"attributeGroup" references ignored by Delphi WSDL Import Tool - delphi

I am completely new to web services, but not new to Delphi.
I am importing a WSDL file into Delphi 2010 with the "WSDL Importer" wizard. The WSDL file contains some "attributeGroup" tags which Delphi completely ignores, which is presumably a bug, although I haven't yet found an entry on Quality Central for this issue, only mentions in forums like here and here.
My question has several parts:
What is the best workaround?
I have written a Python script to format the WSDL file such that all references to attributeGroup tags are replaced with the declaration of the attributes defined in the attributeGroups; in other words, flattening the references. The output is successfully imported into Delphi via the "WSDL importer" wizard, and looks correct, but I have yet to test whether the messages constructed via this new WSDL file will work correctly. Is this strategy likely to be viable, or should I quit now and move onto something else more productive?
Update
Based on my experiences, and the answers in this question, I decided to go the wrapper route with a C# console application that eats JSON input data and outputs JSON reply data. A Delphi app drives the C# app. The SOAP part of the whole thing is now effortless, and "just works" in C#.NET, and the rest of the functionality is handled well by Delphi. I would recommend this route to anyone else with similar problems. I did try exporting a C# SOAP assembly as a COM library, and connecting to that from Delphi, but it became very complex, because the SOAP specification in my particular app is large and somewhat complex.

Ok, this one took a while.
According to this post, there are certain tags that the .NET wsdl.exe tool just won't recognize when importing a wsdl file. According to MSDN:
attributeGroup: Ignored. DataContractSerializer does not support use of xs:group, xs:attributeGroup, and xs:attribute. These declarations are ignored as children of xs:schema, but cannot be referenced from within complexType or other supported constructs.
This behaviour is also described (albeit in a very hard-to-understand manner) on one of the MSDN blogs. In my specific case, the particular part of the wsdl file causing the problem looks like this:
<xs:complexType name="PhonesType">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation xml:lang="en">Provides detailed phone information.</ xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:sequence>
<xs:element maxOccurs="unbounded" name="Phone">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation xml:lang="en">Used to pass detailed phone information.</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
<xs:complexType>
<xs:attributeGroup ref="TelephoneInfoGroup"/>
<xs:attributeGroup ref="ID_OptionalGroup">
<xs:annotation>
<xs:documentation xml:lang="en">The ID attribute in this group is a unique identifying value assigned by the creating system and may be used to reference a primary-key value within a database or in a particular implementation.</xs:documentation>
</xs:annotation>
</xs:attributeGroup>
</xs:complexType>
</xs:element>
</xs:sequence>
</xs:complexType>
It seems that the <xs:attributeGroup ref="TelephoneInfoGroup"/> is being ignored by the .NET wsdl.exe tool, just like it was being ignored by the Delphi wsdl importer. In such a situation, where importing fails in both Delphi and .NET, the wsdl file probably has to be changed, and that means I will have to use my home-made python ref-flattener after all.

We had a similar problem with Delphi 2009 and a standard Soap service (CRM). It was not related to attributeGroup. We found so many incompatibilities that we finally decided to use a small C# application as a proxy for the real .Net based service.

I was the poster of the first reference you give. I think I found out that this bug has never been fixed.
I later posted another question on the Embarcadero Developer Network where Nick Hodges said that
We are concentrating on client development [...] if you are looking to build SOAP servers, then I'd suggest that you also give Delphi Prism a look.
We decided to switch to C# for development of our SOAP servers. I decided to let the service talk to a database, which is then accessed by our Delphi application.
Later I ran into problems with client development under Delphi as well, so we're doing that in C#, too. This time the C# class is com visible and can be accessed from Delphi. Seems to work fine.
Regards, Miel.

The Delphi WSDL importer can't handle <xsd:attributeGroup ref="..."> elements, but you can replace those with the actual attributes that are referenced, which the importer can deal with.
Below is a PowerShell script that does this replacement.
The script is unpolished. It's just what I created for my own needs. It may work for you too, or at least it should give you a starting point.
$xsdPath = "E:\scratch\InputFile.wsdl"
# Note: Must be full path.
$outPath = "E:\scratch\OutputFile.wsdl"
$xsd = [xml](gc $xsdPath)
$ns = #{xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"}
$attrGroupDefs = $xsd |
Select-Xml -Namespace $ns -XPath "//xsd:schema/xsd:attributeGroup" |
select -ExpandProperty Node
$attrGroupRefs = $xsd |
Select-Xml -Namespace $ns -XPath "//xsd:complexType/xsd:attributeGroup" |
select -ExpandProperty Node
$attrGroupRefs | % {
# the thing to be replaced
$ref = $_
$refParent = $ref.ParentNode
$namespace, $name = $_.ref -split ":"
$attrs = $attrGroupDefs | ? name -eq $name | select -ExpandProperty attribute
# remove the reference
$refParent.RemoveChild($ref)
# add the actual definitions
$attrs | % {
$newNode = $_.CloneNode($true)
$refParent.AppendChild($newNode)
}
}
$xsd.Save($outPath)

Related

How to Call a Pkg/Procedure Executing an API From a Pkg/Procedure. The API name needs to be Dynamic and Has In and Out Parms

We use APIs, baninst1.PP_DEDUCTION.p_update and baninst1.PP_DEDUCTION.p_create, to maintain our payroll tables of benefit/deduction data. Numerous packages utilize the APIs. We would like to create a package containing the API call that all the existing packages can use and remove the code that is repeated in each package. I tried EXECUTE IMMEDIATE for the purpose of having a dynamic API name. However, I have not been able to get the syntax correct. I’m hoping you will help me.
create or replace PACKAGE BODY "ORBIT"."MM_BENEFITS_COMMON" AS
PROCEDURE PAY_P_EMPLOYEE_BENEFIT_ACTION(pi_benefit_action IN VARCHAR2,
                                                                               pi_pidm                   IN pdrbded.pdrbded_pidm%TYPE,
                                                                               pi_status                  IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_status%TYPE,
                                                                               pi_bdca_code          IN pdrbded.pdrbded_bdca_code%TYPE,
                                                                               pi_effective_date     IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_effective_date%TYPE DEFAULT NULL,                                                                               pi_user_id                IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_user_id%TYPE DEFAULT NULL,                                                                               pi_data_origin          IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_data_origin%TYPE DEFAULT NULL,
                                                                               po_base_rowid_out  OUT gb_common.internal_record_id_type,
                                                                               po_detail_rowid_out OUT gb_common.internal_record_id_type,
                                                                               pi_amount1              IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_amount1%TYPE DEFAULT NULL,
                                                                               pi_opt_code1            IN pdrdedn.pdrdedn_opt_code1%TYPE DEFAULT NULL) IS
BEGIN
--Call the API for p_create or p_update.
baninst1.PP_DEDUCTION.pi_benefit_action(p_pidm                  => pi_pidm,
                                                                       p_status                 => pi_status,
                                                                       p_bdca_code          => pi_bdca_code,
                                                                       p_effective_date     => CASE
                                                                                                                 WHEN pi_benefit_action 'p_create' THEN
                                                                                                                       TRUNC(pi_begin_date)
                                                                                                                 ELSE
                                                                                                                       TRUNC(pi_effective_date)
                                                                                                             END,
                                                                      p_user_id                =>   pi_user_id,
                                                                      p_data_origin          =>   pi_data_origin,
                                                                      p_base_rowid_out   =>   po_base_rowid_out,
                                                                      p_detail_rowid_out  =>  po_detail_rowid_out,                                                                      p_amount1              =>  pi_amount1,
                                                                      p_opt_code1            => CASE
                                                                                                                 WHEN LENGTH(pi_opt_code1) = 1 THEN
                                                                                                                        '0' || pi_opt_code1
                                                                                                                 ELSE pi_opt_code1
                                                                                                            END);
END PAY_P_EMPLOYEE_BENEFIT_ACTION;
END MM_BENEFITS_COMMON;
create or replace PACKAGE BODY "ORBIT"."MM_BENEFIT_TEST" AS
PROCEDURE PAY_P_MM_BENEFIT_TEST IS
lv_base_rowid_out    gb_common.internal_record_id_type;
lv_detail_rowid_out   gb_common.internal_record_id_type;
BEGIN
--Pass data to the common benefits package for the api call
MM_BENEFITS_COMMON.PAY_P_EMPLOYEE_BENEFIT_ACTION('p_update', 9999999, 'A', 'VI1', '01-JAN-2022', 'MM_Test',     'MM_TEST', lv_base_rowid_out, lv_detail_rowid_out, 25.82, NULL);
END PAY_P_MM_BENEFIT_TEST;
END MM_BENEFIT_TEST;
I'm not sure what's bothering you, actually. You did post some code, but - I don't know what it represents.
Let's see what you said:
"We use APIs, baninst1.PP_DEDUCTION.p_update and baninst1.PP_DEDUCTION.p_create, to maintain our payroll tables of benefit/deduction data."
OK
"Numerous packages utilize the APIs."
it means that there are many packages and they call those p_update and p_create procedures; that's also OK
"We would like to create a package containing the API call that all the existing packages can use and remove the code that is repeated in each package."
that would be a new package; you'd cut that piece of code from all of your packages and paste it into a new one.
OK, makes sense. Instead of all that code (in every package), you'd put call to newly created procedures (that reside in a newly created package)
"I tried EXECUTE IMMEDIATE for the purpose of having a dynamic API name. However, I have not been able to get the syntax correct."
why dynamic SQL? There's nothing dynamic here. Instead of dozens of lines of code you currently have (that do something), you'd put one line - the one that calls that newly created procedure (and pass parameters)
From my point of view, there's nothing unusual in what you want to do and I can't imagine what problems you could have in doing it; it's pretty much straightforward.

How do I change the SOAP structure in Delphi? [duplicate]

I have imported a WSDL and use it to send a SOAP request. It looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<Calculate xmlns="urn:xx.WSDL.xxxxxWebService">
<ContractdocumentIn>
<AL>
...More XML...
The problem is the xmlns="urn:xx.WSDL.xxxxxWebService" part in the Calculate element. The web service cannot accept this. The web service doesn't like namespaces like this...
Using SoapUI I found this request to work just fine:
<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope" xmlns:col="http://example.com.service.xxx/">
<SOAP-ENV:Body>
<col:Calculate>
<ContractdocumentIn>
<AL>
...More XML...
So, how do I change the request from the first to the second version? (Without using dirty tricks!) (Re-importing is not a problem if this would result in the proper request format.)
Again: no dirty tricks allowed, like hacking the request stream to modify it!
And while I haven't completely tested it, it seems that C#/VS2010 and Delphi 2010 are also unable to use the web service that I'm trying to call. A web service that seems to be written in Java. SoapUI happens to be written in Java, thus we have a Java client talking to a Java service, which seems to work just fine. But any other client?
Anyways, time to add two more tags: "Java", since it's a Java service, and "vs2010" because .NET also dislikes this service.And I was about to write a wrapper around this service in .NET, hoping that would work... It doesn't. So this is a very serious flaw, possibly a Java flaw...
If a Service expects:
<col:Calculate>
<ContractdocumentIn>
<AL>
and Delphi SOAP is sending...
<Calculate xmlns="urn:xx.WSDL.xxxxxWebService">
<ContractdocumentIn>
<AL>
... the problem is that ContractdocumentIn is an unqualified element and (until Delphi XE) Delphi SOAP did not support unqualified elements that are top level elements of an operation. Top level elements are parameters of the function and there is nowhere to store the fact that the underlying element must be unqualified; for elements that map to properties, we use the Index of the property to store away the IS_UNQL flag.
BTW, it's not necessary to use a prefix. The Service will (should) also accept:
<Calculate xmlns="urn:xx.WSDL.xxxxxWebService">
<ContractdocumentIn xmlns="">
<AL>
The latter is more verbose but it's equivalent to the prefix case.
In Delphi XE the importer stores away the fact that a particular parameter maps to an unqualified element and the runtime acts on this information. I've posted patches based on the XE implementation for D2010 and D2007 in the newsgroup when it came up in a thread recently:
https://forums.embarcadero.com/thread.jspa?threadID=43057
If someone needs access to them (they were in the attachments area but might have scrolled off), please email me and I'll make them available. [bbabet at embarcadero dot com]
Cheers,
Bruneau
OMG! It took lots of coffee and plenty of sleep depravation but I managed to solve my problem! It's reasonable simple too...First I import the WSDL, as expected. This will generate several TRemotable classes. Then, for each TRemotable which needs a different namespace, I override the ObjectToSOAP() method! (And include XMLIntf to the WSDL source.) In my case with code like this for several of the remotable types:
function AL2.ObjectToSOAP( RootNode, ParentNode: IXMLNode; const ObjConverter: IObjConverter; const NodeName, NodeNamespace, ChildNamespace: InvString; ObjConvOpts: TObjectConvertOptions; out RefID: InvString ): IXMLNode;
begin
Result := inherited ObjectToSOAP( RootNode, ParentNode, ObjConverter, NodeName, '', '', ObjConvOpts, RefID );
end;
Which worked in Delphi XE. In Delphi 2007 I had to use units XMLIntf and XMLDoc plus this code on the input type:
function ContractdocumentInType.ObjectToSOAP(RootNode, ParentNode: IXMLNode; const ObjConverter: IObjConverter; const Name, URI: InvString; ObjConvOpts: TObjectConvertOptions; out RefID: InvString): IXMLNode;
procedure AlterChildren(Child: IXMLNode);
var
I: Integer;
begin
if (Child.NodeType = ntElement) then Child.SetAttributeNS('xmlns', '', '');
for I := 0 to Pred(Child.ChildNodes.Count) do
AlterChildren(Child.ChildNodes[I]);
end;
begin
Result := inherited ObjectToSOAP(RootNode, ParentNode, ObjConverter, Name, '', ObjConvOpts, RefID);
AlterChildren(Result);
end;
It is a hack, in my opinion. But it's not a very dirty one. It's a bit of experimenting, capturing the SOAP requests and responses to check their content and to see if it uses the proper namespaces. Unfortunately, Delphi XE does a far better job at this than Delphi 2007.
Still, I keep this Q open for any better solutions...
Btw, to add the col: to the output, I also had to change this line in the WSDL RemClassRegistry.RegisterXSClass(Calculate, 'http://colan.ogconnect.service.wzp/', 'Calculate'); to this: RemClassRegistry.RegisterXSClass(Calculate, 'http://colan.ogconnect.service.wzp/', 'cal:Calculate');. The result then becomes <cal:Calculate xmlns:cal="http://example.webservice/">. Ont more thing needs to be done, though: moving that xmlns:cal to the xml header. But as it is now, it works for me.
Another note: for the WSDL I used the following settings: 'One Outparam is return', 'Unwind literal params', 'Generate destructors', 'Warning comments', 'emit literal types', 'Map string to widestring'. Other options are: 'Generate verbose information about types and interfaces', 'Ignore porttypes with HTTP Bindings', 'Validate enumeration members', 'Import fault types', 'Import header types', 'Process included and imported schemas', 'Generate class alias as class types', 'Allow Out parameters' and 'Process nillable and optional elements'. The emit literal types was practical because it generates a class around the single method that I was calling. Unfortunately, this won't help much either, although the class would help you to modify the SOAP request on the upper level within the envelope by overriding the ObjectToSOAP() method.Creation of the envelope itself is in the SOAPEnv unit and it's used in the OPToSOAPDomConv unit. Unfortunately, I haven't found an easy method to access the envelope itself to alter the header to add this additional namespace. Then again, I could override the TSOAPDomConv class with my own version that does add the additional namespace. But the code is working for me now, and as my father told me, when he learned me to program: never fix anything that isn't broken.

Why is COMMON_APPDATA returned as a null string on Windows XP

One of my users at a large university (with, I imagine, the aggressive security settings that university IT departments general have on their computers) is getting an empty string returned by Windows XP for CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA or CSIDL_PERSONAL. (I'm not sure which of these is returning the empty string, because I haven't yet examined his computer to see how he's installed the software, but I'm pretty sure it's the COMMON_APPDATA...)
Has anyone encountered this or have suggestions on how to deal with this?
Here's the Delphi code I'm using to retrieve the value:
Function GetSpecialFolder( FolderID: Integer):String;
var
PIDL: PItemIDList;
Path: array[0..MAX_PATH] of Char;
begin
SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(Application.Handle, FolderID, PIDL);
SHGetPathFromIDList(PIDL, Path);
Result := Path;
end; { GetSpecialFolder }
ShowMessage(GetSpecialFolder(CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA)); <--- This is an empty string
Edit:
Figuring out this API made me feel like I was chasing my tail - I went in circles trying to find the right call. This method and others similar to it are said to be deprecated by Microsoft (as well as by a earlier poster to this question (#TLama?) who subsequently deleted the post.) But, it seems like most of us, including me, regularly and safely ignore that status.
In my searches, I found a good answer here on SO from some time ago, including sample code for the non-deprecated way of doing this: what causes this error 'Unable to write to application file.ini'.
If you want to find out why an API call is failing you need to check the return values. That's what is missing in this code.
You need to treat each function on its own merits. Read the documentation on MSDN. In the case of SHGetSpecialFolderLocation, the return value is an HRESULT. For SHGetPathFromIDList you get back a BOOL. If that is FALSE then the call failed.
The likely culprit here is SHGetSpecialFolderLocation, the code that receives the CSIDL, but you must check for errors whenever you call Windows API functions.
Taking a look at the documentation for CSIDL we see this:
CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA
Version 5.0. The file system directory that contains application data for all users. A typical path is C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data. This folder is used for application data that
is not user specific. For example, an application can store a
spell-check dictionary, a database of clip art, or a log file in the
CSIDL_COMMON_APPDATA folder. This information will not roam and is
available to anyone using the computer.
If the machine has a shell version lower than 5.0, then this CSIDL value is not supported. That's the only documented failure mode for this CSIDL value. I don't think that applies to your situation, so you'll just have to see what the HRESULT status code has to say.

Printing PS/PDF files from Mono

I am porting a C# program to Linux (using Mono). The only compatibility issues that MoMA has found were all related to printing: P/Invokes of functions from winspool.drv:
ClosePrinter
EndDocPrinter
EndPagePrinter
OpenPrinter
StartDocPrinter
StartPagePrinter
WritePrinter
These are all used in the same class, which prints files (which must be either PDF or PS) by wrapping them in PJL (to set the paper size/tray/orientation) and calling WritePrinter.
I'll need to rewrite this printing logic with non-Windows-specific code. A previous question refers to System.Drawing.Printing, but it seems to be way too low level. I don't want DrawString and DrawImage, I want "print this PostScript file". Is there functionality in Mono to do this?
I ended up using System.Diagnostics.Process to call the lp command.

SaveDialog.Execute not doing anything in Windows 7

Delphi 2007 on windows 7 just does nothing on the saveDialog.Execute call. I have seen another person mention this a few weeks back but it was with Borland c++.
See the thread "TOpenDialog.Execute not working " on embarcadero newsgroups.
Problem there was resolved by deleting the executable name from
"HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options"
I got the same problem (savedialog not working) in windows XP.
After lots of unsuccessful attempts according to the voluminous exchanges in the embarcadero group you mention (https://forums.embarcadero.com/thread.jspa?messageID=196950&tstart=0#196950).
I found what the reason was : the initial file dir and filename of the Savedialog12 were bad, contradicting each other, the filename containing the fullpath of the last file I had opened (I had thought it was smart to prepare the saving of the file I had opened last; unfortunately what I had put in the initialdir was equal to what I had put in the filename !)
The problem was already solved by clearing both fields of the save dialog.
Further, my initial goal to prepare the saving was reached by putting valid values in the involved fields :
SaveDialog1.FileName:=ExtractFileName(Opendialog1.Filename);
SaveDialog1.InitialFileDir:=ExtractFilePath(Opendialog1.Filename);

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