7/2/24, 4:43 AM Developing SOAP Web Services with Spring Boot: A Comprehensive Guide | by Extio Technology | Medium

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Developing SOAP Web Services with Spring

Boot: A Comprehensive Guide
Extio Technology · Follow
6 min read · Jul 7, 2023

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Extio Java Series — SOAP Web Services

Introduction
In today’s interconnected world, web services play a crucial role in facilitating
communication between different applications. SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) is a widely adopted protocol for creating web services. When it comes to
building SOAP web services in Java, Spring Boot provides an efficient and developer-
friendly framework. In this blog post, we will explore the fundamentals of
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7/2/24, 4:43 AM Developing SOAP Web Services with Spring Boot: A Comprehensive Guide | by Extio Technology | Medium

developing SOAP web services using Spring Boot and discuss the steps involved in
building a robust SOAP-based application.

Table of Contents:
1. Understanding SOAP Web Services

2. Setting up a Spring Boot Project

3. Defining the Service Contract

4. Implementing the Endpoint

5. Testing the SOAP Web Service

6. Handling Errors and Faults

7. Securing the SOAP Web Service

8. Deploying the SOAP Web Service

9. Understanding SOAP Web Services:

SOAP is a protocol that defines a standardized format for exchanging structured
information between networked applications. It relies on XML for message
formatting and is based on a client-server model. SOAP web services allow
different systems to communicate with each other over a network, regardless of
the underlying technology stack.

10. Setting up a Spring Boot Project:

To get started with developing SOAP web services, we need to set up a Spring
Boot project. This can be achieved by using either Spring Initializr or your
preferred integrated development environment (IDE) that supports Spring Boot
project creation. We’ll also need to add the necessary dependencies for SOAP
web service development, such as Spring Web Services.

11. Defining the Service Contract:

In SOAP web services, the service contract is defined using Web Service
Definition Language (WSDL). The WSDL describes the operations, data types,
and message formats used by the web service. Spring Web Services provides
various ways to define the service contract, including WSDL-first and code-first
approaches. We’ll explore the code-first approach in this blog post.

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12. Implementing the Endpoint:

Once the service contract is defined, we can start implementing the SOAP
endpoint. The endpoint acts as the entry point for incoming SOAP requests and
maps them to the appropriate business logic. Spring Web Services provides
annotations, such as @Endpoint and @PayloadRoot , to simplify the
implementation of the SOAP endpoint.

13. Testing the SOAP Web Service:

To ensure the correctness of our SOAP web service, thorough testing is essential.
Spring Boot provides excellent support for testing SOAP web services using
frameworks like JUnit and Spring Web Services Test. We can write integration
tests to verify the behavior of our SOAP endpoint and ensure that it handles
requests and responses correctly.

14. Handling Errors and Faults:

In SOAP web services, errors and faults need to be handled appropriately. Spring
Web Services offers several mechanisms for handling exceptions and generating
SOAP faults. By using exception handling techniques, we can customize the fault
messages returned to clients and provide meaningful error information.

15. Securing the SOAP Web Service:

Security is a crucial aspect of any web service, and SOAP web services are no
exception. Spring Boot provides various options for securing SOAP web services,
such as SSL/TLS encryption, message-level security, and authentication
mechanisms like Basic Authentication or WS-Security. We can choose the
appropriate security measures based on the specific requirements of our
application.

16. Deploying the SOAP Web Service:

Once our SOAP web service is developed and tested, the next step is deployment.
Spring Boot simplifies the deployment process by providing several deployment
options. We can package our application as an executable JAR file or deploy it to
a servlet container or application server. Dockerizing the application is another
option for containerization and easy deployment.

Example
Here’s an example of a simple Spring Boot SOAP web service implementation:

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1. Define the Service Contract (WSDL):

Create a file named hello.wsdl with the following content:

<definitions xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/"
xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
targetNamespace="http://example.com/soap-web-service"
xmlns:tns="http://example.com/soap-web-service">
<message name="GetHelloRequest">
<part name="name" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>
<message name="GetHelloResponse">
<part name="greeting" type="xsd:string"/>
</message>
<portType name="HelloPortType">
<operation name="getHello">
<input message="tns:GetHelloRequest"/>
<output message="tns:GetHelloResponse"/>
</operation>
</portType>
<binding name="HelloBinding" type="tns:HelloPortType">
<soap:binding style="document" transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/so
<operation name="getHello">
<soap:operation soapAction="http://example.com/soap-web-service/get
<input>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</input>
<output>
<soap:body use="literal"/>
</output>
</operation>
</binding>
<service name="HelloService">
<port name="HelloPort" binding="tns:HelloBinding">
<soap:address location="http://localhost:8080/soap-api"/>
</port>
</service>
</definitions>

2. Create the XML Schema Definition (XSD):

Create a file named hello.xsd with the following content:

<schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:tns="http://example.com/soap-web-service"

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targetNamespace="http://example.com/soap-web-service"
elementFormDefault="qualified">
<element name="GetHelloRequest">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="name" type="string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
<element name="GetHelloResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="greeting" type="string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
</schema>

3. Create the Web Service Endpoint:

Create a class named HelloEndpoint :

import org.example.soap_web_service.GetHelloRequest;
import org.example.soap_web_service.GetHelloResponse;
import org.springframework.stereotype.Component;
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
@Component
public class HelloEndpoint {
private static final String NAMESPACE_URI = "http://example.com/soap-web-se
@PayloadRoot(namespace = NAMESPACE_URI, localPart = "GetHelloRequest")
@ResponsePayload
public GetHelloResponse getHello(@RequestPayload GetHelloRequest request) {
GetHelloResponse response = new GetHelloResponse();
String name = request.getName();
String greeting = "Hello, " + name + "!";
response.setGreeting(greeting);
return response;
}
} Open in app

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7/2/24, 4:43 AM Developing SOAP Web Services with Spring Boot: A Comprehensive Guide | by Extio Technology | Medium

4. Configure the Web Service:

Create a configuration class named WebServiceConfig :

import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean;
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration;
import org.springframework.ws.config.annotation.EnableWs;
import org.springframework.ws.config.annotation.WsConfigurerAdapter;
import org.springframework.ws.server.endpoint.adapter.DefaultMethodEndpointAdap
import org.springframework.ws.transport.http.MessageDispatcherServlet;
import org.springframework.ws.wsdl.wsdl11.DefaultWsdl11Definition;
import org.springframework.ws.wsdl.wsdl11.Wsdl11Definition;

@EnableWs
@Configuration
public class WebServiceConfig extends WsConfigurerAdapter {
@Bean
public DefaultMethodEndpointAdapter defaultMethodEndpointAdapter() {
return new DefaultMethodEndpointAdapter();
}
@Bean
public MessageDispatcherServlet messageDispatcherServlet() {
return new MessageDispatcherServlet();
}
@Bean(name = "hello")
public Wsdl11Definition helloWsdl11Definition() {
DefaultWsdl11Definition wsdl11Definition = new DefaultWsdl11Definition(
wsdl11Definition.setPortTypeName("HelloPortType");
wsdl11Definition.setLocationUri("/soap-api");
wsdl11Definition.setTargetNamespace("http://example.com/soap-web-servic
wsdl11Definition.setSchema(helloSchema());
return wsdl11Definition;
}
@Bean
public SimpleXsdSchema helloSchema() {
return new SimpleXsdSchema(new ClassPathResource("hello.xsd"));
}
}

5. Create the Application Entry Point:

Create the main class SoapWebServiceApplication :

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;

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@SpringBootApplication
public class SoapWebServiceApplication {
public static void main(String[] args) {
SpringApplication.run(SoapWebServiceApplication.class, args);
}
}

6. Run the Application:

Run the SoapWebServiceApplication class as a Java application.

Congratulations! You have successfully created a simple SOAP web service using
Spring Boot. The web service will be available at http://localhost:8080/soap-api and
can be accessed using the defined WSDL ( hello.wsdl ). You can test the web service
using SOAP clients or tools like SoapUI.

Note: Make sure to include the necessary dependencies such as spring-boot-starter-web-

services and org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web in your pom.xml or

build.gradle file.

When you run the application, Spring Web Services uses the provided WSDL and XSD files
to generate the necessary Java classes for the request and response objects. The generated
classes will be located in the appropriate package based on the target namespace specified
in the WSDL.

In this case, the GetHelloResponse class will be automatically generated based on the
GetHelloResponse message defined in the WSDL ( hello.wsdl ) and the associated XML
schema definition ( hello.xsd ). You can use it in the HelloEndpoint class as shown in the
example.

Since the generation of these classes is handled by Spring Web Services at runtime, there’s
no explicit GetHelloResponse.java file in the example code. The class is generated
dynamically based on the WSDL and XSD files provided.

Conclusion
In this blog post, we explored the essentials of developing SOAP web services with
Spring Boot. We discussed the fundamental concepts, walked through the steps
involved in building a SOAP-based application, and covered important aspects such
as testing, error handling, security, and deployment. By leveraging the power of

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Spring Boot and its ecosystem, developers can create robust and scalable SOAP web
services with ease.

WSDL Elements

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WSDL Structure

Web Services API Spring Boot Java

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