Java 1.4 issue

[Mitch Gitman <mg...@usa.net>]

I've come across an Axis problem with Java 1.4. The 1.4 JDK introduces a 
couple methods in the Exception class:
public Throwable getCause()
public StackTraceElement[] getStackTrace()

Suppose the Java interface you're converting to a web service throws 
exceptions. Since the above methods are public, they're picked up by 
Java2WSDL for Exception, RemoteException and any descendant thereof. So 
Java2WSDL produces the following warnings:

org.apache.axis.wsdl.fromJava.Types isBeanCompatible
WARNING: The class java.lang.Throwable is defined in a java or javax 
package and
  cannot be converted into an xml schema type.  An xml schema anyType will 
be use
d to define this class in the wsdl file.
org.apache.axis.wsdl.fromJava.Types isBeanCompatible
WARNING: The class java.lang.StackTraceElement is defined in a java or 
javax pac
kage and cannot be converted into an xml schema type.  An xml schema 
anyType wil
l be used to define this class in the wsdl file.

I notice that, in the generated WSDL file, the references to Throwable, 
StackTraceElement, and array of StackTraceElement mention a namespace, 
tns3, which in my system doesn't exist.

Next I run WSDL2Java. It throws the following exception:
java.io.IOException: Type StackTraceElement is referenced but not defined.
         at 
org.apache.axis.wsdl.symbolTable.SymbolTable.checkForUndefined(SymbolTable.java:496)
         at 
org.apache.axis.wsdl.symbolTable.SymbolTable.add(SymbolTable.java:396)
         at 
org.apache.axis.wsdl.symbolTable.SymbolTable.populate(SymbolTable.java:382)
         at 
org.apache.axis.wsdl.symbolTable.SymbolTable.populate(SymbolTable.java:367)
         at org.apache.axis.wsdl.gen.Parser$WSDLRunnable.run(Parser.java:246)
         at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

The only way I have found to prevent this problem is to take the WSDL file 
generated by Java2WSDL and strip any references to the Throwable and 
StackTraceElements. I do this hack during my build using a DOM parser.

I also have a .NET client that needs the Axis web service's WSDL. Since the 
dynamic WSDL obtained through the ?wsdl URL parameter will have the same 
dreaded Throwable and StackTraceElements belonging to the same dreaded 
undefined namespace, I have to feed .NET my hacked static WSDL.

Ironically, exception throwing works. At the end of this message is the 
content of a sample SOAP response containing a fault corresponding to the 
original server exception. The response even contains a stack trace in the 
fault detail.

So with the hack, everything works. Just, it's irritating that, without 
this hack, Axis seemingly can't produce a valid WSDL in the common 
circumstance of needing to throw exceptions in Java 1.4.
===============================================================================
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <soapenv:Body>
   <soapenv:Fault>
    <faultcode>soapenv:Server.userException</faultcode>
    <faultstring>This is a test exception.</faultstring>
    <detail>
     <ns1:stackTrace xmlns:ns1="http://xml.apache.org/axis/">This is a test 
exception.
         at foo.bar.ApplicationBean.testException(ApplicationBean.java:225)
         at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
         at 
sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
         at 
sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
         ...
</ns1:stackTrace>
    </detail>
   </soapenv:Fault>
  </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>