Can I use SOAP calls to remotely access functions on a SOAP server?

Question

Hi,
I've used JavaScript and SOAP with "regular Acrobat" (e.g. Acroforms) to connect to a SOAP server, followed by Acrobat automatically setting up functions that I can call from JavaScript that, courtesy of SOAP, are relayed to the SOAP server for execution.  For example, a SOAP server that implements a Temperature function.  After doing the Net.SOAP.connect, my JavaScript magically has access to the Temperature() function, which is then executed remotely on the SOAP server courtesy of SOAP protocol.
My question is: With Livecycle Designer and it's XFA-based forms, do I have the same ability to programmatically connect to a SOAP server and automatically have JavaScript functions set up that I can call on the server?  From what I've read, there are LC Submit and Execute operations which interact (e.g. exchange data) with a specified SOAP server, but it isn't clear that LC provides the ability to end up with a set of functions that I can call from my JavaScript that are then executed on the SOAP server.
Stated more simply: Does LiveCycle Designer have the ability to connect to a SOAP server and automatically set up JavaScript functions that I can call (that then get relayed to the SOAP server for execution, followed by the return of data to my XFA-based program)?
Thanks.
Dave

Answer 1

Hi Varma_LC and pguerett,
First, thank you both for your quick responses!  It sounds like I shouldn't have any trouble using XFA forms and SOAP together.
Let me ask a related question (not about LiveCycle & SOAP, but just about SOAP).  I'm trying to return two values from one SOAP call.  http://www.avoka.com/blog/?p=998&cpage=1#comment-1692 describes how to do this.  Unfortunately, it's not working for me.
I'm able to retrieve single values from my SOAP server just fine.  When I try to return two values, the Acrobat JavaScript debugger says both values are "UNDEFINED".  The key part of my code is:
   var IntValue =   // define an int
     soapType: "xsd:int",
     soapValue: "1"
   var NValue =
       n1: IntValue  // n1 is the parameter my SOAP server expects
   var GetTheData = service.GetAllData(NValue);  // Go get the data and populate the GetTheData object
   console.println("GetTheData = " + GetTheData.CmdError + GetTheData.CmdResults);
   Param_1V.value = GetTheData.CmdError;     // This is a text box to display the returned value
   Param_2V.value = GetTheData.CmdResults; // This is also a text box to display the returned value
Both the console.println & the two text boxes (beginning with Param) print out the same results, namely "UNDEFINED".
I ran my SOAP client and SOAP server on two different computers, and then used WireShark to look at the SOAP protocol.  The SOAP protocol looks fine, and contains CmdError and CmdResults XML opening/closing tags around the actual data I'm trying to read from the SOAP server. Plus there are GetAllDataResponse and GetAllDataResult XML opening/closing tags around the data XML tags.
I'm using Acrobat 9 and I developed my SOAP server using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) 3.5.  The same JavaScript program that is unable to retrieve two values returns one value just fine (a different service... call, of course).  In other words, it's being done in one program, not two separate programs.  So, my singular Net.SOAP.connect call seems to be working fine.
When I do the Net.SOAP.connect, I display the returned services, and GetAllData is listed, so Acrobat JavaScript knows about this particular service.
BTW, the WCF built-in client works fine in retrieving/displaying the two returned values, correctly detecting and displaying both returned values.  Of course, the WCF client may have different "rules" than Acrobat has in terms of processing SOAP messages.  I've seen differences before between the WCF client and Acrobat.
Any insights either of you have or anyone else has would be *greatly* appreciated. I've never used try/catch to trap JavaScript errors, if there is some type of error I should logically be looking for, I would be interested in information on that as well.
Thanks!
Dave