PHP Tutorial - SOAP Client

Syntax

__getFunctions() // Returns array of functions for service (WSDL mode only)
__getTypes() // Returns array of types for service (WSDL mode only)
__getLastRequest() // Returns XML from last request (Requires trace option)
__getLastRequestHeaders() // Returns headers from last request (Requires trace option)
__getLastResponse() // Returns XML from last response (Requires trace option)
__getLastResponseHeaders() // Returns headers from last response (Requires trace option)

Parameters

Parameter	Details
$wsdl	URI of WSDL or `NULL` if using non-WSDL mode
$options	Array of options for SoapClient. Non-WSDL mode requires `location` and `uri` to set, all other options are optional. See table below for possible values.

Remarks

The SoapClient class is equipped with a __call method. This is not to be called directly. Instead this allows you to do:

$soap->requestInfo(['a', 'b', 'c']);

This will call the requestInfo SOAP method.

Table of possible $options values (Array of key/value pairs):

Option	Details
location	URL of SOAP server. Required in non-WSDL mode. Can be used in WSDL mode to override the URL.
uri	Target namespace of SOAP service. Required in non-WSDL mode.
style	Possible values are `SOAP_RPC` or `SOAP_DOCUMENT`. Only valid in non-WSDL mode.
use	Possible values are `SOAP_ENCODED` or `SOAP_LITERAL`. Only valid in non-WSDL mode.
soap_version	Possible values are `SOAP_1_1` (default) or `SOAP_1_2`.
authentication	Enable HTTP authentication. Possible values are `SOAP_AUTHENTICATION_BASIC` (default) or `SOAP_AUTHENTICATION_DIGEST`.
login	Username for HTTP authentication
password	Password for HTTP authentication
proxy_host	URL of proxy server
proxy_port	Proxy server port
proxy_login	Username for proxy
proxy_password	Password for proxy
local_cert	Path to HTTPS client cert (for authentication)
passphrase	Passphrase for HTTPS client cert
compression	Compress request / response. Value is a bitmask of `SOAP_COMPRESSION_ACCEPT` with either `SOAP_COMPRESSION_GZIP` or `SOAP_COMPRESSION_DEFLATE`. For example: `SOAP_COMPRESSION_ACCEPT \\| SOAP_COMPRESSION_GZIP`.
encoding	Internal character encoding (TODO: possible values)
trace	Boolean, defaults to `FALSE`. Enables tracing of requests so faults can be backtraced. Enables use of `__getLastRequest()`, `__getLastRequestHeaders()`, `__getLastResponse()` and `__getLastResponseHeaders()`.
classmap	Map WSDL types to PHP classes. Value should be an array with WSDL types as keys and PHP class names as values.
exceptions	Boolean value. Should SOAP errors exceptions (of type `SoapFault).
connection_timeout	Timeout (in seconds) for the connection to the SOAP service.
typemap	Array of type mappings. Array should be key/value pairs with the following keys: `type_name`, `type_ns` (namespace URI), `from_xml` (callback accepting one string parameter) and `to_xml` (callback accepting one object parameter).
cache_wsdl	How (if at all) should the WSDL file be cached. Possible values are `WSDL_CACHE_NONE`, `WSDL_CACHE_DISK`, `WSDL_CACHE_MEMORY` or `WSDL_CACHE_BOTH`.
user_agent	String to use in the `User-Agent` header.
stream_context	A resource for a context.
features	Bitmask of `SOAP_SINGLE_ELEMENT_ARRAYS`, `SOAP_USE_XSI_ARRAY_TYPE`, `SOAP_WAIT_ONE_WAY_CALLS`.
keep_alive	(PHP version >= 5.4 only) Boolean value. Send either `Connection: Keep-Alive` header (`TRUE`) or `Connection: Close` header (`FALSE`).
ssl_method	(PHP version >= 5.5 only) Which SSL/TLS version to use. Possible values are `SOAP_SSL_METHOD_TLS`, `SOAP_SSL_METHOD_SSLv2`, `SOAP_SSL_METHOD_SSLv3` or `SOAP_SSL_METHOD_SSLv23`.

Issue with 32 bit PHP: In 32 bit PHP, numeric strings greater than 32 bits which are automatically cast to integer by xs:long will result in it hitting the 32 bit limit, casting it to 2147483647. To work around this, cast the strings to float before passing it in to __soapCall().

WSDL Mode

First, create a new SoapClient object, passing the URL to the WSDL file and optionally, an array of options.

// Create a new client object using a WSDL URL
$soap = new SoapClient('https://example.com/soap.wsdl', [
    # This array and its values are optional
    'soap_version' => SOAP_1_2,
    'compression' => SOAP_COMPRESSION_ACCEPT | SOAP_COMPRESSION_GZIP,
    'cache_wsdl' => WSDL_CACHE_BOTH,
    # Helps with debugging
    'trace' => TRUE,
    'exceptions' => TRUE
]);

Then use the $soap object to call your SOAP methods.

$result = $soap->requestData(['a', 'b', 'c']);

Non-WSDL Mode

This is similar to WSDL mode, except we pass NULL as the WSDL file and make sure to set the location and uri options.

$soap = new SoapClient(NULL, [
    'location' => 'https://example.com/soap/endpoint',
    'uri' => 'namespace'
]);

Classmaps

When creating a SOAP Client in PHP, you can also set a classmap key in the configuration array. This classmap defines which types defined in the WSDL should be mapped to actual classes, instead of the default StdClass. The reason you would want to do this is because you can get auto-completion of fields and method calls on these classes, instead of having to guess which fields are set on the regular StdClass.

class MyAddress {
    public $country;
    public $city;
    public $full_name;
    public $postal_code; // or zip_code
    public $house_number;
}

class MyBook {
    public $name;
    public $author;

    // The classmap also allows us to add useful functions to the objects
    // that are returned from the SOAP operations.
    public function getShortDescription() {
        return "{$this->name}, written by {$this->author}";
    }
}

$soap_client = new SoapClient($link_to_wsdl, [
    // Other parameters
    "classmap" => [
        "Address" => MyAddress::class, // ::class simple returns class as string
        "Book" => MyBook::class,
    ]
]);

After configuring the classmap, whenever you perform a certain operation that returns a type Address or Book, the SoapClient will instantiate that class, fill the fields with the data and return it from the operation call.

// Lets assume 'getAddress(1234)' returns an Address by ID in the database
$address = $soap_client->getAddress(1234);

// $address is now of type MyAddress due to the classmap
echo $address->country;

// Lets assume the same for 'getBook(1234)'
$book = $soap_client->getBook(124);

// We can not use other functions defined on the MyBook class
echo $book->getShortDescription();

// Any type defined in the WSDL that is not defined in the classmap
// will become a regular StdClass object
$author = $soap_client->getAuthor(1234);

// No classmap for Author type, $author is regular StdClass.
// We can still access fields, but no auto-completion and no custom functions
// to define for the objects.
echo $author->name;

Tracing SOAP request and response

Sometimes we want to look at what is sent and received in the SOAP request. The following methods will return the XML in the request and response:

SoapClient::__getLastRequest()
SoapClient::__getLastRequestHeaders()
SoapClient::__getLastResponse()
SoapClient::__getLastResponseHeaders()

For example, suppose we have an ENVIRONMENT constant and when this constant's value is set to DEVELOPMENT we want to echo all information when the call to getAddress throws an error. One solution could be:

try {
    $address = $soap_client->getAddress(1234);
} catch (SoapFault $e) {
    if (ENVIRONMENT === 'DEVELOPMENT') {
        var_dump(
            $soap_client->__getLastRequestHeaders()
            $soap_client->__getLastRequest(),
            $soap_client->__getLastResponseHeaders(),
            $soap_client->__getLastResponse()
        );
    }
    ...
}

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PHP SOAP Client