Main Tutorials

JAX-WS : SOAP handler in server side

SOAP handler is a SOAP message interceptor, which is able to intercept incoming or outgoing SOAP message and manipulate its values. For example, attach a SOAP handler in client side, which will inject client’s computer MAC address into the SOAP header block for every outgoing SOAP message that is send by the client. In server side, attach another SOAP handler, to retrieve back the client’s MAC address in SOAP header block from every incoming SOAP message. So that the server side is able to determine which computer is allow to access the published service.

This article is split into 3 parts :

  1. JAX-WS : SOAP handler in server side. (this article)
  2. JAX-WS : SOAP handler in client side
  3. JAX-WS : SOAP handler testing for client and server side

SOAP handler in server side

In this article, we show you how to create a SOAP handler and attach it in server side, to retrieve the mac address in SOAP header block from every incoming SOAP message. And do validation to allow only computer with MAC address “90-4C-E5-44-B9-8F” to access this published service. If an invalid client try to access the service, throw a SOAPFaultException back to the client.

Directory structure of this example

1. Web Service

A simple web service , with a getServerName() method to return a string.

File : ServerInfo.java


package com.mkyong.ws;

import javax.jws.HandlerChain;
import javax.jws.WebMethod;
import javax.jws.WebService;

@WebService
public class ServerInfo{

	@WebMethod
	public String getServerName() {
		
		return "mkyong server";
		
	}

}

Generate necessary Java files for the web service deployment.


D:\workspace-new\WebServices\bin>wsgen -keep -verbose -cp . com.mkyong.ws.ServerInfo
Note:   ap round: 1
...
com\mkyong\ws\jaxws\GetServerName.java
com\mkyong\ws\jaxws\GetServerNameResponse.java
Note:   ap round: 2

Two files are generated :

  1. com\mkyong\ws\jaxws\GetServerName.java
  2. com\mkyong\ws\jaxws\GetServerNameResponse.java

File : GetServerName.java


package com.mkyong.ws.jaxws;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessorType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

@XmlRootElement(name = "getServerName", namespace = "http://ws.mkyong.com/")
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@XmlType(name = "getServerName", namespace = "http://ws.mkyong.com/")
public class GetServerName {
}

File : GetServerNameResponse.java


package com.mkyong.ws.jaxws;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessorType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlRootElement;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

@XmlRootElement(name = "getServerNameResponse", namespace = "http://ws.mkyong.com/")
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@XmlType(name = "getServerNameResponse", namespace = "http://ws.mkyong.com/")
public class GetServerNameResponse {

    @XmlElement(name = "return", namespace = "")
    private String _return;

    /**
     * 
     * @return
     *     returns String
     */
    public String getReturn() {
        return this._return;
    }

    /**
     * 
     * @param _return
     *     the value for the _return property
     */
    public void setReturn(String _return) {
        this._return = _return;
    }

}

2. SOAP Handler

Create a SOAP handler to retrieve the value in SOAP header block, for every incoming SOAP message. See comments for the code explanation.

File MacAddressValidatorHandler.java


package com.mkyong.handler;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Set;
import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
import javax.xml.soap.Node;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPBody;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPConstants;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPEnvelope;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPException;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPFault;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPHeader;
import javax.xml.soap.SOAPMessage;
import javax.xml.ws.handler.MessageContext;
import javax.xml.ws.handler.soap.SOAPHandler;
import javax.xml.ws.handler.soap.SOAPMessageContext;
import javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPFaultException;

public class MacAddressValidatorHandler implements SOAPHandler<SOAPMessageContext>{

   @Override
   public boolean handleMessage(SOAPMessageContext context) {

	System.out.println("Server : handleMessage()......");
		
	Boolean isRequest = (Boolean) context.get(MessageContext.MESSAGE_OUTBOUND_PROPERTY);

	//for response message only, true for outbound messages, false for inbound
	if(!isRequest){
			
	try{
	    SOAPMessage soapMsg = context.getMessage();
	    SOAPEnvelope soapEnv = soapMsg.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope();
            SOAPHeader soapHeader = soapEnv.getHeader();
	            
            //if no header, add one
	    if (soapHeader == null){
	            soapHeader = soapEnv.addHeader();
	            //throw exception
	            generateSOAPErrMessage(soapMsg, "No SOAP header.");
	     }

             //Get client mac address from SOAP header
	     Iterator it = soapHeader.extractHeaderElements(SOAPConstants.URI_SOAP_ACTOR_NEXT);
	            
	     //if no header block for next actor found? throw exception
	     if (it == null || !it.hasNext()){
	      	generateSOAPErrMessage(soapMsg, "No header block for next actor.");
             }
	            
	     //if no mac address found? throw exception
	     Node macNode = (Node) it.next();
	     String macValue = (macNode == null) ? null : macNode.getValue();
	          
	      if (macValue == null){
	      	  generateSOAPErrMessage(soapMsg, "No mac address in header block.");
	      }

	       //if mac address is not match, throw exception
	       if(!macValue.equals("90-4C-E5-44-B9-8F")){
	       	   generateSOAPErrMessage(soapMsg, "Invalid mac address, access is denied.");
	       }
	            
	       //tracking
	       soapMsg.writeTo(System.out);

		}catch(SOAPException e){
			System.err.println(e);
		}catch(IOException e){
			System.err.println(e);
		}
            
	    }

	  //continue other handler chain
	  return true;
	}

	@Override
	public boolean handleFault(SOAPMessageContext context) {
		
		System.out.println("Server : handleFault()......");
		
		return true;
	}

	@Override
	public void close(MessageContext context) {
		System.out.println("Server : close()......");
	}

	@Override
	public Set<QName> getHeaders() {
		System.out.println("Server : getHeaders()......");
		return null;
	}
	
     private void generateSOAPErrMessage(SOAPMessage msg, String reason) {
       try {
          SOAPBody soapBody = msg.getSOAPPart().getEnvelope().getBody();
          SOAPFault soapFault = soapBody.addFault();
          soapFault.setFaultString(reason);
          throw new SOAPFaultException(soapFault); 
       }
       catch(SOAPException e) { }
    }

}

3. SOAP Handler XML file

Create a SOAP handler XML file, and puts your SOAP handler declaration.

File : handler-chain.xml


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<javaee:handler-chains 
     xmlns:javaee="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee" 
     xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
  <javaee:handler-chain>
    <javaee:handler>
      <javaee:handler-class>com.mkyong.handler.MacAddressValidatorHandler</javaee:handler-class>
    </javaee:handler>
  </javaee:handler-chain>
</javaee:handler-chains>

4. Attach SOAP Handler –> Web Service

To attach above SOAP handler to web service ServerInfo.java, just annotate with @HandlerChain and specify the SOAP handler file name inside.

File : ServerInfo.java


package com.mkyong.ws;

import javax.jws.HandlerChain;
import javax.jws.WebMethod;
import javax.jws.WebService;

@WebService
@HandlerChain(file="handler-chain.xml")
public class ServerInfo{

	@WebMethod
	public String getServerName() {
		
		return "mkyong server";
		
	}

}

5. Web Service Publisher

A simple web service publisher for testing.


package com.mkyong.endpoint;
 
import javax.xml.ws.Endpoint;
import com.mkyong.ws.ServerInfo;

//Endpoint publisher
public class WsPublisher{
 
	public static void main(String[] args) {
	   Endpoint.publish("http://localhost:8888/ws/server", new ServerInfo());
	   
	   System.out.println("Service is published!");
    }
 
}

Done, please proceed on next article – Part 2 : JAX-WS – SOAP handler in client side.

Download Source Code

Download It – JAX-WS-Handler-Example.zip (21KB)

About Author

author image
Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuff. Follow him on Twitter. If you like my tutorials, consider make a donation to these charities.

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
20 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anand
11 years ago

Endpoint publisher…is not working for me..when I run it keep running, no logs, no trace..no output.

Junglas
9 years ago

If the getServerName method had a parameter, how I could read it inside the SOAPHandler?

PeterR
12 years ago

In my case @HandlerChain was not taken into account at all.

I needed this configuration without @HandlerChain annotation:


        
            
            	
            		
            	
            
        
    
alberto
2 years ago

Thanks mykong

gopi
4 years ago

This post is really helpful. thanks to mykong

Ankit
4 years ago

Hi, I’m trying to update the soap message in the handler and getting the following error:
javax.xml.rpc.JAXRPCException: The number of parameters is changed from 0 to 1.

Please let me know, if you have any idea about it.

marlon
6 years ago

great post! but i got an exception when deploying: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException – handler class not found on classpath, i use a dynamic web project in eclipse.

Topan Pandenis
6 years ago

How can I access this webservice via URL? what’s the urls?

Pradeep Monga
8 years ago

SOAP Handler is not getting called. Please suggest.

Shai Levit
9 years ago

Has anyone implemented WSRM. So the SOAP message uses Interceptors. Having some issue but before I elaborate, was just curious if anyone managed to set this up via Apache CXF – Java (No Spring, No JBoss).

Jose Antonio
10 years ago

Siempre me sacas de apuros.

hrryma
10 years ago

hi , thanks a lot for your tutorials they are very helpful, but i have a question , how can i add a DOCTYPE declaration to a SOAP request ? i used all means but i always get the same error (Document Type Declaration is not allowed) . i’m using SOAP 1.1 . i REALLY need your help! thank you.

hrryma
10 years ago
Reply to  hrryma

no one ? :'(

DannyDalson
10 years ago

Hello,

How can I read the xml configuration file if it is in another jar?

Ranga
11 years ago

Hello Sir..

//for response message only, true for outbound messages, false for inbound

Should this not be as below in Server side Handler..

//for request message only, true for inbound messages, false for outbound

because in server side, we are validating the header portion that we receive as part of the request..

gel
11 years ago

kindly help me.. got this error..

javax.xml.ws.soap.SOAPFaultException: String index out of range: -2

Durgadas
11 years ago

You should use -s while using wsgen else both the java and class files generated will be placed in the current folder . In your case , the java and class file will be generated in the bin.

D:\AdvWebServices\build\classes&gt;wsgen -keep -verbose -cp . com.mykong.ws.ServerInfo -s ../../src/
Umesh
12 years ago

I tried this approach on weblogic, it did not work. It is not able to locate the handler chain file. Tried with many paths.

PeterR
12 years ago

XML wrapper doesn’t work for me in here.