How WS-Addressing Action header is calculated ?

W3C WS-Addressing WSDL Binding defines the sequence to follow in order to calculate the value of Action header to be sent in a client outbound SOAP message or expected in a server inbound SOAP message. The sequence is explained below:

1. If wsaw:Action is explicitly associated with wsdl:input message, then use that. For example,

<portType name="wsaTestPortType">
  <operation name="echo">
    <input message="service:wsaEchoInMessage" wsaw:Action="http://example.org/action/echoIn"/>
    <output message="service:wsaEchoOutMessage" wsaw:Action="http://example.org/action/echoOut"/>
  </operation>
</portType>

The expected (or generated) Action in this case is "http://example.org/action/echoIn".

2. If wsaw:Action is not specified on the wsdl:input message and non-empty soapAction is specified on wsdl:binding/wsdl:operation, then use that. For example,

<wsdl:binding name="wsaTestSoap11Binding" type="service:wsaTestPortType">
<soap:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
  <operation name="echo">
    <soap:operation style="document" soapAction="http://example.org/soapaction/echoIn"/>
    <input>
      <soap:body use="literal"/>
    </input>
    <output>
      <soap:body use="literal"/>
    </output>
  </operation>

The expected (or generated) Action in this case is "http://example.org/soapaction/echoIn".

3. If wsaw:Action is not specified on the wsdl:input message and either soapAction is not specified or specified with empty string as it's value, then use the default action pattern. For example,

<definitions targetNamespace="http://example.org/wsaTestService" ...>
  ...
  <portType name="wsaTestPortType">
    <operation name="echo">
      <input message="service:wsaEchoInMessage"/>
      <output message="service:wsaEchoOutMessage"/>
    </operation>
  </portType>
  ...
  <binding name="..." type="tns:wsaTestPortType">
    <soap:binding style="document" transport="..."/>
    <operation name="echo">
      <soap:operation soapAction="">
      ...
    </operation>
  </binding>
</definitions>

In the binding above, soapAction's value is an empty string. The binding could alternatively be defined as (no soapAction):

<binding name="..." type="tns:wsaTestPortType">
  <soap:binding style="document" transport="...">
  <operation name="echo">
    <soap:operation>
    ...
  </operation>
</binding>

The expected (or generated) Action in either case is "http://example.org/wsaTestService/wsaTestPortType/echoRequest".

In all the above cases, WSIT-enabled endpoint generates the correct Action header on the client outbound message and expects the same on the server inbound.

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