How to call a web service (described by a wsdl) from java

Question

Knowing nothing of web services, I'm just trying to call some "isAlive" service that is described by a wsdl.

This seems to me like something that should take no more than 2-5 lines of code but I can't seem to find anything but huge long examples involving 3rd party packages etc.

Anyone has any ideas? If it is always suppose to be long maybe a good explanation as to why it has to be so complicated will also be appreciated. I'm using Eclipse and the wsdl is SOAP.

Answer 1

JDK 6 comes with jax-ws, everything you need to develop a client for a web service.

I'm unable to find some simple enough examples to post , but start at https://jax-ws.dev.java.net/

Edit: here's a simple example - a client for this web service: http://xmethods.com/ve2/ViewListing.po?key=427565

C:\temp> md generated C:\temp>"c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_17"\bin\wsimport -keep -d generated http://www50.brinkster.com/vbfacileinpt/np.asmx?wsdl 

Create PrimeClient.java which look like:

import javax.xml.ws.WebServiceRef; import com.microsoft.webservices.*;  //the above namespace is from the generated code from the wsdl.   public class PrimeClient {  //Cant  get this to work.. @WebServiceRef(wsdlLocation="http://www50.brinkster.com/vbfacileinpt/np.asmx?wsdl")   static PrimeNumbers service;    public static void main(String[] args) {     try {     service = new PrimeNumbers();       PrimeClient client = new PrimeClient();       client.doTest(args);     } catch(Exception e) {       e.printStackTrace();     }   }    public void doTest(String[] args) {     try {       System.out.println("Retrieving the port from the following service: " + service);       PrimeNumbersSoap pm = service.getPrimeNumbersSoap();       System.out.println("Invoking the getPrimeNumbersSoap operation ");       System.out.println(pm.getPrimeNumbers(100));     } catch(Exception e) {       e.printStackTrace();     }   } }  

Compile and run:

C:\temp>"c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_17"\bin\javac -cp generated PrimeClient.java C:\temp>"c:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_17"\bin\java -cp .;generated PrimeClient Retrieving the port from the following service: com.microsoft.webservices.PrimeN umbers@19b5393 Invoking the getPrimeNumbersSoap operation 1,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37,41,43,47,53,59,61,67,71,73,79,83,89,97 

Answer 2

There are plugins for IDE's which generate the needed code to consume a web service for you.

After the plugin generates you the base methods you simply call a web service like that:

TransportServiceSoap service = new TransportServiceLocator().getTransportServiceSoap(); service.getCities(); 

Have a look at http://urbas.tk/index.php/2009/02/20/eclipse-plug-in-as-a-web-service-client/