Simple perl SOAP server with WSDL: Perl, Perl, SOAP, WSDL

Simple perl SOAP server with WSDL

Asked by: jakac

Our client needs a very basic CGI server that works with SOAP protocol, written in Perl. It should be able to do something like:

1.) receives XML input data
<xml>
<param1>something</param1>
<param2>something else</param2>
</xml>

2.) executes appropriate function that manipulates this data - there will be more than one function, but they will all do the same thing - they will select something from mysql database - in this case something like:
select name,value from table where param1='something' and param2='something else';

3.) returns XML with fetched data:
<xml>
<name>Name from database</name>
<value>Value from database</name>
</xml>

They also want a WSDL file generated so their clients can easily use this service.

Since we have absolutely no experience with SOAP and WSDL generation I am asking you if someone could post an example or maybe a short tutorial how to write this kind of SOAP server? We looked at SOAP::Lite and SOAP::WSDL modules but since we don't have any experience with this technology we didn't quite understand how to write even a simple "hello world" server.
Thank you!

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Here is some code that could get you started with SOAP-Lite. Basically, you have a dispatcher file that takes requests for your webservices and directs them to simpleServer (the second file).

The webservice 'endpoint' would be the url of the dispatcher. The 'namespace' would be http://your.domain/simpleServer

In simpleServer, all you have to do is add the subroutines that you want to be accessible (you provide the logic, so code querying databases can be dropped right in).

The wsdl will be much harder for you to generate. I recommend that you install eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/) and use the wsdl editor to create your wsdl (http://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php/Introduction_to_the_WSDL_Editor). Eclipse also has a perl plugin (http://www.epic-ide.org/)

Pretty much a wsdl describes the subroutines. To get started, I would recommend that you just say 'service A' consumes a string and produces a string.

Good luck!

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# _________________________________________________________________
# This file is the soap dispatcher. url to this file is 'endpoint'
# _________________________________________________________________
use SOAP::Transport::HTTP;
use simpleServer;
 
my $x = new SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI;
$x->dispatch_to('/var/www/cgi-bin', 'simpleServer');
$x->handle;
 
 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
# _________________________________________________________________
# This file is the logic
# _________________________________________________________________
 
package simpleServer;
 
sub foo {
   return "some return string";
}
 
1;

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Simple perl SOAP server with WSDL

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Perl

Perl, SOAP, WSDL

Perl Programming Language

CGI Scripting

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