Error parsing envelope: Header child element must be namespace qualified

Question

Hey all,
I'm creating a BPEL process that invokes a web service. The web service has an authenticate method that returns a session ID that I attempt to invoke. However, the process fails when trying to parse the response when invoking that operation. I checked the server logs and it's reporting the following: javax.xml.soap.SOAPException: Error parsing envelope: most likely due to an invalid SOAP message.: Header child element 'ID' must be namespace qualified!
So I invoked the authenticate operation using SOAP UI, since it doesn't parse the response but merely displays it, and here's what was returned (slightly modified):
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <soapenv:Header>
      <ID>xxx</ID>
   </soapenv:Header>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <ns1:SessionID xmlns:ns1="http://some-namespace">
         <ns1:ID>xxx</ns1:ID>
      </ns1:SessionID>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
Indeed the ID tag in the header doesn't have a namespace prefix. Looking at the SOAP 1.1 spec it says, “A header entry is identified by its fully qualified element name, which consists of the namespace URI and the local name. All immediate child elements of the SOAP Header element MUST be namespace-qualified.”
I was told that the code for the web service is frozen and cannot be changed. Are there any ways around this problem? Is it possible for the BPEL process to not parse the SOAP header?
Thanks,
Bill

Answer 1

All,
I think I might use a HeaderHandler to either strip the offending element from the header all together or modify it so that it's namespace qualified. The problem is, I can't find much documentation on it. The only thing I can find is this: Manipulating XML Data in BPEL section 3.19. It says to implement the HeaderHandler interface but doesn't give the fully qualified name of the interface. I'm guessing it's referring to com.collaxa.cube.ws.HeaderHandler. The invoke method that is defined in the interface is a little different than the one in the documentation. Mine has a signature of public void invoke(CXPartnerLink partnerLink, String operationName, Map payload, List list, Map map2)...what do these parameters represent and what key/value types do the maps have? It also says to register the handler in the bpel.xml deployment descriptor file but I can't find one - is it auto-generated? If so, where is it. If not, how do I generate it? I appreciate any information.
Thanks,
Bill