2 C and C++ XML Data Bindings {#mainpage}
3 ===========================
10 This article gives a detailed overview of the gSOAP C and C++ XML data bindings
11 and highlights the advantages, concepts, usage, and implementation aspects of
14 The major advantage of XML data bindings is that your application data is
15 always **type safe** in C and C++ by binding XML schema types to C/C++ types.
16 So integers in XML are bound to C integers, strings in XML are bound to C or
17 C++ strings, complex types in XML are bound to C structs or C++ classes, and so
18 on. The structured data you create and accept will fit the data model and is
19 **static type safe**. In other words, by leveraging strong typing in C/C++,
20 your XML data meets **XML schema validation requirements** and satisfies **XML
21 interoperability requirements**.
23 The gSOAP data bindings are more powerful than simply representing C/C++ data
24 in XML. In fact, the tools implement **true serialization** of C/C++ data in
25 XML, including the serialization of cyclic graph structures. The gSOAP tools
26 also generate routines for deep copying and deep deletion of C/C++ data
27 structures to simplify memory management. In addition, C/C++ structures are
28 deserialized into managed memory, managed by the gSOAP `soap` context.
30 At the end of this document two examples are given to illustrate the
31 application of XML data bindings. The first simple example `address.cpp` shows
32 how to use wsdl2h to bind an XML schema to C++. The C++ application reads and
33 writes an XML file into and from a C++ "address book" data structure. The C++
34 data structure is an STL vector of address objects. The second example
35 `graph.cpp` shows how C++ data can be accurately serialized as a tree, digraph,
36 and cyclic graph in XML. The digraph and cyclic graph serialization rules
37 implement SOAP 1.1/1.2 multi-ref encoding with id-ref attributes to link
38 elements through IDREF XML references, creating a an XML graph with pointers to
39 XML nodes that preserves the structural integrity of the serialized C++ data.
41 These examples demonstrate XML data bindings only for relatively simple data
42 structures and types. The gSOAP tools support more than just these type of
43 structures to serialize in XML. There are practically no limits to
44 enable XML serialization of C and C++ types.
46 Support for XML schema components is unlimited. The wsdl2h tool maps schemas
47 to C and C++ using built-in intuitive mapping rules, while allowing the
48 mappings to be customized using a `typemap.dat` file with mapping instructions
51 The information in this document is applicable to gSOAP 2.8.26 and later
52 versions that support C++11 features. However, C++11 is not required to use
53 this material and the examples included, unless we need smart pointers and
54 scoped enumerations. While most of the examples in this document are given in
55 C++, the concepts also apply to C with the exception of containers, smart
56 pointers, classes and their methods. None of these exceptions limit the use of
57 the gSOAP tools for C in any way.
59 The data binding concepts described in this document were first envisioned in
60 1999 by Prof. Robert van Engelen at the Florida State University. An
61 implementation was created in 2000, named "stub/skeleton compiler". The first
62 articles on its successor version "gSOAP" appeared in 2002. The principle of
63 mapping XSD components to C/C++ types and vice versa is now widely adopted in
64 systems and programming languages, including Java web services and by C# WCF.
66 We continue to be committed to our goal to empower C/C++ developers with
67 powerful autocoding tools for XML. Our commitment started in the very early
68 days of SOAP by actively participating in
69 [SOAP interoperability testing](http://www.whitemesa.com/interop.htm),
70 participating in the development and testing of the
71 [W3C XML Schema Patterns for Databinding Interoperability](http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/databinding),
72 and continues by contributing to the development of
73 [OASIS open standards](https://www.oasis-open.org) in partnership with leading
76 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
78 Mapping WSDL and XML schemas to C/C++ {#tocpp}
79 =====================================
81 To convert WSDL and XML schemas (XSD files) to code, use the wsdl2h command to
82 generate the data binding interface code that is saved to a special gSOAP
83 header file with WSDL service declarations and the data binding interface:
85 wsdl2h [options] -o file.h ... XSD and WSDL files ...
87 This command converts WSDL and XSD files to C++ (or pure C with wsdl2h option
88 `-c`) and saves the data binding interface to a gSOAP header file `file.h` that
89 uses familiar C/C++ syntax extended with `//gsoap` [directives](#directives)
90 and annotations. Notational conventions are used in the data binding interface
91 to declare serializable C/C++ types and functions for Web service operations.
93 The WSDL 1.1/2.0, SOAP 1.1/1.2, and XSD 1.0/1.1 standards are supported by the
94 gSOAP tools. In addition, the most popular WS specifications are also
95 supported, including WS-Addressing, WS-ReliableMessaging, WS-Discovery,
96 WS-Security, WS-Policy, WS-SecurityPolicy, and WS-SecureConversation.
98 This document focusses on XML data bindings. XML data bindings for C/C++ bind
99 XML schema types to C/C++ types. So integers in XML are bound to C integers,
100 strings in XML are bound to C or C++ strings, complex types in XML are bound to
101 C structs or C++ classes, and so on.
103 A data binding is dual. Either you start with WSDLs and/or XML schemas that
104 are mapped to equivalent C/C++ types, or you start with C/C++ types that are
105 mapped to XSD types. Either way, the end result is that you can serialize
106 C/C++ types in XML such that your XML is an instance of XML schema(s) and is
107 validated against these schema(s).
109 This covers all of the following standard XSD components with their optional
110 attributes and properties:
112 XSD component | attributes and properties
113 -------------- | -------------------------
114 schema | targetNamespace, version, elementFormDefault, attributeFormDefault, defaultAttributes
115 attribute | name, ref, type, use, default, fixed, form, targetNamespace, wsdl:arrayType
116 element | name, ref, type, default, fixed, form, nillable, abstract, substitutionGroup, minOccurs, maxOccurs, targetNamespace
118 complexType | name, abstract, mixed, defaultAttributesApply
120 choice | minOccurs, maxOccurs
121 sequence | minOccurs, maxOccurs
122 group | name, ref, minOccurs, maxOccurs
123 attributeGroup | name, ref
124 any | minOccurs, maxOccurs
127 And also the following standard XSD directives are covered:
129 directive | description
130 ---------- | -----------
131 import | Imports a schema into the importing schema for referencing
132 include | Include schema component definitions into a schema
133 override | Override by replacing schema component definitions
134 redefine | Extend or restrict schema component definitions
135 annotation | Annotates a component
137 The XSD facets and their mappings to C/C++ are:
140 -------------- | -------
142 simpleContent | class/struct wrapper with `__item` member
143 complexContent | class/struct
144 list | `enum*` bitmask (`enum*` enumerates up to 64 bit masks)
145 extension | class/struct inheritance/extension
146 restriction | `typedef` and class/struct inheritance/redeclaration
147 length | `typedef` with restricted content length annotation
148 minLength | `typedef` with restricted content length annotation
149 maxLength | `typedef` with restricted content length annotation
150 minInclusive | `typedef` with numerical value range restriction annotation
151 maxInclusive | `typedef` with numerical value range restriction annotation
152 minExclusive | `typedef` with numerical value range restriction annotation
153 maxExclusive | `typedef` with numerical value range restriction annotation
154 precision | `typedef` with pattern annotation (pattern used for output, but input is not validated)
155 scale | `typedef` with pattern annotation (pattern used for output, but input is not validated)
156 totalDigits | `typedef` with pattern annotation (pattern used for output, but input is not validated)
157 fractionDigits | `typedef` with pattern annotation (pattern used for output, but input is not validated)
158 pattern | `typedef` with pattern annotation (define `soap::fsvalidate` callback to validate patterns)
159 union | string with union of value
161 All primitive XSD types are supported, including but not limited to the
165 ---------------- | -------
166 any/anyType | `_XML` string with literal XML content (or enable DOM with wsdl2h option `-d`)
167 anyURI | string (i.e. `char*`, `wchar_t*`, `std::string`, `std::wstring`)
168 string | string (i.e. `char*`, `wchar_t*`, `std::string`, `std::wstring`)
169 boolean | `bool` (C++) or `enum xsd__boolean` (C)
170 byte | `char` (i.e. `int8_t`)
171 short | `short` (i.e. `int16_t`)
172 int | `int` (i.e. `int32_t`)
173 long | `LONG64` (i.e. `long long` and `int64_t`)
174 unsignedByte | `unsigned char` (i.e. `uint8_t`)
175 unsignedShort | `unsigned short` (i.e. `uint16_t`)
176 unsignedInt | `unsigned int` (i.e. `uint32_t`)
177 unsignedLong | `ULONG64` (i.e. `unsigned long long` and `uint64_t`)
180 integer | string or `#import "custom/int128.h"` to use 128 bit `xsd__integer`
181 decimal | string or `#import "custom/long_double.h"` to use `long double`
182 precisionDecimal | string
183 duration | string or `#import "custom/duration.h"` to use 64 bit `xsd__duration`
184 dateTime | `time_t` or `#import "custom/struct_tm.h"` to use `struct tm` for `xsd__dateTime`
185 time | string or `#import "custom/long_time.h"` to use 64 bit `xsd__time`
186 date | string or `#import "custom/struct_tm_date.h"` to use `struct tm` for `xsd__date`
187 hexBinary | special class/struct `xsd__hexBinary`
188 base64Bianry | special class/struct `xsd__base64Binary`
189 QName | `_QName` string (URI normalization rules are applied)
191 All other primitive XSD types not listed above are mapped to strings, by
192 wsdl2h generating a typedef to string for these types. For example,
193 `xsd:token` is bound to a C++ or C string:
196 typedef std::string xsd__token; // C++
197 typedef char *xsd__token; // C (wsdl2h option -c)
200 This associates a compatible value space to the type with the appropriate XSD
201 type name used by the soapcpp2-generated serializers.
203 It is possible to remap types by adding the appropriate mapping rules to
204 `typemap.dat` as we will explain in more detail in the next section.
206 Imported custom serializers are intended to extend the C/C++ type bindings when
207 the default binding to string is not satisfactory to your taste and if the
208 target platform supports these C/C++ types. To add custom serializers to
209 `typemap.dat` for wsdl2h, see [adding custom serializers](#custom) below.
211 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
213 Using typemap.dat to customize data bindings {#typemap}
214 ============================================
216 Use a `typemap.dat` file to redefine namespace prefixes and to customize type
217 bindings for the the generated header files produced by the wsdl2h tool. The
218 `typemap.dat` is the default file processed by wsdl2h. Use wsdl2h option `-t`
219 to specify a different file.
221 Declarations in `typemap.dat` can be broken up over multiple lines by
222 continuing on the next line by ending each line to be continued with a
223 backslash `\`. The limit is 4095 characters per line, whether the line is
226 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
228 XML namespace bindings {#typemap1}
229 ----------------------
231 The wsdl2h tool generates C/C++ type declarations that use `ns1`, `ns2`, etc.
232 as schema-binding URI prefixes. These default prefixes are generated somewhat
233 arbitrarily for each schema targetNamespace URI, meaning that their ordering
234 may change depending on the WSDL and XSD order of processing with wsdl2h.
236 Therefore, it is **strongly recommended** to declare your own prefix for each
237 schema URI in `typemap.dat` to reduce maintaince effort of your code. This
238 is more robust when anticipating possible changes of the schema(s) and/or the
239 binding URI(s) and/or the tooling algorithms.
241 The first and foremost important thing to do is to define prefix-URI bindings
242 for our C/C++ code by adding the following line(s) to our `typemap.dat` or make
243 a copy of this file and add the line(s) that bind our choice of prefix name to
248 For example, to use `g` as a prefix for the "urn:graph" XML namespace:
252 This produces `g__name` C/C++ type names that are bound to the "urn:graph"
253 schema by association of `g` to the generated C/C++ types.
255 This means that `<g:name xmlns:g="urn:graph">` is parsed as an instance of a
256 `g__name` C/C++ type. Also `<x:name xmlns:x="urn:graph">` parses as an
257 instance of `g__name`, because the prefix `x` has the same URI value
258 `urn:graph`. Prefixes in XML have local scopes (like variables in a block).
260 The first run of wsdl2h will reveal the XML namespace URIs, so you do not need
261 to search WSDLs and XSD files for all of the target namespaces. Just copy them
262 from the generated header file after the first run into `typemap.dat` for
265 @note Only define a namespace prefix once in `typemap.dat`. That is, do not
266 use the same prefix for multiple XML namespace URIs. This is to avoid
267 namespace conflicts that may cause failed builds and failures in XML parsing
268 and XML schema validation.
270 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
272 XSD type bindings {#typemap2}
275 Custom C/C++ type bindings can be declared in `typemap.dat` to associate C/C++
276 types with specific schema types. These type bindings have four parts:
278 prefix__type = declaration | use | ptruse
282 - `prefix__type` is the schema type to be customized (the `prefix__type` name
283 uses the common double underscore naming convention);
284 - `declaration` declares the C/C++ type in the wsdl2h-generated header file.
285 This part can be empty if no explicit declaration is needed;
286 - `use` is an optional part that specifies how the C/C++ type is used in the
287 code. When omitted, it is the same as `prefix__type`;
288 - `ptruse` is an optional part that specifies how the type is used as a pointer
289 type. By default it is the `use` type name with a `*` or C++11
290 `std::shared_ptr<>` when enabled (see further below). If `use` is already a
291 pointer type by the presence of a `*` in the `use` part, then the default
292 `ptruse` type is the same as the `use` type (that is, no double pointer `**`
293 will be created in this case).
295 For example, to map `xsd:duration` to a `long long` (`LONG64`) type that holds
296 millisecond duration values, we can use the custom serializer declared in
297 `custom/duration.h` by adding the following line to `typemap.dat`:
299 xsd__duration = #import "custom/duration.h"
301 Here, we omitted the second and third parts, because `xsd__duration` is the
302 name that wsdl2h uses for this type in our generated code so we should leave
303 the `use` part unspecified. The third part is omitted to let wsdl2h use
304 `xsd__duration *` for pointers or `std::shared_ptr<xsd__duration>` if smart
305 pointers are enabled.
307 To map `xsd:string` to `wchar_t*` wide strings:
309 xsd__string = | wchar_t* | wchar_t*
311 Note that the first part is empty, because `wchar_t` is a C type and does not
312 need to be declared. A `ptruse` part is also defined in this example, but does
313 not need to be because the `use` part `wchar_t*` is already a pointer.
315 When the auto-generated declaration should be preserved but the `use` or
316 `ptruse` parts replaced, then we use an ellipsis for the declaration part:
318 prefix__type = ... | use | ptruse
320 This is useful to map schema polymorphic types to C types for example, where we
321 need to be able to both handle a base type and its extensions as per schema
322 extensibility. Say we have a base type called ns:base that is extended, then we
323 can remap this to a C type that permits referening the extended types via a
326 ns__base = ... | int __type_base; void*
328 such that `__type_base` and `void*` will be used to (de)serialize any data
329 type, including base and its derived types. The `__type_base` integer is set
330 to a `SOAP_TYPE_T` value to indicate what type of data the `void*` pointer
333 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
335 Custom serializers for XSD types {#custom}
336 --------------------------------
338 In the previous part we saw how a custom serializer is used to bind
339 `xsd:duration` to a `long long` (`LONG64` or `int64_t`) type to store millisecond
342 xsd__duration = #import "custom/duration.h"
344 The `xsd__duration` type is an alias of `long long` (`LONG64` or `int64_t`).
346 While wsdl2h will use this binding declared in `typemap.dat` automatically, you
347 will also need to compile `custom/duration.c`. Each custom serializer has a
348 header file and an implementation file written in C. You can compile these in
349 C++ (rename files to `.cpp` if needed).
351 We will discuss the custom serializers that are available to you.
353 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
355 ### xsd:integer {#custom-1}
357 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:integer` to a string by default. To map `xsd:integer` to
358 the 128 bit big int type `__int128_t`:
360 xsd__integer = #import "custom/int128.h"
362 The `xsd__integer` type is an alias of `__int128_t`.
364 @warning Beware that the `xsd:integer` value space of integers is in principle
365 unbounded and values can be of arbitrary length. A value range fault
366 `SOAP_TYPE` (value exceeds native representation) or `SOAP_LENGTH` (value
367 exceeds range bounds) will be thrown by the deserializer if the value is out of
370 Other XSD integer types that are restrictions of `xsd:integer`, are
371 `xsd:nonNegativeInteger` and `xsd:nonPositiveInteger`, which are further restricted
372 by `xsd:positiveInteger` and `xsd:negativeInteger`. To bind these types to
373 `__int128_t` add the following definitions to `typemap.dat`:
375 xsd__nonNegativeInteger = typedef xsd__integer xsd__nonNegativeInteger 0 : ;
376 xsd__nonPositiveInteger = typedef xsd__integer xsd__nonPositiveInteger : 0 ;
377 xsd__positiveInteger = typedef xsd__integer xsd__positiveInteger 1 : ;
378 xsd__negativeInteger = typedef xsd__integer xsd__negativeInteger : -1 ;
380 Or simply uncomment these definitions in `typemap.dat` when you are using the
381 latest gSOAP releases.
383 @note If `__int128_t` 128 bit integers are not supported on your platform and if it
384 is certain that `xsd:integer` values are within 64 bit value bounds for your
385 application's use, then you can map this type to `LONG64`:
387 xsd__integer = typedef LONG64 xsd__integer;
389 @note Again, a value range fault `SOAP_TYPE` or `SOAP_LENGTH` will be thrown by
390 the deserializer if the value is out of range.
392 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/int128.c` with your project.
394 @see Section [numerical types](#toxsd5).
396 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
398 ### xsd:decimal {#custom-2}
400 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:decimal` to a string by default. To map `xsd:decimal` to
401 extended precision floating point:
403 xsd__decimal = #import "custom/long_double.h" | long double
405 By contrast to all other custom serializers, this serializer enables `long
406 double` natively without requiring a new binding name (`xsd__decimal` is NOT
409 If your system supports `<quadmath.h>` quadruple precision floating point
410 `__float128`, you can map `xsd:decimal` to `xsd__decimal` that is an alias of
413 xsd__decimal = #import "custom/float128.h"
415 @warning Beware that `xsd:decimal` is in principle a decimal value with arbitraty
416 lengths. A value range fault `SOAP_TYPE` will be thrown by the deserializer if
417 the value is out of range.
419 In the XML payload the special values `INF`, `-INF`, `NaN` represent plus or
420 minus infinity and not-a-number, respectively.
422 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/long_double.c` with your
425 @see Section [numerical types](#toxsd5).
427 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
429 ### xsd:dateTime {#custom-3}
431 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:dateTime` to `time_t` by default.
433 The trouble with `time_t` when represented as 32 bit `long` integers is that it
434 is limited to dates between 1970 and 2038. A 64 bit `time_t` is safe to use if
435 the target platform supports it, but lack of 64 bit `time_t` portability may
436 still cause date range issues.
438 For this reason `struct tm` should be used to represent wider date ranges. This
439 custom serializer avoids using date and time information in `time_t`. You get
440 the raw date and time information. You only lose the day of the week
441 information. It is always Sunday (`tm_wday=0`).
443 To map `xsd:dateTime` to `xsd__dateTime` which is an alias of `struct tm`:
445 xsd__dateTime = #import "custom/struct_tm.h"
447 If the limited date range of `time_t` is not a problem but you want to increase
448 the time precision with fractional seconds, then we suggest to map `xsd:dateTime`
451 xsd__dateTime = #import "custom/struct_timeval.h"
453 If the limited date range of `time_t` is not a problem but you want to use the
454 C++11 time point type `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point` (which internally
457 xsd__dateTime = #import "custom/chrono_time_point.h"
459 Again, we should make sure that the dates will not exceed the date range when
460 using the default `time_t` binding for `xsd:dateTime` or when binding
461 `xsd:dateTime` to `struct timeval` or to `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point`.
462 These are safe to use in applications that use `xsd:dateTime` to record date
463 stamps within a given window. Otherwise, we recommend the `struct tm` custom
466 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/struct_tm.c` with your
469 You could even map `xsd:dateTime` to a plain string (use `char*` with C and
470 `std::string` with C++). For example:
472 xsd__dateTime = | char*
474 @see Section [date and time types](#toxsd7).
476 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
478 ### xsd:date {#custom-4}
480 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:date` to a string by default. We can map `xsd:date` to
483 xsd__date = #import "custom/struct_tm_date.h"
485 The `xsd__date` type is an alias of `struct tm`. The serializer ignores the
486 time part and the deserializer only populates the date part of the struct,
487 setting the time to 00:00:00. There is no unreasonable limit on the date range
488 because the year field is stored as an integer (`int`).
490 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/struct_tm_date.c` with your
493 @see Section [date and time types](#toxsd7).
495 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
497 ### xsd:time {#custom-5}
499 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:time` to a string by default. We can map `xsd:time` to
500 an `unsigned long long` (`ULONG64` or `uint64_t`) integer with microsecond time
503 xsd__time = #import "custom/long_time.h"
505 This type represents 00:00:00.000000 to 23:59:59.999999, from `0` to an upper
506 bound of `86399999999`. A microsecond resolution means that a 1 second
507 increment requires an increment of 1000000 in the integer value. The serializer
508 adds a UTC time zone.
510 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/long_time.c` with your
513 @see Section [date and time types](#toxsd7).
515 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
517 ### xsd:duration {#custom-6}
519 The wsdl2h tool maps `xsd:duration` to a string by default, unless `xsd:duration`
520 is mapped to a `long long` (`LONG64` or `int64_t`) type with with millisecond
521 (ms) time duration precision:
523 xsd__duration = #import "custom/duration.h"
525 The `xsd__duration` type is a 64 bit signed integer that can represent
526 106,751,991,167 days forwards (positive) and backwards (negative) in time in
527 increments of 1 ms (1/1000 of a second).
529 Rescaling of the duration value by may be needed when adding the duration value
530 to a `time_t` value, because `time_t` may or may not have a seconds resolution,
531 depending on the platform and possible changes to `time_t`.
533 Rescaling is done automatically when you add a C++11 `std::chrono::nanoseconds`
534 value to a `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point` value. To use
535 `std::chrono::nanoseconds` as `xsd:duration`:
537 xsd__duration = #import "custom/chrono_duration.h"
539 This type can represent 384,307,168 days (2^63 nanoseconds) forwards and
540 backwards in time in increments of 1 ns (1/1,000,000,000 of a second).
542 Certain observations with respect to receiving durations in years and months
543 apply to both of these serializer decoders for `xsd:duration`.
545 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/duration.c` with your
548 @see Section [time duration types](#toxsd8).
550 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
552 Custom Qt serializers for XSD types {#qt}
553 -----------------------------------
555 The gSOAP distribution includes several custom serializers for Qt types. Also
556 Qt container classes are supported, see
557 [the built-in typemap.dat variables $CONTAINER and $POINTER](#typemap5).
559 This feature requires gSOAP 2.8.34 or higher and Qt 4.8 or higher.
561 Each Qt custom serializer has an interface header file for soapcpp2 and a C++
562 implementation file to be compiled with your project.
564 Other Qt primitive types that are Qt typedefs of C/C++ types do not require a
567 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
569 ### xsd:string {#qt-1}
571 To use Qt strings instead of C++ strings, add the following definition to
574 xsd__string = #import "custom/qstring.h"
576 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qstring.cpp` with your
579 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
581 ### xsd:base64Binary {#qt-2}
583 To use Qt byte arrays for `xsd:base64Binary` instead of the
584 `xsd__base64Binary` class, add the following definition to `typemap.dat`:
586 xsd__base64Binary = #import "custom/qbytearray_base64.h"
588 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qbytearray_base64.cpp` with
591 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
593 ### xsd:hexBinary {#qt-3}
595 To use Qt byte arrays for `xsd:hexBinary` instead of the `xsd__base64Binary`
596 class, add the following definition to `typemap.dat`:
598 xsd__hexBinary = #import "custom/qbytearray_hex.h"
600 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qbytearray_hex.cpp` with
603 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
605 ### xsd:dateTime {#qt-4}
607 To use Qt QDateTime for `xsd:dateTime`, add the following definition to
610 xsd__dateTime = #import "custom/datetime.h"
612 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qdatetime.cpp` with
615 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
619 To use Qt QDate for `xsd:date`, add the following definition to
622 xsd__date = #import "custom/qdate.h"
624 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qdate.cpp` with your
627 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
631 To use Qt QDate for `xsd:time`, add the following definition to
634 xsd__time = #import "custom/qtime.h"
636 After running wsdl2h and soapcpp2, compile `custom/qtime.cpp` with your
639 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
641 Class/struct member additions {#typemap3}
642 -----------------------------
644 All generated classes and structs can be augmented with additional
645 members such as methods, constructors and destructors, and private members:
647 prefix__type = $ member-declaration
649 For example, we can add method declarations and private members to a class, say
650 `ns__record` as follows:
652 ns__record = $ ns__record(const ns__record &); // copy constructor
653 ns__record = $ void print(); // a print method
654 ns__record = $ private: int status; // a private member
656 Note that method declarations cannot include any code, because soapcpp2's input
657 permits only type declarations, not code.
659 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
661 Replacing XSD types by equivalent alternatives {#typemap4}
662 ----------------------------------------------
664 Type replacements can be given to replace one type entirely with another given
667 prefix__type1 == prefix__type2
669 This replaces all `prefix__type1` by `prefix__type2` in the wsdl2h output.
671 @warning Do not agressively replace types, because this can cause XML schema
672 validation to fail when a value-type mismatch is encountered in the XML input.
673 Therefore, only replace similar types with other similar types that are wider
674 (e.g. `short` by `int` and `float` by `double`).
676 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
678 The built-in typemap.dat variables $CONTAINER and $POINTER {#typemap5}
679 ----------------------------------------------------------
681 The `typemap.dat` `$CONTAINER` variable defines the container to emit in the
682 generated declarations, which is `std::vector` by default. For example, to emit
683 `std::list` as the container in the wsdl2h-generated declarations:
685 $CONTAINER = std::list
687 The `typemap.dat` `$POINTER` variable defines the smart pointer to emit in the
688 generated declarations, which replaces the use of `*` pointers. For example:
690 $POINTER = std::shared_ptr
692 Not all pointers in the generated output can be replaced by smart pointers.
693 Regular pointers are still used as union members and for pointers to arrays of
696 @note The standard smart pointer `std::shared_ptr` is generally safe to use.
697 Other smart pointers such as `std::unique_ptr` and `std::auto_ptr` may cause
698 compile-time errors when classes have smart pointer members but no copy
699 constructor (a default copy constructor). A copy constructor is required for
700 non-shared smart pointer copying or swapping.
702 Alternatives to `std::shared_ptr` of the form `NAMESPACE::shared_ptr` can be
703 assigned to `$POINTER` when the namespace `NAMESPACE` also implements
704 `NAMESPACE::make_shared` and when the shared pointer class provides `reset()`
705 and`get()` methods and the dereference operator. For example Boost
709 #include <boost/shared_ptr.hpp>
711 $POINTER = boost::shared_ptr
713 The user-defined content between `[` and `]` ensures that we include the Boost
714 header files that are needed to support `boost::shared_ptr` and
715 `boost::make_shared`.
717 A Qt container can be used instead of the default `std::vector`, for example
725 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
727 User-defined content {#typemap6}
730 Any other content to be generated by wsdl2h can be included in `typemap.dat` by
731 enclosing it within brackets `[` and `]` anywhere in the `typemap.dat` file.
732 Each of the two brackets MUST appear at the start of a new line.
734 For example, we can add an `#import "wsa5.h"` to the wsdl2h-generated output as
738 #import "import/wsa5.h"
741 which emits the `#import "import/wsa5.h"` literally at the start of the
742 wsdl2h-generated header file.
744 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
746 Mapping C/C++ to XML schema {#toxsd}
747 ===========================
749 The soapcpp2 command generates the data binding implementation code from a data
750 binding interface `file.h`:
752 soapcpp2 [options] file.h
754 where `file.h` is a gSOAP header file that declares the XML data binding
755 interface. The `file.h` is typically generated by wsdl2h, but you can also
756 declare one yourself. If so, add `//gsaop` [directives](#directives) and
757 declare in this file all our C/C++ types you want to serialize in XML.
759 You can also declare functions that will be converted to Web service operations
760 by soapcpp2. Global function declarations define service operations, which are
764 int prefix__func(arg1, arg2, ..., argn, result);
767 where `arg1`, `arg2`, ..., `argn` are formal argument declarations of the input
768 and `result` is a formal argument for the output, which must be a pointer or
769 reference to the result object to be populated. More information can be found
770 in the [gSOAP user guide.](http://www.genivia.com/doc/soapdoc2.html)
772 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
774 Overview of serializable C/C++ types {#toxsd1}
775 ------------------------------------
777 The following C/C++ types are supported by soapcpp2 and mapped to XSD types
778 and constructs. See the subsections below for more details or follow the links.
780 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
782 ### List of Boolean types
784 | Boolean Type | Notes |
785 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
786 | `bool` | C++ bool |
787 | `enum xsd__boolean` | C alternative to C++ `bool` with `false_` and `true_` |
789 @see Section [C++ bool and C alternative](#toxsd3).
791 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
793 ### List of enumeration and bitmask types
795 | Enumeration Type | Notes |
796 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
797 | `enum` | enumeration |
798 | `enum class` | C++11 scoped enumeration (soapcpp2 `-c++11`) |
799 | `enum*` | a bitmask that enumerates values 1, 2, 4, 8, ... |
800 | `enum* class` | C++11 scoped enumeration bitmask (soapcpp2 `-c++11`) |
802 @see Section [enumerations and bitmasks](#toxsd4).
804 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
806 ### List of numerical types
808 | Numerical Type | Notes |
809 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
811 | `short` | 16 bit integer |
812 | `int` | 32 bit integer |
813 | `long` | 32 bit integer |
814 | `LONG64` | 64 bit integer |
815 | `xsd__integer` | 128 bit integer, use `#import "custom/int128.h"` |
816 | `long long` | same as `LONG64` |
817 | `unsigned char` | unsigned byte |
818 | `unsigned short` | unsigned 16 bit integer |
819 | `unsigned int` | unsigned 32 bit integer |
820 | `unsigned long` | unsigned 32 bit integer |
821 | `ULONG64` | unsigned 64 bit integer |
822 | `unsigned long long` | same as `ULONG64` |
823 | `int8_t` | same as `char` |
824 | `int16_t` | same as `short` |
825 | `int32_t` | same as `int` |
826 | `int64_t` | same as `LONG64` |
827 | `uint8_t` | same as `unsigned char` |
828 | `uint16_t` | same as `unsigned short` |
829 | `uint32_t` | same as `unsigned int` |
830 | `uint64_t` | same as `ULONG64` |
831 | `size_t` | transient type (not serializable) |
832 | `float` | 32 bit float |
833 | `double` | 64 bit float |
834 | `long double` | extended precision float, use `#import "custom/long_double.h"` |
835 | `xsd__decimal` | `<quadmath.h>` 128 bit quadruple precision float, use `#import "custom/float128.h"` |
836 | `typedef` | declares a type name, with optional value range and string length bounds |
838 @see Section [numerical types](#toxsd5).
840 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
842 ### List of string types
844 | String Type | Notes |
845 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
846 | `char*` | string (may contain UTF-8 with flag `SOAP_C_UTFSTRING`) |
847 | `wchar_t*` | wide string |
848 | `std::string` | C++ string (may contain UTF-8 with flag `SOAP_C_UTFSTRING`) |
849 | `std::wstring` | C++ wide string |
850 | `char[N]` | fixed-size string, requires soapcpp2 option `-b` |
851 | `_QName` | normalized QName content |
852 | `_XML` | literal XML string content with wide characters in UTF-8 |
853 | `typedef` | declares a new string type name, may restrict string length |
855 @see Section [string types](#toxsd6).
857 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
859 ### List of date and time types
861 | Date and Time Type | Notes |
862 | --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
863 | `time_t` | date and time point since epoch |
864 | `struct tm` | date and time point, use `#import "custom/struct_tm.h"` |
865 | `struct tm` | date point, use `#import "custom/struct_tm_date.h"` |
866 | `struct timeval` | date and time point, use `#import "custom/struct_timeval.h"` |
867 | `unsigned long long` | time point in microseconds, use `#import "custom/long_time.h"` |
868 | `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point` | date and time point, use `#import "custom/chrono_time_point.h"` |
870 @see Section [date and time types](#toxsd7).
872 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
874 ### List of time duration types
876 | Time Duration Type | Notes |
877 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
878 | `long long` | duration in milliseconds, use `#import "custom/duration.h"` |
879 | `std::chrono::nanoseconds` | duration in nanoseconds, use `#import "custom/chrono_duration.h"` |
881 @see Section [time duration types](#toxsd8).
883 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
885 ### List of classes and structs
887 | Classes, Structs, and Members | Notes |
888 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
889 | `class` | C++ class with single inheritance only |
890 | `struct` | C struct or C++ struct without inheritance |
891 | `std::shared_ptr<T>` | C++11 smart shared pointer |
892 | `std::unique_ptr<T>` | C++11 smart pointer |
893 | `std::auto_ptr<T>` | C++ smart pointer |
894 | `std::deque<T>` | use `#import "import/stldeque.h"` |
895 | `std::list<T>` | use `#import "import/stllist.h"` |
896 | `std::vector<T>` | use `#import "import/stlvector.h"` |
897 | `std::set<T>` | use `#import "import/stlset.h"` |
898 | `template<T> class` | a container with `begin()`, `end()`, `size()`, `clear()`, and `insert()` methods |
899 | `T*` | data member: pointer to data of type `T` or points to array of `T` of size `__size` |
900 | `T[N]` | data member: fixed-size array of type `T` |
901 | `union` | data member: requires a variant selector member `__union` |
902 | `void*` | data member: requires a `__type` member to indicate the type of object pointed to |
904 @see Section [classes and structs](#toxsd9).
906 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
908 ### List of special classes and structs
910 | Special Classes and Structs | Notes |
911 | ----------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
912 | Special Array class/struct | single and multidimensional SOAP Arrays |
913 | Special Wrapper class/struct | complexTypes with simpleContent, wraps `__item` member |
914 | `xsd__hexBinary` | binary content |
915 | `xsd__base64Binary` | binary content and optional MIME/MTOM attachments |
916 | `xsd__anyType` | DOM elements, use `#import "dom.h"` |
917 | `@xsd__anyAttribute` | DOM attributes, use `#import "dom.h"` |
919 @see Section [special classes and structs](#toxsd10).
921 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
923 Colon notation versus name prefixing with XML tag name translation {#toxsd2}
924 ------------------------------------------------------------------
926 To bind C/C++ type names to XSD types, a simple form of name prefixing is used
927 by the gSOAP tools by prepending the XML namespace prefix to the C/C++ type
928 name with a pair of undescrores. This also ensures that name clashes cannot
929 occur when multiple WSDL and XSD files are converted to C/C++. Also, C++
930 namespaces are not sufficiently rich to capture XML schema namespaces
931 accurately, for example when class members are associated with schema elements
932 defined in another XML namespace and thus the XML namespace scope of the
933 member's name is relevant, not just its type.
935 However, from a C/C++ centric point of view this can be cumbersome. Therefore,
936 colon notation is an alternative to physically augmenting C/C++ names with
939 For example, the following class uses colon notation to bind the `record` class
940 to the `urn:types` schema:
943 //gsoap ns schema namespace: urn:types
944 class ns:record // binding 'ns:' to a type name
949 ns:record *spouse; // using 'ns:' with the type name
950 ns:record(); // using 'ns:' here too
951 ~ns:record(); // and here
955 The colon notation is stripped away by soapcpp2 when generating the data
956 binding implementation code for our project. So the final code just uses
957 `record` to identify this class and its constructor/destructor.
959 When using colon notation make sure to be consistent and not use colon notation
960 mixed with prefixed forms. The name `ns:record` differs from `ns__record`,
961 because `ns:record` is compiled to an unqualified `record` name.
963 Colon notation also facilitates overruling the elementFormDefault and
964 attributeFormDefault declaration that is applied to local elements and
965 attributes, when declared as members of classes, structs, and unions. For more
966 details, see [qualified and unqualified members](#toxsd9-6).
968 A C/C++ identifier name (a type name, member name, function name, or parameter
969 name) is translated to an XML tag name by the following rules:
971 - Two leading underscores indicates that the identifier name has no XML tag
972 name, i.e. this name is not visible in XML and is not translated.
973 - A leading underscore is removed, but the underscore indicates that: **a**) a
974 struct/class member name or parameter name has a wildcard XML tag name (i.e.
975 matches any XML tag), or **b**) a type name that has a
976 [document root element definition](#toxsd9-7).
977 - Trailing underscores are removed (i.e. trailing underscores can be used to
978 avoid name clashes with keywords).
979 - Underscores within names are translated to hyphens (hyphens are more common
981 - `_USCORE` is translated to an underscore in the translated XML tag name.
982 - `_DOT` is translated to a dot (`.`) in the translated XML tag name.
983 - `_xHHHH` is translated to the Unicode character with code point HHHH (hex).
984 - C++11 Unicode identifier name characters in UTF-8 are translated as-is.
986 For example, the C/C++ namespace qualified identifier name `s_a__my_way` is
987 translated to the XML tag name `s-a:my-way` by translating the prefix `s_a`
988 and the local name `my_way`.
990 Struct/class member and parameter name translation can be overruled by using
991 [backtick XML tags](#toxsd9-5) (with gSOAP 2.8.30 and later versions).
993 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
995 C++ Bool and C alternatives {#toxsd3}
996 ---------------------------
998 The C++ `bool` type is bound to built-in XSD type `xsd:boolean`.
1000 The C alternative is to define an enumeration:
1003 enum xsd__boolean { false_, true_ };
1006 or by defining an enumeration in C with pseudo-scoped enumeration constants:
1009 enum xsd__boolean { xsd__boolean__false, xsd__boolean__true };
1012 The XML value space of these types is `false` and `true`, but also accepted
1013 are `0` and `1` values for false and true, respectively.
1015 To prevent name clashes, `false_` and `true_` have an underscore. Trailing
1016 underscores are removed from the XML value space.
1018 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1020 Enumerations and bitmasks {#toxsd4}
1021 -------------------------
1023 Enumerations are mapped to XSD simpleType enumeration restrictions of
1024 `xsd:string`, `xsd:QName`, and `xsd:long`.
1026 Consider for example:
1029 enum ns__Color { RED, WHITE, BLUE };
1032 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:string` in the soapcpp2-generated
1037 <simpleType name="Color">
1038 <restriction base="xsd:string">
1039 <enumeration value="RED"/>
1040 <enumeration value="WHITE"/>
1041 <enumeration value="BLUE"/>
1047 Enumeration name constants can be pseudo-scoped to prevent name clashes,
1048 because enumeration name constants have a global scope in C and C++:
1051 enum ns__Color { ns__Color__RED, ns__Color__WHITE, ns__Color__BLUE };
1054 You can also use C++11 scoped enumerations to prevent name clashes:
1057 enum class ns__Color : int { RED, WHITE, BLUE };
1060 Here, the enumeration class base type `: int` is optional. In place of `int`
1061 in the example above, we can also use `int8_t`, `int16_t`, `int32_t`, or
1064 The XML value space of the enumertions defined above is `RED`, `WHITE`, and
1067 Prefix-qualified enumeration name constants are mapped to simpleType
1068 restrictions of `xsd:QName`, for example:
1071 enum ns__types { xsd__int, xsd__float };
1074 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:QName` in the soapcpp2-generated
1079 <simpleType name="types">
1080 <restriction base="xsd:QName">
1081 <enumeration value="xsd:int"/>
1082 <enumeration value="xsd:float"/>
1088 Enumeration name constants can be pseudo-numeric as follows:
1091 enum ns__Primes { _3 = 3, _5 = 5, _7 = 7, _11 = 11 };
1094 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:long`:
1098 <simpleType name="Color">
1099 <restriction base="xsd:long">
1100 <enumeration value="3"/>
1101 <enumeration value="5"/>
1102 <enumeration value="7"/>
1103 <enumeration value="11"/>
1109 The XML value space of this type is `3`, `5`, `7`, and `11`.
1111 Besides (pseudo-) scoped enumerations, another way to prevent name clashes
1112 accross enumerations is to start an enumeration name constant with one
1113 underscore or followed it by any number of underscores, which makes it
1114 unique. The leading and trailing underscores are removed from the XML value
1118 enum ns__ABC { A, B, C };
1119 enum ns__BA { B, A }; // BAD: B = 1 but B is already defined as 2
1120 enum ns__BA_ { B_, A_ }; // OK
1123 The gSOAP soapcpp2 tool permits reusing enumeration name constants across
1124 (non-scoped) enumerations as long as these values are assigned the same
1125 constant. Therefore, the following is permitted:
1128 enum ns__Primes { _3 = 3, _5 = 5, _7 = 7, _11 = 11 };
1129 enum ns__Throws { _1 = 1, _2 = 2, _3 = 3, _4 = 4, _5 = 5, _6 = 6 };
1132 A bitmask type is an `enum*` "product" enumeration with a geometric,
1133 power-of-two sequence of values assigned to the enumeration constants:
1136 enum* ns__Options { SSL3, TLS10, TLS11, TLS12 };
1139 where the product enum assigns 1 to `SSL3`, 2 to `TLS10`, 4 to `TLS11`, and 8
1140 to `TLS12`, which allows these enumeration constants to be used in composing
1141 bitmasks with `|` (bitwise or) `&` (bitwise and), and `~` (bitwise not):
1144 enum ns__Options options = (enum ns__Options)(SSL3 | TLS10 | TLS11 | TLS12);
1145 if (options & SSL3) // if SSL3 is an option, warn and remove from options
1152 The bitmask type maps to a simpleType list restriction of `xsd:string` in the
1153 soapcpp2-generated schema:
1157 <simpleType name="Options">
1159 <restriction base="xsd:string">
1160 <enumeration value="SSL3"/>
1161 <enumeration value="TLS10"/>
1162 <enumeration value="TLS11"/>
1163 <enumeration value="TLS12"/>
1170 The XML value space of this type consists of all 16 possible subsets of the
1171 four values, represented by an XML string with space-separated values. For
1172 example, the bitmask `TLS10 | TLS11 | TLS12` equals 14 and is represented by
1173 the XML string `TLS10 TLS11 TLS12`.
1175 You can also use C++11 scoped enumerations with bitmasks:
1178 enum* class ns__Options { SSL3, TLS10, TLS11, TLS12 };
1181 The base type of a scoped enumeration bitmask, when explicitly given, is
1182 ignored. The base type is either `int` or `int64_t`, depending on the number
1183 of constants enumerated in the bitmask.
1185 To convert `enum` name constants and bitmasks to a string, we use the
1186 auto-generated function for enum `T`:
1189 const char *soap_T2s(struct soap*, enum T val)
1192 The string returned is stored in an internal buffer of the current `soap`
1193 context, so you MUST copy it to keep it from being overwritten. For example,
1194 use `char *soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char*)`.
1196 To convert a string to an `enum` constant or bitmask, we use the auto-generated
1200 int soap_s2T(struct soap*, const char *str, enum T *val)
1203 This function takes the name (or names, space-separated for bitmasks) of
1204 the enumeration constant in a string `str`. Names should be given without the
1205 pseudo-scope prefix and without trailing underscores. The function sets `val`
1206 to the corresponding integer enum constant or to a bitmask. The function
1207 returns `SOAP_OK` (zero) on success or an error if the string is not a valid
1210 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1212 Numerical types {#toxsd5}
1215 Integer and floating point types are mapped to the equivalent built-in XSD
1216 types with the same sign and bit width.
1218 The `size_t` type is transient (not serializable) because its width is platform
1219 dependent. We recommend to use `uint64_t` instead.
1221 The XML value space of integer types are their decimal representations without
1224 The XML value space of floating point types are their decimal representations.
1225 The decimal representations are formatted with the printf format string "%.9G"
1226 for floats and the printf format string "%.17lG" for double. To change the
1227 format strings, we can assign new strings to the following `struct soap`
1231 soap.float_format = "%g";
1232 soap.double_format = "%lg";
1233 soap.long_double_format = "%Lg";
1236 Note that decimal representations may result in a loss of precision of the
1237 least significant decimal. Therefore, the format strings that are used by
1238 default are sufficiently precise to avoid loss, but this may result in long
1239 decimal fractions in the XML value space.
1241 The `long double` extended floating point type requires a custom serializer:
1244 #import "custom/long_double.h"
1245 ... use long double ...
1248 You can now use `long double`, which has a serializer that serializes this type
1249 as `xsd:decimal`. Compile and link your code with `custom/long_double.c`.
1251 The value space of floating point values includes the special values `INF`,
1252 `-INF`, and `NaN`. You can check a value for plus or minus infinity and
1253 not-a-number as follows:
1256 soap_isinf(x) && x > 0 // is x INF?
1257 soap_isinf(x) && x < 0 // is x -INF?
1258 soap_isnan(x) // is x NaN?
1261 To assign these values, use:
1264 // x is float // x is double, long double, or __float128
1265 x = FLT_PINFY; x = DBL_PINFTY;
1266 x = FLT_NINFY; x = DBL_NINFTY;
1267 x = FLT_NAN; x = DBL_NAN;
1270 If your system supports `__float128` then you can also use this 128 bit
1271 floating point type with a custom serializer:
1274 #import "custom/float128.h"
1275 ... use xsd__decimal ...
1278 Then use the `xsd__decimal` alias of `__float128`, which has a serializer. Do
1279 not use `__float128` directly, which is transient (not serializable).
1281 To check for `INF`, `-INF`, and `NaN` of a `__float128` value use:
1284 isinfq(x) && x > 0 // is x INF?
1285 isinfq(x) && x < 0 // is x -INF?
1286 isnanq(x) // is x NaN?
1289 The range of a typedef-defined numerical type can be restricted using the range
1290 `:` operator with inclusive lower and upper bounds. For example:
1293 typedef int ns__narrow -10 : 10;
1296 This maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:int` in the soapcpp2-generated
1301 <simpleType name="narrow">
1302 <restriction base="xsd:int">
1303 <minInclusive value="-10"/>
1304 <maxInclusive value="10"/>
1310 The lower and upper bound of a range are optional. When omitted, values are
1311 not bound from below or from above, respectively.
1313 The range of a floating point typedef-defined type can be restricted within
1314 floating point constant bounds.
1316 Also with a floating point typedef a printf format pattern can be given of the
1317 form `"%[width][.precision]f"` to format decimal values using the given width
1318 and precision fields:
1321 typedef float ns__PH "%5.2f" 0.0 : 14.0;
1324 This maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:float` in the soapcpp2-generated
1329 <simpleType name="PH">
1330 <restriction base="xsd:float">
1331 <totalDigits value="5"/>
1332 <fractionDigits value="2"/>
1333 <minInclusive value="0"/>
1334 <maxInclusive value="14"/>
1340 For exclusive bounds, we use the `<` operator instead of the `:` range
1344 typedef float ns__epsilon 0.0 < 1.0;
1347 Values `eps` of `ns__epsilon` are restricted between `0.0 < eps < 1.0`.
1349 This maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:float` in the soapcpp2-generated
1354 <simpleType name="epsilon">
1355 <restriction base="xsd:float">
1356 <minExclusive value="0"/>
1357 <maxExclusive value="1"/>
1363 To make just one of the bounds exclusive, while keeping the other bound
1364 inclusive, we add a `<` on the left or on the right side of the range ':'
1365 operator. For example:
1368 typedef float ns__pos 0.0 < : ; // 0.0 < pos
1369 typedef float ns__neg : < 0.0 ; // neg < 0.0
1372 It is valid to make both left and right side exclusive with `< : <` which is in
1373 fact identical to the exlusive range `<` operator:
1376 typedef float ns__epsilon 0.0 < : < 1.0; // 0.0 < eps < 1.0
1379 It helps to think of the `:` as a placeholder of the value between the two
1380 bounds, which is easier to memorize than the shorthand forms of bounds from
1381 which the `:` is removed:
1383 | Bounds | Validation Check | Shorthand |
1384 | ---------- | ---------------- | --------- |
1385 | 1 : | 1 <= x | 1 |
1386 | 1 : 10 | 1 <= x <= 10 | |
1387 | : 10 | x <= 10 | |
1388 | 1 < : < 10 | 1 < x < 10 | 1 < 10 |
1389 | 1 : < 10 | 1 <= x < 10 | |
1390 | : < 10 | x < 10 | < 10 |
1391 | 1 < : | 1 < x | 1 < |
1392 | 1 < : 10 | 1 < x <= 10 | |
1394 Besides `float`, also `double` and `long double` values can be restricted. For
1395 example, consider a nonzero probability extended floating point precision type:
1398 #import "custom/long_double.h"
1399 typedef long double ns__probability "%16Lg" 0.0 < : 1.0;
1402 Value range restrictions are validated by the parser for all inbound XML data.
1403 A type fault `SOAP_TYPE` will be thrown by the deserializer if the value is out
1406 Finally, if your system supports `__int128_t` then you can also use this 128
1407 bit integer type with a custom serializer:
1410 #import "custom/int128.h"
1411 ... use xsd__integer ...
1414 Use the `xsd__integer` alias of `__int128_t`, which has a serializer. Do not
1415 use `__int128_t` directly, which is transient (not serializable).
1417 To convert numeric values to a string, we use the auto-generated function for
1421 const char *soap_T2s(struct soap*, T val)
1424 For numeric types `T`, the string returned is stored in an internal buffer of
1425 the current `soap` context, so you MUST copy it to keep it from being
1426 overwritten. For example, use `char *soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char*)`.
1428 To convert a string to a numeric value, we use the auto-generated function
1431 int soap_s2T(struct soap*, const char *str, T *val)
1434 where `T` is for example `int`, `LONG64`, `float`, `decimal` (the custom
1435 serializer name of `long double`) or `xsd__integer` (the custom serializer name
1436 of `__int128_t`). The function `soap_s2T` returns `SOAP_OK` on success or an
1437 error when the value is not numeric. For floating point types, "INF", "-INF"
1438 and "NaN" are valid strings to convert to numbers.
1440 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1442 String types {#toxsd6}
1445 String types are mapped to the built-in `xsd:string` and `xsd:QName` XSD types.
1447 The wide strings `wchar_t*` and `std::wstring` may contain Unicode that is
1448 preserved in the XML value space.
1450 Strings `char*` and `std::string` can only contain extended Latin, but we can
1451 store UTF-8 content that is preserved in the XML value space when the `struct
1452 soap` context is initialized with the flag `SOAP_C_UTFSTRING`.
1454 @warning Beware that many XML 1.0 parsers reject all control characters (those
1455 between `#x1` and `#x1F`) except for `#x9`, `#xA`, and `#xD`. With the
1456 newer XML 1.1 version parsers (including gSOAP) you should be fine.
1458 The length of a string of a typedef-defined string type can be restricted:
1461 typedef std::string ns__password 6 : 16;
1464 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:string` in the soapcpp2-generated
1469 <simpleType name="password">
1470 <restriction base="xsd:string">
1471 <minLength value="6"/>
1472 <maxLength value="16"/>
1478 String length restrictions are validated by the parser for inbound XML data.
1479 A value length fault `SOAP_LENGTH` will be thrown by the deserializer if the
1480 string is too long or too short.
1482 In addition, an XSD regex pattern restriction can be associated with a string
1486 typedef std::string ns__password "([a-zA-Z]|[0-9]|-)+" 6 : 16;
1489 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:string` in the soapcpp2-generated
1494 <simpleType name="password">
1495 <restriction base="xsd:string">
1496 <pattern value="([a-zA-Z0-9]|-)+"/>
1497 <minLength value="6"/>
1498 <maxLength value="16"/>
1504 Pattern restrictions are validated by the parser for inbound XML data only if
1505 the `soap::fsvalidate` and `soap::fwvalidate` callbacks are defined, see the
1506 [gSOAP user guide.](http://www.genivia.com/doc/soapdoc2.html)
1508 Exclusive length bounds can be used with strings:
1511 typedef std::string ns__string255 : < 256; // same as 0 : 255
1514 Fixed-size strings (`char[N]`) are rare occurrences in the wild, but apparently
1515 still used in some projects to store strings. To facilitate fixed-size string
1516 serialization, use soapcpp2 option `-b`. For example:
1519 typedef char ns__buffer[10]; // requires soapcpp2 option -b
1522 which maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:string` in the soapcpp2-generated
1527 <simpleType name="buffer">
1528 <restriction base="xsd:string">
1529 <maxLength value="9"/>
1535 Note that fixed-size strings MUST contain NUL-terminated text and SHOULD NOT
1536 contain raw binary data. Also, the length limitation is more restrictive for
1537 UTF-8 content (enabled with the `SOAP_C_UTFSTRING`) that requires multibyte
1538 character encodings. As a consequence, UTF-8 content may be truncated to fit.
1540 Note that raw binary data can be stored in a `xsd__base64Binary` or
1541 `xsd__hexBinary` structure, or transmitted as a MIME attachment.
1543 The built-in `_QName` type is a regular C string type (`char*`) that maps to
1544 `xsd:QName` but has the added advantage that it holds normalized qualified names.
1545 There are actually two forms of normalized QName content, to ensure any QName
1546 is represented accurately and uniquely:
1553 The first form of string is used when the prefix (and the binding URI) is
1554 defined in the namespace table and is bound to a URI (see the .nsmap file).
1555 The second form is used when the URI is not defined in the namespace table and
1556 therefore no prefix is available to bind and normalize the URI to.
1558 A `_QName` string may contain a sequence of space-separated QName values, not
1559 just one, and all QName values are normalized to the format shown above.
1561 To define a `std::string` base type for `xsd:QName`, we use a typedef:
1564 typedef std::string xsd__QName;
1567 The `xsd__QName` string content is normalized, just as with the `_QName`
1570 To serialize strings that contain literal XML content to be reproduced in the
1571 XML value space, use the built-in `_XML` string type, which is a regular C
1572 string type (`char*`) that maps to plain XML CDATA.
1574 To define a `std::string` base type for literal XML content, use a typedef:
1577 typedef std::string XML;
1580 Strings can hold any of the values of the XSD built-in primitive types. We can
1581 use a string typedef to declare the use of the string type as a XSD built-in
1585 typedef std::string xsd__token;
1588 You MUST ensure that the string values we populate in this type conform to the
1589 XML standard, which in case of `xsd:token` is the lexical and value spaces of
1590 `xsd:token` are the sets of all strings after whitespace replacement of any
1591 occurrence of `#x9`, `#xA` , and `#xD` by `#x20` and collapsing.
1593 As of version 2.8.49, the gSOAP parser will automatically collapse or replace
1594 the white space content when receiving data for XSD types that require white
1595 space collapsed or replaced. This normalization is applied to strings
1596 directly. The decision to collapse or replace is based on the `typedef` name
1597 corresponding to the built-in string-based XSD type.
1599 To copy `char*` or `wchar_t*` strings with a context that manages the allocated
1600 memory, use functions
1603 char *soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char*)
1604 wchar_t *soap_wstrdup(struct soap*, const wchar_t*)
1607 To convert a wide string to a UTF-8 encoded string, use function
1610 const char* SOAP_FMAC2 soap_wchar2s(struct soap*, const wchar_t *s)
1613 The function allocates and returns a string, with its memory being managed by
1616 To convert a UTF-8 encoded string to a wide string, use function
1619 int soap_s2wchar(struct soap*, const char *from, wchar_t **to, long minlen, long maxlen)
1622 where `to` is set to point to an allocated `wchar_t*` string. Pass `-1` for
1623 `minlen` and `maxlen` to ignore length constraints on the target string. The
1624 function returns `SOAP_OK` or an error when the length constraints are not met.
1626 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1628 Date and time types {#toxsd7}
1631 The C/C++ `time_t` type is mapped to the built-in `xsd:dateTime` XSD type that
1632 represents a date and time within a time zone (typically UTC).
1634 The XML value space contains ISO 8601 Gregorian time instances of the form
1635 `[-]CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sss[Z|(+|-)hh:mm]`, where `Z` is the UTC time zone
1636 or a time zone offset `(+|-)hh:mm]` from UTC is used.
1638 A `time_t` value is considered and represented in UTC by the serializer.
1640 Because the `time_t` value range is restricted to dates after 01/01/1970 and
1641 before 2038 assuming `time_t` is a `long` 32 bit, care must be taken to ensure
1642 the range of `xsd:dateTime` values in XML exchanges do not exceed the `time_t`
1645 This restriction does not hold for `struct tm` (`<time.h>`), which we can use
1646 to store and exchange a date and time in UTC without date range restrictions.
1647 The serializer uses the `struct tm` members directly for the XML value space of
1653 int tm_sec; // seconds (0 - 60)
1654 int tm_min; // minutes (0 - 59)
1655 int tm_hour; // hours (0 - 23)
1656 int tm_mday; // day of month (1 - 31)
1657 int tm_mon; // month of year (0 - 11)
1658 int tm_year; // year - 1900
1659 int tm_wday; // day of week (Sunday = 0) (NOT USED)
1660 int tm_yday; // day of year (0 - 365) (NOT USED)
1661 int tm_isdst; // is summer time in effect?
1662 char* tm_zone; // abbreviation of timezone (NOT USED)
1666 You will lose the day of the week information. It is always Sunday
1667 (`tm_wday=0`) and the day of the year is not set either. The time zone is UTC.
1669 This `struct tm` type is mapped to the built-in `xsd:dateTime` XSD type and
1670 serialized with the custom serializer `custom/struct_tm.h` that declares a
1671 `xsd__dateTime` type:
1674 #import "custom/struct_tm.h" // import typedef struct tm xsd__dateTime;
1675 ... use xsd__dateTime ...
1678 Compile and link your code with `custom/struct_tm.c`.
1680 The `struct timeval` (`<sys/time.h>`) type is mapped to the built-in
1681 `xsd:dateTime` XSD type and serialized with the custom serializer
1682 `custom/struct_timeval.h` that declares a `xsd__dateTime` type:
1685 #import "custom/struct_timeval.h" // import typedef struct timeval xsd__dateTime;
1686 ... use xsd__dateTime ...
1689 Compile and link your code with `custom/struct_timeval.c`.
1691 Note that the same value range restrictions apply to `struct timeval` as they
1692 apply to `time_t`. The added benefit of `struct timeval` is the addition of
1693 a microsecond-precise clock:
1698 time_t tv_sec; // seconds since Jan. 1, 1970
1699 suseconds_t tv_usec; // and microseconds
1703 A C++11 `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point` type is mapped to the built-in
1704 `xsd:dateTime` XSD type and serialized with the custom serializer
1705 `custom/chrono_time_point.h` that declares a `xsd__dateTime` type:
1708 #import "custom/chrono_time_point.h" // import typedef std::chrono::system_clock::time_point xsd__dateTime;
1709 ... use xsd__dateTime ...
1712 Compile and link your code with `custom/chrono_time_point.cpp`.
1714 The `struct tm` type is mapped to the built-in `xsd:date` XSD type and serialized
1715 with the custom serializer `custom/struct_tm_date.h` that declares a
1719 #import "custom/struct_tm_date.h" // import typedef struct tm xsd__date;
1720 ... use xsd__date ...
1723 Compile and link your code with `custom/struct_tm_date.c`.
1725 The XML value space of `xsd:date` are Gregorian calendar dates of the form
1726 `[-]CCYY-MM-DD[Z|(+|-)hh:mm]` with a time zone.
1728 The serializer ignores the time part and the deserializer only populates the
1729 date part of the struct, setting the time to 00:00:00. There is no unreasonable
1730 limit on the date range because the year field is stored as an integer (`int`).
1732 An `unsigned long long` (`ULONG64` or `uint64_t`) type that contains a 24 hour
1733 time in microseconds UTC is mapped to the built-in `xsd:time` XSD type and
1734 serialized with the custom serializer `custom/long_time.h` that declares a
1738 #import "custom/long_time.h" // import typedef unsigned long long xsd__time;
1739 ... use xsd__time ...
1742 Compile and link your code with `custom/long_time.c`.
1744 This type represents `00:00:00.000000` to `23:59:59.999999`, from 0 to an
1745 upper bound of 86,399,999,999. A microsecond resolution means that a 1 second
1746 increment requires an increment of 1,000,000 in the integer value.
1748 The XML value space of `xsd:time` are points in time recurring each day of the
1749 form `hh:mm:ss.sss[Z|(+|-)hh:mm]`, where `Z` is the UTC time zone or a time
1750 zone offset from UTC is used. The `xsd__time` value is always considered and
1751 represented in UTC by the serializer.
1753 To convert date and/or time values to a string, we use the auto-generated
1754 function for type `T`:
1757 const char *soap_T2s(struct soap*, T val)
1760 For date and time types `T`, the string returned is stored in an internal
1761 buffer of the current `soap` context, so you MUST copy it to keep it from being
1762 overwritten. For example, use `char *soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char*)`.
1764 To convert a string to a date/time value, we use the auto-generated function
1767 int soap_s2T(struct soap*, const char *str, T *val)
1770 where `T` is for example `dateTime` (for `time_t`), `xsd__dateTime` (for
1771 `struct tm`, `struct timeval`, or `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point`).
1772 The function `soap_s2T` returns `SOAP_OK` on success or an error when the value
1775 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1777 Time duration types {#toxsd8}
1780 The XML value space of `xsd:duration` are values of the form `PnYnMnDTnHnMnS`
1781 where the capital letters are delimiters. Delimiters may be omitted when the
1782 corresponding member is not used.
1784 A `long long` (`LONG64` or `int64_t`) type that contains a duration (time
1785 lapse) in milliseconds is mapped to the built-in `xsd:duration` XSD type and
1786 serialized with the custom serializer `custom/duration.h` that declares a
1787 `xsd__duration` type:
1790 #import "custom/duration.h" // import typedef long long xsd__duration;
1791 ... use xsd__duration ...
1794 Compile and link your code with `custom/duration.c`.
1796 The duration type `xsd__duration` can represent 106,751,991,167 days forward
1797 and backward with millisecond precision.
1799 Durations that exceed a month are always output in days, rather than months to
1800 avoid days-per-month conversion inacurracies.
1802 Durations that are received in years and months instead of total number of days
1803 from a reference point are not well defined, since there is no accepted
1804 reference time point (it may or may not be the current time). The decoder
1805 simple assumes that there are 30 days per month. For example, conversion of
1806 "P4M" gives 120 days. Therefore, the durations "P4M" and "P120D" are assumed
1807 to be identical, which is not necessarily true depending on the reference point
1810 Rescaling of the duration value by may be needed when adding the duration value
1811 to a `time_t` value, because `time_t` may or may not have a seconds resolution,
1812 depending on the platform and possible changes to `time_t`.
1814 Rescaling is done automatically when you add a C++11 `std::chrono::nanoseconds`
1815 value to a `std::chrono::system_clock::time_point` value. To use
1816 `std::chrono::nanoseconds` as `xsd:duration`:
1819 #import "custom/chrono_duration.h" // import typedef std::chrono::duration xsd__duration;
1820 ... use xsd__duration ...
1823 Compile and link your code with `custom/chrono_duration.cpp`.
1825 This type can represent 384,307,168 days (2^63 nanoseconds) forwards and
1826 backwards in time in increments of 1 ns (1/1000000000 second).
1828 The same observations with respect to receiving durations in years and months
1829 apply to this serializer's decoder.
1831 To convert duration values to a string, we use the auto-generated function
1834 const char *soap_xsd__duration2s(struct soap*, xsd__duration val)
1837 The string returned is stored in an internal buffer, so you MUST copy it to
1838 keep it from being overwritten, Use `soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char*)`
1839 for example to copy this string.
1841 To convert a string to a duration value, we use the auto-generated function
1844 int soap_s2xsd__dateTime(struct soap*, const char *str, xsd__dateTime *val)
1847 The function returns `SOAP_OK` on success or an error when the value is not a
1850 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1852 Classes and structs {#toxsd9}
1855 Classes and structs are mapped to XSD complexTypes. The XML value space
1856 consists of XML elements with attributes and subelements, possibly constrained
1857 by XML schema validation rules that enforce element and attribute occurrence
1858 contraints, numerical value range constraints, and string length and pattern
1861 Classes that are declared with the gSOAP tools are limited to single
1862 inheritence only. Structs cannot be inherited.
1864 The class and struct name is bound to an XML namespace by means of the prefix
1865 naming convention or by using [colon notation](#toxsd1):
1868 //gsoap ns schema namespace: urn:types
1882 In the example above, we also added a context pointer to the `struct soap` that
1883 manages this instance. It is set when the instance is created in the engine's
1884 context, for example when deserialized and populated by the engine.
1886 The class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
1890 <complexType name="record">
1892 <element name="name" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1893 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1894 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
1900 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1902 ### Serializable versus transient types and data members {#toxsd9-1}
1904 Public data members of a class or struct are serialized. Private and protected
1905 members are transient and not serializable.
1907 Also `const` and `static` members are not serializable, with the exception of
1908 `const char*` and `const wchar_t*`. Types and specific class/struct members
1909 can also be made transient with the `extern` qualifier:
1912 extern class std::ostream; // declare 'std::ostream' transient
1916 extern int num; // not serialized
1917 std::ostream out; // not serialized
1918 static const int MAX = 1024; // not serialized
1922 By declaring `std::ostream` transient with `extern` you can use this type
1923 wherever you need it without soapcpp2 complaining that this class is not
1926 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1928 ### Volatile classes and structs {#toxsd9-2}
1930 Classes and structs can be declared `volatile` with the gSOAP tools. This means
1931 that they are already declared elsewhere in your project's source code and you
1932 do not want soapcpp2 to generate code with a second declaration of these types.
1934 For example, `struct tm` is declared in `<time.h>`. You can make it serializable
1935 and include a partial list of data members that you want to serialize:
1940 int tm_sec; // seconds (0 - 60)
1941 int tm_min; // minutes (0 - 59)
1942 int tm_hour; // hours (0 - 23)
1943 int tm_mday; // day of month (1 - 31)
1944 int tm_mon; // month of year (0 - 11)
1945 int tm_year; // year - 1900
1949 You can declare classes and structs `volatile` for any such types you want to
1950 serialize by only providing the public data members you want to serialize.
1952 In addition, [colon notation](#toxsd2) is a simple and effective way to bind an
1953 existing class or struct to a schema. For example, you can change the `tm` name
1954 as follows without affecting the code that uses `struct tm` generated by
1958 volatile struct ns:tm { ... }
1961 This struct maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
1965 <complexType name="tm">
1967 <element name="tm-sec" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1968 <element name="tm-min" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1969 <element name="tm-hour" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1970 <element name="tm-mday" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1971 <element name="tm-mon" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1972 <element name="tm-year" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
1978 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
1980 ### Mutable classes and structs {#toxsd9-3}
1982 Classes and structs can be declared `mutable` with the gSOAP tools. This means
1983 that their definition can be spread out over the source code. This promotes the
1984 concept of a class or struct as a *row of named values*, also known as a *named
1985 tuple*, that can be extended at compile time in your source code with additional
1986 members. Because these types differ from the traditional object-oriented
1987 principles and design concepts of classes and objects, constructors and
1988 destructors cannot be defined (also because we cannot guarantee merging these
1989 into one such that all members will be initialized). A default constructor,
1990 copy constructor, assignment operation, and destructor will be assigned
1991 automatically by soapcpp2.
1994 mutable struct ns__tuple
1999 mutable struct ns__tuple
2006 The members are collected into one definition generated by soapcpp2. Members
2007 may be repeated from one definition to another, but only if their associated
2008 types are identical. So, for example, a third extension with a `value` member
2009 with a different type fails:
2012 mutable struct ns__tuple
2014 float value; // BAD: value is already declared std::string
2018 The `mutable` concept has proven to be very useful when declaring and
2019 collecting SOAP Headers for multiple services, which are collected into one
2020 `struct SOAP_ENV__Header` by the soapcpp2 tool.
2022 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2024 ### Default and fixed member values {#toxsd9-4}
2026 Class and struct data members in C and C++ may be declared with an optional
2027 default initialization value that is provided "inline" with the declaration of
2034 std::string name = "Joe";
2039 Alternatively, use C++11 default initialization syntax:
2045 std::string name { "Joe" };
2050 These initializations are made by the default constructor that is added by
2051 soapcpp2 to each class and struct (in C++ only). A constructor is only added
2052 when a default constructor is not already defined with the class declaration.
2054 You can explicitly (re)initialize an object with these initial values by using
2055 the soapcpp2 auto-generated functions:
2057 - `void T::soap_default(struct soap*)` for `class T` (C++ only)
2058 - `void soap_default_T(struct soap*, T*)` for `struct T` (C and C++).
2060 Default value initializations can be provided for members that have primitive
2061 types (`bool`, `enum`, `time_t`, numeric and string types).
2063 Default value initializations of pointer members is permitted, but the effect
2064 is different. To conform to XML schema validation, an attribute member that is
2065 a pointer to a primitive type will be assigned the default value when parsed
2066 from XML. An element member that is a pointer to a primitive type will be
2067 assigned when the element is empty when parsed from XML.
2069 As of gSOAP 2.8.48 and greater, a fixed value can be assigned with a `==`. A
2070 fixed value is also verified by the parser's validator.
2072 Default and fixed values for members with or without pointers are best
2073 explained with the following two example fragments.
2075 A record class (can be a struct in C) with default values for attributes and
2076 elements is declared as follows:
2079 class ns__record_with_default
2082 @std::string a = "A"; // optional XML attribute with default value "A"
2083 @std::string b 1 = "B"; // required XML attribute with default value "B"
2084 @std::string *c = "C"; // optional XML attribute with default value "C"
2085 std::string d 0 = "D"; // optional XML element with default value "D"
2086 std::string e = "E"; // required XML element with default value "E"
2087 std::string *f = "F"; // optional XML element with default value "F"
2092 Note that attributes are optional unless marked as required with the occurrence
2093 constraint `1`. Elements are required unless the member type is a pointer or
2094 if the member is marked optional with occurrence constraint `0`.
2096 Instead of default values, fixed values indicate that the attribute or element
2097 must contain that value, and only that value, when provided in XML. A fixed
2098 value is specified with a `==`.
2100 A record class (can be a struct in C) with fixed values for attributes and
2101 elements is declared as follows:
2104 class ns__record_with_fixed
2107 @std::string g == "G"; // optional XML attribute with fixed value "G"
2108 @std::string h 1 == "H"; // required XML attribute with fixed value "H"
2109 @std::string *i == "I"; // optional XML attribute with fixed value "I"
2110 std::string j 0 == "J"; // optional XML element with fixed value "J"
2111 std::string k == "K"; // required XML element with fixed value "K"
2112 std::string *l == "L"; // optional XML element with fixed value "L"
2117 The XML schema validation rules for the two example classes above are as
2121 ------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------
2122 `a` | attribute may appear once; if it does not appear its value is "A", otherwise its value is that given (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns the default value "A")
2123 `b` | has no effect when parsing XML (but note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns the default value "B")
2124 `c` | attribute may appear once; if it does not appear its value is "C", otherwise its value is that given (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns NULL)
2125 `d` | element may appear once; if it does not appear or if it is empty, its value is "D"; otherwise its value is that given (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns the default value "D")
2126 `e` | has no effect when parsing XML (but note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns the default value "E")
2127 `f` | element may appear once; if it does not appear it is not provided; if it does appear and it is empty, its value is "F"; otherwise its value is that given (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_default` assigns NULL)
2128 `g` | attribute may appear once; if it does not appear its value is "G", if it does not appear its value is "G" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns the fixed value "G")
2129 `h` | attribute must appear once, its value must be "H" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns the fixed value "H")
2130 `i` | attribute may appear once; if it does not appear its value is "I", if it does not appear its value is "I" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns NULL)
2131 `j` | element may appear once, if it does not appear it is not provided; if it does appear and it is empty, its value is "J"; if it does appear and it is not empty, its value must be "J" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns the fixed value "J")
2132 `k` | element must appear once, its value must be "K" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns the fixed value "K")
2133 `l` | element may appear once, if it does not appear it is not provided; if it does appear and it is empty, its value is "J"; if it does appear and it is not empty, its value must be "J" (also note: instantiating `ns__record_with_fixed` assigns NULL)
2135 @see Section [operations on classes and structs](#toxsd9-13).
2137 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2139 ### Attribute members and backtick XML tags {#toxsd9-5}
2141 Class and struct data members are declared as XML attributes by annotating
2142 their type with a `@` qualifier:
2154 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2158 <complexType name="record">
2160 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2162 <attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
2163 <attribute name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" use="required"/>
2168 An example XML instance of `ns__record` is:
2172 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" name="Joe" SSN="1234567890">
2173 <spouse name="Jane" SSN="1987654320">
2179 Attribute data members are restricted to primitive types (`bool`, `enum`,
2180 `time_t`, numeric and string types), `xsd__hexBinary`, `xsd__base64Binary`, and
2181 custom serializers, such as `xsd__dateTime`. Custom serializers for types that
2182 may be used as attributes MUST define `soap_s2T` and `soap_T2s` functions that
2183 convert values of type `T` to strings and back.
2185 Attribute data members can be pointers and smart pointers to these types, which
2186 permits attributes to be optional.
2188 The XML tag name of a class/struct member is the name of the member with the
2189 usual XML tag translation, see [colon notation](#toxsd2).
2191 To override the standard translation of identifier names to XML tag names of
2192 attributes and elements, add the XML tag name in backticks (requires gSOAP
2193 2.8.30 and later versions):
2199 @std::string name `full-name`;
2200 @uint64_t SSN `tax-id`;
2201 ns__record *spouse `married-to`;
2205 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2209 <complexType name="record">
2211 <element name="married-to" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2213 <attribute name="full-name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
2214 <attribute name="tax-id" type="xsd:unsignedLong" use="required"/>
2219 An example XML instance of `ns__record` is:
2223 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" full-name="Joe" tax-id="1234567890">
2224 <married-to full-name="Jane" tax-id="1987654320">
2230 A backtick XML tag name may contain any non-empty sequence of ASCII and UTF-8
2231 characters except white space and the backtick character. A backtick tag can
2232 be combined with member constraints and default member initializers:
2234 @uint64_t SSN `tax-id` 0:1 = 999;
2236 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2238 ### Qualified and unqualified members {#toxsd9-6}
2240 Class, struct, and union data members are mapped to namespace qualified or
2241 unqualified tag names of local elements and attributes. If a data member has
2242 no prefix then the default form of qualification is applied based on the
2243 element/attribute form that is declared with the schema of the class, struct,
2244 or union type. If the member name has a namespace prefix by colon notation,
2245 then the prefix overrules the default (un)qualified form. Therefore,
2246 [colon notation](#toxsd2) is an effective mechanism to control qualification of
2247 tag names of individual members of classes, structs, and unions.
2249 The XML schema elementFormDefault and attributeFormDefault declarations control
2250 the tag name qualification of local elements and attributes, respectively.
2252 - "unqualified" indicates that local elements/attributes are not qualified with
2253 the namespace prefix.
2255 - "qualified" indicates that local elements/attributes must be qualified with
2256 the namespace prefix.
2258 Individual schema declarations of local elements and attributes may overrule
2259 this by using the form declaration in a schema and by using colon notation to
2260 add namespace prefixes to class, struct, and union members in the header file
2263 Consider for example an `ns__record` class in the `ns` namespace in which local
2264 elements are qualified and local attributes are unqualified by default:
2267 //gsoap ns schema namespace: urn:types
2268 //gsoap ns schema elementForm: qualified
2269 //gsoap ns schema attributeForm: unqualified
2279 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema with
2280 targetNamespace "urn:types", elementFormDefault qualified and
2281 attributeFormDefault unqualified:
2285 <schema targetNamespace="urn:types"
2287 elementFormDefault="qualified"
2288 attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
2290 <complexType name="record">
2292 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2294 <attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
2295 <attribute name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" use="required"/>
2301 An example XML instance of `ns__record` is:
2305 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" name="Joe" SSN="1234567890">
2306 <ns:spouse> name="Jane" SSN="1987654320">
2312 Note that the root element ns:record is qualified because it is a root element
2313 of the schema with target namespace "urn:types". Its local element ns:spouse
2314 is namespace qualified because the elementFormDefault of local elements is
2315 qualified. Attributes are unqualified.
2317 The default namespace (un)qualification of local elements and attributes can be
2318 overruled by adding a prefix to the member name by using colon notation:
2321 //gsoap ns schema namespace: urn:types
2322 //gsoap ns schema elementForm: qualified
2323 //gsoap ns schema attributeForm: unqualified
2327 @std::string ns:name; // 'ns:' qualified
2329 ns__record *:spouse; // ':' unqualified (empty prefix)
2333 The colon notation for member `ns:name` forces qualification of its attribute
2334 tag in XML. The colon notation for member `:spouse` removes qualification from
2335 its local element tag:
2339 <schema targetNamespace="urn:types"
2341 elementFormDefault="unqualified"
2342 attributeFormDefault="unqualified"
2344 <complexType name="record">
2346 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true" form="unqualified"/>
2348 <attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required" form="qualified"/>
2349 <attribute name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" use="required"/>
2355 XML instances of `ns__record` have unqualified spouse elements and qualified
2360 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ns:name="Joe" SSN="1234567890">
2361 <spouse> ns:name="Jane" SSN="1987654320">
2367 Note that data members can also be prefixed using the `prefix__name`
2368 convention. However, this has a different effect by referring to global (root)
2369 elements and attributes, see [document root element definitions](#toxsd9-7).
2371 [Backtick tag names](#toxsd9-5) can be used in place of the member name
2372 annotations and will achieve the same effect as described when these tag names
2373 are (un)qualified (requires gSOAP 2.8.30 and later versions).
2375 @note You must declare a target namespace with a `//gsoap ns schema namespace:`
2376 directive to enable the `elementForm` and `attributeForm` directives in order
2377 to generate valid schemas with soapcpp2. See [directives](#directives) for
2380 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2382 ### Defining document root elements {#toxsd9-7}
2384 To define and reference XML document root elements we use type names that start
2391 Alternatively, we can use a typedef to define a document root element with a
2395 typedef ns__record _ns__record;
2398 This typedef maps to a global root element that is added to the
2399 soapcpp2-generated schema:
2403 <element name="record" type="ns:record"/>
2407 An example XML instance of `_ns__record` is:
2411 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types">
2413 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
2416 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
2422 Global-level element/attribute definitions are also referenced and/or added to
2423 the generated schema when serializable data members reference these by their
2427 typedef std::string _ns__name 1 : 100;
2431 @_QName xsi__type; // built-in XSD attribute xsi:type
2432 _ns__name ns__name; // ref to global ns:name element
2434 _ns__record *spouse;
2438 These types map to the following comonents in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2442 <simpleType name="name">
2443 <restriction base="xsd:string">
2444 <minLength value="1"/>
2445 <maxLength value="100"/>
2448 <element name="name" type="ns:name"/>
2449 <complexType name="record">
2451 <element ref="ns:name" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2452 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2453 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2455 <attribute ref="xsi:type" use="optional"/>
2457 <element name="record" type="ns:record"/>
2461 Use only use qualified member names when their types match the global-level
2462 element types that they refer to. For example:
2465 typedef std::string _ns__name; // global element ns:name of type xsd:string
2469 int ns__name; // BAD: global element ns:name is NOT type int
2470 _ns__record ns__record; // OK: ns:record is a global-level root element
2475 Therefore, we recommend to use qualified member names only when necessary to
2476 refer to standard XSD elements and attributes, such as `xsi__type`, and
2479 By contrast, colon notation has the desired effect to (un)qualify local tag
2480 names by overruling the default element/attribute namespace qualification, see
2481 [qualified and unqualified members](#toxsd9-6).
2483 As an alternative to prefixing member names, use the backtick tag (requires
2484 gSOAP 2.8.30 and later versions):
2487 typedef std::string _ns__name 1 : 100;
2491 @_QName t `xsi:type`; // built-in XSD attribute xsi:type
2492 _ns__name s `ns:name`; // ref to global ns:name element
2494 _ns__record *spouse;
2498 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2500 ### (Smart) pointer members and their occurrence constraints {#toxsd9-8}
2502 A public pointer-typed data member is serialized by following its (smart)
2503 pointer(s) to the value pointed to. To serialize pointers to dynamic arrays of
2504 data, please see the next section on
2505 [container and array members and their occurrence constraints](#toxsd9-9).
2507 Pointers that are NULL and smart pointers that are empty are serialized to
2508 produce omitted element and attribute values, unless an element is required
2511 To control the occurrence requirements of pointer-based data members,
2512 occurrence constraints are associated with data members in the form of a range
2513 `minOccurs : maxOccurs`. For non-repeatable (meaning, not a container or array)
2514 data members, there are only three reasonable occurrence constraints:
2516 - `0:0` means that this element or attribute is prohibited.
2517 - `0:1` means that this element or attribute is optional.
2518 - `1:1` means that this element or attribute is required.
2520 Pointer-based data members have a default `0:1` occurrence constraint, making
2521 them optional, and their XML schema local element/attribute definition is
2522 marked as nillable. Non-pointer data members have a default `1:1` occurence
2523 constraint, making them required.
2525 A `nullptr` occurrence constraint may be applicable to required elements that
2526 are nillable pointer types, thus `nullptr 1:1`. This indicates that the
2527 element is nillable (can be `NULL` or `nullptr`). A pointer data member that
2528 is explicitly marked as required and nillable with `nullptr 1:1` will be
2529 serialized as an element with an `xsi:nil` attribute, thus effectively
2530 revealing the NULL property of its value.
2532 A non-pointer data member that is explicitly marked as optional with `0:1` will
2533 be set to its default value when no XML value is presented to the deserializer.
2534 A default value can be assigned to a data member that has a primitive type or
2535 is a (smart) pointer to primitive type.
2537 Consider for example:
2543 std::shared_ptr<std::string> name; // optional (0:1)
2544 uint64_t SSN 0:1 = 999; // forced this to be optional with default 999
2545 ns__record *spouse 1:1; // forced this to be required (only married people)
2549 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2553 <complexType name="record">
2555 <element name="name" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2556 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" default="999"/>
2557 <element name="spouse" type="ns:record" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2563 An example XML instance of `ns__record` with its `name` string value set to
2564 `Joe`, `SSN` set to its default, and `spouse` set to NULL:
2568 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
2571 <spouse xsi:nil="true"/>
2576 @note In general, a smart pointer is simply declared as a `volatile` template
2577 in a gSOAP header file for soapcpp2:
2580 volatile template <class T> class NAMESPACE::shared_ptr;
2583 @note The soapcpp2 tool generates code that uses `NAMESPACE::shared_ptr` and
2584 `NAMESPACE::make_shared` to create shared pointers to objects, where
2585 `NAMESPACE` is any valid C++ namespace such as `std` and `boost` if you have
2588 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2590 ### Container and array members and their occurrence constraints {#toxsd9-9}
2592 Class and struct data member types that are containers `std::deque`,
2593 `std::list`, `std::vector` and `std::set` are serialized as a collection of
2594 the values they contain. You can also serialize dynamic arrays, which is the
2595 alternative for C to store collections of data. Let's start with STL containers.
2597 You can use `std::deque`, `std::list`, `std::vector`, and `std::set` containers
2601 #import "import/stl.h" // import all containers
2602 #import "import/stldeque.h" // import deque
2603 #import "import/stllist.h" // import list
2604 #import "import/stlvector.h" // import vector
2605 #import "import/stlset.h" // import set
2608 For example, to use a vector data mamber to store names in a record:
2611 #import "import/stlvector.h"
2615 std::vector<std::string> names;
2620 To limit the number of names in the vector within reasonable bounds, occurrence
2621 constraints are associated with the container. Occurrence constraints are of
2622 the form `minOccurs : maxOccurs`:
2625 #import "import/stlvector.h"
2629 std::vector<std::string> names 1:10;
2634 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2638 <complexType name="record">
2640 <element name="name" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="10"/>
2641 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1""/>
2647 @note In general, a container is simply declared as a template in a gSOAP
2648 header file for soapcpp2. All class templates are considered containers
2649 (except when declared `volatile`, see smart pointers). For example,
2650 `std::vector` is declared in `gsoap/import/stlvector.h` as:
2653 template <class T> class std::vector;
2656 @note You can define and use your own containers. The soapcpp2 tool generates
2657 code that uses the following members of the `template <typename T> class C`
2662 C::iterator C::begin()
2663 C::const_iterator C::begin() const
2664 C::iterator C::end()
2665 C::const_iterator C::end() const
2666 size_t C::size() const
2667 C::iterator C::insert(C::iterator pos, const T& val)
2670 @note For more details see the example `simple_vector` container with
2671 documentation in the package under `gsoap/samples/template`.
2673 Because C does not support a container template library, we can use a
2674 dynamically-sized array of values. This array is declared as a size-pointer
2675 pair of members within a struct or class. The array size information is stored
2676 in a special size tag member with the name `__size` or `__sizeX`, where `X` can
2677 be any name, or by an `$int` member to identify the member as a special size
2683 $int sizeofnames; // array size
2684 char* *names; // array of char* names
2689 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2693 <complexType name="record">
2695 <element name="name" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" nillable="true"/>
2696 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1""/>
2702 To limit the number of names in the array within reasonable bounds, occurrence
2703 constraints are associated with the array size member. Occurrence constraints
2704 are of the form `minOccurs : maxOccurs`:
2709 $int sizeofnames 1:10; // array size 1..10
2710 char* *names; // array of one to ten char* names
2715 This class maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2719 <complexType name="record">
2721 <element name="name" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="10" nillable="true"/>
2722 <element name="SSN" type="xsd:unsignedLong" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1""/>
2728 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2730 ### Tagged union members {#toxsd9-10}
2732 A union member in a class or in a struct cannot be serialized unless a
2733 discriminating *variant selector* member is provided that tells the serializer
2734 which union field to serialize. This effectively creates a *tagged union*.
2736 The variant selector is associated with the union as a selector-union pair of members.
2737 The variant selector is a member with the name `__union` or `__unionX`, where
2738 `X` can be any name, or by an `$int` member to identify the member as a variant
2745 $int xORnORs; // variant selector with values SOAP_UNION_fieldname
2756 The variant selector values are auto-generated based on the union name `choice`
2757 and the names of its members `x`, `n`, and `s`:
2759 - `xORnORs = SOAP_UNION_choice_x` when `u.x` is valid.
2760 - `xORnORs = SOAP_UNION_choice_n` when `u.n` is valid.
2761 - `xORnORs = SOAP_UNION_choice_s` when `u.s` is valid.
2762 - `xORnORs = 0` when none are valid (should only be used with great care,
2763 because XSD validation may fail when content is required but absent).
2765 This class maps to a complexType with a sequence and choice in the
2766 soapcpp2-generated schema:
2770 <complexType name="record">
2773 <element name="x" type="xsd:float" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2774 <element name="n" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2775 <element name="s" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2777 <element name="names" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2783 An STL container or dynamic array of a union requires wrapping the variant
2784 selector and union member in a struct:
2791 struct ns__data // data with a choice of x, n, or s
2793 $int xORnORs; // variant selector with values SOAP_UNION_fieldname
2800 }> data; // vector with data
2804 and an equivalent definition with a dynamic array instead of a `std::vector`
2805 (you can use this in C with structs):
2811 $int sizeOfdata; // size of dynamic array
2812 struct ns__data // data with a choice of x, n, or s
2814 $int xORnORs; // variant selector with values SOAP_UNION_fieldname
2821 } *data; // points to the data array of length sizeOfdata
2825 This maps to two complexTypes in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2829 <complexType name="data">
2831 <element name="x" type="xsd:float" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2832 <element name="n" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2833 <element name="s" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2836 <complexType name="record">
2838 <element name="data" type="ns:data" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
2844 The XML value space consists of a sequence of item elements each wrapped in an
2849 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
2866 To remove the wrapping data element, simply rename the wrapping struct and
2867 member to `__data` to make this member invisible to the serializer with the
2868 double underscore prefix naming convention. Also use a dynamic array instead
2869 of a STL container (you can use this in C with structs):
2875 $int sizeOfdata; // size of dynamic array
2876 struct __data // contains choice of x, n, or s
2878 $int xORnORs; // variant selector with values SOAP_UNION_fieldname
2885 } *__data; // points to the data array of length sizeOfdata
2889 This maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
2893 <complexType name="record">
2894 <sequence minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
2896 <element name="x" type="xsd:float" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2897 <element name="n" type="xsd:int" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
2898 <element name="s" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
2905 The XML value space consists of a sequence of `<x>`, `<n>`, and/or `<s>`
2910 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
2919 Please note that structs, classes, and unions are unnested by soapcpp2 (as in
2920 the C standard of nested structs and unions). Therefore, the `choice` union in
2921 the `ns__record` class is redeclared at the top level despite its nesting
2922 within the `ns__record` class. This means that you will have to choose a
2923 unique name for each nested struct, class, and union.
2925 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
2927 ### Tagged void pointer members {#toxsd9-11}
2929 To serialize data pointed to by `void*` requires run-time type information that
2930 tells the serializer what type of data to serialize by means of a *tagged void
2931 pointer*. This type information is stored in a special type tag member of a
2932 struct/class with the name `__type` or `__typeX`, where `X` can be any name, or
2933 alternatively by an `$int` special member of any name as a type tag:
2939 $int typeOfdata; // type tag with values SOAP_TYPE_T
2940 void *data; // points to some data of type T
2944 A type tag member has nonzero values `SOAP_TYPE_T` where `T` is the name of a
2945 struct/class or the name of a primitive type, such as `int`, `std__string` (for
2946 `std::string`), `string` (for `char*`).
2948 This class maps to a complexType with a sequence in the soapcpp2-generated
2953 <complexType name="record">
2955 <element name="data" type="xsd:anyType" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1"/>
2961 The XML value space consists of the XML value space of the type with the
2962 addition of an `xsi:type` attribute to the enveloping element:
2966 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
2967 <data xsi:type="xsd:int">123</data>
2972 This `xsi:type` attribute is important for the receiving end to distinguish
2973 the type of data to instantiate. The receiver cannot deserialize the data
2974 without an `xsd:type` attribute.
2976 You can find the `SOAP_TYPE_T` name of each serializable type in the
2977 auto-generated soapStub.h file.
2979 Also all serializable C++ classes have a virtual `int T::soap_type()` member
2980 that returns their `SOAP_TYPE_T` value that you can use.
2982 When the `void*` pointer is NULL or when `typeOfdata` is zero, the data is not
2985 An STL container or dynamic array of `void*` pointers to `xsd:anyType` data
2986 requires wrapping the type tag and `void*` members in a struct:
2993 struct ns__data // data with an xsd:anyType item
2995 $int typeOfitem; // type tag with values SOAP_TYPE_T
2996 void *item; // points to some item of type T
2997 }> data; // vector with data
3001 and an equivalent definition with a dynamic array instead of a `std::vector`
3002 (you can use this in C with structs):
3008 $int sizeOfdata; // size of dynamic array
3009 struct ns__data // data with an xsd:anyType item
3011 $int typeOfitem; // type tag with values SOAP_TYPE_T
3012 void *item; // points to some item of type T
3013 } *data; // points to the data array of length sizeOfdata
3017 This maps to two complexTypes in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
3021 <complexType name="data">
3023 <element name="item" type="xsd:anyType" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" nillable="true"/>
3026 <complexType name="record">
3028 <element name="data" type="ns:data" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
3034 The XML value space consists of a sequence of item elements each wrapped in a
3039 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
3041 <item xsi:type="xsd:int">123</item>
3044 <item xsi:type="xsd:double">3.1</item>
3047 <item xsi:type="xsd:string">abc</item>
3053 To remove the wrapping data elements, simply rename the wrapping struct and
3054 member to `__data` to make this member invisible to the serializer with the
3055 double underscore prefix naming convention. Also use a dynamic array instead
3056 of a STL container (you can use this in C with structs):
3062 $int sizeOfdata; // size of dynamic array
3063 struct __data // contains xsd:anyType item
3065 $int typeOfitem; // type tag with values SOAP_TYPE_T
3066 void *item; // points to some item of type T
3067 } *__data; // points to the data array of length sizeOfdata
3071 This maps to a complexType in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
3075 <complexType name="record">
3076 <sequence minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
3077 <element name="item" type="xsd:anyType" minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1"/>
3083 The XML value space consists of a sequence of data elements:
3087 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" ...>
3088 <item xsi:type="xsd:int">123</item>
3089 <item xsi:type="xsd:double">3.1</item>
3090 <item xsi:type="xsd:string">abc</item>
3095 Again, please note that structs, classes, and unions are unnested by soapcpp2
3096 (as in the C standard of nested structs and unions). Therefore, the `__data`
3097 struct in the `ns__record` class is redeclared at the top level despite its
3098 nesting within the `ns__record` class. This means that you will have to choose
3099 a unique name for each nested struct, class, and union.
3101 @see Section [XSD type bindings](#typemap2).
3103 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3105 ### Adding get and set methods {#toxsd9-12}
3107 A public `get` method may be added to a class or struct, which will be
3108 triggered by the deserializer. This method will be invoked right after the
3109 instance is populated by the deserializer. The `get` method can be used to
3110 update or verify deserialized content. It should return `SOAP_OK` or set
3111 `soap::error` to a nonzero error code and return it.
3113 A public `set` method may be added to a class or struct, which will be
3114 triggered by the serializer. The method will be invoked just before the
3115 instance is serialized. Likewise, the `set` method should return `SOAP_OK` or
3116 set set `soap::error` to a nonzero error code and return it.
3118 For example, adding a `set` and `get` method to a class declaration:
3124 int set(struct soap*); // triggered before serialization
3125 int get(struct soap*); // triggered after deserialization
3130 To add these and othe rmethods to classes and structs with wsdl2h and
3131 `typemap.dat`, please see [class/struct member additions](#typemap3).
3133 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3135 ### Operations on classes and structs {#toxsd9-13}
3137 The following functions/macros are generated by soapcpp2 for each type `T`,
3138 which should make it easier to send, receive, and copy XML data in C and in
3141 - `int soap_write_T(struct soap*, T*)` writes an instance of `T` to a file via
3142 file descriptor `int soap::sendfd)` or to a stream via `std::ostream
3143 *soap::os` (C++ only) or saves into a NUL-terminated string by setting
3144 `const char **soap::os` to a string pointer to be set (C only). Returns
3145 `SOAP_OK` on success or an error code, also stored in `soap->error`.
3147 - `int soap_read_T(struct soap*, T*)` reads an instance of `T` from a file via
3148 file descriptor `int soap::recvfd)` or from a stream via `std::istream
3149 *soap::is` (C++ only) or reads from a NUL-termianted string `const char
3150 *soap::is` (C only). Returns `SOAP_OK` on success or an error code, also
3151 stored in `soap->error`.
3153 - `void soap_default_T(struct soap*, T*)` sets an instance `T` to its default
3154 value, resetting members of a struct to their initial values (for classes we
3155 use method `T::soap_default`, see below).
3157 - `T * soap_dup_T(struct soap*, T *dst, const T *src)` (soapcpp2 option `-Ec`)
3158 deep copy `src` into `dst`, replicating all deep cycles and shared pointers
3159 when a managing soap context is provided as argument. When `dst` is NULL,
3160 allocates space for `dst`. Deep copy is a tree when argument is NULL, but the
3161 presence of deep cycles will lead to non-termination. Use flag
3162 `SOAP_XML_TREE` with managing context to copy into a tree without cycles and
3163 pointers to shared objects. Returns `dst` (or allocated space when `dst` is
3166 - `void soap_del_T(const T*)` (soapcpp2 option `-Ed`) deletes all
3167 heap-allocated members of this object by deep deletion ONLY IF this object
3168 and all of its (deep) members are not managed by a soap context AND the deep
3169 structure is a tree (no cycles and co-referenced objects by way of multiple
3170 (non-smart) pointers pointing to the same data). Can be safely used after
3171 `soap_dup(NULL)` to delete the deep copy. Does not delete the object itself.
3173 When in C++ mode, soapcpp2 tool adds several methods to classes in addition to
3174 adding a default constructor and destructor (when these were not explicitly
3177 The public methods added to a class `T`:
3179 - `virtual int T::soap_type(void)` returns a unique type ID (`SOAP_TYPE_T`).
3180 This numeric ID can be used to distinguish base from derived instances.
3182 - `virtual void T::soap_default(struct soap*)` sets all data members to
3185 - `virtual void T::soap_serialize(struct soap*) const` serializes object to
3186 prepare for SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoded output (or with `SOAP_XML_GRAPH`) by
3187 analyzing its (cyclic) structures.
3189 - `virtual int T::soap_put(struct soap*, const char *tag, const char *type) const`
3190 emits object in XML, compliant with SOAP 1.1 encoding style, return error
3191 code or `SOAP_OK`. Requires `soap_begin_send(soap)` and
3192 `soap_end_send(soap)`.
3194 - `virtual int T::soap_out(struct soap*, const char *tag, int id, const char *type) const`
3195 emits object in XML, with tag and optional id attribute and `xsi:type`,
3196 return error code or `SOAP_OK`. Requires `soap_begin_send(soap)` and
3197 `soap_end_send(soap)`.
3199 - `virtual void * T::soap_get(struct soap*, const char *tag, const char *type)`
3200 Get object from XML, compliant with SOAP 1.1 encoding style, return pointer
3201 to object or NULL on error. Requires `soap_begin_recv(soap)` and
3202 `soap_end_recv(soap)`.
3204 - `virtual void *soap_in(struct soap*, const char *tag, const char *type)`
3205 Get object from XML, with matching tag and type (NULL matches any tag and
3206 type), return pointer to object or NULL on error. Requires
3207 `soap_begin_recv(soap)` and `soap_end_recv(soap)`
3209 - `virtual T * T::soap_alloc(void) const` returns a new object of type `T`,
3210 default initialized and not managed by a soap context.
3212 - `virtual T * T::soap_dup(struct soap*) const` (soapcpp2 option `-Ec`) returns
3213 a duplicate of this object by deep copying, replicating all deep cycles and
3214 shared pointers when a managing soap context is provided as argument. Deep
3215 copy is a tree when argument is NULL, but the presence of deep cycles will
3216 lead to non-termination. Use flag `SOAP_XML_TREE` with the managing context
3217 to copy into a tree without cycles and pointers to shared objects.
3219 - `virtual void T::soap_del() const` (soapcpp2 option `-Ed`) deletes all
3220 heap-allocated members of this object by deep deletion ONLY IF this object
3221 and all of its (deep) members are not managed by a soap context AND the deep
3222 structure is a tree (no cycles and co-referenced objects by way of multiple
3223 (non-smart) pointers pointing to the same data). Can be safely used after
3224 `soap_dup(NULL)` to delete the deep copy. Does not delete the object itself.
3226 Also for C++, there are four variations of `soap_new_T` for
3227 class/struct/template type `T` that soapcpp2 auto-generates to create instances
3228 on a context-managed heap:
3230 - `T * soap_new_T(struct soap*)` returns a new instance of `T` with default data
3231 member initializations that are set with the soapcpp2 auto-generated `void
3232 T::soap_default(struct soap*)` method), but ONLY IF the soapcpp2
3233 auto-generated default constructor is used that invokes `soap_default()` and
3234 was not replaced by a user-defined default constructor.
3236 - `T * soap_new_T(struct soap*, int n)` returns an array of `n` new instances of
3237 `T`. Similar to the above, instances are initialized.
3239 - `T * soap_new_req_T(struct soap*, ...)` returns a new instance of `T` and sets
3240 the required data members to the values specified in `...`. The required data
3241 members are those with nonzero minOccurs, see the subsections on
3242 [(smart) pointer members and their occurrence constraints](#toxsd9-8) and
3243 [container and array members and their occurrence constraints](#toxsd9-9).
3245 - `T * soap_new_set_T(struct soap*, ...)` returns a new instance of `T` and sets
3246 the public/serializable data members to the values specified in `...`.
3248 The above functions can be invoked with a NULL `soap` context, but we will be
3249 responsible to use `delete T` to remove this instance from the unmanaged heap.
3251 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3253 Special classes and structs {#toxsd10}
3254 ---------------------------
3256 ### SOAP encoded arrays {#toxsd10-1}
3258 A class or struct with the following layout is a one-dimensional SOAP encoded
3265 T *__ptr; // array pointer
3266 int __size; // array size
3270 where `T` is the array element type. A multidimensional SOAP Array is:
3276 T *__ptr; // array pointer
3277 int __size[N]; // array size of each dimension
3281 where `N` is the constant number of dimensions. The pointer points to an array
3282 of `__size[0]*__size[1]* ... * __size[N-1]` elements.
3284 This maps to a complexType restriction of SOAP-ENC:Array in the
3285 soapcpp2-generated schema:
3289 <complexType name="ArrayOfT">
3291 <restriction base="SOAP-ENC:Array">
3293 <element name="item" type="T" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" nillable="true"/>
3295 <attribute ref="SOAP-ENC:arrayType" WSDL:arrayType="ArrayOfT[]"/>
3302 The name of the class can be arbitrary. We often use `ArrayOfT` without a
3303 prefix to distinguish arrays from other classes and structs.
3305 With SOAP 1.1 encoding, an optional offset member can be added that controls
3306 the start of the index range for each dimension:
3312 T *__ptr; // array pointer
3313 int __size[N]; // array size of each dimension
3314 int __offset[N]; // array offsets to start each dimension
3318 For example, we can define a matrix of floats as follows:
3329 The following code populates the matrix and serializes it in XML:
3332 soap *soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_INDENT);
3334 double a[6] = { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 };
3338 soap_write_Matrix(soap, &A);
3341 Matrix A is serialized as an array with 2x3 values:
3345 <SOAP-ENC:Array SOAP-ENC:arrayType="xsd:double[2,3]" ...>
3356 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3358 ### XSD hexBinary and base64Binary types {#toxsd10-2}
3360 A special case of a one-dimensional array is used to define `xsd:hexBinary` and
3361 `xsd:base64Binary` types when the pointer type is `unsigned char`:
3364 class xsd__hexBinary
3367 unsigned char *__ptr; // points to raw binary data
3368 int __size; // size of data
3375 class xsd__base64Binary
3378 unsigned char *__ptr; // points to raw binary data
3379 int __size; // size of data
3383 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3385 ### MIME/MTOM attachment binary types {#toxsd10-3}
3387 A class or struct with a binary content layout can be extended to support
3388 MIME/MTOM (and older DIME) attachments, such as in xop:Include elements:
3391 //gsoap xop schema import: http://www.w3.org/2004/08/xop/include
3395 unsigned char *__ptr; // points to raw binary data
3396 int __size; // size of data
3397 char *id; // NULL to generate an id, or set to a unique UUID
3398 char *type; // MIME type of the data
3399 char *options; // optional description of MIME attachment
3403 Attachments are beyond the scope of this document. The `SOAP_ENC_MIME` and
3404 `SOAP_ENC_MTOM` context flag must be set to enable attachments. See the
3405 [gSOAP user guide](http://www.genivia.com/doc/soapdoc2.html) for more details.
3407 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3409 ### Wrapper class/struct with simpleContent {#toxsd10-4}
3411 A class or struct with the following layout is a complexType that wraps
3422 The type `T` is a primitive type (`bool`, `enum`, `time_t`, numeric and string
3423 types), `xsd__hexBinary`, `xsd__base64Binary`, and custom serializers, such as
3426 This maps to a complexType with simpleContent in the soapcpp2-generated schema:
3430 <complexType name="simple">
3432 <extension base="T"/>
3438 A wrapper class/struct may include any number of attributes declared with `@`.
3440 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3442 ### DOM anyType and anyAttribute {#toxsd10-5}
3444 Use of a DOM is optional and enabled by `#import "dom.h"` to use the DOM
3445 `xsd__anyType` element node and `xsd__anyAttribute` attribute node:
3453 @xsd__anyAttribute attributes; // list of DOM attributes
3455 xsd__anyType *name; // optional DOM element
3459 where `name` contains XML stored in a DOM node set and `attributes` is a list
3460 of all visibly rendered attributes. The name `attributes` is arbitrary and any
3463 You should place the `xsd__anyType` members at the end of the struct or class.
3464 This ensures that the DOM members are populated last as a "catch all". A
3465 member name starting with double underscore is a wildcard member name and
3466 matches any XML tag. These members are placed at the end of a struct or class
3467 automatically by soapcpp2.
3469 An `#import "dom.h"` import is automatically added by wsdl2h with option `-d`
3470 to bind `xsd:anyType` to DOM nodes, and also to populate `xsd:any`,
3471 `xsd:anyAttribute` and `xsd:mixed` XML content:
3480 @xsd__anyAttribute __anyAttribute; // optional DOM attributes
3481 std::vector<xsd__anyType> __any 0; // optional DOM elements
3482 xsd__anyType __mixed 0; // optional mixed content
3486 where the members prefixed with `__` are "invisible" to the XML parser, meaning
3487 that these members are not bound to XML tag names.
3489 In C you can use a dynamic arrary instead of `std::vector`:
3497 @xsd__anyAttribute __anyAttribute; // optional DOM attributes
3498 $int __sizeOfany; // size of the array
3499 xsd__anyType *__any; // optional DOM elements
3500 xsd__anyType __mixed 0; // optional mixed content
3504 Classes can inherit DOM, which enables full use of polymorphism with one base
3510 class ns__record : public xsd__anyType
3513 std::vector<xsd__anyType*> array; // array of objects of any class
3517 This permits an `xsd__anyType` pointer to refer to a derived class such as
3518 `ns__record`, which will be serialized with an `xsi:type` attribute that is
3519 set to "ns:record". The `xsi:type` attributes add the necessary type information
3520 to distinguish the XML content from the DOM base type. This is important for
3521 the receiving end: without `xsd:type` attributes with type names, only base DOM
3522 objects are recognized and instantiated.
3524 Because C lacks OOP principles such as class inheritance and polymorphism, you
3525 will need to use the special [`void*` members](#toxsd9-11) to serialize data
3526 pointed to by a `void*` member.
3528 To ensure that wsdl2h generates pointer-based `xsd__anyType` DOM nodes with
3529 option `-d` for `xsd:any`, add the following line to `typemap.dat`:
3531 xsd__any = | xsd__anyType*
3533 This lets wsdl2h produce class/struct members and containers with
3534 `xsd__anyType*` for `xsd:any` instead of `xsd__anyType`. To just force all
3535 `xsd:anyType` uses to be pointer-based, declare in `typemap.dat`:
3537 xsd__anyType = | xsd__anyType*
3539 If you use wsdl2h with option `-p` with option `-d` then every class will
3540 inherit DOM as shown above. Without option `-d`, an `xsd__anyType` type is
3541 generated to serve as the root type in the type hierarchy:
3544 class xsd__anyType { _XML __item; struct soap *soap; };
3546 class ns__record : public xsd__anyType
3552 where the `_XML __item` member holds any XML content as a literal XML string.
3554 To use the DOM API, compile `dom.c` (or `dom.cpp` for C++), or link with
3555 `-lgsoapssl` (or `-lgsoapssl++` for C++).
3557 @see Documentation of [XML DOM and XPath](http://www.genivia.com/doc/dom/html)
3560 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3562 Directives {#directives}
3565 You can use `//gsoap` directives in the gSOAP header file with the data binding
3566 interface for soapcpp2. These directives are used to configure the code
3567 generated by soapcpp2 by declaring various. properties of Web services and XML
3568 schemas. When using the wsdl2h tool, you will notice that wsdl2h generates
3569 directives automatically based on the WSDL and XSD input.
3571 Service directives are applicable to service and operations described by WSDL.
3572 Schema directives are applicable to types, elements, and attributes defined by
3575 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3577 Service directives {#directives-1}
3580 A service directive must start at a new line and is of the form:
3583 //gsoap <prefix> service <property>: <value>
3586 where `<prefix>` is the XML namespace prefix of a service binding. The
3587 `<property>` and `<value>` fields are one of the following:
3590 --------------- | -----
3591 `name` | name of the service, optionally followed by text describing the service
3592 `namespace` | URI of the WSDL targetNamespace
3593 `documentation` | text describing the service (see also the `name` property), multiple permitted
3594 `doc` | same as above, shorthand form
3595 `style` | `document` (default) SOAP messaging style or `rpc` for SOAP RPC
3596 `encoding` | `literal` (default), `encoded` for SOAP encoding, or a custom URI
3597 `protocol` | specifies SOAP or REST, see below
3598 `port` | URL of the service endpoint, usually an http or https address
3599 `transport` | URI declaration of the transport, usually `http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http`
3600 `definitions` | name of the WSDL definitions/\@name
3601 `type` | name of the WSDL definitions/portType/\@name (WSDL2.0 interface/\@name)
3602 `binding` | name of the WSDL definitions/binding/\@name
3603 `portName` | name of the WSDL definitions/service/port/\@name
3604 `portType` | an alias for the `type` property
3605 `interface` | an alias for the `type` property
3606 `location` | an alias for the `port` property
3607 `endpoint` | an alias for the `port` property
3609 The service `name` and `namespace` properties are required in order to generate
3610 a valid WSDL with soapcpp2. The other properties are optional.
3612 The `style` and `encoding` property defaults are changed with soapcpp2 option
3613 `-e` to `rpc` and `encoded`, respectively.
3615 The `protocol` property is `SOAP` by default (SOAP 1.1). Protocol property
3618 protocol value | description
3619 -------------- | -----------
3620 `SOAP` | SOAP transport, supporting both SOAP 1.1 and 1.2
3621 `SOAP1.1` | SOAP 1.1 transport (same as soapcpp2 option `-1`)
3622 `SOAP1.2` | SOAP 1.2 transport (same as soapcpp2 option `-2`)
3623 `SOAP-GET` | one-way SOAP 1.1 or 1.2 with HTTP GET
3624 `SOAP1.1-GET` | one-way SOAP 1.1 with HTTP GET
3625 `SOAP1.2-GET` | one-way SOAP 1.2 with HTTP GET
3626 `HTTP` | non-SOAP REST protocol with HTTP POST
3627 `POST` | non-SOAP REST protocol with HTTP POST
3628 `GET` | non-SOAP REST protocol with HTTP GET
3629 `PUT` | non-SOAP REST protocol with HTTP PUT
3630 `DELETE` | non-SOAP REST protocol with HTTP DELETE
3632 You can bind service operations to the WSDL namespace of a service by using the
3633 namespace prefix as part of the identifier name of the function that defines
3634 the service operation:
3637 int prefix__func(arg1, arg2, ..., argn, result);
3640 You can override the `port` endpoint URL at runtime in the auto-generated
3641 `soap_call_prefix__func` service call (C/C++ client side) and in the C++ proxy
3644 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3646 Service method directives {#directives-2}
3647 -------------------------
3649 Service properties are applicable to a service and to all of its operations.
3650 Service method directives are specifically applicable to a service operation.
3652 A service method directive is of the form:
3655 //gsoap <prefix> service method-<property>: <method> <value>
3658 where `<prefix>` is the XML namespace prefix of a service binding and
3659 `<method>` is the unqualified name of a service operation. The `<property>`
3660 and `<value>` fields are one of the following:
3662 method property | value
3663 --------------------------- | -----
3664 `method-documentation` | text describing the service operation
3665 `method` | same as above, shorthand form
3666 `method-action` | `""` or URI SOAPAction HTTP header, or URL query string for REST protocols
3667 `method-input-action` | `""` or URI SOAPAction HTTP header of service request messages
3668 `method-output-action` | `""` or URI SOAPAction HTTP header of service response messages
3669 `method-fault-action` | `""` or URI SOAPAction HTTP header of service fault messages
3670 `method-header-part` | member name of the `SOAP_ENV__Header` struct used in SOAP Header
3671 `method-input-header-part` | member name of the `SOAP_ENV__Header` struct used in SOAP Headers of requests
3672 `method-output-header-part` | member name of the `SOAP_ENV__Header` struct used in SOAP Headers of responses
3673 `method-fault` | type name of a struct or class member used in `SOAP_ENV__Details` struct
3674 `method-mime-type` | REST content type or SOAP MIME attachment content type(s)
3675 `method-input-mime-type` | REST content type or SOAP MIME attachment content type(s) of request message
3676 `method-output-mime-type` | REST content type or SOAP MIME attachment content type(s) of response message
3677 `method-style` | `document` or `rpc`
3678 `method-encoding` | `literal`, `encoded`, or a custom URI for encodingStyle of messages
3679 `method-response-encoding` | `literal`, `encoded`, or a custom URI for encodingStyle of response messages
3680 `method-protocol` | SOAP or REST, see [service directives](#directives-1)
3682 The `method-header-part` properties can be repeated for a service operation to
3683 declare multiple SOAP Header parts that the service operation requires. You
3684 can use `method-input-header-part` and `method-output-header-part` to
3685 differentiate between request and response messages.
3687 The `method-fault` property can be repeated for a service operation to declare
3688 multiple faults that the service operation may return.
3690 The `method-action` property serves two purposes:
3692 -# To set the SOAPAction header for SOAP protocols, i.e. sets the
3693 definitions/binding/operation/SOAP:operation/\@soapAction.
3695 -# To set the URL query string for endpoints with REST protocols, i.e. sets the
3696 definitions/binding/operation/HTTP:operation/\@location, which specifies
3697 a URL query string (starts with a `?`) to complete the service endpoint URL
3698 or extends the endpoint URL with a local path (starts with a `/`).
3700 Use `method-input-action` and `method-output-action` to differentiate the
3701 SOAPAction between SOAP request and response messages.
3703 You can always override the port endpoint URL and action values at runtime in
3704 the auto-generated `soap_call_prefix__func` service call (C/C++ client side)
3705 and in the auto-generated C++ proxy class service calls. A runtime NULL
3706 endpoint URL and/or action uses the defaults set by these directives.
3708 The `method-mime-type` property serves two purposes:
3710 -# To set the type of MIME/MTOM attachments used with SOAP protocols. Multiple
3711 attachment types can be declared for a SOAP service operation, i.e. adds
3712 definitions/binding/operation/input/MIME:multipartRelated/MIME:part/MIME:content/\@type
3713 for each type specified.
3715 -# To set the MIME type of a REST operation. This replaces XML declared in
3716 WSDL by definitions/binding/operation/(input|output)/MIME:mimeXml with
3717 MIME:content/\@type. Use `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` with REST POST
3718 and PUT protocols to send encoded form data automatically instead of XML.
3719 Only primitive type values can be transmitted with form data, such as
3720 numbers and strings, i.e. only types that are legal to use as
3721 [attributes members](#toxsd9-5).
3723 Use `method-input-mime-type` and `method-output-mime-type` to differentiate the
3724 attachment types between SOAP request and response messages.
3726 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3728 Schema directives {#directives-3}
3731 A schema directive is of the form:
3734 //gsoap <prefix> schema <property>: <value>
3737 where `<prefix>` is the XML namespace prefix of a schema. The `<property>` and
3738 `<value>` fields are one of the following:
3741 --------------- | -----
3742 `namespace` | URI of the XSD targetNamespace
3743 `namespace2` | alternate URI for the XSD namespace (i.e. URI is also accepted by the XML parser)
3744 `import` | URI of imported namespace
3745 `form` | `unqualified` (default) or `qualified` local element and attribute form defaults
3746 `elementForm` | `unqualified` (default) or `qualified` local element form default
3747 `attributeForm` | `unqualified` (default) or `qualified` local attribute form default
3748 `typed` | `no` (default) or `yes` for serializers to add `xsi:type` attributes to XML
3750 To learn more about the local form defaults, see [qualified and unqualified members.](#toxsd9-6)
3752 The `typed` property is implicitly `yes` when soapcpp2 option `-t` is used.
3754 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3756 Schema type directives {#directives-4}
3757 ----------------------
3759 A schema type directive is of the form:
3762 //gsoap <prefix> schema type-<property>: <name> <value>
3763 //gsoap <prefix> schema type-<property>: <name>::<member> <value>
3766 where `<prefix>` is the XML namespace prefix of a schema and `<name>` is an
3767 unqualified name of a C/C++ type, and the optional `<member>` is a class/struct
3768 members or enum constant.
3770 You can describe a type:
3772 type property | value
3773 -------------------- | -----
3774 `type-documentation` | text describing the schema type
3775 `type` | same as above, shorthand form
3777 For example, you can add a description to an enumeration:
3780 //gsoap ns schema type: Vowels The letters A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y
3781 //gsoap ns schema type: Vowels::Y A vowel, sometimes
3782 enum class ns__Vowels : char { A = 'A', E = 'E', I = 'I', O = 'O', U = 'U', Y = 'Y' };
3785 This documented enumeration maps to a simpleType restriction of `xsd:string` in
3786 the soapcpp2-generated schema:
3790 <simpleType name="Vowels">
3792 <documentation>The letters A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y</documentation>
3794 <restriction base="xsd:string">
3795 <enumeration value="A"/>
3796 <enumeration value="E"/>
3797 <enumeration value="I"/>
3798 <enumeration value="O"/>
3799 <enumeration value="U"/>
3800 <enumeration value="Y">
3802 <documentation>A vowel, sometimes</documentation>
3810 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3812 Serialization rules {#rules}
3815 A presentation on XML data bindings is not complete without discussing the
3816 serialization rules and options that put your data in XML on the wire or store
3817 it a file or buffer.
3819 There are several options to choose from to serialize data in XML. The choice
3820 depends on the use of the SOAP protocol or if SOAP is not required. The wsdl2h
3821 tool automates this for you by taking the WSDL transport bindings into account
3822 when generating the service functions in C and C++ that use SOAP or REST.
3824 The gSOAP tools are not limited to SOAP. The tools implement generic XML data
3825 bindings for SOAP, REST, and other uses of XML. So you can read and write XML
3826 using the serializing [operations on classes and structs](#toxsd9-13).
3828 The following sections briefly explain the serialization rules with respect to
3829 the SOAP protocol for XML Web services. A basic understanding of the SOAP
3830 protocol is useful when developing client and server applications that must
3831 interoperate with other SOAP applications.
3833 SOAP/REST Web service client and service operations are represented as
3834 functions in your gSOAP header file with the data binding interface for
3835 soapcpp2. The soapcpp2 tool will translate these function to client-side
3836 service invocation calls and server-side service operation dispatchers.
3838 A discussion of SOAP clients and servers is beyond the scope of this document.
3839 However, the SOAP options discussed here also apply to SOAP client and server
3842 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3844 SOAP document versus rpc style {#doc-rpc}
3845 ------------------------------
3847 The `wsdl:binding/soap:binding/@style` attribute in the wsdl:binding section of
3848 a WSDL is either "document" or "rpc". The "rpc" style refers to SOAP RPC
3849 (Remote Procedure Call), which is more restrictive than the "document" style by
3850 requiring one XML element in the SOAP Body to act as the procedure name with
3851 XML subelements as its parameters.
3853 For example, the following directives in the gSOAP header file for soapcpp2
3854 declare that `DBupdate` is a SOAP RPC encoding service method:
3857 //gsoap ns service namespace: urn:DB
3858 //gsoap ns service method-protocol: DBupdate SOAP
3859 //gsoap ns service method-style: DBupdate rpc
3860 int ns__DBupdate(...);
3863 The XML payload has a SOAP envelope, optional SOAP header, and a SOAP body with
3864 one element representing the operation with the parameters as subelements:
3869 xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
3870 xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
3871 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
3872 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
3879 </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
3883 The "document" style puts no restrictions on the SOAP Body content. However, we
3884 recommend that the first element's tag name in the SOAP Body should be unique
3885 to each type of operation, so that the receiver can dispatch the operation
3886 based on this element's tag name. Alternatively, the HTTP URL path can be used
3887 to specify the operation, or the HTTP action header can be used to dispatch
3888 operations automatically on the server side (soapcpp2 options -a and -A).
3890 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
3892 SOAP literal versus encoding {#lit-enc}
3893 ----------------------------
3895 The `wsdl:operation/soap:body/@use` attribute in the wsdl:binding section of a
3896 WSDL is either "literal" or "encoded". The "encoded" use refers to the SOAP
3897 encoding rules that support id-ref multi-referenced elements to serialize
3900 SOAP encoding is very useful if the data internally forms a graph (including
3901 cycles) and we want the graph to be serialized in XML in a format that ensures
3902 that its structure is preserved. In that case, SOAP 1.2 encoding is the best
3905 SOAP encoding also adds encoding rules for [SOAP arrays](#toxsd10) to serialize
3906 multi-dimensional arrays. The use of XML attributes to exchange XML data in
3907 SOAP encoding is not permitted. The only attributes permitted are the standard
3908 XSD attributes, SOAP encoding attributes (such as for arrays), and id-ref.
3910 For example, the following directives in the gSOAP header file for soapcpp2
3911 declare that `DBupdate` is a SOAP RPC encoding service method:
3914 //gsoap ns service namespace: urn:DB
3915 //gsoap ns service method-protocol: DBupdate SOAP
3916 //gsoap ns service method-style: DBupdate rpc
3917 //gsoap ns service method-encoding: DBupdate encoded
3918 int ns__DBupdate(...);
3921 The XML payload has a SOAP envelope, optional SOAP header, and a SOAP body with
3922 an encodingStyle attribute for SOAP 1.1 encoding and an element representing the
3923 operation with parameters that are SOAP 1.1 encoded:
3928 xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
3929 xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
3930 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
3931 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
3933 <SOAP-ENV:Body SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
3935 <records SOAP-ENC:arrayType="ns:record[3]">
3938 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
3942 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
3946 <SSN>2345678901</SSN>
3950 <id id="_1" xsi:type="xsd:string">Joe</id>
3952 </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
3956 Note that the name "Joe" is shared by two records and the string is referenced
3957 by SOAP 1.1 href and id attributes.
3959 While gSOAP only introduces multi-referenced elements in the payload when they
3960 are actually multi-referenced in the data graph, other SOAP applications may
3961 render multi-referenced elements more aggressively. The example could also be
3967 xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
3968 xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/"
3969 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
3970 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
3972 <SOAP-ENV:Body SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/">
3974 <records SOAP-ENC:arrayType="ns:record[3]">
3980 <id id="id1" xsi:type="ns:record">
3982 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
3984 <id id="id2" xsi:type="ns:record">
3986 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
3988 <id id="id3" xsi:type="ns:record">
3990 <SSN>2345678901</SSN>
3992 <id id="id4" xsi:type="xsd:string">Joe</id>
3993 <id id="id5" xsi:type="xsd:string">Jane</id>
3995 </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
3999 SOAP 1.2 encoding is cleaner and produces more accurate XML encodings of data
4000 graphs by setting the id attribute on the element that is referenced:
4005 xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope"
4006 xmlns:SOAP-ENC="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"
4007 xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
4008 xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
4011 <ns:DBupdate SOAP-ENV:encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding">
4012 <records SOAP-ENC:itemType="ns:record" SOAP-ENC:arraySize="3">
4014 <name SOAP-ENC:id="_1">Joe</name>
4015 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
4019 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
4022 <name SOAP-ENC:ref="_1"/>
4023 <SSN>2345678901</SSN>
4028 </SOAP-ENV:Envelope>
4032 @note Some SOAP 1.2 applications consider the namespace `SOAP-ENC` of
4033 `SOAP-ENC:id` and `SOAP-ENC:ref` optional. The gSOAP SOAP 1.2 encoding
4034 serialization follows the 2007 standard, while accepting unqualified id and
4037 To remove all rendered id-ref multi-referenced elements in gSOAP, use the
4038 `SOAP_XML_TREE` flag to initialize the gSOAP engine context.
4040 Some XSD validation rules are turned off with SOAP encoding, because of the
4041 presence of additional attributes, such as id and ref/href, SOAP arrays with
4042 arbitrary element tags for array elements, and the occurrence of additional
4043 multi-ref elements in the SOAP 1.1 Body.
4045 The use of "literal" puts no restrictions on the XML in the SOAP Body. Full
4046 XSD validation is possible, which can be enabled with the `SOAP_XML_STRICT`
4047 flag to initialize the gSOAP engine context. However, data graphs will be
4048 serialized as trees and cycles in the data will be cut from the XML rendition.
4050 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4052 SOAP 1.1 versus SOAP 1.2 {#soap}
4053 ------------------------
4055 There are two SOAP protocol versions: 1.1 and 1.2. The gSOAP tools can switch
4056 between the two versions seamlessly. You can declare the default SOAP version
4057 for a service operation as follows:
4060 //gsoap ns service method-protocol: DBupdate SOAP1.2
4063 The gSOAP soapcpp2 auto-generates client and server code. At the client side,
4064 this operation sends data with SOAP 1.2 but accepts responses also in SOAP 1.1.
4065 At the server side, this operation accepts requests in SOAP 1.1 and 1.2 and
4066 will return responses in the same SOAP version.
4068 As we discussed in the previous section, the SOAP 1.2 protocol has a cleaner
4069 multi-referenced element serialization format that greatly enhances the
4070 accuracy of data graph serialization with SOAP RPC encoding and is therefore
4073 The SOAP 1.2 protocol default can also be set by importing and loading
4074 `gsoap/import/soap12.h`:
4080 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4082 Non-SOAP XML serialization {#non-soap}
4083 --------------------------
4085 You can serialize data that is stored on the heap, on the stack (locals), and
4086 static data as long as the serializable (i.e. non-transient) members are
4087 properly initialized and pointers in the structures are either NULL or point to
4088 valid structures. Deserialized data is put on the heap and managed by the
4089 gSOAP engine context `struct soap`, see also [memory management](#memory).
4091 You can read and write XML directly to a file or stream with the serializing
4092 [operations on classes and structs](#toxsd9-13).
4094 To define and use XML Web service client and service operations, we can declare
4095 these operations in your gSOAP header file with the data binding interface for
4096 soapcpp2 as functions. The function are translated by soapcpp2 to client-side
4097 service invocation calls and server-side service operation dispatchers.
4099 The REST operations POST, GET, and PUT are declared with `//gsoap` directives
4100 in the gSOAP header file for soapcpp2. For example, a REST POST operation is
4101 declared as follows:
4104 //gsoap ns service namespace: urn:DB
4105 //gsoap ns service method-protocol: DBupdate POST
4106 int ns__DBupdate(...);
4109 There is no SOAP Envelope and no SOAP Body in the payload for `DBupdate`. Also
4110 the XML serialization rules are identical to SOAP document/literal. The XML
4111 payload only has the operation name as an element with its parameters
4112 serialized as subelements:
4116 <ns:DBupdate xmln:ns="urn:DB" ...>
4122 To force id-ref serialization with REST similar to SOAP 1.2 multi-reference
4123 encoding, use the `SOAP_XML_GRAPH` flag to initialize the gSOAP engine context.
4124 The XML serialization includes id and ref attributes for multi-referenced
4125 elements as follows:
4129 <ns:DBupdate xmln:ns="urn:DB" ...>
4132 <name id="_1">Joe</name>
4133 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
4137 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
4141 <SSN>2345678901</SSN>
4148 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4150 Input and output {#io}
4153 Reading and writing XML from/to files, streams and string buffers is done via
4154 the managing context by setting one of the following context members that
4155 control IO sources and sinks:
4158 soap->recvfd = fd; // an int file descriptor to read from (0 by default)
4159 soap->sendfd = fd; // an int file descriptor to write to (1 by default)
4160 soap->is = &is; // C++ only: a std::istream is object to read from
4161 soap->os = &os; // C++ only: a std::ostream os object to write to
4162 soap->is = cs; // C only: a const char* string to read from (soap->is will advance)
4163 soap->os = &cs; // C only: pointer to a const char*, will be set to point to the string output
4166 Normally, all of these context members are NULL, which is required to send and
4167 receive data over sockets by gSOAP clients and servers. Therefore, if you set
4168 any of these context members in a client or server application then you MUST
4169 reset them to NULL to ensure that socket communications are not blocked.
4171 Note: the use of `soap->is` and `soap->os` in C requires gSOAP 2.8.28 or later.
4173 In the following sections, we present more details on how to read and write to
4174 files and streams, and use string buffers as sources and sinks for XML data.
4176 In addition, you can set IO callback functions to handle IO at a lower level.
4178 For more details, see the [gSOAP user guide.](http://www.genivia.com/doc/soapdoc2.html)
4180 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4182 Reading and writing from/to files and streams {#io1}
4183 ---------------------------------------------
4185 The default IO is standard input and output. Other sources and sinks (those
4186 listed above) will be used until you (re)set them. For example with file-based
4190 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "r");
4193 soap->recvfd = fileno(fp); // get file descriptor of file to read from
4194 if (soap_read_ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4195 ... // handle IO error
4197 soap->recvfd = 0; // read from stdin, or -1 to block reading
4200 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "w");
4203 soap->sendfd = fileno(fp); // get file descriptor of file to write to
4204 if (soap_write_ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4205 ... // handle IO error
4207 soap->sendfd = 1; // write to stdout, or -1 to block writing
4211 Similar code with streams in C++:
4217 fs.open("record.xml", std::ios::in);
4221 if (soap_read__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4222 ... // handle IO error
4227 fs.open("record.xml", std::ios::out);
4231 if (soap_write__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4232 ... // handle IO error
4238 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4240 Reading and writing from/to string buffers {#io2}
4241 ------------------------------------------
4243 For C++ we recommend to use `std::stringstream` objects from `<sstream>` as
4244 illustrated in the following example:
4249 std::stringstream ss;
4250 ss.str("..."); // XML to parse
4252 if (soap_read__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4253 ... // handle IO error
4257 if (soap_write__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4258 ... // handle IO error
4260 std::string s = ss.str(); // string with XML
4263 For C we can use `soap->is` and `soap->os` to point to strings of XML content
4264 as follows (this requires gSOAP 2.8.28 or later):
4267 soap->is = "..."; // XML to parse
4268 if (soap_read__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4269 ... // handle IO error
4272 const char *cs = NULL;
4274 if (soap_write__ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4275 ... // handle IO error
4277 ... = cs; // string with XML (do not free(cs): managed by the context and freed with soap_end())
4280 Note that `soap->os` is a pointer to a `const char*` string. The pointer is
4281 set by the managing context to point to the XML data that is stored on the
4282 context-managed heap.
4284 For earlier gSOAP versions we recommend to use IO callbacks `soap->frecv` and
4285 `soap->fsend`, see the [gSOAP user guide.](http://www.genivia.com/doc/soapdoc2.html)
4287 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4289 Memory management {#memory}
4292 Memory management with the `soap` context enables us to allocate data in
4293 context-managed heap space that can be collectively deleted. All deserialized
4294 data is placed on the context-managed heap by the gSOAP engine.
4296 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4298 Memory management in C {#memory1}
4299 ----------------------
4301 When working with gSOAP in C (i.e. using wsdl2h option `-c` and soapcpp2 option
4302 `-c`), data is allocated on the managed heap with:
4304 - `void *soap_malloc(struct soap*, size_t len)`.
4306 You can also make shallow copies of data with `soap_memdup` that uses
4307 `soap_malloc` and a safe version of `memcpy` to copy a chunk of data `src` with
4308 length `len` to the context-managed heap:
4310 - `void * soap_memdup(struct soap*, const void *src, size_t len)`
4312 This function returns a pointer to the copy. This function requires gSOAP
4315 In gSOAP 2.8.35 and later, you can use an auto-generated function to allocate
4316 and initialize data of type `T` on the managed heap:
4318 - `T * soap_new_T(struct soap*, int n)`
4320 This function returns an array of length `n` of type `T` data that is default
4321 initialized (by internally calling `soap_malloc(soap, n * sizeof(T))` and then
4322 `soap_default_T(soap, T*)` on each array value). Use `n=1` to allocate and
4323 initialize a single value.
4325 The `soap_malloc` function is a wrapper around `malloc`, but which also permits
4326 the `struct soap` context to track all heap allocations for collective deletion
4327 with `soap_end(soap)`:
4333 struct soap *soap = soap_new(); // new context
4335 struct ns__record *record = (struct ns__record*)soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(struct ns__record));
4336 soap_default_ns__record(soap, record); // auto-generated struct initializer
4338 soap_destroy(soap); // only for C++, see section on C++ below
4339 soap_end(soap); // delete record and all other heap allocations
4340 soap_free(soap); // delete context
4343 All data on the managed heap is mass-deleted with `soap_end(soap)` which must
4344 be called before `soap_done(soap)` or `soap_free(soap)`, which end the use of
4345 the `soap` engine context and free the context, respectively. Use
4346 `soap_free(soap)` only when the context is allocated with `soap_new()`. Use
4347 `soap_done(soap)` only when the context is stack allocated (so cannot be
4348 deleted from the heap).
4350 The managed heap is checked for memory leaks when the gSOAP code is compiled
4353 The soapcpp2 auto-generated deserializers in C use `soap_malloc` to allocate
4354 and populate deserialized structures, which are managed by the context for
4355 collective deletion.
4357 To make `char*` and `wchar_t*` string copies to the context-managed heap, we
4358 can use the functions:
4360 - `char *soap_strdup(struct soap*, const char *str)` and
4361 - `wchar_t *soap_wstrdup(struct soap*, const wchar_t *wstr)`.
4363 If your C compiler supports `typeof` then you can use the following macro to
4364 simplify the managed heap allocation and initialization of primitive values:
4367 #define soap_assign(soap, lhs, rhs) (*(lhs = (typeof(lhs))soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(*lhs))) = rhs)
4370 Pointers to primitive values are often used for optional members. For example,
4371 assume we have the following struct:
4376 const char *name; // required name
4377 uint64_t *SSN; // optional SSN
4378 struct ns__record *spouse; // optional spouse
4382 Use `soap_assign` to create a SSN value on the managed heap:
4385 struct soap *soap = soap_new(); // new context
4387 struct ns__record *record = (struct ns__record*)soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(struct ns__record));
4388 soap_default_ns__record(soap, record);
4389 record->name = soap_strdup(soap, "Joe");
4390 soap_assign(soap, record->SSN, 1234567890UL);
4392 soap_end(soap); // delete managed soap_malloc'ed heap data
4393 soap_free(soap); // delete context
4396 Without the `soap_assign` macro, you will need two lines of code, one to
4397 allocate and one to assign (you should also use this if your system can run out
4401 assert((record->SSN = (uint64_t*)soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(utint64_t))) != NULL);
4402 *record->SSN = 1234567890UL;
4405 The gSOAP serializer can serialize any heap, stack, or static allocated data.
4406 So we can also create a new record as follows:
4409 struct soap *soap = soap_new(); // new context
4411 struct ns__record *record = (struct ns__record*)soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(struct ns__record));
4412 static uint64_t SSN = 1234567890UL;
4413 soap_default_ns__record(soap, record);
4414 record->name = "Joe";
4415 record->SSN = &SSN; // safe to use static values: the value of record->SSN is never changed by gSOAP
4417 soap_end(soap); // delete managed soap_malloc'ed heap data
4418 soap_free(soap); // delete context
4421 Use the soapcpp2 auto-generated `soap_dup_T` functions to duplicate data into
4422 another context (this requires soapcpp2 option `-Ec` to generate), here shown
4423 for C with the second argument `dst` NULL because we want to allocate a new
4427 struct soap *other_soap = soap_new(); // another context
4428 struct ns__record *other_record = soap_dup_ns__record(other_soap, NULL, record);
4430 soap_destroy(other_soap); // only for C++, see section on C++ below
4431 soap_end(other_soap); // delete other_record and all of its deep data
4432 soap_free(other_soap); // delete context
4435 Note that the only reason to use another context and not to use the primary
4436 context is when the primary context must be destroyed together with all of the
4437 objects it manages while some of the objects must be kept alive. If the objects
4438 that are kept alive contain deep cycles then this is the only option we have,
4439 because deep copy with a managing context detects and preserves these
4440 cycles unless the `SOAP_XML_TREE` flag is used with the context:
4443 struct soap *other_soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_TREE); // another context
4444 struct ns__record *other_record = soap_dup_ns__record(other_soap, NULL, record);
4447 The resulting deep copy will be a full copy of the source data structure as a
4448 tree without co-referenced data (i.e. no digraph) and without cycles. Cycles
4449 are pruned and (one of the) pointers that forms a cycle is repaced by NULL.
4451 You can also deep copy into unmanaged space and use the auto-generated
4452 `soap_del_T()` function (requires soapcpp2 option `-Ed` to generate) to delete
4453 it later, but you MUST NOT do this for any data that has deep cycles in its
4454 runtime data structure:
4457 struct ns__record *other_record = soap_dup_ns__record(NULL, NULL, record);
4459 soap_del_ns__record(other_record); // deep delete record data members
4460 free(other_record); // delete the record
4463 Cycles in the data structure will lead to non-termination when making unmanaged
4464 deep copies. Consider for example:
4469 const char *name; // required name
4470 uint64_t SSN; // required SSN
4471 struct ns__record *spouse; // optional spouse
4475 The code to populate a structure with a mutual spouse relationship:
4478 struct soap *soap = soap_new();
4480 struct ns__record pers1, pers2;
4481 soap_default_ns__record(soap, &pers1);
4482 soap_default_ns__record(soap, &pers2);
4483 pers1.name = "Joe"; // OK to serialize static data
4484 pers1.SSN = 1234567890;
4485 pers1.spouse = &pers2;
4486 pers2.name = soap_strdup(soap, "Jane"); // allocates and copies a string
4487 pers2.SSN = 1987654320;
4488 pers2.spouse = &pers1;
4490 struct ns__record *pers3 = soap_dup_ns__record(NULL, NULL, &pers1); // BAD
4491 struct ns__record *pers4 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4492 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE);
4493 struct ns__record *pers5 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4496 As we can see, the gSOAP serializer can serialize any heap, stack, or static
4497 allocated data, such as in the code above. So we can serialize the
4498 stack-allocated `pers1` record as follows:
4501 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "w");
4504 soap->sendfd = fileno(fp); // file descriptor to write to
4505 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_GRAPH); // support id-ref w/o requiring SOAP
4506 soap_clr_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE); // if set, clear
4507 soap_write_ns__record(soap, &pers1);
4509 soap->sendfd = -1; // block further writing
4513 which produces an XML document record.xml that is similar to:
4517 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" id="Joe">
4519 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
4522 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
4523 <spouse ref="#Joe"/>
4529 Deserialization of an XML document with a SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoded id-ref graph
4530 leads to the same non-termination problem when we later try to copy the data
4531 into unmanaged memory heap space:
4534 struct soap *soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_GRAPH); // support id-ref w/o SOAP
4536 struct ns__record pers1;
4537 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "r");
4540 soap->recvfd = fileno(fp);
4541 if (soap_read_ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4542 ... // handle IO error
4544 soap->recvfd = -1; // blocks further reading
4547 struct ns__record *pers3 = soap_dup_ns__record(NULL, NULL, &pers1); // BAD
4548 struct ns__record *pers4 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4549 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE);
4550 struct ns__record *pers5 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4553 Copying data with `soap_dup_T(soap)` into managed heap memory space is always
4554 safe. Copying into unmanaged heap memory space requires diligence. But
4555 deleting unmanaged data is easy with `soap_del_T()`.
4557 You can also use `soap_del_T()` to delete structures that you created in C, but
4558 only if these structures are created with `malloc` and do NOT contain pointers
4559 to stack and static data.
4561 You can unlink one or more allocated objects from the managed heap to allow the
4562 object to live after `soap_end(soap)` by using:
4564 - `void soap_unlink(struct soap *soap, void *ptr)`
4566 The unlinked heap-allocated data pointed to by `ptr` can be accessed after
4567 `soap_end(soap)`. Do not forget to free the data with `free(ptr)`. Be aware
4568 that `soap_unlink(soap, ptr)` does not perform a deep unlinkage. If `ptr` is a
4569 struct, pointer members will become invalid when pointing to objects on the
4570 managed heap. Use `soap_unlink(soap, ptr->member)` to unlink `member` as well.
4572 Finally, when data is allocated in managed memory heap space, either explicitly
4573 with the allocation functions shown above or by the gSOAP deserializers, you
4574 can delegate the management and deletion of this data to another `struct soap`
4575 context. That context will be responsible to delete the data with
4576 `soap_end(soap)` later:
4578 - `void delegate_deletion(struct soap *soap_from, struct soap *soap_to)`
4580 This allows the `soap_from` context to be deleted with `soap_free(soap_from)`
4581 (assuming it is allocated with `soap_new()`, use `soap_done(soap_from)` when
4582 `soap_from` is stack-allocated) while the managed data remains intact. You
4583 can use this function any time, to delegate management and deletion to another
4584 context `soap_to` and then continue with the current context. You can also use
4585 different source `soap_from` contexts to delegate management and deletion to
4586 the other `soap_to` context. To mass delete all managed data, use
4587 `soap_end(soap_to)`.
4589 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4591 Memory management in C++ {#memory2}
4592 ------------------------
4594 When working with gSOAP in C++, the gSOAP engine allocates data on a managed
4595 heap using `soap_new_T(soap)` to allocate a type with type name `T`. Managed
4596 heap allocation is tracked by the `struct soap` context for collective deletion
4597 with `soap_destroy(soap)` for structs, classes, and templates and with
4598 `soap_end(soap)` for everything else.
4600 You should only use `soap_malloc(struct soap*, size_t len)` to allocate
4601 primitive types, but `soap_new_T()` is preferred. The auto-generated `T *
4602 soap_new_T(struct soap*)` returns data allocated on the managed heap for type
4603 `T`. The data is mass-deleted with `soap_destroy(soap)` followed by
4606 The `soap_new_T` functions return NULL when allocation fails. C++ exceptions
4607 are never raised by gSOAP code when data is allocated, unless `SOAP_NOTHROW`
4608 (set to `(std::nothrow)`) is redefined to permit `new` to throw exceptions.
4610 There are four variations of `soap_new_T()` to allocate data of type `T` that
4611 soapcpp2 auto-generates:
4613 - `T * soap_new_T(struct soap*)` returns a new instance of `T` that is default
4614 initialized. For classes, initialization is internally performed using the
4615 soapcpp2 auto-generated `void T::soap_default(struct soap*)` method of the
4616 class, but ONLY IF the soapcpp2 auto-generated default constructor is used
4617 that invokes `soap_default()` and was not replaced by a user-defined default
4620 - `T * soap_new_T(struct soap*, int n)` returns an array of `n` new instances of
4621 `T`. The instances in the array are default initialized as described above.
4623 - `T * soap_new_req_T(struct soap*, ...)` (structs and classes only) returns a
4624 new instance of `T` and sets the required data members to the values
4625 specified in `...`. The required data members are those with nonzero
4626 minOccurs, see the subsections on
4627 [(smart) pointer members and their occurrence constraints](#toxsd9-8) and
4628 [container and array members and their occurrence constraints](#toxsd9-9).
4630 - `T * soap_new_set_T(struct soap*, ...)` (structs and classes only) returns a
4631 new instance of `T` and sets the public/serializable data members to the values
4634 The above functions can be invoked with a NULL `soap` context, but you are then
4635 responsible to use `delete T` to remove this instance from the unmanaged heap.
4637 For example, to allocate a managed `std::string` you can use:
4640 std::string *s = soap_new_std__string(soap);
4643 Primitive types and arrays of these are allocated with `soap_malloc`
4644 (`soap_new_T` calls `soap_malloc` for primitive type `T`). All primitive types
4645 (i.e. no classes, structs, class templates, containers, and smart pointers) are
4646 allocated with `soap_malloc` for reasons of efficiency.
4648 You can use a C++ template to simplify the managed allocation and initialization
4649 of primitive values as follows (this is for primitive types only):
4653 T * soap_make(struct soap *soap, T val) throw (std::bad_alloc)
4655 T *p = (T*)soap_malloc(soap, sizeof(T));
4657 throw std::bad_alloc;
4663 For example, assuming we have the following class:
4669 std::string name; // required name
4670 uint64_t *SSN; // optional SSN
4671 ns__record *spouse; // optional spouse
4675 You can instantiate a record by using the auto-generated
4676 `soap_new_set_ns__record` and use `soap_make` to create a SSN value on the
4677 managed heap as follows:
4680 soap *soap = soap_new(); // new context
4682 ns__record *record = soap_new_set_ns__record(
4685 soap_make<uint64_t>(soap, 1234567890UL),
4688 soap_destroy(soap); // delete record and all other managed instances
4689 soap_end(soap); // delete managed soap_malloc'ed heap data
4690 soap_free(soap); // delete context
4693 All data on the managed heap is mass-deleted with `soap_end(soap)` which must
4694 be called before `soap_done(soap)` or `soap_free(soap)`, which end the use of
4695 the `soap` engine context and free the context, respectively. Use
4696 `soap_free(soap)` only when the context is allocated with `soap_new()`. Use
4697 `soap_done(soap)` only when the context is stack allocated (so cannot be
4698 deleted from the heap).
4700 The managed heap is checked for memory leaks when the gSOAP code is compiled
4703 Note however that the gSOAP serializer can serialize any heap, stack, or static
4704 allocated data. So we can also create a new record as follows:
4707 uint64_t SSN = 1234567890UL;
4708 ns__record *record = soap_new_set_ns__record(soap, "Joe", &SSN, NULL);
4711 which will be fine to serialize this record as long as the local `SSN`
4712 stack-allocated value remains in scope when invoking the serializer and/or
4713 using `record`. It does not matter if `soap_destroy` and `soap_end` are called
4714 beyond the scope of `SSN`.
4716 To facilitate class methods to access the managing context, we can add a soap
4717 context pointer to a class/struct:
4723 void create_more(); // needs a context to create more internal data
4725 struct soap *soap; // the context that manages this instance, or NULL
4729 The context is set when invoking `soap_new_T` (and similar) with a non-NULL
4732 You can also use a template when an array of pointers to values is required.
4733 To create an array of pointers to values, define the following template:
4737 T **soap_make_array(struct soap *soap, T* array, int n) throw (std::bad_alloc)
4739 T **p = (T**)soap_malloc(soap, n * sizeof(T*));
4741 throw std::bad_alloc;
4742 for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
4748 The `array` parameter is a pointer to an array of `n` values. The template
4749 returns an array of `n` pointers that point to the values in that array:
4752 // create an array of 100 pointers to 100 records
4754 ns__record **precords = soap_make_array(soap, soap_new_ns__record(soap, n), n);
4755 for (int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
4757 precords[i]->name = "...";
4758 precords[i]->SSN = soap_make<uint64_t>(1234567890UL + i);
4762 Note that `soap_new_ns__record(soap, n)` returns a pointer to an array of `n`
4763 records, which is then used to create an array of `n` pointers to these records.
4765 Use the soapcpp2 auto-generated `soap_dup_T` functions to duplicate data into
4766 another context (this requires soapcpp2 option `-Ec` to generate), here shown
4767 for C++ with the second argument `dst` NULL to allocate a new managed object:
4770 soap *other_soap = soap_new(); // another context
4771 ns__record *other_record = soap_dup_ns__record(other_soap, NULL, record);
4773 soap_destroy(other_soap); // delete record and other managed instances
4774 soap_end(other_soap); // delete other data (the SSNs on the heap)
4775 soap_free(other_soap); // delete context
4778 To duplicate base and derived instances when a base class pointer or reference
4779 is provided, use the auto-generated method `T * T::soap_dup(struct soap*)`:
4782 soap *other_soap = soap_new(); // another context
4783 ns__record *other_record = record->soap_dup(other_soap);
4785 soap_destroy(other_soap); // delete record and other managed instances
4786 soap_end(other_soap); // delete other data (the SSNs on the heap)
4787 soap_free(other_soap); // delete context
4790 Note that the only reason to use another context and not to use the primary
4791 context is when the primary context must be destroyed together with all of the
4792 objects it manages while some of the objects must be kept alive. If the objects
4793 that are kept alive contain deep cycles then this is the only option we have,
4794 because deep copy with a managing context detects and preserves these
4795 cycles unless the `SOAP_XML_TREE` flag is used with the context:
4798 soap *other_soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_TREE); // another context
4799 ns__record *other_record = record->soap_dup(other_soap); // deep tree copy
4802 The resulting deep copy will be a full copy of the source data structure as a
4803 tree without co-referenced data (i.e. no digraph) and without cycles. Cycles
4804 are pruned and (one of the) pointers that forms a cycle is repaced by NULL.
4806 You can also deep copy into unmanaged space and use the auto-generated
4807 `soap_del_T()` function or the `T::soap_del()` method (requires soapcpp2 option
4808 `-Ed` to generate) to delete it later, but we MUST NOT do this for any data
4809 that has deep cycles in its runtime data structure graph:
4812 ns__record *other_record = record->soap_dup(NULL);
4814 other_record->soap_del(); // deep delete record data members
4815 delete other_record; // delete the record
4818 Cycles in the data structure will lead to non-termination when making unmanaged
4819 deep copies. Consider for example:
4824 const char *name; // required name
4825 uint64_t SSN; // required SSN
4826 ns__record *spouse; // optional spouse
4830 The code to populate a structure with a mutual spouse relationship:
4833 soap *soap = soap_new();
4835 ns__record pers1, pers2;
4837 pers1.SSN = 1234567890;
4838 pers1.spouse = &pers2;
4839 pers2.name = "Jane";
4840 pers2.SSN = 1987654320;
4841 pers2.spouse = &pers1;
4843 ns__record *pers3 = soap_dup_ns__record(NULL, NULL, &pers1); // BAD
4844 ns__record *pers4 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4845 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE);
4846 ns__record *pers5 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4849 Note that the gSOAP serializer can serialize any heap, stack, or static
4850 allocated data, such as in the code above. So we can serialize the
4851 stack-allocated `pers1` record as follows:
4854 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "w");
4857 soap->sendfd = fileno(fp); // file descriptor to write to
4858 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_GRAPH); // support id-ref w/o requiring SOAP
4859 soap_clr_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE); // if set, clear
4860 if (soap_write_ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4861 ... // handle IO error
4863 soap->sendfd = -1; // block further writing
4867 which produces an XML document record.xml that is similar to:
4871 <ns:record xmlns:ns="urn:types" id="Joe">
4873 <SSN>1234567890</SSN>
4876 <SSN>1987654320</SSN>
4877 <spouse ref="#Joe"/>
4883 Deserialization of an XML document with a SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoded id-ref graph
4884 leads to the same non-termination problem when we later try to copy the data
4885 into unmanaged space:
4888 soap *soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_GRAPH); // support id-ref w/o SOAP
4891 FILE *fp = fopen("record.xml", "r");
4894 soap->recvfd = fileno(fp); // file descriptor to read from
4895 if (soap_read_ns__record(soap, &pers1))
4896 ... // handle IO error
4898 soap->recvfd = -1; // block further reading
4901 ns__record *pers3 = soap_dup_ns__record(NULL, NULL, &pers1); // BAD
4902 ns__record *pers4 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4903 soap_set_mode(soap, SOAP_XML_TREE);
4904 ns__record *pers5 = soap_dup_ns__record(soap, NULL, &pers1); // OK
4907 Copying data with `soap_dup_T(soap)` into managed space is always safe. Copying
4908 into unmanaged space requires diligence. But deleting unmanaged data is easy
4909 with `soap_del_T()`.
4911 You can also use `soap_del_T()` to delete structures in C++, but only if these
4912 structures are created with `new` (and `new []` for arrays when applicable) for
4913 classes, structs, and class templates and with `malloc` for anything else, and
4914 the structures do NOT contain pointers to stack and static data.
4916 You can unlink one or more allocated objects from the managed heap to allow the
4917 object to live after `soap_destroy(soap)` and `soap_end(soap)` by using:
4919 - `void soap_unlink(struct soap *soap, void *ptr)`
4921 The unlinked heap-allocated data pointed to by `ptr` can be accessed after
4922 `soap_destroy(soap)` and `soap_end(soap)`. Do not forget to free the data with
4923 `delete ptr` (C++ class instance only) or with `free(ptr)` (non-class data).
4924 Be aware that `soap_unlink(soap, ptr)` does not perform a deep unlinkage. If
4925 `ptr` is a struct or class, pointer members will become invalid when pointing
4926 to objects on the managed heap. Use `soap_unlink(soap, ptr->member)` to unlink
4929 Finally, when data is allocated in managed memory heap space, either explicitly
4930 with the allocation functions shown above or by the gSOAP deserializers, you
4931 can delegate the management and deletion of this data to another `struct soap`
4932 context. That context will be responsible to delete the data with
4933 `soap_destroy(soap)` and `soap_end(soap)` later:
4935 - `void delegate_deletion(struct soap *soap_from, struct soap *soap_to)`
4937 This allows the `soap_from` context to be deleted with `soap_free(soap_from)`
4938 (assuming it is allocated with `soap_new()`, use `soap_done(soap_from)` when
4939 `soap_from` is stack-allocated) while the managed data remains intact. You
4940 can use this function any time, to delegate management and deletion to another
4941 context `soap_to` and then continue with the current context. You can also use
4942 different source `soap_from` contexts to delegate management and deletion to
4943 the other `soap_to` context. To mass delete all managed data, use
4944 `soap_destroy(soap_to)` followed by `soap_end(soap_to)`.
4946 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
4948 Context flags to initialize the soap struct {#flags}
4949 ===========================================
4951 There are several context initialization flags and context mode flags to
4952 control XML serialization at runtime. The flags are set with `soap_new1()` to
4953 allocate and initialize a new context:
4956 struct soap *soap = soap_new1(<flag> | <flag> ... | <flag>);
4958 soap_destroy(soap); // delete objects
4959 soap_end(soap); // delete other data and temp data
4960 soap_free(soap); // free context
4963 and with `soap_init1()` for stack-allocated contexts:
4967 soap_init1(&soap, <flag> | <flag> ... | <flag>);
4969 soap_destroy(&soap); // delete objects
4970 soap_end(&soap); // delete other data and temp data
4971 soap_done(&soap); // clear context
4974 where `<flag>` is one of:
4976 - `SOAP_C_UTFSTRING`: enables all `std::string` and `char*` strings to
4977 contain UTF-8 content. This option is recommended.
4979 - `SOAP_C_NILSTRING`: treat empty strings as if they were NULL pointers, i.e.
4980 omits elements and attributes when empty.
4982 - `SOAP_XML_STRICT`: strictly validates XML while deserializing. Should not be
4983 used together with SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoding style of messaging. Use soapcpp2
4984 option `-s` to hard code `SOAP_XML_STRICT` in the generated serializers. Not
4985 recommended with SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoding style messaging.
4987 - `SOAP_XML_INDENT`: produces indented XML.
4989 - `SOAP_XML_CANONICAL`: c14n canonocalization, removes unused `xmlns` bindings
4990 and adds them to appropriate places by applying c14n normalization rules.
4991 Should not be used together with SOAP 1.1/1.2 encoding style messaging.
4993 - `SOAP_XML_TREE`: write tree XML without id-ref, while pruning data structure
4994 cycles to prevent nontermination of the serializer for cyclic structures.
4996 - `SOAP_XML_GRAPH`: write graph (digraph and cyclic graphs with shared pointers
4997 to objects) using id-ref attributes. That is, XML with SOAP multi-ref
4998 encoded id-ref elements. This is a structure-preserving serialization format,
4999 because co-referenced data and also cyclic relations are accurately represented.
5001 - `SOAP_XML_DEFAULTNS`: uses xmlns default namespace declarations, assuming
5002 that the schema attribute form is "qualified" by default (be warned if it is
5003 not, since attributes in the null namespace will get bound to namespaces!).
5005 - `SOAP_XML_NIL`: emit empty element with `xsi:nil` for all NULL pointers
5008 - `SOAP_XML_IGNORENS`: the XML parser ignores XML namespaces, i.e. element and
5009 attribute tag names match independent of their namespace.
5011 - `SOAP_XML_NOTYPE`: removes all `xsi:type` attribuation. This option is usually
5012 not needed unless the receiver rejects all `xsi:type` attributes. This option
5013 may affect the quality of the deserializer, which relies on `xsi:type`
5014 attributes to distinguish base class instances from derived class instances
5015 transported in the XML payloads.
5017 - `SOAP_IO_CHUNK`: to enable HTTP chunked transfers.
5019 - `SOAP_IO_STORE`: full buffering of outbound messages.
5021 - `SOAP_ENC_ZLIB`: compress messages, requires compiling with `-DWITH_GZIP` and
5022 linking with zlib (`-lz`).
5024 - `SOAP_ENC_MIME`: enable MIME attachments, see
5025 [MIME/MTOM attachment binary types](#toxsd10-3).
5027 - `SOAP_ENC_MTOM`: enable MTOM attachments, see
5028 [MIME/MTOM attachment binary types](#toxsd10-3).
5030 @note C++ Web service proxy and service classes have their own context, either
5031 as a base class (soapcpp2 option -i) or as a data member `soap` that points to
5032 a context (soapcpp2 option -j). These contexts are allocated when the proxy or
5033 service is instantiated with context flags that are passed to the constructor.
5035 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5037 Context parameter settings {#params}
5038 ==========================
5040 After allocation and initializtion of a `struct soap` context, several context
5041 parameters can be set (some parameters may require 2.8.31 and later versions):
5043 - `unsigned int soap::maxlevel` is the maximum XML nesting depth levels that
5044 the parser permits. Default initialized to `SOAP_MAXLEVEL` (10000), which is
5045 a redefinable macro in stdsoap2.h. Set `soap::maxlevel` to a lower value to
5046 restrict XML parsing nesting depth.
5048 - `long soap::maxlength` is the maximum string content length if not already
5049 constrained by an XML schema validation `maxLength` constraint. Zero means
5050 unlimited string lengths are permitted (unless restricted by XML schema
5051 `maxLength`). Default initialized to `SOAP_MAXLENGTH` (0), which is a
5052 redefinable macro in stdsoap2.h. Set `soap::maxlength` to a positive value
5053 to restrict the number of (wide) characters in strings parsed, restrict
5054 hexBinary byte length, and restrict base64Binary byte length.
5056 - `size_t soap::maxoccurs` is the maximum number of array or container elements
5057 permitted by the parser. Must be greater than zero (0). Default initialized
5058 to `SOAP_MAXOCCURS` (100000), which is a redefinable macro in stdsoap2.h.
5059 Set `soap::maxoccurs` to a positive value to restrict the number of array and
5060 container elements that can be parsed.
5062 - `soap::version` is the SOAP version used, with 0 for non-SOAP, 1 for SOAP1.1,
5063 and 2 for SOAP1.2. This value is normally set by web service operations, and
5064 is otherwise 0 (non-SOAP). Use `soap_set_version(struct soap*, short)` to
5065 set the value. This controls XML namespaces and SOAP id-ref serialization
5066 when applicable with an encodingStyle (see below).
5068 - `const char *soap::encodingStyle` is a string that is used with SOAP
5069 encoding, normally NULL for non-SOAP XML. Set this string to "" (empty
5070 string) to enable SOAP encoding style, which supports id-ref graph
5071 serialization (see also the `SOAP_XML_GRAPH` [context flag](#flags)).
5073 - `int soap::recvfd` is the file descriptor to read and parse source data from.
5074 Default initialized to 0 (stdin). See also [input and output](#io).
5076 - `int soap::sendfd` is the file descriptor to write data to. Default
5077 initialized to 1 (stdout). See also [input and output](#io).
5079 - `const char *is` for C: string to read and parse source data from, overriding
5080 the `recvfd` source. Normally NULL. This value must be reset to NULL or
5081 the parser will continue to read from this string content until the NUL
5082 character. See also [input and output](#io).
5084 - `std::istream *is` for C++: an input stream to read and parse source data
5085 from, overriding the `recvfd` source. Normally NULL. This value must be
5086 reset to NULL or the parser will continue to read from this stream until EOF.
5087 See also [input and output](#io).
5089 - `const char **os` for C: points to a string (a `const char *`) that will be
5090 set to point to the string output. Normally NULL. This value must be reset
5091 to NULL or the next output will result in reassigning the pointer to point to
5092 the next string that is output. The strings are automatically deallocated by
5093 `soap_end(soap)`. See also [input and output](#io).
5095 - `std::ostream *os` for C++: an output stream to write output to. Normally
5096 NULL. This value must be reste to NULL or the next output will be send to
5097 this stream. See also [input and output](#io).
5099 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5101 Error handling and reporting {#errors}
5102 ============================
5104 The gSOAP API functions return `SOAP_OK` (zero) or a non-zero error code. The
5105 error code is stored in `int soap::error` of the current `struct soap` context.
5106 Error messages can be displayed with:
5108 - `void soap_stream_fault(struct soap*, std::ostream &os)` for C++ only, prints
5109 the error message to an output stream.
5111 - `void soap_print_fault(struct soap*, FILE *fd)` prints the error message to a
5114 - `void soap_sprint_fault(struct soap*, char *buf, size_t len)` saves the error
5115 message to a fixed-size buffer allocated with a maximum length.
5117 - `void soap_print_fault_location(struct soap*, FILE *fd)` prints the location
5118 and part of the XML where the parser encountered an error.
5120 C++ exceptions are never raised by gSOAP code, even when data is allocated.
5121 (That is unless the `SOAP_NOTHROW` macro (set to `(std::nothrow)` by default)
5122 is redefined to permit `new` to throw exceptions.)
5124 A `SOAP_EOM` error code is returned when memory was exhausted during
5125 processing of input and/or output of data.
5127 An EOF (`SOAP_EOF` or -1) error code is returned when the parser has hit EOF
5128 but expected more input, or when socket communications timed out. In addition
5129 to the `SOAP_EOF` error, the `int soap::errnum` of the `struct soap` context is
5130 set to the `errno` value of the operation that failed. For timeouts, the
5131 `soap::ernum` value is always 0 instead of an `errno` error code.
5133 Use `soap_xml_error_check(soap->error)` to check for XML errors. This returns
5134 true (non-zero) when a parsing and validation error has occurred.
5141 struct soap *soap = soap_new1(SOAP_XML_INDENT | SOAP_XML_STRICT | SOAP_XML_TREE);
5142 struct ns__record person;
5143 std::stringstream ss;
5144 ss.str("..."); // XML to parse
5146 if (soap_read__ns__record(soap, &person))
5148 if (soap_xml_error_check(soap->error))
5149 std::cerr << "XML parsing error!" << std::endl;
5151 soap_stream_fault(soap, std::cerr);
5155 ... // all OK, use person record
5157 soap_destroy(soap); // delete objects
5158 soap_end(soap); // delete other data and temp data
5159 soap_free(soap); // free context
5162 When deploying your application on UNIX and Linux systems, UNIX signal handlers
5163 should be added to your code handle signals, in particular `SIGPIPE`:
5166 signal(SIGPIPE, sigpipe_handler);
5169 where the `sigpipe_handler` is a function:
5172 void sigpipe_handler(int x) { }
5175 Other UNIX signals may have to be handled as well.
5177 The gSOAP engine is designed for easy memory cleanup after being interrupted.
5178 Use `soap_destroy(soap)` and `soap_end(soap)`, after which the `soap` context
5181 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5183 Features and limitations {#features}
5184 ========================
5186 In general, to use the generated code:
5188 - Make sure to `#include "soapH.h"` in your code and also define a namespace
5189 table or `#include "ns.nsmap"` with the generated table, where `ns` is the
5190 namespace prefix for services.
5192 - Use soapcpp2 option -j (C++ only) to generate C++ proxy and service objects.
5193 The auto-generated files include documented inferfaces. Compile with
5194 soapC.cpp and link with -lgsoap++, or alternatively compile stdsoap2.cpp.
5196 - Without soapcpp2 option -j: client-side uses the auto-generated
5197 soapClient.cpp and soapC.cpp (or C versions of those). Compile and link with
5198 -lgsoap++ (-lgsoap for C), or alternatively compile stdsoap2.cpp
5201 - Without soapcpp2 option -j: server-side uses the auto-generated
5202 soapServer.cpp and soapC.cpp (or C versions of those). Compile and link with
5203 -lgsoap++ (-lgsoap for C), or alternatively compile stdsoap2.cpp (stdsoap2.c
5206 - Use `soap_new()` or `soap_new1(int flags)` to allocate and initialize a
5207 heap-allocated context with or without flags. Delete this context with
5208 `soap_free(struct soap*)`, but only after `soap_destroy(struct soap*)` and
5209 `soap_end(struct soap*)`.
5211 - Use `soap_init(struct *soap)` or `soap_init1(struct soap*, int flags)` to
5212 initialize a stack-allocated context with or without flags. End the use of
5213 this context with `soap_done(struct soap*)`, but only after
5214 `soap_destroy(struct soap*)` and `soap_end(struct soap*)`.
5216 Additional notes with respect to the wsdl2h and soapcpp2 tools:
5218 - Nested classes, structs, and unions in a gSOAP header file are unnested by
5221 - Use `#import "file.h"` instead of `#include` to import other header files in
5222 a gSOAP header file for soapcpp2. The `#include`, `#define`, and `#pragma`
5223 are accepted by soapcpp2, but are moved to the very start of the generated
5224 code for the C/C++ compiler to include before all generated definitions.
5225 Often it is useful to add an `#include` with a [volatile type](#toxsd9-2)
5226 that includes the actual type declaration, and to ensure transient types are
5227 declared when these are used in a data binding interface declared in a gSOAP
5228 header file for soapcpp2.
5230 - To remove any SOAP-specific bindings, use soapcpp2 option `-0`.
5232 - A gSOAP header file for soapcpp2 should not include any code statements, only
5233 data type declarations. This includes constructor initialization lists that are
5234 not permitted. Use member initializations instead.
5236 - C++ namespaces are supported. Use wsdl2h option `-qname`. Or add a `namespace
5237 name { ... }` to the header file, but the `{ ... }` MUST cover the entire
5238 header file content from begin to end.
5240 - Optional XML DOM support can be used to store mixed content or literal XML
5241 content. Otherwise, mixed content may be lost. Use wsdl2h option `-d` for
5242 XML DOM support and compile and link with `dom.c` or `dom.cpp`. For details,
5243 see [XML DOM and XPath](http://www.genivia.com/doc/dom/html).
5245 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5247 Removing SOAP namespaces from XML payloads {#nsmap}
5248 ==========================================
5250 The soapcpp2 tool generates a `.nsmap` file that includes two bindings for SOAP
5251 namespaces. We can remove all SOAP namespaces (and SOAP processing logic) with
5252 soapcpp2 option `-0` or by simply setting the two entries to NULL:
5255 struct Namespace namespaces[] =
5257 {"SOAP-ENV", NULL, NULL, NULL},
5258 {"SOAP-ENC", NULL, NULL, NULL},
5263 Note that once the `.nsmap` is generated, you can copy-paste the content into
5264 your project code. However, if we rerun wsdl2h on updated WSDL/XSD files or
5265 `typemap.dat` declarations then we need to use the updated table.
5267 In cases that no XML namespaces are used at all, for example with
5268 [XML-RPC](http://www.genivia.com/doc/xml-rpc-json/html), you may use an empty
5272 struct Namespace namespaces[] = {{NULL,NULL,NULL,NULL}};
5275 However, beware that any built-in xsi attributes that are rendered will lack
5276 the proper namespace binding. At least we suggest to use `SOAP_XML_NOTYPE` for
5279 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5281 Examples {#examples}
5284 Select the project files below to peruse the source code examples.
5286 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5291 - `address.xsd` Address book schema
5292 - `address.cpp` Address book app (reads/writes address.xml file)
5293 - `addresstypemap.dat` Schema namespace prefix name preference for wsdl2h
5294 - `graph.h` Graph data binding (tree, digraph, cyclic graph)
5295 - `graph.cpp` Test graph serialization as tree, digraph, and cyclic
5297 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5302 - `address.h` gSOAP-specific data binding definitions from address.xsd
5303 - `addressStub.h` C++ data binding definitions
5304 - `addressH.h` Serializers
5305 - `addressC.cpp` Serializers
5306 - `address.xml` Address book data generated by address app
5307 - `graphStub.h` C++ data binding definitions
5308 - `graphH.h` Serializers
5309 - `graphC.cpp` Serializers
5310 - `g.xsd` XSD schema with `g:Graph` complexType
5311 - `g.nsmap` xmlns bindings namespace mapping table
5313 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5318 Building the AddressBook example:
5320 wsdl2h -g -t addresstypemap.dat address.xsd
5321 soapcpp2 -0 -CS -I../../import -p address address.h
5322 c++ -I../.. address.cpp addressC.cpp -o address -lgsoap++
5324 Option `-g` produces bindings for global (root) elements in addition to types.
5325 In this case the root element `a:address-book` is bound to `_a__address_book`.
5326 The complexType `a:address` is bound to class `a__address`, which is also the
5327 type of `_a__address_book`. This option is not required, but allows you to use
5328 global element tag names when referring to their serializers, instead of their
5329 type name. Option `-0` removes the SOAP protocol. Options `-C` and `-S`
5330 removes client and server code generation. Option `-p` renames the output
5331 `soap` files to `address` files.
5333 See the `address.cpp` implementation and [related pages](pages.html).
5335 The `addresstypemap.dat` file specifies the XML namespace prefix for the
5338 # Bind the address book schema namespace to prefix 'a'
5340 a = "urn:address-book-example"
5342 # By default the xsd:dateTime schema type is translated to time_t
5343 # To map xsd:dateTime to struct tm, enable the following line:
5345 # xsd__dateTime = #import "../../custom/struct_tm.h"
5347 # ... and compile/link with custom/struct_tm.c
5349 The DOB field is a `xsd:dateTime`, which is bound to `time_t` by default. To
5350 change this to `struct tm`, enable the import of the `xsd__dateTime` custom
5351 serializer by uncommenting the definition of `xsd__dateTime` in
5352 `addresstypemap.dat`. Then change `soap_dateTime2s` to `soap_xsd__dateTime2s`
5355 Building the graph serialization example:
5357 soapcpp2 -CS -I../../import -p graph graph.h
5358 c++ -I../.. graph.cpp graphC.cpp -o graph -lgsoap++
5360 To compile without using the `libgsoap++` library: simply compile
5361 `stdsoap2.cpp` together with the above.
5363 🔝 [Back to table of contents](#)
5368 To execute the AddressBook example:
5372 To execute the Graph serialization example: