object
// "hello" → "hello" (string - no casting needed)

Complex Type Conversion

SOAP complex types are automatically converted to BoxLang structs:

<!-- SOAP Response -->
<Customer>
    <Id>12345</Id>
    <Name>John Doe</Name>
    <Email>[email protected]</Email>
    <Active>true</Active>
    <Balance>1234.56</Balance>
</Customer>

// Automatically becomes:
customer = {
    Id: 12345,              // Integer
    Name: "John Doe",       // String
    Email: "[email protected]", // String
    Active: true,           // Boolean
    Balance: 1234.56        // Double
};

Array Conversion

SOAP arrays are automatically converted to BoxLang arrays:

<!-- SOAP Response -->
<ArrayOfString>
    <string>Apple</string>
    <string>Banana</string>
    <string>Cherry</string>
</ArrayOfString>

// Automatically becomes:
fruits = [ "Apple", "Banana", "Cherry" ];

Response Unwrapping

Many SOAP services wrap the actual result in a container element. BoxLang automatically unwraps single-property structs:

<!-- SOAP Response -->
<GetCustomerResponse>
    <GetCustomerResult>
        <Customer>
            <Id>12345</Id>
            <Name>John Doe</Name>
        </Customer>
    </GetCustomerResult>
</GetCustomerResponse>

// Without unwrapping, you'd get:
// { GetCustomerResult: { Customer: { Id: 12345, Name: "John Doe" } } }

// With automatic unwrapping (default), you get:
// { Customer: { Id: 12345, Name: "John Doe" } }

// Or even further unwrapped to:
// { Id: 12345, Name: "John Doe" }

This makes working with SOAP responses much more intuitive!

---

🔍 WSDL Discovery

BoxLang automatically parses WSDL documents and discovers:

• Service endpoint - Where to send SOAP requests

• Operations - Available methods you can call

• Input parameters - Required and optional arguments for each operation

• Output types - Return types and structure

• SOAP version - 1.1 or 1.2 (auto-detected from binding)

• Binding style - Document/literal, RPC/encoded, etc.

Example: Inspecting a Service

ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" );

// Get service info
info = ws.toStruct();
println( "Service: " & info.serviceName );
println( "Endpoint: " & info.serviceEndpoint );
println( "SOAP Version: " & info.soapVersion );
println( "Operations: " & info.operations.len() );

// List all operations
operations = ws.getOperationNames();
operations.each( ( op ) => {
    opInfo = ws.getOperationInfo( op );
    println( "\n#op#:" );
    println( "  Input: #opInfo.inputParameters.len()# parameters" );
    opInfo.inputParameters.each( ( param ) => {
        println( "    - #param.name# (#param.type#)" );
    } );
} );

---

⚠️ Error Handling

SOAP faults are automatically converted to BoxLang exceptions:

try {
    result = ws.invoke( "ProcessPayment", {
        amount: 99.99,
        cardNumber: "invalid"
    } );
} catch ( any e ) {
    // SOAP Fault becomes BoxLang exception
    println( "SOAP Error: " & e.message );
    // Output: "SOAP Fault: [Client.InvalidCardNumber] Invalid credit card number - Card validation failed"

    // Access fault details
    println( "Type: " & e.type );
    println( "Detail: " & e.detail );
}

SOAP Fault Structure

SOAP faults contain:

• Fault Code - Standard SOAP fault code (Client, Server, etc.)

• Fault String - Human-readable error message

• Fault Detail - Additional error details from the service

BoxLang combines these into a single exception message for easy handling.

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💡 Best Practices

SOAP Client Best Practices:

1. Cache clients - Create SOAP clients once and reuse them (WSDL parsing is expensive)

2. Set appropriate timeouts - SOAP calls can be slow, adjust timeouts accordingly

3. Handle faults gracefully - Always wrap SOAP calls in try-catch blocks

4. Inspect operations first - Use getOperationNames() to see what's available

5. Check operation info - Use getOperationInfo() to understand parameters before calling

6. Use named arguments - Struct arguments are clearer than positional arrays

7. Monitor statistics - Track invocations and failures with getStatistics()

8. Secure credentials - Never hardcode passwords, use environment variables or config files

9. Test with public WSDLs - Start with known working services for testing

10. Log SOAP requests - Enable debug logging to see raw SOAP XML for troubleshooting

Performance Tips:

• WSDL parsing happens once per client creation

• Clients are automatically cached by the HttpService

• Reuse clients across multiple invocations for best performance

• Consider connection pooling for high-volume SOAP calls

Common Gotchas:

• Case sensitivity - SOAP operation names are case-sensitive, match them exactly

• Null values - Some SOAP services don't handle null/empty values well

• Namespace issues - If operations aren't discovered, check WSDL namespace definitions

• Authentication - Some services require API keys in headers, not just basic auth

• SOAP version - Mismatched SOAP versions cause cryptic errors

• Timeout defaults - Default timeout is 30 seconds, increase for slow services

---

🔧 Advanced Usage

Programmatic Operation Discovery

Build dynamic SOAP integrations by discovering operations at runtime:

function callSoapOperation( wsdlUrl, operationName, args = {} ) {
    ws = soap( wsdlUrl );

    if ( !ws.hasOperation( operationName ) ) {
        throw( type="InvalidOperation", message="Operation '#operationName#' not found" );
    }

    opInfo = ws.getOperationInfo( operationName );

    // Log what we're about to call
    logger.info( "Calling #operationName# with #args.keyArray().len()# arguments" );

    try {
        result = ws.invoke( operationName, args );
        logger.info( "Success: #operationName#" );
        return result;
    } catch ( any e ) {
        logger.error( "SOAP fault in #operationName#: #e.message#" );
        rethrow;
    }
}

// Use it
result = callSoapOperation(
    "http://example.com/service.wsdl",
    "GetCustomer",
    { customerId: 123 }
);

Building a SOAP Service Wrapper

Create a reusable service class:

class WeatherService {
    property name="client";
    property name="logger";

    function init( apiKey ) {
        variables.logger = getLogger();
        variables.client = soap( "http://api.weather.com/service.wsdl" )
            .withBasicAuth( "api", apiKey )
            .timeout( 30 );

        logger.info( "WeatherService initialized with #client.getOperationNames().len()# operations" );

        return this;
    }

    function getCurrentWeather( zipCode ) {
        try {
            return client.invoke( "GetCurrentWeather", { zipCode: zipCode } );
        } catch ( any e ) {
            logger.error( "Failed to get weather for #zipCode#: #e.message#" );
            // Return default/cached data or rethrow
            throw( type="WeatherServiceError", message="Unable to retrieve weather data" );
        }
    }

    function getForecast( zipCode, days = 5 ) {
        return client.invoke( "GetForecast", {
            zipCode: zipCode,
            days: days
        } );
    }

    function getStatistics() {
        return client.getStatistics();
    }
}

// Use it
weatherService = new WeatherService( "your-api-key" );
current = weatherService.getCurrentWeather( "90210" );
forecast = weatherService.getForecast( "90210", 7 );

Handling Multiple Services

Manage multiple SOAP services efficiently:

class SoapServiceManager {
    property name="services" type="struct";

    function init() {
        variables.services = {};
        return this;
    }

    function registerService( name, wsdlUrl, config = {} ) {
        client = soap( wsdlUrl );

        if ( structKeyExists( config, "username" ) && structKeyExists( config, "password" ) ) {
            client.withBasicAuth( config.username, config.password );
        }

        if ( structKeyExists( config, "timeout" ) ) {
            client.timeout( config.timeout );
        }

        if ( structKeyExists( config, "headers" ) ) {
            config.headers.each( ( name, value ) => {
                client.header( name, value );
            } );
        }

        variables.services[ name ] = client;
        return this;
    }

    function getService( name ) {
        if ( !structKeyExists( variables.services, name ) ) {
            throw( type="ServiceNotFound", message="Service '#name#' not registered" );
        }
        return variables.services[ name ];
    }

    function getAllStatistics() {
        stats = {};
        variables.services.each( ( name, client ) => {
            stats[ name ] = client.getStatistics();
        } );
        return stats;
    }
}

// Use it
manager = new SoapServiceManager()
    .registerService( "weather", "http://api.weather.com/service.wsdl", {
        username: "api",
        password: "key123",
        timeout: 30
    } )
    .registerService( "shipping", "http://shipping.example.com/service.wsdl", {
        username: "account",
        password: "secret",
        timeout: 45,
        headers: { "X-API-Version": "2.0" }
    } );

// Call services
weather = manager.getService( "weather" ).invoke( "GetCurrentWeather", { zipCode: "90210" } );
rates = manager.getService( "shipping" ).invoke( "GetShippingRates", shippingDetails );

// Monitor all services
dump( manager.getAllStatistics() );

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📚 SOAP vs REST

While BoxLang excels at both SOAP and REST APIs, here's when to choose each:

Use SOAP When:

• ✅ Working with legacy enterprise systems

• ✅ Need WS-Security, WS-ReliableMessaging, or other WS-* standards

• ✅ Strict contracts and type safety required

• ✅ WSDL-based service discovery is beneficial

• ✅ Working with financial, healthcare, or government systems

Use REST (http() BIF) When:

• ✅ Building modern web APIs

• ✅ Need lightweight, fast communication

• ✅ JSON is preferred over XML

• ✅ Stateless operations are sufficient

• ✅ HTTP caching and standard methods are beneficial

BoxLang provides excellent support for both! Use:

• soap() BIF for SOAP web services

• http() BIF for RESTful APIs

• Both support authentication, timeouts, and error handling

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🎯 Summary

BoxLang's SOAP support provides:

• 🔍 Automatic WSDL discovery - Parse and understand services automatically

• 🎯 Fluent invocation - Call SOAP operations like native BoxLang methods

• 🔄 Intelligent type conversion - SOAP XML types automatically become BoxLang types

• 📦 Smart unwrapping - Clean, intuitive response structures

• 🔒 Authentication support - HTTP Basic Auth built-in

• ⏱️ Configurable behavior - Timeouts, headers, SOAP versions

• 📊 Service inspection - Discover operations and parameters programmatically

• ⚠️ Error handling - SOAP faults become BoxLang exceptions

• 📈 Statistics tracking - Monitor usage and performance

Whether you're integrating with legacy enterprise systems, consuming third-party SOAP APIs, or building service-oriented architectures, BoxLang's SOAP client makes it simple and elegant.

// It's this easy:
ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" );
result = ws.myOperation( args );