Using the SOAP Web Service Command

Create a new web service to automate data access and exchange.

To create a new web service, do the following:

Procedure

  1. Double-click or drag the SOAP Web Service command to the Task Actions List.
    The SOAP Web Service window appears.
  2. Enter a complete Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), or click Build URI to build a customized WSDL URI.
    The Build Web Service URI window appears.
  3. In the Build Web Service URI window, do the following:
    1. Enter the WSDL URI.

      You can enter the URI or insert a variable by pressing the F2 function key.

    2. Click Connect.
      If you have used a variable in the WSDL URI field, you are prompted to enter a value for the variable. If the variable is already assigned a value, the field is auto-populated in the pop-up. You can change (override) the auto-populated value.
      After the connection is established, the Services, Port, Soap Versions, and Operations fields are auto-populated with options to select.
    3. Select the following as required and optionally specify their parameters:
      1. Select Services.
      2. Select Port.

        The default port is selected when you click Connect. Note that a port is not available for selection if the WSDL does not support a port.

      3. Select Soap Versions.

        The supported SOAP versions are 1.1 and 1.2. SOAP version 1.1 uses the "text/xml" content type, and SOAP version 1.2 uses the "application/soap+xml" and charset "utf-8" content types.

      4. Select Operations.

        If the selected Operation has parameters, the parameters are populated in the table with their Name, Type, and Value. You can Add, Update, or Delete the parameters for a particular operation.

    4. Enable the Raw Data Parameter(s) option to specify the input in XML format.
    5. The Select URI for execution field enables you to select the SOAP service endpoint URI that is used to run a bot. Select from the following options:
      • Default: To use the same service endpoint URI as the WSDL URI.
      • Dynamic: To use the service endpoint URI that is read dynamically from the WSDL file during task execution.
      • Static: To use the service endpoint URI that is generated at the time of creating a bot. In this case, the same service endpoint URI is used to run all the tasks. The variables are not evaluated during task execution.
        Note: If you change the settings for an existing bot from the Default to Static service endpoint, you must Save the configurations to reload the associated WSDL and do not need to select Connect.
    6. Click Save.
  4. Authentication Details: If you are using secure web services, enter the authentication details, including the user name, password, domain name, and client certificate.
    Note: To enhance security, press the F2 key to insert a Credential Variable.
  5. Enter Header Parameter(s): To automate a web service using two-stage authentication, specify the HTTP header parameter. Assign a variable (local or credential) to the parameter to support dynamic correlation of different web services. That is, allowing the token assigned to a variable from the header of one service to be passed to the header of another. Also, update or delete the existing parameters.
  6. Test Output: Test the output data by clicking Test Output. You can test the output data from the specified URI.
  7. Provide Output details: Specify the file to which you want to save the output data.
    The output can be extracted as a whole output or as a partially extracted value.
    To aid the extraction, the following options are provided:
    1. Whole Response: When this option is selected, the whole response is captured and stored in the selected variable.
    2. Selected Response: When this option is selected, only the partial response is captured from the web service in the form of an XPath and this value is then stored to a variable.
  8. Select/View Response: To open an XML Viewer, click on this link. Select the appropriate node from the response body. The XML Path is automatically created. Store this output into a variable, which is then passed into the header parameter of another request. This is particularly useful for correlating two web services.