Trying to POST an XML to php based Web Service via HTTP POST method

[Robinson Francis]

Hi all,

I am trying to POST an XML to php based Web Service via HTTP POST method. The php form of the target system is something like this :

[PHP]<?php

$xmlstring = '<?xml version="1.0" ?>';
$xmlstring .= '<data>';
$xmlstring .= '<ordernum>1234567890123</ordernum>';
$xmlstring .= '<custname>RUSDY AB. AZIZ</custname>';
$xmlstring .= '<mobilenum>0136130702</mobilenum>';
$xmlstring .= '<orderstatus>OnHold</orderstatus>';
$xmlstring .= '<prodtype>STX</prodtype>';
$xmlstring .= '</data>';

?>

<form name="icp2swans" method="POST" action="http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php">
<!--- <form name="icp2swans" method="POST" action="icpwaiters.php"> --->
<!--- <input type="hidden" name="secretkey" value="ef6bf191c37ff1a78633dca0434ef147"> --->
<p>XML Text :</p> <!--- <input type="text" name="ordernum" value="123456789012345" size="15"><br> --->
<textarea name="xmldata" rows="10" cols="100"><?php echo $xmlstring; ?></textarea>
<p><input type="submit" value="Submit"></p>
</form>[/PHP]


My java code is that doe the POST action is something like this:

import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.UsernamePasswordCredentials;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.InputStreamRequestEntity;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.RequestEntity;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.params.HttpClientParams;
import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
import org.apache.log4j.Logger;
import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;

import com.accenture.eai.arch.DataModel.DataPipe;
import com.accenture.eai.arch.DataModel.FlowControlData;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.archcomp.common.constant.HSBBConstant;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.archcomp.common.constant.HSBBErrorCode;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.archcomp.exception.ApplicationRuntimeException;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.archcomp.exception.InternalErrorRuntimeException;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.archcomp.transformer.CdmTransformer;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.common.util.StringUtil;
import com.tm.hsbb.eai.commonservices.audit.HSBBAuditLogger;

/**
 * Supports following HTTP features:
 * - Authentication (AuthScope not well implemented though)
 * - timeout
 * @author 
 */
public class HttpMessageSender implements MessageSender {

	static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(HttpMessageSender.class);
	static Logger perfLogger = Logger.getLogger("EAIPerformanceLogger."+HttpMessageSender.class);
	
	@Autowired
	private HSBBAuditLogger hsbbAuditLogger;

	private CdmTransformer cdmTransformer;
	private String webServerUrl;	// Mandatory field
	private String contentType;		// Optional field
	private String username;		// Optional field
	private String password;		// Optional field
	protected String timeOutInMS = "300000";		// Optional field
	private Map<String, String> requestHeaders;	// Optional field
	
//	private static MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager connectionManager = new MultiThreadedHttpConnectionManager();

	
	public void setRequestHeaders(Map<String, String> requestHeaders) {
		this.requestHeaders = requestHeaders;
	}

	/**
	 * Authentication Schemes supported
	 * - Basic
	 * - Digest
	 * - NTLM (not tested yet!)
	 */
	public String send(String inputMsg) {
		String whatIstheInputMSG = inputMsg;
		logger.info("Executing HttpMessageSender.send()");
		logger.debug("HTTP Message Body: " + inputMsg);
		logger.debug("Sending to URL: " + webServerUrl);
		perfLogger.debug("[Enter send()] " + ((perfLogger.isDebugEnabled())?("["+Runtime.getRuntime().freeMemory()+"]"):""));
		
//		HttpClient client = new HttpClient(connectionManager);
		HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
		
		// Setting the default HTTP POST content type
		if (StringUtil.isNullOrBlank(contentType)) {
			 contentType = "text/xml; charset=UTF-8";
		}
		
		// Create HTTP post object
		PostMethod post = new PostMethod(webServerUrl);
		
		// Set HTTP Request Headers (if available)
		if(requestHeaders!= null)
			{
			Set<String> reqHeadersKeySet = (Set<String>)requestHeaders.keySet();
			for(String reqHeadersKey : reqHeadersKeySet) {
				post.setRequestHeader(reqHeadersKey, requestHeaders.get(reqHeadersKey));
				}
			}
		
		// Request body content will be retrieved directly from the inputMsg  
		RequestEntity entity = new InputStreamRequestEntity(IOUtils.toInputStream(inputMsg), contentType);
		post.setRequestEntity(entity);
		
		// Set timeout parameter (if available)
		// Assumption: value is a valid positive number if set 
		if (!StringUtil.isNullOrBlank(timeOutInMS)) {
			client.getParams().setParameter(HttpClientParams.SO_TIMEOUT, new Integer( timeOutInMS ));
		}
		
		// Set authentication information (if available)
		if (!StringUtil.isNullOrBlank(username)) {
	        // Pass the credentials to HttpClient. 
			// AuthScope.ANY means that we will send this login credential to any host/url we define (not recommended).
	        client.getState().setCredentials(AuthScope.ANY, new UsernamePasswordCredentials(username, password));	          	          
	        
	        post.setDoAuthentication(true);
		}
              
		// Execute request
		try {
			int statusCode = client.executeMethod(post);
			
			if (statusCode != HttpStatus.SC_OK) 
				{
				logger.debug("Method failed: " + post.getStatusLine());
				throw new InternalErrorRuntimeException("Error while doing HTTP Post with reason: " + post.getStatusLine() + ". and error message is:" + post.getResponseBodyAsString());				
				} 
			
			handlePostReturn(post);
			
			String httpResponse = post.getResponseBodyAsString();

			logger.debug("HTTP Response Status Code: " + statusCode);
			logger.debug("HTTP Response Body: " + httpResponse);
			perfLogger.debug("[Exit send()] " + ((perfLogger.isDebugEnabled())?("["+Runtime.getRuntime().freeMemory()+"]"):""));
			
			
			return httpResponse;

		} catch (Exception e) {
			logger.error("Exception occured while sending HTTP POST request to " + webServerUrl , e);
			throw new ApplicationRuntimeException("post to:"+ webServerUrl + " error! "+e.getMessage(), e, HSBBErrorCode.MESSAGE_INTO_TARGET_HTTP_FAILED, inputMsg);
		} finally {
			// Release current connection to the connection pool
			post.releaseConnection();
		}
	}

	protected void handlePostReturn(PostMethod post) 
		{
		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
		// This is to be overriden
		}
	
	public DataPipe sendWithCdmControlData(DataPipe dataPipe) {
		
		String messageBodyToSend = (String)dataPipe.get(FlowControlData.Data);
		
		String beName = (String)dataPipe.get(FlowControlData.EventName);
		String intgMesgId = (String)dataPipe.get(FlowControlData.IntegrationId);
		
		this.hsbbAuditLogger.auditLog(HSBBConstant.AUDIT_TYPE_HTTP_REQUEST, messageBodyToSend, beName, intgMesgId, null);		
		String httpResponse = send(messageBodyToSend);
		this.hsbbAuditLogger.auditLog(HSBBConstant.AUDIT_TYPE_HTTP_RESPONSE, httpResponse, beName, intgMesgId, null);
		
		dataPipe.put(FlowControlData.Data, httpResponse);
		
		return dataPipe;
	}
	
	public void setCdmTransformer(CdmTransformer cdmTransformer) {
		this.cdmTransformer = cdmTransformer;
	}

	public void setWebServerUrl(String webServerUrl) {
		this.webServerUrl = webServerUrl;
	}

	public void setContentType(String contentType) {
		this.contentType = contentType;
	}

	public void setUsername(String username) {
		this.username = username;
	}

	public void setPassword(String password) {
		this.password = password;
	}

	public void setTimeOutInMS(String timeOutInMS) {
		this.timeOutInMS = timeOutInMS;
	}

	public String getWebServerUrl() {
		return webServerUrl;
	}

	public String getTimeOutInMS() {
		return timeOutInMS;
	}

}

The XML that is to be sent is :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<data>
<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>
<custname>Ashwaq</custname>
<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>
<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>
<prodtype>DEL</prodtype>
</data>

The problem is that the programme does send the XML to the target system, however the target is returning a result that is indicates an error;

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<data>
<errorcode>1</errorcode>
<errormsg>XML text was Empty. Sorry, you have submitted an empty form</errormsg>
</data>

According to the administrator of the target system, the error is due to the fact that the something in my HTTP message(the envelope must I presume) must conform to the name attribute of the textarea element in his php form. He even gave me a fragment of his code:

if( isset($_POST['xmldata']) && !empty($_POST['xmldata']) )
{
  // proceed
}
else
{
  // return error (is empty)
}

Input name: “xmldata”

This is the first time I am working with a code that requires me to interface with a php based system. I don't even know what I assumed above is correct in fact I don't know PHP. Please help. If any of the info is not clear please let me know.I will feedback ASAP. Really urgent. Thank you all in advance.

[Tim Moores]

It has nothing to do with PHP. Where in your Java code do you think you are setting the value of "xmldata"?

[Robinson Francis]

Thank you MR. Moores,

The code I have used is the general code that is used to POST xml messages across the system in my company. However for this interface, the request is quite different. In fact this is the first time I am looking at the codes that deal with HttpPOST. Generally the xml that is to be sent is the inputMsg String object. This is later turned into a RequestEntity object @ line 90.

RequestEntity entity = new InputStreamRequestEntity(IOUtils.toInputStream(inputMsg), contentType);


That object is later set to the PostMethod object line 91

post.setRequestEntity(entity);

The final stage of sending the data to the form is done by line110:

int statusCode = client.executeMethod(post);

I am not sure whether I have correctly explained as most of it was learnt recently from other websites.

I have also tried to use a small code to do the POSTing, just to test out key concepts:

i

mport org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpException;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class PostMethodExample {

	/**
	 * @param args
	 * @throws Exception 
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
		HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
		String xmlData = "<?xml version=?>"+"<data>"+"<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>"+"<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>"+"<prodtype>DEL</prodtype></data>";
		//client.getParams().setParameter("http.useragent", "Test Client");
		PostMethod method = new PostMethod("http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php");
		String url = "http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php";
		//client.executeMethod(method);
		/*// Execute and print response
		   HttpClient client = new HttpClient();*/
		// Set parameters on POST
		   //method.setParameter("xmldata", xmlData);
		   method.setParameter(xmlData,"xmldata");

		   try{
			   client.executeMethod(method); 
			   String response = method.getResponseBodyAsString( );
			   System.out.println(response);
		   }catch (Exception e) {
				//logger.error("Exception occured while sending HTTP POST request to " + url , e);
				throw new Exception("post to:swans"+ url + " error! "+e.getMessage());
			} finally {
				// Release current connection to the connection pool
				method.releaseConnection();
			}

	}

}

But the XML in the response still indicated an error.

Thank you.

[Tim Moores]

"<?xml version=?>" - assuming that nothing got lost during posting, then this is an incorrect XML declaration.

Here's example code of how to POST using just the built-in classes: http://www.exampledepot.com/egs/java.net/Post.html

[Robinson Francis]

Hi Tim, thanks for the speedy response.


I tried doing it the usual way,

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "utf-8"?>

But there would always be error thrown by the Compiler, I guess it has something to do with the special characters. I "". . I know that we have to use escape character and so I have modified the xmlData string to contain escape characters.

String xmlData = "<?xml version = \"1.0\" encoding = \"utf-8\"?>"+"<data>"+"<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>"+"<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>"+"<prodtype>DEL</prodtype></data>";

Tried this as well but still the response is :



<?xml version="1.0" ?><data><errorcode>1</errorcode><errormsg>XML text was Empty. Sorry, you have submitted an empty form</errormsg></data>


I have to catch a train. See you later. Thanks for you help. Will login later tonight. Thanks again.

[Naren Mane]

Hi Robinson,

Check the code below which I wrote and I got response as "<html><head><title>504 Gateway Timeout</title></head><body><h1>Gateway Timeout</h1>
<p>Server error - server 208.73.210.29 is unreachable at this moment.<br><br>Please retry the request or contact your adminstrator.<br></p>
</body></html>"

// Create request handler
		HttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient();   
        String xmlData = "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>"
        				+"<data>"
        				+"<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>"
        				+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"        				
        				+"<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>"
        				+"<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>"
        				+"<prodtype>DEL</prodtype>" +
        				"</data>";  
        
        String url = "http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php";  
        
	   // Set-up a proxy, if needed	
       HttpHost httpProxyHost = new HttpHost("set-proxy-address", associated-port-number);  
       httpClient.getParams().setParameter(ConnRouteParams.DEFAULT_PROXY, httpProxyHost);
       
	   // Create a post request. I assumed that as a way to
	   // send data/request to server in this case. 
       HttpPost httpPostRequest = new HttpPost(url);
       
       try 
       	{
		   // Form an request
    	   StringEntity strPostData = new StringEntity(xmlData,"UTF-8");
    	   strPostData.setContentType("text/xml");
    	   strPostData.setChunked(false);
    	   
		   // Add request to POST
    	   httpPostRequest.setEntity(strPostData);
    	   httpPostRequest.setHeader("Content-Type","text/xml; charset=utf-8");
    	   
		   // Finally send the request
    	   HttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(httpPostRequest);
    	   System.out.println("TestThis.main() :: Is response NULL ? "+(response == null));
    	   if(response != null)                    
    	         System.out.println("TestThis.main() :: Response => \n"+EntityUtils.toString(response.getEntity(),"utf-8"));
    	   
		} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		}

Just see if this helps. I've used HttpClient-4.1.2.

Thanks.

[Robinson Francis]

Hi guys,

Sorry for not replying to you all for a long time I managed to find the answer but only now did i have the time to post the solution to the problem. What I understand from this problem is that we are trying to write a programme that would mimic a standard HTML form that would POST data to server. As you would remember a HTML form will contain text areas, checkbox, radio button, SELECT tags and so on just like below:

<FORM ACTION="/cgi-bin/test" METHOD="POST">
Text: <INPUT NAME="text1">
<BR><INPUT type=checkbox NAME="ok" VALUE="yes">Ok?
<BR><SELECT NAME="aChoice">
<OPTION VALUE="one">1
<OPTION VALUE="two">2
</SELECT>
<BR><TEXTAREA NAME="comments" ROWS=10 COLS=80>
</TEXTAREA>
<BR>
</FORM>

In this case for my programme must mimic this form:

<form name="icp2swans" method="POST" action="http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php">
<p>XML Text :</p>
<textarea name="xmldata" rows="10" cols="100"><?php echo $xmlstring; ?></textarea>
<p><input type="submit" value="Submit"></p>
</form>


The key is to mimic the textarea element. I tried to see how the for would be sending the data in the textarea element. To do that try opening the form in FireFox. and run HttpFox, and click submit.

You will find that the data sent out was :
xmldata=%3C%3Fxml+version%3D%271.0%27+encoding%3D%27utf-8%27%3F%3E%3Cdata%3E%3Cordernum%3E1-J0K0Y%3C%2Fordernum%3E%3Ccustname%3EAshwaq%3C%2Fcustname%3E%3Cmobilenum%3E0125598693%3C%2Fmobilenum%3E%3Corderstatus%3ESubmitted%3C%2Forderstatus%3E%3Cprodtype%3EDEL%3C%2Fprodtype%3E%3C%2Fdata%3E


By using

method.setRequestEntity(entity);

in my code :

the data that was sent out was :

"<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?> <data> <ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum><custname>Ashwaq</custname><mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum><orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus> <prodtype>DEL</prodtype> </data> "


So we have to create a name-value pair and send it as a data , the name being xmldata, value being the xml .

That was achieved via :

method.setParameter("xmldata", xmlData);


The data sent out was just like as it was sent out from the form.

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpClient;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpException;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpStatus;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class PostMethodExample {

	/**
	 * @param args
	 * @throws Exception 
	 */
	public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
		String logging = "org.apache.commons.logging";
		// Configure Logging to view the data sent to target URL via http. The results can be viewed in the console. of Eclipse or Weblogic.
		System.setProperty(logging + ".Log", logging + ".impl.SimpleLog");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".logging.simplelog.showdatetime", "true");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".simplelog.log.httpclient.wire", "debug");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".simplelog.log.org.apache.commons.httpclient",
		                   "debug");
		HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
		//String xmlData = "<?xml version = \"1.0\" encoding = \"utf-8\"?>"+"<data>"+"<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"+"<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>"+"<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>"+"<prodtype>DEL</prodtype></data>";
		String xmlData = "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>"  
            +"<data>"  
            +"<ordernum>1-J0K0Y</ordernum>"  
            +"<custname>Ashwaq</custname>"                        
            +"<mobilenum>0125598693</mobilenum>"  
            +"<orderstatus>Submitted</orderstatus>"  
            +"<prodtype>DEL</prodtype>" +  
            "</data>";    
		//client.getParams().setParameter("http.useragent", "Test Client");
		PostMethod method = new PostMethod("http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php");
		String url = "http://n9.intra.tm/swans/openapi/icpwaiters.php";
		//client.executeMethod(method);
		/*// Execute and print response
		   HttpClient client = new HttpClient();*/
		// Set parameters on POST
		   method.setParameter("xmldata", xmlData);
		   //method.setParameter(xmlData,"xmldata");

		   try{
			   client.executeMethod(method); 
			   String response = method.getResponseBodyAsString( );
			   System.out.println(response);
		   }catch (Exception e) {
				//logger.error("Exception occured while sending HTTP POST request to " + url , e);
				throw new Exception("post to:swans"+ url + " error! "+e.getMessage());
			} finally {
				// Release current connection to the connection pool
				method.releaseConnection();
			}

	}

}

The following lines were added :

System.setProperty(logging + ".Log", logging + ".impl.SimpleLog");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".logging.simplelog.showdatetime", "true");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".simplelog.log.httpclient.wire", "debug");
		System.setProperty(logging + ".simplelog.log.org.apache.commons.httpclient",
		                   "debug");

As they would enable debugging the http message. This is not the only method, there are a lot of methods and ways to post data through Java programme. i don't have time to go through them all hence my simple unelegant methodology. Feel free to add more of your suggestion or better way. Thank you Naren Mane and Tim Moores for replying.