Implementing a SOAP Handler

A SOAP handler provides an opportunity to modify incoming requests before processing and outgoing responses just before they are sent.  Assuming you have already created a SOAP WebService, these are the steps to implement a SOAP Handler:

1) Create a class that implements SOAPHandler<SOAPMessageContext>

This class could be in the same package as the WebService implementation class and will contain the methods shown in the following example:

public class SiteHandler implements SOAPHandler<SOAPMessageContext> {

	@Override
	public boolean handleMessage(SOAPMessageContext context) {
		System.out.println("handleMessage");
		
		boolean isReponse = (boolean) context.get(MessageContext.MESSAGE_OUTBOUND_PROPERTY);
		if(isReponse){
			System.out.println("Response on the way.");
		} else{
			SOAPMessage message = context.getMessage();
			SOAPPart part = message.getSOAPPart();
			try {
				SOAPEnvelope envelope = part.getEnvelope();
				SOAPHeader header = envelope.getHeader();
				@SuppressWarnings("rawtypes")
				Iterator iterator = header.getChildElements();
				while(iterator.hasNext()){
					Node node = (Node) iterator.next();
					String name = node.getNodeName();
					if(name != null && name.equals("SiteName")){
						System.out.println("Site name is " + node.getValue());
					}
				}
				
			} catch (SOAPException e) {
				e.printStackTrace();
			}
		}
		
		return true;
	}

	@Override
	public boolean handleFault(SOAPMessageContext context) {
		System.out.println("handleFault");
		return false;
	}

	@Override
	public void close(MessageContext context) {
		System.out.println("close");
		
	}

	@Override
	public Set<QName> getHeaders() {
		System.out.println("getHeaders");
		return null;
	}

}

2) Add a soap-handler.xml file

Add a soap-handler.xml file to the package containing the SOAPHandler implementation class:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<javaee:handler-chains xmlns:javaee="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/javaee"
	xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
	<javaee:handler-chain>
		<javaee:handler>
			<javaee:handler-class>my.package.SiteHandler
			</javaee:handler-class>
		</javaee:handler>
	</javaee:handler-chain>
</javaee:handler-chains>

3) Add a @HandlerChain annotation to the WebService implementation class

@HandlerChain(file="soap-handler.xml")
public class CustomerOrdersWsImpl implements CustomerOrdersPortType {
	Map<BigInteger, List<Order>> customerOrders = new HashMap<>();

4) Add a Bean reference to the cxf-servlet.xml file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:jaxws="http://cxf.apache.org/jaxws"
	xmlns:cxf="http://cxf.apache.org/core" xmlns:soap="http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/soap"
	xsi:schemaLocation="http://cxf.apache.org/core http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/core.xsd http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans.xsd http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/soap http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/configuration/soap.xsd http://cxf.apache.org/jaxws http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/jaxws.xsd">

	<jaxws:endpoint id="CustomerOrderWs" address="/customerOrders"
		wsdlLocation="WEB-INF/wsdl/CustomerOrders.wsdl" implementor="my.package.WsImplementation"
		serviceName="customerOrders:CustomerOrdersService"
		xmlns:customerOrders="http://my.namespace.com/">

		<jaxws:handlers>
			<ref bean="SiteHandler" />
		</jaxws:handlers>

	</jaxws:endpoint>

	<bean id="SiteHandler" class="my.package.SiteHandler" />

	<cxf:bus>
		<cxf:features>
			<cxf:logging />
		</cxf:features>
	</cxf:bus>
</beans>