SOAP::MIME Perl Module

SOAP::MIME is a Perl Module that allows for payloads to be attached to SOAP messages via the MIME format. SOAP::MIME was originally developed as a separate Perl Module for SOAP::Lite 0.55. It has since been folded into the core of SOAP::Lite and is no longer necessary if you are using a recent version of SOAP::Lite. This page is maintained for archival purposes only. All SOAP::MIME users should upgrade to the latest stable version of SOAP::Lite.

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Code Samples

Sending Attachments

Receiving Attachments

Sending just one attachment

#!/usr/bin/perl

use SOAP::Lite +trace => qw(debug);
use SOAP::MIME;
use MIME::Entity;

my $ent = build MIME::Entity
  Type        => "image/gif",
  Encoding    => "base64",
  Path        => "somefile.gif",
  Filename    => "saveme.gif",
  Disposition => "attachment";

my @parts = ($ent);

my $som = SOAP::Lite
  ->readable(1)
  ->uri($SOME_NAMESPACE)
  ->parts(@parts)
  ->proxy($SOME_HOST)
  ->some_method(SOAP::Data->name("foo" =&gt; "bar"));</tt></pre>

Sending more than one attachment

#!/usr/bin/perl

use SOAP::Lite +trace => qw(debug);
use SOAP::MIME;
use MIME::Entity;

my $ent1 = build MIME::Entity
  Type        => "image/png",
  Encoding    => "base64",
  Path        => "attachments/reg-step1sm.png",
  Filename    => "reg_step1sm.png",
  Disposition => "attachment";

my $ent2 = build MIME::Entity
  Type        => "text/xml",
  Path        => "attachments/some.xml",
  Filename    => "some.xml",
  Disposition => "attachment";

push @attachments, $ent1;
push @attachments, $ent2;

my $som = SOAP::Lite
  ->readable(1)
  ->uri('http://webservices.imacination.com/distance/Distance.jws')
  ->parts(@attachments)
  ->proxy('http://webservices.imacination.com/distance/Distance.jws')
  ->getDistance(
        SOAP::Data->name('fromZip' =&gt; 94610)-&gt;type('string'),
        SOAP::Data->name('toZip' =&gt; 94105)-&gt;type('string')
           );

Amazon Query MIME Variant

I wrote a SOAP Gateway to Amazon's REST interface a while ago... it was useful when Amazon had not caught on to SOAP yet. It is somewhat obsolete now. However, I implemented a variant of the service to return a book catalog in an attachment as opposed to the body of the SOAP response. I figured I would post a link to the CGI here since it shows a more full featured Web service that uses MIME.

Printing a set of attachments

#!/usr/bin/perl
use SOAP::Lite;
use SOAP::MIME;
my $soap = SOAP::Lite
  ->readable(1)
  ->uri($NS)
  ->proxy($HOST);
my $som = $soap->foo();
foreach my $part (${$som->parts}) {
  print $part->stringify;
}

Write a CGI Server that receives and returns attachments

#!/usr/bin/perl
use SOAP::Transport::HTTP;
use SOAP::MIME;
SOAP::Transport::HTTP::CGI
  ->dispatch_to('SOAP_MIME_Test')
  ->handle();

BEGIN {
  package SOAP_MIME_Test;
  use strict;
  use vars qw(@ISA);
  @ISA = qw(SOAP::Server::Parameters);
  sub echo {
    my $self = shift;
    my $envelope = pop;
    foreach my $part (@{$envelope->parts}) {
      print STDERR "Attachments.cgi: attachment found! (".ref($$part).")\n";
    }
    print STDERR "envelope is of type: " . ref($envelope) . "\n";
    my $STRING = $envelope->dataof("//echo/whatToEcho")
      or die SOAP::Fault->faultcode("Client")
        ->faultstring("You must specify a string to echo")
          ->faultactor('urn:SOAP_MIME_Test#echo');

    my $ent = build MIME::Entity
      'Id'          => "<1234>",
      'Type'        => "text/xml",
      'Path'        => "examples/attachments/some2.xml",
      'Filename'    => "some2.xml",
      'Disposition' => "attachment";
    return SOAP::Data->name("whatToEcho" => $STRING),$ent;
  }
}

Documentation

SOAP::MIME - Patch to SOAP::Lite to add attachment support. This module allows Perl clients to both compose messages with attachments, and to parse messages with attachments.

SYNOPSIS

SOAP::Lite (http://www.soaplite.com/) is a SOAP Toolkit that allows users to create SOAP clients and services. As of July 15, 2002, MIME support in SOAP::Lite was minimal. It could parse MIME formatted messages, but the data contained in those attachments was "lost."

This Perl module, patches SOAP::Lite so that users can not only send MIME formatted messages, but also gain access to those MIME attachments that are returned in a response.

TODO/ChangeLog

For more detailed information regarding changes to this software, check the official CHANGE_LOG.

4/16/2003 - Bug fixes
3/18/2003 - Added server-side attachment support for HTTP transport layer
7/26/2002 - Reworked the parsing of the response to return an array
        of MIME::Entity objects which enables to user to more fully
        utilize the functionality contained within that module
7/15/2002 - Ability to process attachments on the server side has not yet
        been tested.
6/12/2002 - Need to add ability to compose and send attachments.
        FIXED on 7/15/2002</pre></P>

REFERENCE

  • SOAP::SOM::parts()

    Used to retrieve MIME parts returned in a response. The subroutine parts() returns a reference to an array of MIME::Entity objects parsed out of a message.

  • SOAP::Lite::parts(ARRAY)

    Used to specify an array of MIME::Entities. These entities will be attached to the SOAP message.

See Also

the SOAP::Lite manpage, the MIME::Entity manpage



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