Perl and Complex SOAP Request

Question

I need to make a somewhat complex soap query using Perl, preferably using SOAP::Lite. I know the service is active and have been successful in getting errors back from the other end. Here is the soap query I need to make:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<soap:Body>
    <GetCategories xmlns="http://webservices.uship.com">
        <token>string</token>
    </GetCategories>
</soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

I've researched this via Google to no avail.

Update: The code used so far is

use SOAP::Lite; 
print SOAP::Lite
 -> uri('webservices.uship.com/uShipsvc.asmx?WSDL';)
 -> proxy('http:/webservices.uship.com')
 -> GetCategories('myToken')
 -> result;

This returns

500 bad hostname, 500 Can't connect to :80 (Bad hostname '') at soap2.pl line 2

Answer 1

From SOAP::Lite's Getting Started Guide your code should look something like:

#!perl -w
use SOAP::Lite;
print SOAP::Lite                                            
  uri('http://www.soaplite.com/Temperatures')
  proxy('http://webservices.uship.com')
  GetCategories('string')
  result;

Plug in the URI for the returned object in uri()

Answer 2

Consider using SOAP::Trace to trace the execution of SOAP calls

You can include this use statement in your lib/script:

use SOAP::Lite +trace => [qw/ debug method fault /];

This can help you debug your SOAP call.

Answer 3

I had issues making SOAP calls because the server that I was talking to was .NET, which apparently has communication problems with SOAP::Lite: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms995764.aspx#soapliteperl_topic3

Even if your server isn't .NET, this is another way to make your call (that works for me):

# proxy and uri strings should NOT have trialing slashes
my $_uri = 'http://youruri.com/whatever';
my $_proxy = 'http://yourproxy.com/something.asmx';
my $methodName = 'GetCategories';
my @params = (
        SOAP::Data->name( 'token'=>'string' ),
);

my $handle = SOAP::Lite
    ->uri( $_uri )
    ->proxy( $_proxy , timeout => 30, keep_alive => 1 )
    ->on_action( sub{ $_uri . "/" . $_[1] } );
my $method = SOAP::Data
    ->name( $methodName )
    ->attr( {xmlns => $_uri . "/"} );
my $rv = $handle->call( $method=>@params );
if( $rv->fault() ){
    print "SOAP Error ($methodName) :: " . $handle->transport()->status() . "\n\t" . $rv->faultcode() . ": " . $rv->faultstring();
} else {
    print $rv->result();
}

Also, looking at your comment to one of the answers

codeuse SOAP::Lite; print SOAP::Lite -> uri('webservices.uship.com/uShipsvc.asmx?WSDL';) -> proxy('http:/webservices.uship.com') -> GetCategories('myToken') -> result;

You might have the uri and proxy backwards. I.e., the proxy should be your .asmx (without the "?WSDL"). If you want to you the ?WSDL, it's a completely different method of connecting than using the uri+proxy. See: http://guide.soaplite.com/#access%20with%20service%20description%20%28wsdl%29

Answer 4

You need to correct your URIs, with http:/webservices.uship.com I get 500 No Host option provided at test-soap.pl line 7. Change it to this:

use SOAP::Lite; 
print SOAP::Lite
 -> uri('http://webservices.uship.com/uShipsvc.asmx?WSDL')
 -> proxy('http://webservices.uship.com')
 -> GetCategories('myToken')
 -> result;