Strange RPC problem, undef returned

[Ro...@cellzome.de]

I am having a strange problem with SOAP RPCs and would like to learn if
anyone
experienced something similar:

My SOAP::Lite client deploys some jobs on the Apache SOAP server. This
server
consists of a Java class, with a handful of static synchronized methods. Up
until
yesterday these synchronized methods were not doing very much, but now I
added
a call in my deploy method to another non-synchronized static method. Since
this method
is called from a synchronized method, it cannot be interupted according to
the Java Spec.

The first call does not cause any problems, but in the second call the
client gets an <undef>
return value. The strange part is that I don't have a single line of code
in the server code that
returns null, all the return statements return either the value of a
counter variable (int) or a constant
int value (-1). I would expect SOAP to timeout after something like 30
seconds, but this <undef>
value is returned right away. Also I could not find a way to debug my SOAP
server, running Tomcat
with jdb does not work properly.

It should not be a JDK problem either, I tried to compile with Sun's/IBM's
javac and ran it with the
IBM/Blackdown JRE. I'd appreciate it if anyone has an idea on that one.


Robert F Schmitt, CellZome
Meyerhofstr. 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel + 49 6221 137 570 , Fax + 49 6221 137 57 202
www.cellzome.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The idea is that we do whatever is most important - not necessarily most
urgent. Sun has 20,000 other people doing that.
I left the urgent behind to get to the important."
Bill Joy (Sun Microsystems)

"When you attack something with a particular technology--a
hammer--everything looks like a nail,
but that's not necessarily the right answer"
Ajei Gopai (IBM CTO)