Soap

A SOAP client and server for node.js.

This module lets you connect to web services using SOAP. It also provides a server that allows you to run your own SOAP services.

• Features
• Install
• Why can't I file an issue?
• Where can I find help?
• Module
  • soap.createClient(url[, options], callback) - create a new SOAP client from a WSDL url. Also supports a local filesystem path.
  • soap.listen(server, path, services, wsdl) - create a new SOAP server that listens on path and provides services.
  • Options
  • Server Logging
  • Server Events
  • SOAP Fault
  • Server security example using PasswordDigest
  • Server connection authorization
• SOAP Headers
  • Received SOAP Headers
  • Outgoing SOAP Headers
• Client
  • Client.describe() - description of services, ports and methods as a JavaScript object
  • Client.setSecurity(security) - use the specified security protocol
  • Client.method(args, callback) - call method on the SOAP service.
  • Client.service.port.method(args, callback[, options[, extraHeaders]]) - call a method using a specific service and port
  • Client.lastRequest - the property that contains last full soap request for client logging
  • Client.setEndpoint(url) - overwrite the SOAP service endpoint address
  • Client Events
• Security
  • BasicAuthSecurity
  • BearerSecurity
  • ClientSSLSecurity
  • WSSecurity
  • WSSecurityCert
• Handling XML Attributes, Value and XML (wsdlOptions).
  • Specifying the exact namespace definition of the root element
• Handling "ignored" namespaces
• Handling "ignoreBaseNameSpaces" attribute
• soap-stub
  • Example
• Contributors

Features:

• Very simple API
• Handles both RPC and Document schema types
• Supports multiRef SOAP messages (thanks to @kaven276)
• Support for both synchronous and asynchronous method handlers
• WS-Security (currently only UsernameToken and PasswordText encoding is supported)
• Supports express based web server(body parser middleware can be used)

Install

Install with npm:

  npm install soap

Why can't I file an issue?

We've disabled issues in the repository and are now solely reviewing pull requests. The reasons why we disabled issues can be found here #731.

Where can I find help?

Community support can be found on gitter:

If you're looking for professional help you can contact the maintainers through this google form.

Module

soap.createClient(url[, options], callback) - create a new SOAP client from a WSDL url. Also supports a local filesystem path.

  var soap = require('soap');
  var url = 'http://example.com/wsdl?wsdl';
  var args = {name: 'value'};
  soap.createClient(url, function(err, client) {
      client.MyFunction(args, function(err, result) {
          console.log(result);
      });
  });

This client has a built in WSDL cache. You can use the disableCache option to disable it.

Options

The options argument allows you to customize the client with the following properties:

• endpoint: to override the SOAP service's host specified in the .wsdl file.
• envelopeKey: to set specific key instead of <pre><<b>soap</b>:Body></<b>soap</b>:Body></pre>.
• escapeXML: escape special XML characters in SOAP message (e.g. &, >, < etc).
• forceSoap12Headers: to set proper headers for SOAP v1.2.
• httpClient: to provide your own http client that implements request(rurl, data, callback, exheaders, exoptions).
• request: to override the request module.
• wsdl_headers: custom HTTP headers to be sent on WSDL requests.
• wsdl_options: custom options for the request module on WSDL requests.
• disableCache: don't cache WSDL files, request them every time.

Note: for versions of node >0.10.X, you may need to specify {connection: 'keep-alive'} in SOAP headers to avoid truncation of longer chunked responses.

soap.listen(server, path, services, wsdl) - create a new SOAP server that listens on path and provides services.

server can be a http Server or express framework based server wsdl is an xml string that defines the service.

  var myService = {
      MyService: {
          MyPort: {
              MyFunction: function(args) {
                  return {
                      name: args.name
                  };
              },

              // This is how to define an asynchronous function.
              MyAsyncFunction: function(args, callback) {
                  // do some work
                  callback({
                      name: args.name
                  });
              },

              // This is how to receive incoming headers
              HeadersAwareFunction: function(args, cb, headers) {
                  return {
                      name: headers.Token
                  };
              },

              // You can also inspect the original `req`
              reallyDetailedFunction: function(args, cb, headers, req) {
                  console.log('SOAP `reallyDetailedFunction` request from ' + req.connection.remoteAddress);
                  return {
                      name: headers.Token
                  };
              }
          }
      }
  };

  var xml = require('fs').readFileSync('myservice.wsdl', 'utf8');

  //http server example
  var server = http.createServer(function(request,response) {
      response.end('404: Not Found: ' + request.url);
  });

  server.listen(8000);
  soap.listen(server, '/wsdl', myService, xml);

  //express server example
  var app = express();
  //body parser middleware are supported (optional)
  app.use(bodyParser.raw({type: function(){return true;}, limit: '5mb'}));
  app.listen(8001, function(){
      //Note: /wsdl route will be handled by soap module
      //and all other routes & middleware will continue to work
      soap.listen(app, '/wsdl', myService, xml);
  });

Options

You can pass in server and WSDL Options using an options hash.

var xml = require('fs').readFileSync('myservice.wsdl', 'utf8');

soap.listen(server, {
    // Server options.
    path: '/wsdl',
    services: myService,
    xml: xml,

    // WSDL options.
    attributesKey: 'theAttrs',
    valueKey: 'theVal',
    xmlKey: 'theXml'
});

Server Logging

If the log method is defined it will be called with 'received' and 'replied' along with data.

  server = soap.listen(...)
  server.log = function(type, data) {
    // type is 'received' or 'replied'
  };

Server Events

Server instances emit the following events:

• request - Emitted for every received messages. The signature of the callback is function(request, methodName).
• headers - Emitted when the SOAP Headers are not empty. The signature of the callback is function(headers, methodName).

The sequence order of the calls is request, headers and then the dedicated service method.

SOAP Fault

A service method can reply with a SOAP Fault to a client by throwing an object with a Fault property.

  throw {
    Fault: {
      Code: {
        Value: 'soap:Sender',
        Subcode: { value: 'rpc:BadArguments' }
      },
      Reason: { Text: 'Processing Error' }
    }
  };

To change the HTTP statusCode of the response include it on the fault. The statusCode property will not be put on the xml message.

  throw {
    Fault: {
      Code: {
        Value: 'soap:Sender',
        Subcode: { value: 'rpc:BadArguments' }
      },
      Reason: { Text: 'Processing Error' },
      statusCode: 500
    }
  };

Server security example using PasswordDigest

If server.authenticate is not defined then no authentication will take place.

  server = soap.listen(...)
  server.authenticate = function(security) {
    var created, nonce, password, user, token;
    token = security.UsernameToken, user = token.Username,
            password = token.Password, nonce = token.Nonce, created = token.Created;
    return user === 'user' && password === soap.passwordDigest(nonce, created, 'password');
  };

Server connection authorization

The server.authorizeConnection method is called prior to the soap service method. If the method is defined and returns false then the incoming connection is terminated.

  server = soap.listen(...)
  server.authorizeConnection = function(req) {
    return true; // or false
  };

SOAP Headers

Received SOAP Headers

A service method can look at the SOAP headers by providing a 3rd arguments.

  {
      HeadersAwareFunction: function(args, cb, headers) {
          return {
              name: headers.Token
          };
      }
  }

It is also possible to subscribe to the 'headers' event. The event is triggered before the service method is called, and only when the SOAP Headers are not empty.

  server = soap.listen(...)
  server.on('headers', function(headers, methodName) {
    // It is possible to change the value of the headers
    // before they are handed to the service method.
    // It is also possible to throw a SOAP Fault
  });

First parameter is the Headers object; second parameter is the name of the SOAP method that will called (in case you need to handle the headers differently based on the method).

Outgoing SOAP Headers

Both client & server can define SOAP headers that will be added to what they send. They provide the following methods to manage the headers.

addSoapHeader(soapHeader[, name, namespace, xmlns]) - add soapHeader to soap:Header node

Parameters

• soapHeader Object({rootName: {name: 'value'}}) or strict xml-string

Returns

The index where the header is inserted.

Optional parameters when first arg is object :

• name Unknown parameter (it could just a empty string)
• namespace prefix of xml namespace
• xmlns URI

changeSoapHeader(index, soapHeader[, name, namespace, xmlns]) - change an already existing soapHeader

Parameters

• index index of the header to replace with provided new value
• soapHeader Object({rootName: {name: 'value'}}) or strict xml-string

getSoapHeaders() - return all defined headers

clearSoapHeaders() - remove all defined headers

Client

An instance of Client is passed to the soap.createClient callback. It is used to execute methods on the soap service.

Client.describe() - description of services, ports and methods as a JavaScript object

  client.describe() // returns
    {
      MyService: {
        MyPort: {
          MyFunction: {
            input: {
              name: 'string'
            }
          }
        }
      }
    }

Client.setSecurity(security) - use the specified security protocol

Client.method(args, callback) - call method on the SOAP service.

  client.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, function(err, result, raw, soapHeader) {
      // result is a javascript object
      // raw is the raw response
      // soapHeader is the response soap header as a javascript object
  })

Client.service.port.method(args, callback[, options[, extraHeaders]]) - call a method using a specific service and port

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // result is a javascript object
  })

Options (optional)

• Accepts any option that the request module accepts, see here.
• For example, you could set a timeout of 5 seconds on the request like this:

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // result is a javascript object
  }, {timeout: 5000})

• You can measure the elapsed time on the request by passing the time option:

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // client.lastElapsedTime - the elapsed time of the last request in milliseconds
  }, {time: true})

• Also, you could pass your soap request through a debugging proxy such as Fiddler or Betwixt.

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // client.lastElapsedTime - the elapsed time of the last request in milliseconds
  }, {proxy: 'http://localhost:8888'})

Extra Headers (optional)

Object properties define extra HTTP headers to be sent on the request.

• Add custom User-Agent:

client.addHttpHeader('User-Agent', `CustomUserAgent`);

Alternative method call using callback-last pattern

To align method call signature with node' standard callback-last patter and event allow promisification of method calls, the following method signatures are also supported:

client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, options, function (err, result) {
  // result is a javascript object
})

client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({name: 'value'}, options, extraHeaders, function (err, result) {
  // result is a javascript object
})

Overriding the namespace prefix

node-soap is still working out some kinks regarding namespaces. If you find that an element is given the wrong namespace prefix in the request body, you can add the prefix to it's name in the containing object. I.E.:

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({'ns1:name': 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // request body sent with `<ns1:name`, regardless of what the namespace should have been.
  }, {timeout: 5000})

• Remove namespace prefix of param

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction({':name': 'value'}, function(err, result) {
      // request body sent with `<name`, regardless of what the namespace should have been.
  }, {timeout: 5000})

Client.lastRequest - the property that contains last full soap request for client logging

Client.setEndpoint(url) - overwrite the SOAP service endpoint address

Client Events

Client instances emit the following events:

• request - Emitted before a request is sent. The event handler receives the entire Soap request (Envelope) including headers. The second parameter is the exchange id.
• message - Emitted before a request is sent. The event handler receives the Soap body contents. Useful if you don't want to log /store Soap headers. The second parameter is the exchange id.
• soapError - Emitted when an erroneous response is received. Useful if you want to globally log errors. The second parameter is the exchange id.
• response - Emitted after a response is received. The event handler receives the SOAP response body as well as the entire IncomingMessage response object. The third parameter is the exchange id. This is emitted for all responses (both success and errors).

An 'exchange' is a request/response couple. Event handlers receive the exchange id in all events. The exchange id is the same for the requests events and the responses events, this way you can use it to retrieve the matching request when an response event is received.

By default exchange ids are generated by using node-uuid but you can use options in client calls to pass your own exchange id.

Example :

  client.MyService.MyPort.MyFunction(args , function(err, result) {

  }, {exchangeId: myExchangeId})

Security

node-soap has several default security protocols. You can easily add your own as well. The interface is quite simple. Each protocol defines 2 methods:

• addOptions - a method that accepts an options arg that is eventually passed directly to request
• toXML - a method that returns a string of XML.

BasicAuthSecurity

  client.setSecurity(new soap.BasicAuthSecurity('username', 'password'));

BearerSecurity

  client.setSecurity(new soap.BearerSecurity('token'));

ClientSSLSecurity

Note: If you run into issues using this protocol, consider passing these options as default request options to the constructor:

• rejectUnauthorized: false
• strictSSL: false
• secureOptions: constants.SSL_OP_NO_TLSv1_2 (this is likely needed for node >= 10.0)

  client.setSecurity(new soap.ClientSSLSecurity(
    '/path/to/key'
    , '/path/to/cert'
    , {/*default request options*/}
  ));

WSSecurity

WSSecurity implements WS-Security. UsernameToken and PasswordText/PasswordDigest is supported.

  var options = {
    hasNonce: true,
    actor: 'actor'
  };
  var wsSecurity = new soap.WSSecurity('username', 'password', options)
  client.setSecurity(wsSecurity);

the options object is optional and can contain the following properties:

• passwordType: 'PasswordDigest' or 'PasswordText' (default: 'PasswordText')
• hasTimeStamp: adds Timestamp element (default: true)
• hasTokenCreated: adds Created element (default: true)
• hasNonce: adds Nonce element (default: false)
• mustUnderstand: adds mustUnderstand=1 attribute to security tag (default: false)
• actor: if set, adds Actor attribute with given value to security tag (default: '')

WSSecurityCert

WS-Security X509 Certificate support.

  var privateKey = fs.readFileSync(privateKeyPath);
  var publicKey = fs.readFileSync(publicKeyPath);
  var password = ''; // optional password
  var wsSecurity = new soap.WSSecurityCert(privateKey, publicKey, password);
  client.setSecurity(wsSecurity);

Handling XML Attributes, Value and XML (wsdlOptions).

Sometimes it is necessary to override the default behaviour of node-soap in order to deal with the special requirements of your code base or a third library you use. Therefore you can use the wsdlOptions Object, which is passed in the #createClient() method and could have any (or all) of the following contents:

var wsdlOptions = {
  attributesKey: 'theAttrs',
  valueKey: 'theVal',
  xmlKey: 'theXml'
}

If nothing (or an empty Object {}) is passed to the #createClient() method, the node-soap defaults (attributesKey: 'attributes', valueKey: '$value' and xmlKey: '$xml') are used.

Overriding the value key

By default, node-soap uses $value as the key for any parsed XML value which may interfere with your other code as it could be some reserved word, or the $ in general cannot be used for a key to start with.

You can define your own valueKey by passing it in the wsdl_options to the createClient call:

var wsdlOptions = {
  valueKey: 'theVal'
};

soap.createClient(__dirname + '/wsdl/default_namespace.wsdl', wsdlOptions, function (err, client) {
  // your code
});

Overriding the xml key

By default, node-soap uses $xml as the key to pass through an XML string as is; without parsing or namespacing it. It overrides all the other content that the node might have otherwise had.

For example :

{
  dom: {
    nodeone: {
      $xml: '<parentnode type="type"><childnode></childnode></parentnode>',
      siblingnode: 'Cant see me.'
    },
    nodetwo: {
      parentnode: {
        attributes: {
          type: 'type'
        },
        childnode: ''
      }
    }
  }
};

could become

<tns:dom>
  <tns:nodeone>
    <parentnode type="type">
      <childnode></childnode>
    </parentnode>
  </tns:nodeone>
  <tns:nodetwo>
    <tns:parentnode type="type">
      <tns:childnode></tns:childnode>
    </tns:parent>
  </tns:nodetwo>
</tns:dom>

You can define your own xmlKey by passing it in the wsdl_options object to the createClient call:

var wsdlOptions = {
  xmlKey: 'theXml'
};

soap.createClient(__dirname + '/wsdl/default_namespace.wsdl', wsdlOptions, function (err, client) {
  // your code
});

###Overriding the attributes key By default, node-soap uses attributes as the key to define a nodes attributes.

{
  parentnode: {
    childnode: {
      attributes: {
        name: 'childsname'
      },
      $value: 'Value'
    }
  }
}

could become

<parentnode>
  <childnode name="childsname">Value</childnode>
</parentnode>

However, attributes may be a reserved key for some systems that actually want a node called attributes

<attributes>
</attributes>

You can define your own attributesKey by passing it in the wsdl_options object to the createClient call:

var wsdlOptions = {
  attributesKey: '$attributes'
};

soap.createClient(__dirname + '/wsdl/default_namespace.wsdl', wsdlOptions, function (err, client) {
  client.method({
    parentnode: {
      childnode: {
        $attributes: {
          name: 'childsname'
        },
        $value: 'Value'
      }
    }
  });
});

Specifying the exact namespace definition of the root element

In rare cases, you may want to precisely control the namespace definition that is included in the root element.

You can specify the namespace definitions by setting the overrideRootElement key in the wsdlOptions like so:

var wsdlOptions = {
  overrideRootElement: {
    namespace: 'xmlns:tns',
    xmlnsAttributes: [{
      name: 'xmlns:ns2',
      value: "http://tempuri.org/"
    }, {
      name: 'xmlns:ns3',
      value: "http://sillypets.com/xsd"
    }]
  }
};

To see it in practice, have a look at the sample files in: test/request-response-samples/addPets__force_namespaces

Custom Deserializer

Sometimes it's useful to handle deserialization in your code instead of letting node-soap do it. For example if the soap response contains dates that are not in a format recognized by javascript, you might want to use your own function to handle them.

To do so, you can pass a customDeserializer object in options. The properties of this object are the types that your deserializer handles itself.

Example :

   var wsdlOptions = {
     customDeserializer = {

       // this function will be used to any date found in soap responses
       date: function (text, context) {
         /* text is the value of the xml element.
           context contains the name of the xml element and other infos :
             {
                 name: 'lastUpdatedDate',
                 object: {},
                 schema: 'xsd:date',
                 id: undefined,
                 nil: false
             }

          */
         return text;
       }
     }
   };

   soap.createClient(__dirname + '/wsdl/default_namespace.wsdl', wsdlOptions, function (err, client) {
     ...
   });

Handling "ignored" namespaces

If an Element in a schema definition depends on an Element which is present in the same namespace, normally the tns: namespace prefix is used to identify this Element. This is not much of a problem as long as you have just one schema defined (inline or in a separate file). If there are more schema files, the tns: in the generated soap file resolved mostly to the parent wsdl file, which was obviously wrong.

node-soap now handles namespace prefixes which shouldn't be resolved (because it's not necessary) as so called ignoredNamespaces which default to an Array of 3 Strings (['tns', 'targetNamespace', 'typedNamespace']).

If this is not sufficient for your purpose you can easily add more namespace prefixes to this Array, or override it in its entirety by passing an ignoredNamespaces object within the options you pass in soap.createClient() method.

A simple ignoredNamespaces object, which only adds certain namespaces could look like this:

var options = {
  ignoredNamespaces: {
    namespaces: ['namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace']
  }
}

This would extend the ignoredNamespaces of the WSDL processor to ['tns', 'targetNamespace', 'typedNamespace', 'namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace'].

If you want to override the default ignored namespaces you would simply pass the following ignoredNamespaces object within the options:

var options = {
    ignoredNamespaces: {
      namespaces: ['namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace'],
      override: true
    }
  }

This would override the default ignoredNamespaces of the WSDL processor to ['namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace']. (This shouldn't be necessary, anyways).

If you want to override the default ignored namespaces you would simply pass the following ignoredNamespaces object within the options:

var options = {
    ignoredNamespaces: {
      namespaces: ['namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace'],
      override: true
    }
  }

This would override the default ignoredNamespaces of the WSDL processor to ['namespaceToIgnore', 'someOtherNamespace']. (This shouldn't be necessary, anyways).

Handling "ignoreBaseNameSpaces" attribute

If an Element in a schema definition depends has a basenamespace defined but the request does not need that value, for example you have a "sentJob" with basenamespace "v20" but the request need only: set in the tree structure, you need to set the ignoreBaseNameSpaces to true. This is set because in a lot of workaround the wsdl structure is not correctly set or the webservice bring errors.

By default the attribute is set to true. An example to use:

A simple ignoredNamespaces object, which only adds certain namespaces could look like this:

var options = {
ignoredNamespaces: true
}

soap-stub

Unit testing services that use soap clients can be very cumbersome. In order to get around this you can use soap-stub in conjunction with sinon to stub soap with your clients.

Example

// test-initialization-script.js
var sinon = require('sinon');
var soapStub = require('soap/soap-stub');

var urlMyApplicationWillUseWithCreateClient = 'http://path-to-my-wsdl';
var clientStub = {
  SomeOperation: sinon.stub()
};

clientStub.SomeOperation.respondWithError = soapStub.createErroringStub({..error json...});
clientStub.SomeOperation.respondWithSuccess = soapStub.createRespondingStub({..success json...});

soapStub.registerClient('my client alias', urlMyApplicationWillUseWithCreateClient, clientStub);

// test.js
var soapStub = require('soap/soap-stub');

describe('myService', function() {
  var clientStub;
  var myService;

  beforeEach(function() {
    clientStub = soapStub.getStub('my client alias');
    soapStub.reset();
    myService.init(clientStub);
  });

  describe('failures', function() {
    beforeEach(function() {
      clientStub.SomeOperation.respondWithError();
    });

    it('should handle error responses', function() {
      myService.somethingThatCallsSomeOperation(function(err, response) {
        // handle the error response.
      });
    });
  });
});

Contributors

• Author: Vinay Pulim
• Maintainers:
  • Joe Spencer
  • Heinz Romirer
• All Contributors