12.4. JAX-WS Web service Clients

12.4.1. Consume and Access a JAX-WS Web Service

After creating a Web Service endpoint, either manually or using JAX-WS annotations, you can access its WSDL, which can be used to create the basic client application which will communicate with the Web Service. The process of generating Java code from the published WSDL is called consuming the Web service. This happens in two phases:
  1. Create the client artifacts.
  2. Construct a service stub.
  3. Access the endpoint.
Create the Client Artifacts

Before you can create client artifacts, you need to create your WSDL contract. The following WSDL contract is used for the examples presented in the rest of this topic.

Example 12.16. Example WSDL Contract


<definitions
    name='ProfileMgmtService'
    targetNamespace='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail/profile'
    xmlns='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/'
    xmlns:ns1='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail'
    xmlns:soap='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/'
    xmlns:tns='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail/profile'
    xmlns:xsd='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'>
 
   <types>
 
      <xs:schema targetNamespace='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail'
                 version='1.0' xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'>
         <xs:complexType name='customer'>
            <xs:sequence>
               <xs:element minOccurs='0' name='creditCardDetails' type='xs:string'/>
               <xs:element minOccurs='0' name='firstName' type='xs:string'/>
               <xs:element minOccurs='0' name='lastName' type='xs:string'/>
            </xs:sequence>
         </xs:complexType>
      </xs:schema>
 
      <xs:schema
          targetNamespace='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail/profile'
          version='1.0'
          xmlns:ns1='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail'
          xmlns:tns='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail/profile'
          xmlns:xs='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema'>
 
         <xs:import namespace='http://org.jboss.ws/samples/retail'/>
         <xs:element name='getCustomerDiscount'
                     nillable='true' type='tns:discountRequest'/>
         <xs:element name='getCustomerDiscountResponse'
                     nillable='true' type='tns:discountResponse'/>
         <xs:complexType name='discountRequest'>
            <xs:sequence>
               <xs:element minOccurs='0' name='customer' type='ns1:customer'/>
 
            </xs:sequence>
         </xs:complexType>
         <xs:complexType name='discountResponse'>
            <xs:sequence>
               <xs:element minOccurs='0' name='customer' type='ns1:customer'/>
               <xs:element name='discount' type='xs:double'/>
            </xs:sequence>
         </xs:complexType>
      </xs:schema>
 
   </types>
 
   <message name='ProfileMgmt_getCustomerDiscount'>
      <part element='tns:getCustomerDiscount' name='getCustomerDiscount'/>
   </message>
   <message name='ProfileMgmt_getCustomerDiscountResponse'>
      <part element='tns:getCustomerDiscountResponse'
            name='getCustomerDiscountResponse'/>
   </message>
   <portType name='ProfileMgmt'>
      <operation name='getCustomerDiscount'
                 parameterOrder='getCustomerDiscount'>
 
         <input message='tns:ProfileMgmt_getCustomerDiscount'/>
         <output message='tns:ProfileMgmt_getCustomerDiscountResponse'/>
      </operation>
   </portType>
   <binding name='ProfileMgmtBinding' type='tns:ProfileMgmt'>
      <soap:binding style='document'
                    transport='http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http'/>
      <operation name='getCustomerDiscount'>
         <soap:operation soapAction=''/>
         <input>
 
            <soap:body use='literal'/>
         </input>
         <output>
            <soap:body use='literal'/>
         </output>
      </operation>
   </binding>
   <service name='ProfileMgmtService'>
      <port binding='tns:ProfileMgmtBinding' name='ProfileMgmtPort'>
 
         <soap:address
             location='SERVER:PORT/jaxws-samples-retail/ProfileMgmtBean'/>
      </port>
   </service>
</definitions>

Note

If you use JAX-WS annotations to create your Web Service endpoint, the WSDL contract is generated automatically, and you only need its URL. You can get this URL from the Webservices section of the Runtime section of the web-based Management Console, after the endpoint is deployed.
The wsconsume.sh or wsconsume.bat tool is used to consume the abstract contract (WSDL) and produce annotated Java classes and optional sources that define it. The command is located in the EAP_HOME/bin/ directory of the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform installation.

Example 12.17. Syntax of the wsconsume.sh Command

[user@host bin]$ ./wsconsume.sh --help
WSConsumeTask is a cmd line tool that generates portable JAX-WS artifacts from a WSDL file.

usage: org.jboss.ws.tools.cmd.WSConsume [options] <wsdl-url>

options: 
    -h, --help                  Show this help message
    -b, --binding=<file>        One or more JAX-WS or JAXB binding files 
    -k, --keep                  Keep/Generate Java source
    -c  --catalog=<file>        Oasis XML Catalog file for entity resolution
    -p  --package=<name>        The target package for generated source
    -w  --wsdlLocation=<loc>    Value to use for @WebService.wsdlLocation
    -o, --output=<directory>    The directory to put generated artifacts
    -s, --source=<directory>    The directory to put Java source
    -t, --target=<2.0|2.1|2.2>  The JAX-WS specification target
    -q, --quiet                 Be somewhat more quiet
    -v, --verbose               Show full exception stack traces
    -l, --load-consumer         Load the consumer and exit (debug utility)
    -e, --extension             Enable SOAP 1.2 binding extension
    -a, --additionalHeaders     Enable processing of implicit SOAP headers
    -n, --nocompile             Do not compile generated sources
The following command generates the source .java files listed in the output, from the ProfileMgmtService.wsdl file. The sources use the directory structure of the package, which is specified with the -p switch. 
[user@host bin]$  wsconsume.sh -k -p org.jboss.test.ws.jaxws.samples.retail.profile ProfileMgmtService.wsdl
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/Customer.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/DiscountRequest.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/DiscountResponse.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ObjectFactory.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ProfileMgmt.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ProfileMgmtService.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/package-info.java
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/Customer.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/DiscountRequest.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/DiscountResponse.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ObjectFactory.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ProfileMgmt.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/ProfileMgmtService.class
output/org/jboss/test/ws/jaxws/samples/retail/profile/package-info.class
Both .java source files and compiled .class files are generated into the output/ directory within the directory where you run the command.

Table 12.2. Descriptions of Artifacts Created by wsconsume.sh

File Description
ProfileMgmt.java
Service endpoint interface.
Customer.java
Custom data type.
Discount*.java
Custom data types.
ObjectFactory.java
JAXB XML registry.
package-info.java
JAXB package annotations.
ProfileMgmtService.java
Service factory.
The wsconsume.sh command generates all custom data types (JAXB annotated classes), the service endpoint interface and a service factory class. These artifacts are used the build web service client implementations.
Construct a Service Stub

Web service clients use service stubs to abstract the details of a remote web service invocation. To a client application, a WS invocation looks like an invocation of any other business component. In this case the service endpoint interface acts as the business interface, and a service factory class is not used to construct it as a service stub.

Example 12.18. Constructing a Service Stub and Accessing the Endpoint

The following example first creates a service factory using the WSDL location and the service name. Next, it uses the service endpoint interface created by the wsconsume.sh command to build the service stub. Finally, the stub can be used just as any other business interface would be.
You can find the WSDL URL for your endpoint in the web-based Management Console. Choose the Runtime menu item at the upper left, then the Deployments menu item at the bottom left. Click Webservices, and select your deployment to view its details. 

import javax.xml.ws.Service;
[...]
Service service = Service.create(                                 
new URL("http://example.org/service?wsdl"),
new QName("MyService")
);
ProfileMgmt profileMgmt = service.getPort(ProfileMgmt.class);     
 
// Use the service stub in your application