PHP 5 SOAP client returns NULL when WSDL-provided function is called

Question

I am trying to use a webservice to look for specific users from my PHP application. I have used that exact same webservice in ASP.NET with success.

Basically, I do everything like the PHP doc tells me to, and I use the same methods/variables I used in ASP.NET (for the webservice itself), but I can't seem to get a result.

The function is listed in __getFunctions() and should return anyType, which if I understand correctly is the equivalent of mixed in PHP:

array(1) { [0]=>  string(63) "anyType basicSearch(string $sharedSecret, string $searchParams)" } 

When I do call basicSearch() though, it seems returns NULL.

basicSearch() is supposed to return an XML document with the information. In ASP.NET I used to simply cast the response to, I believe, and XmlDocument. Should I do that in PHP too? With which representation of an XML document (SimpleXML, DOM, etc.)?

Could it show as NULL just because PHP can't understand the format?

Am I doing something wrong in PHP? Or should I look into the webservice itself and try to debug on that side?

<?php
    $client = new SoapClient($wsdl_url);

    echo $client->__getFunctions();
    echo "<br />\n";
    echo $client->basicSearch($key, $req);
?>

PS: I am using the PHP 5 library. Maybe using some other library like nu-soap would help? There seems to be more doc online about it.

---

Update:

Using an array to pass the parameter does not work, SOAP expects separate arguments. Calling __getLastRequest() returns a string concatenating $key and $req with no other XML. Calling __getLastResponse() returns an empty string. No exception is thrown whatsoever. It seems PHP does not know what to do with the arguments I give it, even though it has parsed the WSDL file since I get the function I use listed when I call __getFunctions().

Any help would be appreciated.

Update': Still no solution working. I am baffled...

Solution 1

I found this whole thing pretty confusing when I started using the SoapClient libraries in php. The proper way to format this stuff is as follows:

$client = new SoapClient( $wsdl_url, array( "trace" => 1 ) );

$params = array(
    "sharedSecret" => "thisIsSomeSecret",
    "searchParams" => "thisIsSomeSearchParam"
);

$response = $client->basicSearch( $params );

Without seeing the response, I can't tell you how to reference the return parameters, but the way its stored is as a member var of a stdClass object. Such that you reference the returns like this...

$reponse->paramName;

A nice trick if you keep the array( "trace" => 1 ) set of options in there is that you can call these two functions....

$respXML = $client->__getLastResponse();
$requXML = $client->__getLastRequest();

... to see the actual xml that gets sent out, to see if its well-formed. Careful, SoapClient is pretty buggy. Much better than nusoap though, don't go for that trash.

Solution 2

yeap

$client = new SoapClient( $wsdl_url, array( "trace" => 1 ) );

"trace" parameter helps

Comments

[Henrik Opel]

I disagree on the notation/format remark: You pass the arguments as an array only if you'd use the $client->__soapCall($functionName, $arguments) mehtod, which is mainly intended for non WSDL usage. If you use WSDL, you should call functions directly by name, passing the arguments separately, as the OP does.

[Henrik Opel]

But I agree on using the trace option and __getLastRequest() to check for the actual returned value.

[Admin]

As Henrik Opel mentionned, the array method does not seem to work. PHP complains about a lacking parameter that's required. When I use trace and __getLastRequest() and __getLastResponse() I get a concatenation of the first parameter and the second as my request and an empty string as a response, as if PHP did not know what to do with my request. A call to __getFunctions() returns the function I use though, so the WSDL is read... This whole thing is confusing.

[Josh]

I found where my differences come in -- depending on how your wsdl is architected and what language/package is publishing the soap service endpoint, you can get into a situation where the parameters are expected as an array/object. The soap services I work with at my job are published by EJB's - they are returning stdObjects and expect the parameters to be passed in as arrays rather than sequentially.... anyway, just thought I'd follow up.