Rama Pulavarthi's Blog

JAX-WS Customizations made easy with NetBeans 5.5

Often you need to override the default WSDL to Java bindings like changing XML Namespace to package mapping, generating asynchronous methods etc. Forget about vendor specific tool features or options you need to pass to customize WSDL to Java mapping. As you know, JAX-WS Specification defines a standard binding language to customize WSDL 1.1 to Java binding. Whatever JAX-WS implementation you choose, it will generate the same Java bindings with the customization file. You can specify this customization by embedding the <jaxws:bindings> in the wsdl or specify in an external file and pass it to the WSDL to Java mapping tool. wsimport tool of JAX-WS RI supports customization in both ways.

JAX-WS defines lots of ways to customize WSDL to Java mapping from modifying the XML to Java name mapping, generating wrapper style signatures, generating asynchronous methods etc. Though the binding language is rich in its options, its confusing to write a customization file (sample) by hand as you need to exactly know what customization can be applied on a particular wsdl element. There comes NetBeans to the rescue.

NetBeans 5.5 with its built-in support for JAX-WS Web Services also provides a nice GUI to customize WSDL to Java bindings easily. All you need to do is right click on a Web Service(created from WSDL) or a Web Service Reference and select "Edit Web Service Attributes" as shown above. It opens up a window categorized according to WSDL definitions. As shown below, if you want to generate asynchronous methods, select the check box "Enable Asynchronous Client".

What NetBeans does in the background is embed JAX-WS customizations in the wsdl. NetBeans is also smart enough to provide different options for Web Service and Web Service Client. For example, on a Web Service you can specify "Use Provider Interface" on a port which is not available on Web Service Client, "Enable Asynchronous Client" can only be specified on Web Service Client. Not only does it embed the customization, it regenerates the Java artifacts by invoking wsimport with the customization as shown in below. You can even specify external customization files for customizing schema mappings.

Support of JAX-WS customization is a good start. There are some improvements that can be done. Currently it embeds the customization in the wsdl. It is convenient if it were in an external file as you dont want customization to show up in the wsdl which is used for deployment. Although NetBeans regenerates the Java artifacts, it does n't refactor the references in the application. Often schemas also need to be customized. JAXB has tons of customizations to modify XML Schema to Java mapping. NetBeans does n't yet support basic things in jaxb global customization like mapping of namespace to pacakge name or generating Interfaces instead of Classes etc. I hope these will be addressed in future release of NetBeans.

There is a bug in NetBeans 5.5 Beta 2, where Web Services created from WSDL disappear after creation. It has been fixed in the recent builds. Download latest daily build of NetBeans 5.5 and try it yourself.

Comments

• My "Edit Web Service Attributes" menu choice is greyed out.
  Why? I installed a recent version of NetBeans 5.5 with the bundled Sun App Server

  NetBeans 5.5 Build (2006120701000)
  Sun Java System Application Server Platform Edition 9.0_01 (build b02-p01)
  JDK 1.6.0 (build 1.6.0_01-ea-b03)
  

  Posted by: seamus7 on March 07, 2007 at 12:36 PM

• Hi...

  I need a hand here...
  Im trying to build a web service in nb 5.5. But i found this error :

  init:
  deps-jar:
  init:
  deps-jar:
  wsimport-init:
  wsimport-client-check-mmsWS:
  wsimport-client-mmsWS:
  wsimport-client-generate:
  wsimport-client-compile:
  compile:

  To run this application from the command line without Ant, try:
  java -jar "C:\Documents and Settings\Sawamura\SmsLib\dist\SmsLib.jar"
  jar:
  wsimport-init:
  wsimport-client-check-soapWS:
  wsimport-client-soapWS:
  wsimport-client-generate:
  wsimport-client-compile:
  Compiling 1 source file to C:\Documents and Settings\Sawamura\soapAPP\build\classes
  compile:
  run:
  Creating msgBean….
  Sending request….
  Getting the response….
  null
  BUILD SUCCESSFUL (total time: 17 seconds)

  & below the web service app client :

  [code]
  package soapapp;

  import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
  import javax.xml.soap.*;

  /**
  *
  * @author Sawamura
  */
  public class Main {
  
  /** Creates a new instance of Main */
  public Main() {
  }
  
  /**
  * @param args the command line arguments
  */
  public static void main(String[] args) {
  SOAPMessage message;
  SOAPBody body;
  SOAPHeader header;
  MessageFactory factory;
  System.out.println(“Creating msgBean….”);
  msgBean msg = new msgBean();

  try { // Call Web Service Operation
  soap.ws.SoapWSService service = new soap.ws.SoapWSService();
  soap.ws.SoapWS port = service.getSoapWSPort();
  // TODO initialize WS operation arguments here
  String request = "sms";
  // TODO process result here
  System.out.println(“Sending request….”);
  Object result = port.getSOAP(request);
  System.out.println(“Getting the response….”);
  message = (SOAPMessage) result;
  body = message.getSOAPBody();
  
  msg.setTrx_id(body.getAttributeValue(new QName("trx_id")));
  msg.setTrx_date(body.getAttributeValue(new QName("trx_date")));
  msg.setMsisdn(body.getAttributeValue(new QName("msisdn")));
  msg.setSms(body.getAttributeValue(new QName("sms")));
  
  System.out.println("trx_id = "+msg.getTrx_id());
  System.out.println("trx_date = "+msg.getTrx_date());
  System.out.println("msisdn = "+msg.getMsisdn());
  System.out.println("sms = "+msg.getSms());
  
  } catch (Exception ex) {
  System.out.println(ex.getMessage());
  }
  }
  
  }
  [/code]

  & the web service :

  [code]
  package soap.ws;

  import javax.jws.WebMethod;
  import javax.jws.WebParam;
  import javax.jws.WebService;
  import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
  import javax.xml.soap.*;

  /**
  *
  * @author Sawamura
  */
  @WebService()
  public class soapWS {
  
  private SOAPMessage message;
  private SOAPBody body;
  private SOAPHeader header;
  private Object response;

  /**
  * Web service operation
  */
  @WebMethod
  public Object getSOAP(@WebParam(name = "request") String request) {
  try {
  MessageFactory msg = MessageFactory.newInstance();
  message = msg.createMessage();
  message.setProperty(message.CHARACTER_SET_ENCODING, "utf-8");
  header = message.getSOAPHeader();
  header.detachNode();
  body = message.getSOAPBody();
  if (request == "sms") {
  
  QName bodyName = new QName("http://www.operator.com", "requestContent", "m");
  SOAPBodyElement bodyElement = body.addBodyElement(bodyName);

  QName name = new QName("trx_id");
  SOAPElement trx_id = body.addChildElement(name);
  trx_id.addTextNode("12345");

  QName name1 = new QName("trx_date");
  SOAPElement trx_date = body.addChildElement(name1);
  trx_date.addTextNode("180407");

  QName name2 = new QName("msisdn");
  SOAPElement msisdn = body.addChildElement(name2);
  msisdn.addTextNode("081321488448");

  QName name3 = new QName("sms");
  SOAPElement isiSms = body.addChildElement(name3);
  isiSms.addTextNode("coba-coba");
  
  } else {
  SOAPBodyElement bodyElement = body.addFault(new QName("error"), "No command matched!!");
  }
  message.saveChanges();
  response = message;
  } catch (SOAPException ex) {
  ex.printStackTrace();
  //SOAPBodyElement bodyElement = body.addFault(new QName("error"), ex.getMessage());
  }
  return response;
  }
  
  }
  [/code]

  anyone can help me to fix this problem?

  Posted by: kalingga on April 20, 2007 at 05:38 AM

• Rama,

  Do you know if NB6 provides the ability to do namespace to package mapping yet? I have a WSDL that has multiple simple types with the same name but different namespaces. It's driving me nuts that Netbeans doesn't handle this out of the box. I assumed it would automatically put them in separate packages or create new unique names for the types.

  If it's not in NB6 where's a good document that talks about how to setup that mapping so I can put the classes from each namespace in their own package so I don't get conflicts when the classes are generated by JAX-WS in netbeans.

  Thanks!
  Ryan

  Posted by: champlir on January 11, 2008 at 10:02 PM

• Hi champlir,
  I agree that its not easy to specify different packages for different namespaces out of the box. They sometimes use the global -package option on wsimport which puts all in one package. This can be a good RFE. I don't know if they are working on this. Did you post in the netbeans forum?

  Posted by: ramapulavarthi on January 21, 2008 at 12:13 PM

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