SOAP Web Service

SOAP Web Service

📌 What is SOAP Web Service?

SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is a protocol for exchanging structured information in web services. In Spring Boot, you can create SOAP web services using Spring Web Services (Spring-WS).

🚀 Example: Spring Boot SOAP Web Service

1. Add Dependencies (pom.xml)

For a Maven project, add:

<dependencies>
    <!-- Spring Web Services -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
        <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web-services</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <!-- JAXB for XML binding -->
    <dependency>
        <groupId>jakarta.xml.bind</groupId>
        <artifactId>jakarta.xml.bind-api</artifactId>
    </dependency>

    <dependency>
        <groupId>org.glassfish.jaxb</groupId>
        <artifactId>jaxb-runtime</artifactId>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

2. Create an XML Schema (src/main/resources/courses.xsd)

This defines the request and response structure.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xs:schema xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
           targetNamespace="http://in28minutes.com/courses"
           xmlns:tns="http://in28minutes.com/courses"
           elementFormDefault="qualified">

    <xs:element name="getCourseDetailsRequest" type="tns:getCourseDetailsRequest"/>
    <xs:element name="getCourseDetailsResponse" type="tns:getCourseDetailsResponse"/>

    <xs:complexType name="getCourseDetailsRequest">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="id" type="xs:int"/>
        </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>

    <xs:complexType name="getCourseDetailsResponse">
        <xs:sequence>
            <xs:element name="id" type="xs:int"/>
            <xs:element name="name" type="xs:string"/>
            <xs:element name="description" type="xs:string"/>
        </xs:sequence>
    </xs:complexType>
</xs:schema>

3. Generate Java Classes from XSD

Run:

mvn jaxb2:xjc

This generates request/response classes (like GetCourseDetailsRequest, GetCourseDetailsResponse).

4. Create Endpoint

package com.example.demo.soap;

import com.in28minutes.courses.GetCourseDetailsRequest;
import com.in28minutes.courses.GetCourseDetailsResponse;
import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.Endpoint;
import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.PayloadRoot;
import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.RequestPayload;
import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.annotation.ResponsePayload;

@Endpoint
public class CourseEndpoint {

    private static final String NAMESPACE_URI = "http://in28minutes.com/courses";

    @PayloadRoot(namespace = NAMESPACE_URI, localPart = "getCourseDetailsRequest")
    @ResponsePayload
    public GetCourseDetailsResponse processCourseDetailsRequest(
            @RequestPayload GetCourseDetailsRequest request) {

        GetCourseDetailsResponse response = new GetCourseDetailsResponse();
        response.setId(request.getId());
        response.setName("Spring Boot");
        response.setDescription("Learn Spring Boot SOAP Web Service");
        return response;
    }
}

5. Configure Web Service (WebServiceConfig.java)

package com.example.demo.config;

import org.springframework.boot.web.servlet.ServletRegistrationBean;
import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.core.io.ClassPathResource;
import org.springframework.ws.config.annotation.EnableWs;
import org.springframework.ws.transport.http.MessageDispatcherServlet;
import org.springframework.ws.wsdl.wsdl11.DefaultWsdl11Definition;
import org.springframework.xml.xsd.SimpleXsdSchema;
import org.springframework.xml.xsd.XsdSchema;

@EnableWs
@Configuration
public class WebServiceConfig {

    @Bean
    public ServletRegistrationBean<MessageDispatcherServlet> messageDispatcherServlet(ApplicationContext context) {
        MessageDispatcherServlet servlet = new MessageDispatcherServlet();
        servlet.setApplicationContext(context);
        servlet.setTransformWsdlLocations(true);
        return new ServletRegistrationBean<>(servlet, "/ws/*");
    }

    @Bean(name = "courses")
    public DefaultWsdl11Definition defaultWsdl11Definition(XsdSchema coursesSchema) {
        DefaultWsdl11Definition definition = new DefaultWsdl11Definition();
        definition.setPortTypeName("CoursePort");
        definition.setLocationUri("/ws");
        definition.setTargetNamespace("http://in28minutes.com/courses");
        definition.setSchema(coursesSchema);
        return definition;
    }

    @Bean
    public XsdSchema coursesSchema() {
        return new SimpleXsdSchema(new ClassPathResource("courses.xsd"));
    }
}

6. Run Application

Start the Spring Boot app, then open:

📌 WSDL available at:

http://localhost:8080/ws/courses.wsdl

7. Example SOAP Request

Send via Postman or SOAP UI:

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
                  xmlns:tns="http://in28minutes.com/courses">
   <soapenv:Header/>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <tns:getCourseDetailsRequest>
         <tns:id>1</tns:id>
      </tns:getCourseDetailsRequest>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Response:

<soap:Envelope xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soap:Body>
      <ns2:getCourseDetailsResponse xmlns:ns2="http://in28minutes.com/courses">
         <ns2:id>1</ns2:id>
         <ns2:name>Spring Boot</ns2:name>
         <ns2:description>Learn Spring Boot SOAP Web Service</ns2:description>
      </ns2:getCourseDetailsResponse>
   </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

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