+

Search Tips   |   Advanced Search

Transport header properties best practices


We can set the REQUEST_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES property and RESPONSE_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES property on a JAX-RPC client Stub, a Call instance, or a Java API for XML-Based Web Services (JAX-WS) BindingProvider instance to enable a Web services client to send or retrieve transport headers.

Best practice: Use these best practices to enable a Web services client to send or retrieve transport headers

 

REQUEST_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES best practices

Transport headers that require multiple values Some transport headers such as the HTTP Cookie header and the Cookie2 header contain multiple embedded values. For headers that contain multiple values, the header value must be written in the following way:

The following is an example of how the header value must be written: 

name1=value1;name2=value2;name3=value3

HashMap values The HashMap values might be parsed before being added to the outgoing request if the outgoing request already contains a header identifier that matches one in the HashMap. For certain transport headers that contain multiple embedded values, the header values in the HashMap are parsed into individual name=value components. A semi-colon (;) separates the components, for example, name1=value1;name2=value2. Each name=value is appended to the outgoing header unless:

 

RESPONSE_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES best practices

HashMap values

Only the HashMap keys are used; the HashMap values are ignored. The values are filled in this HashMap by retrieving the transport headers, which correspond to the HashMap keys from the incoming response message. An empty HashMap causes all of the transport headers and the associated values to be retrieved from the incoming response message.

 

HTTP headers that are processed under special consideration

The following are HTTP headers that are given special consideration when sending and retrieving HTTP responses and requests.

The values in these headers can be set in a variety of ways. For example, some header values are sent based on settings in a deployment descriptor or binding file. In these cases, the value set through REQUEST_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES overrides the values set any other way.

Values to specify for HTTP headers when sending and retrieving HTTP responses and requests.
Header Send request Retrieve response
Transfer-encoding

  • The transfer-encoding header is ignored for HTTP 1.0.

  • When using HTTP 1.1, the transfer-encoding header is set to chunked if the value is chunked.

There is no special processing.
Connection

  • The connection header is ignored for HTTP 1.0.

  • When using HTTP 1.1, the following values are set:

    • The connection header is set to "close" if the value is set to "close".

    • The connection header is set to "keep-alive" if the value is set to "keep-alive".

    • All other value settings are ignored.

There is no special processing.
Expect

  • The expect header is ignored for HTTP 1.0.

  • When using HTTP 1.1, the following values are set:

    • The connection header is set to "100-continue" if the value is set to "100-continue".

    • All other value settings are ignored.

There is no special processing.
Host Ignored There is no special processing.
Content-type Ignored There is no special processing.
SOAPAction Ignored There is no special processing.
Content-length Ignored There is no special processing.
Cookie

The following is a String constant: com.ibm.websphere.webservices.Constants.HTTP_HEADER_COOKIE

The value is sent on the header if it is structured correctly. See the information in this article for Header value format and HashMap values. There is no special processing.
Cookie2

The following is a String constant: com.ibm.websphere.webservices.Constants.HTTP_HEADER_COOKIE2

See the information in the "Cookie" entry. There is no special processing.
Authorization Ignored There is no special processing.
Proxy-authorization Ignored There is no special processing.
Set-cookie

The following is a String constant: com.ibm.websphere.webservices.Constants.HTTP_HEADER_SET_COOKIE

There is no special processing. If the property MAINTAIN_SESSION is set to true, the entire value is saved into SessionContext.CONTEXT_PROPERTY and is sent on subsequent requests in the Cookie header. See the Cookie entry in this table for more information.
Set-cookie2

The following is a String constant: com.ibm.websphere.webservices.Constants.HTTP_HEADER_SET_COOKIE2

There is no special processing. If the property MAINTAIN_SESSION is set to true, the entire value is saved into SessionContext.CONTEXT_PROPERTY and is sent on subsequent requests in the Cookie header. See the Cookie entry in this table for more information.

 

Example client code

The following is an example of how we can code a Web services client to send and retrieve HTTP transport header values: 

HashMap sendTransportHeaders=new HashMap();
 sendTransportHeaders.put("Cookie","ClientAuthenticationToken=FFEEBCC");
 sendTransportHeaders.put("MyRequestHeader","MyRequestHeaderValue");
 ((Stub) portType)._setProperty(Constants.REQUEST_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES, sendTransportHeaders);

 HashMap receiveTransportHeaders=new HashMap();
 receiveTransportHeaders.put("Set-Cookie", null);
 receiveTransportHeaders.put("MyResponseHeader", null);
 ((Stub) portType)._setProperty(Constants.RESPONSE_TRANSPORT_PROPERTIES, 
  receiveTransportHeaders);
 resultString=portType.echoString("Foo");



 

Related tasks


Sending transport headers with JAX-WS
Retrieving transport headers with JAX-WS
Implementing extensions to JAX-WS Web services clients
Sending transport headers with JAX-RPC
Retrieving transport headers with JAX-RPC
Implementing extensions to JAX-RPC Web services clients