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7.2. Adding Headers to a SOAP 1.2 Message

Overview

SOAP message headers are defined by adding soap12:header elements to your SOAP 1.2 message. The soap12:header element is an optional child of the input, output, and fault elements of the binding. The SOAP header becomes part of the parent message. A SOAP header is defined by specifying a message and a message part. Each SOAP header can only contain one message part, but you can insert as many headers as needed.

Syntax

The syntax for defining a SOAP header is shown in Example 7.3, “SOAP Header Syntax”.

Example 7.3. SOAP Header Syntax

<binding name="headwig">
  <soap12:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
    <operation name="weave">
      <soap12:operation soapAction="" style="documment"/>
      <input name="grain">
        <soap12:body ... />
        <soap12:header message="QName" part="partName"
                       use="literal|encoded"
                        encodingStyle="encodingURI"
                        namespace="namespaceURI" />
      </input>
...
</binding>
The soap12:header element’s attributes are described in Table 7.1, “soap12:header Attributes”.

Table 7.1. soap12:header Attributes

AttributeDescription
message A required attribute specifying the qualified name of the message from which the part being inserted into the header is taken.
part A required attribute specifying the name of the message part inserted into the SOAP header.
use Specifies if the message parts are to be encoded using encoding rules. If set to encoded the message parts are encoded using the encoding rules specified by the value of the encodingStyle attribute. If set to literal, the message parts are defined by the schema types referenced.
encodingStyle Specifies the encoding rules used to construct the message.
namespace Defines the namespace to be assigned to the header element serialized with use="encoded".

Splitting messages between body and header

The message part inserted into the SOAP header can be any valid message part from the contract. It can even be a part from the parent message which is being used as the SOAP body. Because it is unlikely that you would send information twice in the same message, the SOAP 1.2 binding provides a means for specifying the message parts that are inserted into the SOAP body.
The soap12:body element has an optional attribute, parts, that takes a space delimited list of part names. When parts is defined, only the message parts listed are inserted into the body of the SOAP 1.2 message. You can then insert the remaining parts into the message's header.
Note
When you define a SOAP header using parts of the parent message, Apache CXF automatically fills in the SOAP headers for you.

Example

Example 7.4, “SOAP 1.2 Binding with a SOAP Header” shows a modified version of the orderWidgets service shown in Example 7.1, “Ordering System Interface”. This version is modified so that each order has an xsd:base64binary value placed in the header of the request and the response. The header is defined as being the keyVal part from the widgetKey message. In this case you are responsible for adding the application logic to create the header because it is not part of the input or output message.

Example 7.4. SOAP 1.2 Binding with a SOAP Header

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions name="widgetOrderForm.wsdl"
    targetNamespace="http://widgetVendor.com/widgetOrderForm"
    xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
    xmlns:soap12="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap12/"
    xmlns:tns="http://widgetVendor.com/widgetOrderForm"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsd1="http://widgetVendor.com/types/widgetTypes"
    xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">

<types>
  <schema targetNamespace="http://widgetVendor.com/types/widgetTypes"
           xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
           xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
    <element name="keyElem" type="xsd:base64Binary"/>
  </schema>
</types>

<message name="widgetOrder">
  <part name="numOrdered" type="xsd:int"/>
</message>
<message name="widgetOrderBill">
  <part name="price" type="xsd:float"/>
</message>
<message name="badSize">
  <part name="numInventory" type="xsd:int"/>
</message>
<message name="widgetKey">
  <part name="keyVal" element="xsd1:keyElem"/>
</message>

<portType name="orderWidgets">
  <operation name="placeWidgetOrder">
    <input message="tns:widgetOrder" name="order"/>
    <output message="tns:widgetOrderBill" name="bill"/>
    <fault message="tns:badSize" name="sizeFault"/>
  </operation>
</portType>

<binding name="orderWidgetsBinding" type="tns:orderWidgets">
  <soap12:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
    <operation name="placeWidgetOrder">
      <soap12:operation soapAction="" style="document"/>
      <input name="order">
        <soap12:body use="literal"/>
        <soap12:header message="tns:widgetKey" part="keyVal"/>
      </input>
      <output name="bill">
        <soap12:body use="literal"/>
        <soap12:header message="tns:widgetKey" part="keyVal"/>
      </output>
      <fault name="sizeFault">
        <soap12:body use="literal"/>
      </fault>
  </operation>
</binding>
...
</definitions>
You can modify Example 7.4, “SOAP 1.2 Binding with a SOAP Header” so that the header value is a part of the input and output messages, as shown in Example 7.5, “SOAP 1.2 Binding for orderWidgets with a SOAP Header”. In this case keyVal is a part of the input and output messages. In the soap12:body elements the parts attribute specifies that keyVal should not be inserted into the body. However, it is inserted into the header.

Example 7.5. SOAP 1.2 Binding for orderWidgets with a SOAP Header

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<definitions name="widgetOrderForm.wsdl"
    targetNamespace="http://widgetVendor.com/widgetOrderForm"
    xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
    xmlns:soap12="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap12/"
    xmlns:tns="http://widgetVendor.com/widgetOrderForm"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
    xmlns:xsd1="http://widgetVendor.com/types/widgetTypes"
    xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">

<types>
  <schema targetNamespace="http://widgetVendor.com/types/widgetTypes"
           xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
           xmlns:wsdl="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/">
    <element name="keyElem" type="xsd:base64Binary"/>
  </schema>
</types>

<message name="widgetOrder">
  <part name="numOrdered" type="xsd:int"/>
  <part name="keyVal" element="xsd1:keyElem"/>
</message>
<message name="widgetOrderBill">
  <part name="price" type="xsd:float"/>
  <part name="keyVal" element="xsd1:keyElem"/>
</message>
<message name="badSize">
  <part name="numInventory" type="xsd:int"/>
</message>

<portType name="orderWidgets">
  <operation name="placeWidgetOrder">
    <input message="tns:widgetOrder" name="order"/>
    <output message="tns:widgetOrderBill" name="bill"/>
    <fault message="tns:badSize" name="sizeFault"/>
  </operation>
</portType>

<binding name="orderWidgetsBinding" type="tns:orderWidgets">
  <soap12:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
    <operation name="placeWidgetOrder">
      <soap12:operation soapAction="" style="document"/>
      <input name="order">
        <soap12:body use="literal" parts="numOrdered"/>
        <soap12:header message="tns:widgetOrder" part="keyVal"/>
      </input>
      <output name="bill">
        <soap12:body use="literal" parts="bill"/>
        <soap12:header message="tns:widgetOrderBill" part="keyVal"/>
      </output>
      <fault name="sizeFault">
        <soap12:body use="literal"/>
      </fault>
  </operation>
</binding>
...
</definitions>