Altova MapForce 2025 Enterprise Edition

This topic describes how to add a WSDL-based Web service call to a mapping and configure the call's settings. Before adding a WSDL-style Web service call to your mapping, make sure you have a WSDL file that describes the Web service to which you want to connect.

 

Examples

To test the WSDL settings, you can use the sample .wsdl files that are available in the MapForce Example folder:

 

<Documents>\Altova\MapForce2025\MapForceExamples\TimeService\TimeService.wsdl (WSDL 1.0)

<Documents>\Altova\MapForce2025\MapForceExamples\TimeServiceWsdl2\TimeService20.wsdl (WSDL 2.0)

 

For an example, see also Example: Calling a SOAP Web Service.

 

WSDL-related settings

The screenshot below illustrates the settings of a WSDL-based Web service. For information about each setting, see the subsections below.

mf_ws_08_zoom70

 

WSDL Settings

WSDL Definitions

Specifies the Web Service Definition Language (WSDL) file of a Web service.

 

Service

Specifies the name of the Web service to be called. If the WSDL file defines multiple web services, click Choose to select the required one.

 

Endpoint

Refers to the location (port) where the service can be accessed. If the selected Web service defines multiple web service endpoints, click Choose to select the required one.

 

Operation

Specifies an action to be performed by the Web service (e.g., the getUser operation can be invoked to retrieve user details). If the selected endpoint defines multiple web service operations, click Choose to select the required one.

 

 

Connection settings

URL

The URL text box specifies the address (URL) of the Web service you want to call.

 

Dynamic URL (supplied by mapping)

If you would like to supply the URL of the Web service from the mapping, select the Dynamic URL (supplied by mapping) check box. This creates an additional input connector in the Web service component in the mapping, to which you can connect some input which provides the URL of the Web service.

 

Note: When the Dynamic URL (supplied by mapping) check box is selected, the URL text box will become disabled, and you will have to supply the URL from the main mapping. For HTTP APIs, this also means that you can define only Header-style parameters in the Parameters table.

 

With fully or partially dynamic URLs, you can flexibly adjust the URL according to your needs. For example, you could run the mapping with a specific URL during development and use a different URL in production, without modifying the mapping. A URL like https://{host}/some/path/to/service would make this possible, assuming that the host name is the only difference between the production and testing URLs, and you supply it as a parameter to the mapping. Note that partially dynamic URLs enforce stricter validation, since only the designated URL parts are replaced with mappable or runtime values.

 

With fully dynamic URLs, the entire URL is mappable and you have complete control over it; the only requirement is that the URL must begin with http:// or https:// and it must be a valid URL. Dynamic URLs also make it possible to supply the URL returned from a Web service call as input to another component which may call the same (or some other) Web service.

 

Timeout

The Timeout parameter defines the time interval after which the Web service call will time out if there is no response from the server. Select Infinite if the call should wait for a response for an indefinite amount of time.

 

 

HTTP security settings

You may need to configure HTTP security settings in the following scenarios:

 

The Web service is called through HTTPS and requires a client certificate.

The server uses an incorrect certificate, and you would like to allow a host name mismatch between the certificate and request.

The Web service requires basic HTTP authentication or OAuth 2.0 authorization.

 

To set HTTP security, click the Edit button next to HTTP Security Settings. This opens the HTTP Security Settings dialog (screenshot below). The available settings are described in the subsections below.

mf_http_security_settings_zoom70

HTTPS (TLS)

This group of options is relevant to Web services called through HTTPS.

 

Check Server Certificate

This check box is selected by default, meaning MapForce is configured to check the certificate of the server before proceeding with the request. When this option is enabled, the Web service request (and the mapping) will fail if the server is not trusted, or if your operating system is not configured to trust the Web server.

 

It is not recommended to disable this option unless you have a good reason to do so. See also Digital Certificate Management.

 

Allow host name mismatch between certificate and request

Sometimes a server certificate issued for a particular host name (for example, www.example.com) is installed on a different host name (for example, example.com). Select this check box to proceed with authentication even if the host name of the certificate does not match the host name called by the Web service.

 

Client certificate

Click Select to choose a client certificate from the Current User\Personal certificate store. This assumes the client certificate already exists in the Current User\Personal certificate store; otherwise, you can import it using the Certificates snap-in (see Accessing the Certificate Stores on Windows).

 

If the mapping will be deployed for execution to another operating system, the same certificate must be installed on the target operating system as well. For further information, see Digital Certificate Management.

 

 

HTTP Authentication

This group of options is relevant when a Web service requires HTTP authentication. For more information about these options, see Running Mappings with Authentication.

 

None

Select this option if the Web service does not require any kind of authentication.

 

Use credential

Select this option to configure HTTP or OAuth 2.0 credentials. For more information, see Credentials.

 

Username, Password

Select this option if you would like to store the username and password in encrypted form in the mapping file. This option is supported only for backward compatibility, see Stored Username and Password.

 

Dynamic authentication

Select this check box if you would like to supply the username and password from the mapping instead of entering them into this dialog box. For more information, see Dynamic Authentication.

 

Preemptive authentication

Select this check box if the Web service is configured to expect authentication data in the first call.

 

Otherwise, MapForce attempts access without username and password and will use them if the server requires authorization (HTTP status 401).

 

 

WS-Security settings

The WS-Security settings must be configured if the Web service is protected by WS-Security and requires that you provide the UsernameToken security token. Note that these settings are compatible only with Built-In.

 

Conventions

The following abbreviations of namespaces are used in this topic:

 

Prefix

Namespace

wsse

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd

wsu

http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-utility-1.0.xsd

 

Configure WS-Security Settings

To set WS-Security, click the Edit button in the WS-Security Settings section of the Web Service Call Settings dialog box. This opens the SW-Security Settings dialog box (screenshot below).

mf_ws_10_zoom70

The available settings are described below.

 

Add UsernameToken

The UsernameToken setting is an optional WS-security element that is present in the header of the SOAP message. The UsernameToken is used by the Web server to authenticate the caller of the Web service. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken

 

Username

Enter the username included in the UsernameToken. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken/wsse:Username

 

Password

Enter the text of the password included in the UsernameToken. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken/wsse:Password

 

Password type

Select the type of password included in the UsernameToken. Select Digest if the Web server expects the password in this mode; otherwise select Text. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken/wsse:Password/@Type

 

Dynamic authentication

Select this check box if you would like to supply the username and password from the mapping instead of entering them into this dialog box.

 

Add nonce

Select this check box if you want to add a nonce to the Username token. A nonce is a random value which uniquely identifies each UsenameToken to provide additional security. If you enable this option, it is recommended to enable the Add "Created" timestamp option as well. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken/wsse:Nonce

 

Add "Created" timestamp

Select this option to add a timestamp to each nonce. In the wsse specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsse:UsernameToken/wsu:Created

 

Add Timestamp

Select this check box if you want to enable the time-to-live (TTL) value for the SOAP message (see the next option). In the wsu specification, this field corresponds to the following:

 

/wsu:Timestamp

 

Time to live

Enter a time-to-live (TTL) value for the SOAP message to diminish the chance of someone intercepting the message and replaying it.

 

 

Save all file paths relative to MFD file

When this option is enabled, MapForce saves the file paths displayed in the Component Settings dialog box relative to the location of the MapForce Design (.mfd) file. See also Relative and Absolute Paths.

 

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