Add and configure a SOAP connection

You can add the SOAP connection from the PORT configuration object. The SOAP node object tests the WEBSVC connection at configuration and at run time.

Note: The SOAP service in the WEBSVC Communication Driver does not support complex data types that contain repeating elements (like arrays or lists).

Add a SOAP connection to your WEBSVC hierarchy

1. Right-click on the New_PORT_WEBSVC_000 object, and select Add SOAP Connection.

   The New_SOAP_000 object is created.

2. Rename the newly created connection as appropriate. The New_SOAP_000 Parameters view is displayed.

Connect to a web service

3. In the WSDL URL field, enter the address of the web service you want to connect.

   The WSDL URL can only contain a maximum of 255 characters. For more information about WSDL, see WEBSVC Communication Driver - Terminologies.

4. Select Connect.

   The Connection dialog displays the status of the connection to web service.

5. If the connection to the web service is successful, select OK.

   The Operation drop-down list displays the operations/methods that can be performed for the web service being invoked.

   The Inputs grid populates the tag names based on the selected operation, and is not editable. For more information about tag syntax, see Tag naming conventions.

Invoke a web service

6. In the Instance Name field, enter the instance of the SOAP connection you want to invoke. By default, the name of the currently active SOAP node is displayed. For more information on naming instances, see Tag naming conventions.

7. From the Operation drop-down list, select the operation to be performed. The options differ based on the web service you invoke.

8. To enter a value to execute the operation, or to modify an existing value, point to the Inputs grid, double-click the Value column for the corresponding tag name, and enter the new value.

   Note: When testing the SOAP-based web service connection, ensure to enter values for all the input parameters in the Value column of the Inputs grid. Otherwise, the test operation will fail.

9. Select Test.

   This allows the user to test the connection to the web service and also examine the results received.

   1. Test Response Time

      Upon completion of test execution, the Test Response Time displays the time taken (in ms) by the web service to respond and the item count. Use the result to configure the minimum update interval of a topic. For more information, see Device group definitions.

   2. Polling the web service - Poll-based/trigger-based (on-demand) polling

      To trigger the web service on demand, use the .run tag from the Tag Name column in the Results grid. Alternatively, you can poll using the update interval for device groups. See Device group definitions.

      For more information about different types of polling, see Trigger a Web Request.

   3. Retrieving the Results

      The Results grid displays the resulting tags and values, and is not editable. The list of tags in the Tag Name column are the items available for subscription in run time. Each tag name is the equivalent of a PLC register, that represents a reference to be used by the application. The result sets received from the web service are in XML format, which are parsed by the WEBSVC Communication Driver and the individual parameters are exposed as reference.

   4. Exporting the Results

      To export results to Device Items tab, select Export to Device Items.The tags in the Results grid are exported to the Device Items tab, and the respective item references are populated at run time