SOAP-MSG does not handle large documents

amcSyd · February 26, 2008, 4:09am

Hi,

I have currently developed a service that is handled by the default soap processor. The issue is at the end of the service when it is returning a response with a large document (16MB) it fails. With smaller documents (2MB and smaller) the service always works correctly. With the large file one of two things happens, the webMethods instance locks up or it throws a NullPointerException.

By placing debug invocations I can see that it has successfully see that it has left my service and is obviously in the process of adding the document to the soap envelope for returning the response.

A temporary solution I have created is to compress and base 64 encode the document before sending it back in the response. This will work for the time being but if the document grows (which it will) then eventually the solution will not be feasable.

Is there a maximum size limit to a document that can be passed using SOAP-MSG?

Or is there suggested alternative? eg. custom processors? (though I assume it will probably have the same issue)

Any help would be appreciated!

amcSyd · February 26, 2008, 4:59am

Sorry I should have mentioned I am using webMethods 6.5.

wMusers.Com1 · February 26, 2008, 5:41am

I think the “right” way to tranmit large documents to/from web services is by using Soap With Attachments or MTOM. MTOM appears to be more widely supported.

Neither is easily supported in IS 6.5, but MTOM is supported (with a few early release kinks) in IS 7.1.1.

MTOM or SWA should take care of transporting the large doc, but you still have to use care in creating it and avoid creating multiple copies in memory.

Mark

amcSyd · February 26, 2008, 5:50am

Thanks for the quick reply! Even though it is not easily supported in 6.5 at least now I have a direction I can investigate.

wMusers.Com1 · February 26, 2008, 8:30am

From the IS 7.1.1 Web Services Developer’s Guide

Enabling SOAP Attachments for a Web Service Descriptor (MTOM/XOP Support)

For Web services using the SOAP 1.2 protocol, Integration Server supports SOAP attachments based on the MTOM/XOP specifications. The Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism (MTOM) feature provides optimization of binary message transportation using XOP (XML-binary Optimized Packaging). This means that instances of XML-type base64Binary, if enabled, are transported using MIME improves the performance of large binary payload transport.

Note: You can set this property only by editing an existing Web service descriptor.

To enable SOAP attachments for a Web service descriptor

In the Navigation panel, double-click the Web service descriptor to open it in the editor.

On the Property panel, select False or True from the Attachment enabled drop-down menu.

Tip! By default, the public service pub.string:base64Encode inserts a new line after 76 characters of data. This is not the canonical lexical form expected by MTOM implementations. If you use this public service rather than a custom service for base64 encoding, you can use the optional input parameter useNewLine to remove the line break and the optional input parameter encoding to change the encoding. The default value for useNewLine is true, which keeps the line break at 76 characters. If you do not specify the encoding, ASCII will be used. If you use the public service pub.string:base64Decode for base64 decoding, you can use the optional input parameter encoding to change the encoding. If you do not specify the encoding, ASCII will be used.