Java Apache Axis2 web services client examples advanced

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
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    Summary of Java Apache Axis2 Web Services Client Examples Advanced

    This guide provides practical examples for ServiceNow customers on how to construct and use a Java Apache Axis2 client to consume ServiceNow SOAP web services. Apache Axis2 is a Java-based SOAP engine framework used to build clients, servers, or gateways for SOAP communication. The content targets system administrators with some Java development experience and requires Java JDK 1.4.2 or higher and Axis2 version 1.0 or higher.

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    Creating and Managing the Java Project

    • You can create a Java project using Eclipse SDK (version 3.4.2 used in example), though Eclipse is not mandatory.
    • Ensure the project uses the correct Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version that matches your Java installation.

    Generating Axis2 Client Code

    • Use the wsdl2java tool to generate client stub code from the ServiceNow WSDL URL or a locally saved WSDL file.
    • Specify the output directory with the -o parameter to control where generated files are saved.
    • After generation, refresh the project in your IDE to view the generated Stub and CallbackHandler classes, which facilitate web service calls.

    Configuring Basic Authentication

    • Set up HTTP basic authentication by creating an Authenticator instance with your ServiceNow username and password.
    • Assign the authenticator to the service client’s HTTP transport properties to enable authenticated access to ServiceNow SOAP endpoints.

    Handling Axis2 Version Compatibility and Chunking

    • Axis2 versions 1.1 and higher enable HTTP chunking by default, but ServiceNow SOAP endpoints do not support chunking.
    • Disable HTTP chunking either by:
      • Removing or commenting out the <parameter name="Transfer-Encoding">chunked</parameter> in the Axis2.xml configuration file (deployment time).
      • Setting the runtime property HTTPConstants.CHUNKED to false on the client or stub for Axis2 versions 1.1.1 and higher.

    Creating Unique Java Packages for Generated Code

    • Use the Axis2 namespace2package (ns2p) parameter during code generation to map XML namespaces to unique Java package names, avoiding naming conflicts.
    • This is specified with the format -ns2p <namespace>=<package name> in the wsdl2java command.

    Practical Benefits

    Following these examples enables ServiceNow customers to efficiently generate and configure Java clients that reliably consume ServiceNow SOAP web services, handle authentication securely, and ensure compatibility with Axis2 versions while avoiding common pitfalls like unsupported HTTP chunking. This facilitates seamless integration of ServiceNow data and operations within Java-based applications.

    Examples showing how to construct and use an Axis2 client to consume a ServiceNow Web Service.

    Axis is essentially a SOAP engine -- a framework for constructing SOAP processors such as clients, servers, or gateways. The current version of Axis is written in Java. This content is intended for system admins with a light development background in Java. To begin you would need Java JDK version 1.4.2 or higher and Axis2 version 1.0 or higher.

    Create a Java Project

    This example uses Eclipse SDK Version: 3.4.2 for managing the source code and executing the web request. Eclipse is not required.
    • Open Eclipse and from the menu select File > New > Project > Java Project.
    • Give the project a name.
    • Verify that the correct JRE is specified.
      • If using wsdl2java run "java -version" on the command line and this will be the version to specify for the project specific JRE.
      • If using the Axis2 Codegen plugin use default JRE.
        Figure 1. Java Project

    Generate your Axis2 client code

    • From a command line in the bin directory of the axis folder:
      ./wsdl2java.sh -uri https://<instance name>.service-now.com/incident.do?WSDL -o /glide/workspace/TestWebService/
    • In the above example:
      • The "-uri" is either the path where you have saved a copy of the wsdl to either ".wsdl" or ".xml", or the URL the WSDL resides at.
      • The "-o" is the path where you want the files to be written out to. If not specified, the files will be written out to the current bin location.
    • In Eclipse refresh the project and the generated Stub and CallbackHandler should now be displayed
      Figure 2. Axis Stub

    Basic Authentication

    HttpTransportProperties.Authenticator basicAuthentication  = new HttpTransportProperties. Authenticator ( ) ;
basicAuthentication. setUsername ( "admin" ) ;
basicAuthentication. setPassword ( "admin" ) ;
...
 ServiceNowStub proxy  = new ServiceNowStub ( ) ;
...
 
 proxy._getServiceClient ( ). getOptions ( ). setProperty (org. apache. axis2. transport. http. HTTPConstants. AUTHENTICATE, basicAuthentication ) ;

    Compatibility with Axis2 Versions 1.1 and higher

    Chunking support is only available in HTTP Version 1.1. By default chunking is enabled in Axis2.xml for versions 1.1 and higher. ServiceNow does not support Chunking, so you will need to disable chunking at deployment time or at runtime.
    • Deployment time: One can disable HTTP chunking by removing or commenting out the following element from Axis2.xml
      <parameter name= "Transfer-Encoding" >chunked</parameter>
    • Runtime: User can disable the chunking using following property set in Client or Stub, versions 1.1.1 and higher only
      options.setProperty (org. apache. axis2. transport. http. HTTPConstants. CHUNKED,  Boolean. FALSE ) ;

    Creating Unique Packages

    You can use the Axis2 parameter namespace2package (ns2p) to create unique package names. The parameter uses this format:
    <Axis path>\bin\wsdl2java.bat -u -p cr2 -ns2p <namespace>=<package name> -uri <wsdl to convert>
    For example:
    <Axis path>\bin\wsdl2java.bat -u -p cr2 -ns2p http://www.service-now.com/change_request=my.change_request -uri change_request