Flash and web services

[jcaradec]

hello,

I am trying to call web services using flash lite 2.1 and even 3.0 and I have been partially successful.

my problem relates to the decoding of "complex" objects in the web service response. For any response object defined as a string, it works fine.

For more complex object and from the example I have seen , I was expecting to access the defined parameters like:
result.param1, result.param2
if the response type contains multiple elements which names are param1, param2.

Has anybody been successful in decoding complex objects in the web service response ?

thanks in advance for your help
Jean-philippe

[markadoherty]

Hi Jean-philippe,

When you say "For any response object defined as a string, it works fine". Are you saying that you can in fact trace the string containing the object?

What happens if you cast the string as an object? var obj:Object = Object(myString);?

You might find it easier to use SWX if you are creating the web feed too.
www.swxformat.org

Mark

[jcaradec]

if the logoutResponse type in the WSDL (for a logout web service request) contains a unique string
<element name="logoutResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="status" type="xsd:string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
then you can retrieve the response with the following code:

resultObj = accessService.logout(Token, "user0");
accessService.onLoad = trace("loading");
resultObj.onResult = function(result) {
trace (result); --> (display the returned string) }

however if the web service returns a more complex type like
I]<element name="logoutResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="status" type="xsd:string"/>
<element name="ref" type="xsd:string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>[/I]

I tried the following code;

resultObj = accessService.logout(Token, "user");
accessService.onLoad = trace("loading");
resultObj.onResult = function(result) {
trace (result.status); --> (display "undefined") }

any suggestion to retrieve the two parameters ?
Have a nice day
Jean-philippe

[markadoherty]

Hi Jean-philippe,

Thanks for the detail, so it looks like you simply need to turn the response into an XML object. Then you can parse the object for the relevant data.

I have some XML examples on my blog in the examples section where you'll find lots of little code snippets. Look for the context-aware garden sample which handles XML. Please do take care when dealing with XML as it does bloat the memory usage, use it sparingly.

Regards,

Mark

http://www.flashmobileblog.com

[jcaradec]

well I am not sure to understand what to do in order to decode the result.

the response includes:
<status>200</status><auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc><userid>gam10</userid>

I tried this:
resultObj.onResult = function(result:String) {
var xml = new XML(result);
var aNode:XMLNode = xml.childNodes[0];
//trace(aNode.nodeName.toUpperCase() );
trace(aNode.toString());
var aNode1:XMLNode = xml.childNodes[1];
//trace(aNode.nodeName.toUpperCase() );
trace(aNode1.toString());
}

I get 200 for the first trace and undefined for the other one.


How do you transform the result object into an xml object ?

thanks for your help
Jean-philippe

[markadoherty]

Hey,

So if your result is:

<status>200</status>
<auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc>
<userid>gam10</userid>

then you need to add some parent node to enable the tree to be built.

var xml:XML = new XML("<root><status>200</status><auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc><userid>gam10</userid></root>");

if(xml.hasChildNodes()==true)
{
if(xml.firstChild.childNodes[0].nodeName=="status");
{
trace(xml.firstChild.childNodes[0].firstChild.nodeValue);
}
if(xml.firstChild.childNodes[1].nodeName=="auc");
{
trace(xml.firstChild.childNodes[1].firstChild.nodeValue);
}
if(xml.firstChild.childNodes[2].nodeName=="userid");
{
trace(xml.firstChild.childNodes[2].firstChild.nodeValue);
}
}
stop();

[jcaradec]

No it is not the content of the result object. it is the structure of the soap body in the 200 ok message. But I get nothing in teh result except the value of the <status> element.

is anybody aware of flash limitation to decode multiple parameter in teh response?

Thanks
Jean-philippe

[markadoherty]

You said, "How do you transform the result object into an xml object ?". the above example shows how to transform strings into XML.

If you want to work with webservices then you will have to work within the confines of Flash. Right now it supports the loading of Key Value pairs, XML and of course movieclips which can be created server side (SWX).

To work with webservices then you will have to ether parse the responses into something Flash understands or create a proxy server.

What do you mean by "decode multiple parameter in teh response" ?

Mark

[jcaradec]

if I get

<status>200</status>
<auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc>
<userid>gam10</userid> in the SOAP body of the web service response, that means that the response contains 3 parameters i.e. status, auc and userid in the response: I want to access them

the result is an object when I issue a trace(result) I get 200 i.e. the value of the first parameter but no way to access the others. the content of the response is not a well formed XML as there is nothing more than what is described without root element. Does that mean that I cannot use the webservice class on flash lite for my web service

I tried the generic proxy example but until now without success but that may be a probleme at the php level.
the web service also uses import of xsd types. It may not be supported by flash lite.

thanks for your help
Jean-philippe

[PaulLamonby]

Hi Jean-philippe,

You dont need to add a root node to your XML, the code below seems to work fine (obviously replace the XML string with your web service reply):

var xml:XML = new XML("<status>200</status><auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc><userid>gam10</userid>");
var childNodes:Array = xml.childNodes;
var nodeValue0:String = childNodes[0].firstChild.nodeValue;
var nodeValue1:String = childNodes[1].firstChild.nodeValue;
var nodeValue2:String = childNodes[2].firstChild.nodeValue;
trace("xml = "+xml);
trace("childNodes = "+childNodes);
trace("childNodes[0] = "+childNodes[0]);
trace("childNodes[1] = "+childNodes[1]);
trace("childNodes[2] = "+childNodes[2]);
trace("nodeValue0 = "+nodeValue0);
trace("nodeValue1 = "+nodeValue1);
trace("nodeValue2 = "+nodeValue2);


Regards
Paul

[jcaradec]

Paul and Mark, definitly I appreciate your help

unfortunately when I talk about:
"<status>200</status><auc>gam10+cft+icnv</auc><userid>gam10</userid>", it is what I see in the ethereal trace of the web service response (the soap body), not the object returned by the webservice class. when I issue a trace(result), I see 200 i.e. the value of the first parameter and nothing else. So my conclusion is that the result object doesn't reference the content of the soap body but deliver the decoding of the first parameter. :-)

From adobe.

<<<To send complex data, use Flash Remoting. Complex data in output parameters, on the other hand, does not cause any problems.>>>(http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/ar...rvices_03.html)
so I don't know where is the problem


has anybody looked at what is presented here
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash/ar...rvices_06.html

thanks Jean-philippe

[markadoherty]

Hi Jean-philippe,

Can you cast the object to a String and then trace it out?

You could also change the publishing settings to work in Flash 8 and use the debugger :-)

var resultStr = String(result);
trace(resultStr);

[jcaradec]

yep I've got "200"

[markadoherty]

How frustrating.. Can you create a simple test case and send it to me please?

mdoherty at adobe dot com

Thanks,

Mark

[jcaradec]

Mark,

that's very of you to offer your help. I eventually found what's working and what's not.

what's working:
the response to a web service request is defined as a single element/ object (the object can be a complex structure)

what's not working:
the response is defined as multiple elements

As I control the web service I changed the wsdl

from/

<element name="loginResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="status" type="xsd:string"/>
<element name="auc" type="xsd:string"/>
<element name="userid" type="xsd:string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>

to:

<element name="loginResponse">
<complexType>
<sequence>
<element name="result" type="tns:loginresp"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
</element>
<complexType name="loginresp">
<sequence>
<element name="status" type="xsd:string"/>
<element name="auc" type="xsd:string"/>
<element name="userid" type="xsd:string"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>

then I was able to get the xml schema <result><status>200</status>....</result> as the returned object and able to decode it using the XML class.

Have a nice day
Jean-philippe