For a project I need to call some web services for which there is a WSDL schema. I have briefly looked at some contenders and only took consuming of web services into account and not the producing of web services,
I decided to go the JAX-WS route, since this appears to become a standard: JSR 224. Java 6 will have it as a feature.
The JAX-WS choice does mean that Axis2 cannot be used. I don’t really mind since I’ve experienced some real pain there in previous projects. I’m not the only one. Hani sums it up nicely.
JAX-WS contenders
A bit of googling looked like the contenders are:
- JBossWS
- CXF
- Metro
Because it seemed I was the first one using the here unnamed web services, I first decided to play with Amazon web services, because documentation and examples for Amazon web services are widely available.
This excellent article explains how to use AWS ECS with Metro and with CXF. I did not go for the ANT route and used wsdl2java and wsimport.sh. to generate the Java code.
JBossWS
JBossWS seems a bit tied to JBoss 5 and because I need to work with JBoss 4.0.5, I ignored that option.
Since I will consume a webservice, I feel that JBossWS could still be viable. However the pain I had converting the CXF Geronimo stuff to JBoss stuff (more on that later), confirmed my suspicion that JBossWS would not be an easy route in my environment. This is not to say that when using JBoss 5, you cannot have total bliss with JBossWS.
CXF
CXF is still an Apache incubator project. It is a merge of XFire and Celtix. The wsdl2java script did run without problems. When you want to use the generated code you need the following jars, according to the documentation:
- cxf.jar
- commons-logging.jar
- geronimo-activation.jar (Or the Sun equivalent)
- geronimo-annotation.jar (Or the Sun equivalent)
- geronimo-javamail.jar (Or the Sun equivalent)
- neethi.jar
- jaxb-api.jarv
- jaxb-impl.jar
- stax-api.jar
- XmlSchema.jar
- wstx-asl.jar
- xml-resolver.jar
- jaxws-api.jar
- saaj-api.jar
- saaj-impl.jar
I could call ECS without any problems, however the Geronimo jars were a thorn in my eye, I tried to replace them with a JBoss equivalent. I entered a world of pain. With jboss.org.lang.Annotation problems (update JBossWS) and then javax.annotation.PostConstruct problems.
So I concluded that it was not possible to remove the Geronimo jars. Upgrading to the latest JBossWS implementation got me dependent on JBoss 5 it seemed, which is no option.
So if you can live with Geronimo jars and 15 jars in total, give or take a few (removing 1 or 2 seems not to break anything) then you are good to go.
Although I ran into the same observation as Glen Mazza. jaxws:enableWrapperStyle not working in CXF
Metro
I downloaded the standalone version instead of a complete Glassfish distribution.
I had to alter the wsimport.sh script, because WSImport needs JAF. I added the activation.jar from the JBoss distribution to the classpath in the wsimport.sh script. The generated code enabled me to call ECS without any problems.
I needed the following jars:
- webservices-extra.jar
- webservices-rt.jar
- webservcies-api.jar
Compared to CXF, Metro just seems more environment friendly. Of course this could be complete rubbish, since those three jars can be completely bloated with everything but the kitchen sink.
For now I will use Metro and see how this will go.
KnobsLeversButtons 
Can you explain how to install (step by step) metro in Jboss 5? because i can’t find any good tutorial..
I haven’t tried JBoss 5. But what is precisely the problem? Just including the jars does not work for you?
Did you tried with jdk1.6 or jdk1.5. I’have tried with 1.6 and it dosen’t work.
Thanls a lot,
1.5
I’ve tried with JBoss 5 beta2 and Java 1.5 and it works without adding any library!!
Just put the generated Client classes.
Hi,
You can run CXF (or anything else for that matter)
without the geronimo jars (can’t stand them).
Here’s the way :
Put the following libs, or newer versions, in
{JDK_HOME}\jre\lib\endorsed
(f.e. C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_03\jre\lib\endorsed) :
activation.jar
dom.jar
endorsed.txt
jaxb-api.jar
jaxb-impl.jar
jaxb-xjc.jar
jaxb1-impl.jar
jaxp-api.jar
jaxws-api.jar
jsr173_1.0_api.jar
sax.jar
xalan.jar
xercesImpl.jar
from your JSP container’s lib dir, for tomcat6 this is f.e.
C:\Program Files\apache-tomcat-6.0.16\lib
copy the following 3 files to your classpath :
commons-el.jar (or el-api.jar)
jsp-api.jar
servlet-api.jar
That should do the trick. Hope it helps.
fyi, I copied all required libraries from spring 2.5.2 with dependecies distro.
That gives you a head start if you want to use Spring + you’re sure there compatible.
(I suppose you can dl them seperately or use maven, but that’s the way I did it).
Oh yeah, don’t forget… and remove all geronimo jars from the cp!
(You might wanna do this first, certainly if you’re using some ide:)
Cheers,
Wim
Thanks Wim for the tip.
I always considered using endorsed as cheating, but it is good if you want to use these jars for all your Java applications.
But my biggest problem is that I can’t go th JBoss 5. I’m using ATG 2007.1 which is dependent on jboss 4.5
Ronald, can you please explain the exact problem you run into? (with respect to classpath, library version, jdk version; jboss version etc)?What doesn’ work/go in 5 that does in 4.5?
btw I’m sorry for replying this late, but I didn’t get an email notify of your post
Wim,
I don’t know. I have not tried the new JBoss! And it has been a while now 🙂