Unable to create java web service

Question

morning all
Being new to ejbs I created a simple ejb project comprising one entity bean and one session bean. The session bean exposes two methods one to retrieve individual employee data (return object EmployeeData class which implements java.o.Serializable) and a second retrieving all employee data (return object java.util.Collection).
When I attempt to create a Java Web Service and select the session bean to expose as a web service the method are grayed out, clicking 'Why Not?' displays a message box showing the message
'The following parameter types do not have an XML Schema Mapping and\or serializer specified'
What does this mean and how do I solve it?

Answer 1

Hi,
The java.io.Serializable marker is not consulted when determining whether a Java object can be transmitted in a web service invocation. Instead, each parameter and return value of a web service method must conform to one of the 3 rules below:
1. It is a Java primitive (int, long, byte etc.), Java primitive wrapper (java.lang.Integer etc.), or a java.lang.String.
2. It is a Java bean with a zero-argument constructor, and a pair of "get" and "set" methods for each property to be exposed. Each property must itself conform to one of these 3 rules.
3. It is an array of a type that meets either rule 1 or rule 2.
In the first case, I'd hazard a guess that your EmployeeData class doesn't have the form of a Java bean. Make sure it's got the zero-argument constructor, and that all of the "get" and "set" methods use types which are themselves publishable.
In the second case, java.util.Collection doesn't conform to any of the 3 rules above. However, once you've fixed your EmployeeData class, you can convert the method that returns the Collection into a method that returns a EmployeeData[], which you will be able to publish in your web service.
Hope that helps,
Alan.