Re: Array serialization-deserialization

[Dino Chiesa <di...@microsoft.com>]

Resurrecting this from a couple days ago...

> Is Axis smart enough to automatically use an ArraySerializer to
> serialize/deserialize arrays of simple types, a String[] for instance?
>
> Or do I have to declare a typeMapping for String[] wherever a
<service>
> uses one?

> I basically just want to know whether it's sufficient for me to
declare
> String[]s in my .wsdl without having to declare them a second time in
my
> server-config.wsdd file.

I think the answer is 
Yes, if you use AXIS 1.2RC3, 
No, if you use AXIS 1.1. 

Using AXIS 1.1, I cannot get arrays of simple types (string float, etc)
to serialize properly without a wrapper.  I think the ArraySerializer
always uses soap encoding, which is probably not what you want. 

Suppose I define a message element in the wsdl representing an array of
a simple type, such as 

      <s:element name="GetArrayOfSingleResult">
        <s:complexType>
          <s:sequence>
            <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"
name="floatItem" type="s:float" />
          </s:sequence>
        </s:complexType>
      </s:element>

Then I run WSDL2Java --server-side , and generate the interface and the
deploy.wsdd.   If I then provide my own implementation, and deploy it
all (wrapped/literal), the response is not serialized properly.  I get: 

 <soapenv:Body>
  <GetArrayOfSingleResponse xmlns="urn:ionic.basics.nowrapper.2005.03">
   <GetArrayOfSingleReturn soapenc:arrayType="xsd:float[4]"
xmlns:soapenc="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
    <item xmlns="">0.58614534</item>
    <item xmlns="">0.6191111</item>
    <item xmlns="">0.6607646</item>
    <item xmlns="">0.00925833</item>
   </GetArrayOfSingleReturn>
  </GetArrayOfSingleResponse>
 </soapenv:Body>

Ick.  This seems wrong since the wsdd says "doc/literal".  Also it's not
going to work for interop with .NET clients.  I didn't try it with other
clients. 

On the other hand if in the WSDL I define a complexType that wraps the
sequence of elements, such as 

      <s:element name="GetArrayOfSingleResult">
        <s:complexType>
          <s:sequence>
            <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="floatItem"
type="s0:Array_float" />
          </s:sequence>
        </s:complexType>
      </s:element>

      <!-- this WSDL artifact is not WS-I BP1.0 compliant, but is
necessary to enable AXIS to serialize properly --> 
      <s:complexType name="Array_float">
        <s:sequence>
            <s:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="item"
type="s:float" />
        </s:sequence>
      </s:complexType>

Then, interop works.  The XML on the wire looks like this: 

 <soapenv:Body>
  <GetArrayOfSingleResponse xmlns="http://example.org/webservices/">
   <GetArrayOfSingleReturn>
    <item>0.1324557</item>
    <item>0.46750873</item>
   </GetArrayOfSingleReturn>
  </GetArrayOfSingleResponse>
 </soapenv:Body>

Which is fine.  Somebody else has previously pointed out that the
element name is always Always ALWAYS "item", but that's only a minor
thing. The main drawback is that there is an extra wrapper in the
Java-side programming model.  I cannot return float[], I have to deal
with a wrapper class (bean) that has a float[] as a property.  Like so: 

  public Array_float getArrayOfSingle(...) {
   Array_float a= new Array_float();
   a.setItem(new float[n]); 
   return a; 
  }


That was all for AXIS 1.1.  I guess the wrapper type on the server side
is the price you pay for using "simple arrays".  

----

In AXIS 1.2RC3, it just works for me. 
A working example of an AXIS web service that sends Arrays of simple
types to .NET clients is here (with app source). 
http://dinoch.dyndns.org:7070/axis1.2/AboutArrays.jsp 



-Dino

------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------

Laran says:
> The only thing I found in the archives was Patrick Van Kann's issues
with
> serializing Collections.
> 
> I basically just want to know whether it's sufficient for me to
declare
> String[]s in my .wsdl without having to declare them a second time in
my
> server-config.wsdd file.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eugene Shershnev [mailto:shersh@gmail.com] 
> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 1:19 PM
> To: axis-user@ws.apache.org
> Subject: Re: Array serialization-deserialization
> 
> Search the list for this. Recently there was a few discussions about
array
> (de)serialization.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Laran Evans" <lc...@cornell.edu>
> To: <ax...@ws.apache.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 1:10p
> Subject: Array serialization-deserialization
> 
> 
> > Is Axis smart enough to automatically use an ArraySerializer to
> > serialize/deserialize arrays of simple types, a String[] for
instance?
> >
> > Or do I have to declare a typeMapping for String[] wherever a
<service>
> uses
> > one?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> >