Re: [Soaplite-devel] Document-style encoding for SOAP::Lite - offer of support

[Martin K. <mar...@fe...>]

Hi Jason,

this sounds very good :-)

My first attemt to transfer SOAP::Lite's CVS to SVN failed on sf.net -
but my attempt to re-import a dump of SOAP::Lite's (currently hidden)
SVN failed, too, so I suspect sourceforge's import service to have been
out of order. I'll investigate on this next week - sf.net should be back
on normal operation then (the support desk was closed between christmas
and new year, and they've to catch up first).

I'm currently in the process of refactoring SOAP::Lite into several
modules - but first I need a decent test suite to be sure I don't break
things.

What exactly is the task you got offered: Does it just mean adding
document/literal capabilities to SOAP::Lite, or complete WSDL support
for document/literal in SOAP::Lite?

SOAP::Lite in general supports document/literal messages, but has little
to help developers construct interfaces with that messaging style (and
there's some stuff that gets in the way and has to be turned off for
document/literal messages).

I'm not yet sure about how to integrate complete WSDL support into
SOAP::Lite. Currently, there's three WSDL-based variants available on
CPAN.

First (and oldest) SOAP::Lite's stubmaker, which is not capable of
handling complexType definitions correctly (yet), and emits interfaces
suitable for use with SOAP::Lite's SOAP::Serializer and
SOAP::Deserializer class.

Second, there's SOAP::WSDL, which supports document/literal WSDL
definitions only. It has a wsdl2perl.pl script that emits interface
classes accepting either hash refs or objects of it's own XML Schema
implementation, SOAP::WSDL::XSD.
SOAP::WSDL has extension points for (among others) alternative
Serializers/Deserializers - one alternative Deserializer emits SOAP::SOM
objects, another one plain perl hash refs.
Perhaps the strongest point in SOAP::WSDL is that it also generates
interface documentations as POD - this means you don't need to read the
WSDL to get a interface description, but can refer to the generated pod
which provides information in a style familiar for perl developers.
And SOAP::WSDL is fast - it outruns SOAP::Lite by a factor of 2-5, and I
have a (not yet released) XS-based XML parser which outruns SOAP::Lite
by a factor of 4-20 (dependent on usage scenario).

Third, there's XML::Compile::SOAP, which features something probably
described best as parser generator based on WSDL files.
XML::Compile::SOAP basically creates recursive-descendent
parser/generator functions (as code references), which are then used to
parse or generate SOAP XML message with the help of XML::LibXML. The
strongest point in XML::Compile is probably the complete coverage of the
WSDL and XML Schema standard (this is what the author claims, I haven't
reviewd it yet). XML::Compile has little extension points yet (only for
the transport layer, as far as I know), but it's a young module, so
there may be more to come. 
XML::Compile currently performs around 1/3 faster than SOAP::Lite.

So, if your task means adding document/literal WSDL support, the
difficult part is to decide where the journey should go to - or to
define and create some common integration layer all of the current
variants can plug into (which I would prefer).

Looking forward to hear more from you,

Martin

Am Sonntag, den 06.01.2008, 01:12 +0530 schrieb Jason Stewart:
> Hi all,
> 
> I'm new to this list. My name is Jason Stewart and I am a maintainer
> of a number of Perl modules on CPAN including XML::Xerces (I am JASONS
> on CPAN), as well as a long time maintainer of SF projects (e.g.
> mged.sf.net). I am writing to offer my assistance to the SOAP::Lite
> project.
> 
> I've been offered a contract to add support to SOAP::Lite for
> Document-style syntax. Because my client is paying for this, it will
> be my primary focus, but I really want to do this in a fashion which
> best supports the *entire* SOAP::Lite community, and not just my
> client.
> 
> I would really enjoy assisting the new maintainers to help transition
> the codebase to SVN, or in splitting the monolithic .pm file, or other
> tasks. My primary concern for the next month will be SOAP::Lite - I
> will be able to dedicate a *lot* of time.
> 
> I've been a Perl programmer since 1991, and a C/C++ programmer since
> 1995. Because of my background with Xerces, I have a lot of experience
> with XML, but my experience with SOAP and web services is limited, and
> old. I will need to catch up with the times.
> 
> Please let me know how I can best help. Looking forward to working
> with you all!
> 
> Cheers, jas.
> 
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