Extensibility and Integration

Unsupported SOAP Use Cases

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Types of Unsupported Use Cases

Service Studio detects not only SOAP features that currently cannot be consumed in OutSystems, but also where the limitations are occurring, when this information can be determined.

Unsupported features/use cases fall into one of the following scenarios:

Feature/Use case unsupported due to outdated Platform Server version in the current environment: The Platform Server version of the environment that Service Studio is connected to does not support the feature/use case. Web service methods using the feature/use case will not be imported. The user will receive a message to contact the Administrator asking for an upgrade to the Platform Server version.
Feature/Use case not fully supported in the whole infrastructure because at least one of its environments is outdated: Web service methods using the feature/use case will still be imported. The user will receive a message to contact the Administrator asking for a factory upgrade, or else errors might occur when deploying to outdated environments.
Note: This unsupported use case is only identified when the infrastructure is using LifeTime.
Feature/Use case currently unsupported: The feature/use case is currently unsupported (in the current version of Service Studio). Web service methods using the unsupported feature/use case will not be imported.
Tip: Remember to check the latest Service Studio releases to see if the feature is already supported.

Unsupported Use Cases

While importing a SOAP Web Service in Service Studio, you will get immediate feedback on any currently unsupported feature/use case identified by the development environment.

In this case, you will not be able to import the Web Service straight away in Service Studio. However, in some cases you can perform small changes in the WSDL describing the service so that the identified limitations no longer apply, and you can effectively consume the Web Service in OutSystems.

The current list of unsupported features/use cases is the following:

Multidimensional arrays
Abstract types without implementation
Recursion
List attribute in a single list attribute
Wildcards:
- Any inside Choices
- Any attribute
Any types:
- AnyType
- AnySimpleType and AnyAtomicType
Attribute Groups
SOAP Action names with special characters
Repeated SOAP structure attribute names

Service Studio and the OutSystems platform are being continuously improved to support more SOAP 1.2 features and use cases and to have less unsupported scenarios that require WSDL adjustments.
Be sure to visit this page regularly for an updated list of the current limitations.

In the following sections we provide general instructions to perform the necessary WSDL changes for working around some of the currently unsupported features/use cases.

Multidimensional Arrays

Although SOAP arrays are generally supported, the particular case of Multidimensional Arrays is not currently supported in OutSystems.

Examples:

<xsd:complexType name="SummaryResultArray">
    <xsd:complexContent>
        <xsd:restriction base="soapenc:Array">
            <xsd:attribute ref="soapenc:arrayType" wsdl:arrayType="typens:SummaryResult[][]"/>
        </xsd:restriction>
    </xsd:complexContent>
</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="SummaryResultArray2">
    <xsd:complexContent>
        <xsd:restriction base="soapenc:Array">
            <xsd:attribute ref="soapenc:arrayType" wsdl:arrayType="typens:SummaryResult[,]"/>
        </xsd:restriction>
    </xsd:complexContent>
</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="SummaryResultArray3">
    <xsd:complexContent>
        <xsd:restriction base="soapenc:Array">
            <xsd:attribute ref="soapenc:arrayType" wsdl:arrayType="typens:SummaryResult[10,2]"/>
        </xsd:restriction>
    </xsd:complexContent>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

Currently there is no generic workaround available to overcome this unsupported use case.

Abstract Types Without Implementation

A definition present in a WSDL or included schema might be marked as abstract. This means that, to actually use it, you must use a derived (non-abstract) type. When there is no non-abstract type derived from it, the type cannot actually be used in practice.

In the following example AbstractContract is declared as abstract. If it's used as the type of an element but no type extends from it, this will cause an error.

<xsd:complexType name="AbstractContract" abstract="true">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" name="ContractNr" type="xsd:string" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" name="StartDate" nillable="true" type="xsd:dateTime" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="0" name="EndDate" nillable="true" type="xsd:dateTime" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="2" maxOccurs="unbounded" name="Parties" type="tns:Party" />
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

There are two possible workarounds, according to your specific scenario:

If you need to send or receive the element (or attribute) that has the abstract type, you can try to remove the abstract indication from the type declaration.
If you will not be using it and it is marked as optional (e.g. with minOccurs="0") whenever it is used, you can remove the usage of that type and the type itself from the service definition.

Recursion

Recursive data types are structures that reference themselves. Inside them there is a reference to another element of its own type.

This reference can be direct or indirect. E.g. type A has an attribute of type B which references C which in turn contains an element of type A.

Check the following recursion example:

<xsd:complexType name="Person">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element name="Firstname" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="Lastname" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="PhoneNumber" type="xsd:int"/>
        <xsd:element name="Address" type="s0:Address"/>
        <xsd:element name="Contacts" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" type="s0:Person">
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

Follow these generic guidelines to adapt the WSDL so that the unsupported use case is no longer identified by the platform:

"Unroll" the recursive structures up to the level you will need to send or receive.
Following the example above, if you needed to handle two levels of recursion you would:
1. Change type of Contacts in the Person type to be of type s0:Person2;
2. Create a copy of the Person definition, renaming it to Person2;
3. Remove the Contacts element from Person2 definition.

List Attribute in a Single List Attribute

This use case is identified when there is a complexType with a single element with maxOccurs > 1 and that type is used as an element inside another type with maxOccurs > 1.

Example:

<xsd:complexType name="Organization">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element name="Integration_ID" type="tns:External_Integration_ID" minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="1" name="Name" type="xsd:string" />
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:complexType name="External_Integration_ID">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element name="ID" type="tns:IDType" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

In this example, the Integration_ID element in Organization is not supported, because it has External_Integration_ID type — composed of a single element with maxOccurs > 1 — and is itself a list.

Use Case Workaround

Add a dummy optional element (i.e. with minOccurs="0") in the type containing the single list element.

Following the previous example, you would add the following element inside the <xsd:sequence> element belonging to External_Integration_ID:

<xsd:element name="dummy" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0" />

Wildcards - Any Inside Choices

The xsd:any construct can be used to specify that an arbitrary element (optionally from certain namespaces) can be present in a type.
Although this feature is generally supported in the platform, there is a specific situation that is not supported yet, when the xsd:any element is inside a Choice definition. In this case, the structure will not be imported.

Example:

<xsd:element name="RelatedPerson">
    <xsd:complexType>
        <xsd:choice minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded">
            <xsd:element name="Employee" type="s0:Employee"/>
            <xsd:element name="Customer" type="s0:Customer"/>
            <xsd:any namespace="##other"/>
        </xsd:choice>
    </xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>

Use Case Workaround

Currently there is no generic workaround available to overcome this unsupported use case.

Although it's possible to modify the WSDL by moving the xsd:any element outside the Choice definition and making it optional (i.e. adding a minOccurs="0" attribute), the obtained result is not strictly equal to the original definition.
Additionally, this change should only be made for types included in requests.

Wildcards - Any Attribute

The xsd:anyAttribute construct can be used to specify that an arbitrary attribute, optionally from certain namespaces, can be present in a type.

Example:

<xsd:complexType name="LocationWithMetadata">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="name" type="xsd:string" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" maxOccurs="1" name="coordinates" type="tns:CoordsGPS" />
    </xsd:sequence>
    <xsd:anyAttribute namespace="##targetNamespace"/>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

If the type that contains xsd:anyAttribute is being sent in a request and you know what attribute you will need to send, you can replace anyAttribute with it.
Otherwise, there is no generic workaround available to overcome the unsupported use case.

Any types - AnyType

Every element present in a SOAP service definition has a type. In some special cases that type might be xsd:anyType. This is a special type: it's the most generic possible type and all other types derive from it. Having it in a element means that the element can have any possible type.

Example:

<xsd:complexType name="GenericInformation">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" name="Name" type="xsd:string" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" name="Type" type="tns:InformationKind" />
        <xsd:element minOccurs="1" name="IsActive" type="xsd:boolean" />
        <xsd:element name="SpecificInfo" type="xsd:anyType" />
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

Currently there is no generic workaround available to overcome this unsupported use case.

Any types - AnySimpleType and AnyAtomicType

The xsd:anySimpleType and xsd:anyAtomicType types represent all simple (i.e. not composed) types. They can be used in a declaration as a placeholder; values of a specific type will be provided at runtime.

Example:

<xsd:complexType name="ThirdParty">
    <xsd:attribute name="partyId" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="name" type="xsd:string" use="required"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="description" type="xsd:string"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="tags" type="xsd:anySimpleType"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="classifier" type="xsd:anyAtomicType"/>
</xsd:complexType>

Notes:
— The xsd:anyAtomicType type does not include types defined as unions (xsd:union) or lists (xsd:list) of other types.
— AnySimpleType and AnyAtomicType types are mapped as strings by WCF.

Use Case Workaround

Since all possible values of the above types can be represented as strings, a possible workaround is to change the element type to the built-in string type.

Attribute Groups

The attributeGroup element is used to group a set of attribute declarations so that they can be incorporated as a group in complex type definitions.

Example:

 <xsd:complexType name="PersonInfo">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element name="Forename" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="Surname" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="Dob" type="xsd:date"/>
   </xsd:sequence>
   <xsd:attributeGroup ref="ms:DateOfBirthGroup"/>
</xsd:complexType>

<xsd:attributeGroup name="DateOfBirthGroup">
    <xsd:attribute name="Day" type="xsd:string"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="Month" type="xsd:string"/>
    <xsd:attribute name="Year" type="xsd:integer"/>
</xsd:attributeGroup>

Use Case Workaround

Since an attribute group is just a container of attributes that can be referenced in complex types, a possible solution is to put all the attributes from the attribute group directly in the complex types that use it.

SOAP Action names with special characters

It's not currently possible to create Actions from some operations defined in a WSDL that contain special characters like "-".

In the example below, the GetExtrasAndAdd-Ons operation is not supported and will not be imported.

<wsdl:portType name="AccountInformationSoap">
    <wsdl:operation name="GetExtrasAndAdd-Ons">
        <wsdl:input message="tns:MethodGetExtrasSoapIn"/>
        <wsdl:output message="tns:MethodGetExtrasSoapOut"/>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:portType>
<wsdl:binding name="AccountInformationSoap" type="tns:AccountInformationSoap">
    <soap:binding transport="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/http"/>
    <wsdl:operation name="GetExtrasAndAdd-Ons">
        <soap:operation soapAction="http://example.com/AccountInformation/GetExtrasAndAddOns" style="document"/>
        <wsdl:input>
            <soap:body use="literal"/>
        </wsdl:input>
        <wsdl:output>
            <soap:body use="literal"/>
        </wsdl:output>
    </wsdl:operation>
</wsdl:binding>

Use Case Workaround

None, for the operations whose name contains special characters.
To import other operations from a WSDL, save the WSDL locally and edit it to remove any operations that cause this issue.

Repeated SOAP structure attribute names

A SOAP structure can have more than one element with the same name in non-consecutive positions (lists), although this is a rare case.

Consider the following example, where the AccountInformationType type contains two attributes named BranchId.

<xsd:complexType name="AccountInformationType">
    <xsd:sequence>
        <xsd:element name="FirstName" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="LastName" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="BranchId" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="Email" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="Phone" type="xsd:string"/>
        <xsd:element name="BranchId" type="tns:BranchId"/>
    </xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>

Use Case Workaround

If you only need to send or receive one of the elements with the repeated name, edit the type definition in a local copy of the WSDL and delete the other occurrences.