Using the HTTP Binding Component

XML/HTTP GET Processing

The HTTP Binding Component is used as a provider proxy to provide connectivity to services in the JBI environment, or as consumer proxy to invoke services. The binding component implements the HTTP 1.1 GET binding defined in the WSDL 1.1 Specification, enabling applications to consume or provide services from the JBI environment using a web browser-like HTTP GET interaction.

Configuring the HTTP Binding Component for HTTP Get Interactions

To configure the HTTP Binding Component to function for HTTP GET interactions, the WSDL file of the service to which the binding component is acting as proxy, needs to use the following HTTP binding language elements defined in the WSDL 1.1 Specification:

An <http:binding> element indicating that a WSDL binding uses HTTP GET.
An <http:address> element representing the address of the port.
An <http:operation> element representing a relative address for each operation, that is relative to the <http:address> defined by the port.
An <http:urlEncoded> and <http:urlReplacement> element to indicate how all of the message parts of a request are encoded and made a part of the HTTP request URI.

Examples that demonstrate how to configure the HTTP Binding Component as a provider proxy or consumer proxy are available at Using the HTTP Binding Component with the HTTP GET method and Using the HTTP Binding Component with the HTTP POST Method.

Binding Details

The following sections describe how the HTTP Binding Component supports and implements the HTTP Binding language elements. Unless indicated otherwise, each of the WSDL elements described below are defined in the namespace http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/http/.

http:binding Element

The <http:binding> element:

Indicates that the binding uses the HTTP protocol.
Must be specified as a subordinate element of a <wsdl:binding>

Note –

Currently the HTTP Binding Component only supports GET and POST values (please note that HTTP methods are case-sensitive).

Example:

<http:binding verb="POST"/>

http:address Element

The <http:address> element:

Represents the address of the port.
Must be specified as a subordinate element of a <wsdl:port>
Requires a location attribute that specifies the base URI for the port.

Example:

<http::address location="http://localhost/MyService/MyPort"/>

http:operation Element

The <http:operation> element:

Represents an address for an operation.
Must be specified as a subordinate element of a <wsdl:operation/>
Requires a location attribute that specifies the base URI for the operation.
The full URI for a request to this port and to this specific operation. The <http:address> element addresses the port, and since a port can have multiple operations, this element represents a relative address to a particular operation; the value of this element's location attribute is appended to the value of the<http:address> location attribute to form the full URI for a request to this port and to this specific operation.

The HTTP Binding Component supports a blank location attribute value for this element.

Example:

Given:
    <http:operation location="Submit">
    <http:address location="http://localhost/MyService/MyPort">

The full HTTP request URI is: 
http://localhost/MyService/MyPort/Submit

http:urlEncoded Element

The <http:urlEncoded> element:

Indicates that all message parts that make up the input message are encoded into the request URI using query-string encoding, as follows:
- Name-value pair formatted as name=value
- Ampersand-delimited name-value pairs:name1=value1&name2=value2&...
- Message part names comprise the names in each pair, and message part values comprise the values in each pair.
Must be specified as a subordinate element of a <wsdl:input/>
Requires a location attribute that specifies the base URI for the operation.
Is only supported by the HTTP Binding Component for the GET method. <http:urlEncoded> is ignored for the POST method. For more information, see POST URL Processing of the HTTP WSDL Binding Implementation.

Example:

Given this description:
<wsd:message name="MyMessage">
    <wsdl:part name="partA" type="xsd:string"/>
    <wsdl:part name="partB" type="xsd:string"/>
</wsdl:message>
...
<wsdl:portType name="MyPortType">
    <wsdl:operation name="MyOperation">
        <wsdl:input message="MyMessage"/>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType>
...
<wsdl:binding name="MyBinding" type="MyPortType">
    <http:binding verb="GET"/>
    <wsdl:operation name="MyOperation">
        <wsdl:input>
            <http:urlEncoded/>
        </wsdl:input>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:binding>
...
<wsdl:service name="MyService">
    <wsdl:port name="Port1" binding="MyBinding">
        <http:address location="http://localhost/MyService/MyPort"/>
    </wsdl:port>
</wsdl:service>

Given these values mapped to the input parts:
"valueY" -> "partA"
"valueZ" -> "partB"

The full HTTP request URI is:
http://localhost/MyService/MyPort/MyOperation/partA=valueY&partB=valueZ

http:urlReplacement

The <http:urlReplacement/> element:

Indicates that all message parts that make up the input message are encoded into the request URI using the replacement algorithm detailed in the WSDL 1.1 Specification.
Must be specified as a subordinate element of a <wsdl:input/>
Requires a location attribute that specifies the base URI for the operation.
Is only supported by the HTTP Binding Component for the GET method. <http:urlEncoded> is ignored for the POST method. For more information, see POST URL Processing of the HTTP WSDL Binding Implementation.

Example:

Given this description:
<wsd:message name="MyMessage">
    <wsdl:part name="partA" type="xsd:string"/>
    <wsdl:part name="partB" type="xsd:string"/>
</wsdl:message>
...
<wsdl:portType name="MyPortType">
    <wsdl:operation name="MyOperation">
        <wsdl:input message="MyMessage"/>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType>
...
<wsdl:binding name="MyBinding" type="MyPortType">
    <http:binding verb="GET"/>
    <wsdl:operation name="MyOperation/(partA)/subcategory/(partB)">
        <wsdl:input>
            <http:urlReplacement/>
        </wsdl:input>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:binding>
...
<wsdl:service name="MyService">
    <wsdl:port name="Port1" binding="MyBinding">
        <http:address location="http://localhost/MyService/MyPort"/>
    </wsdl:port>
</wsdl:service>

Given these values mapped to the input parts:
"valueY" -> "partA"
"valueZ" -> "partB"

The full HTTP request URI is:
http://localhost/MyService/MyPort/MyOperation/valueY/subcategory/valueZ