Re: PostgreSQL and SOAP, version 7.4/8.0

First, a SOAP query should be posted in SOAP message format, not using the
query string as you do.  Second, I like the idea of calling external SOAP
services, but consider creating a language 'soap' you could do with a CREATE
FUNCTION type thing. e.g.

CREATE FUNCTION "foo" (TEXT) RETURNS INTEGER AS'http://somewhere.com/path/to/.wsdl', 'foo'LANGUAGE 'soap';

(hmm, it is unclear if this is what you are suggesting or not...)

Second, I hate SOAP because it is too bloated (have you read the spec(s)?).
If you can support xmlrpc instead, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches.
If you got SOAP working, though, I'd use it.  It's more an implementation
thing.


On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 09:01:08AM -0500, mlw wrote:
> I have been working on moving some of my software to a more SOAP 
> compatible interface. As I was doing it, it occured to me that a generic 
> function could be written, in PostgreSQL's new function manager that 
> allows multiple columns to be returned, that is a generic SOAP interface.
> 
> All one would need do is define what is expected from the SOAP call in 
> the "CREATE FUNCTION" statement. Then the generic SOAP function could 
> then read what is expected and return the XML/SOAP data as a set of 
> results as if it were a subquery.
> 
> What is needed is an efficient way to find the data types and names from 
> the functions definition. Does anyone know how to do that?
> 
> A small program could also parse a WSDL file and write a "CREATE 
> FUNCTION" script for the XML as well.
> 
> On the flip side, I am also working on a PostgreSQL SOAP interface, 
> where one does this:
> 
> http://somehost/postgresql?query="select * from table"
> 
> And a SOAP compatible resultset is returned.
> 
> On a more advanced horizon, one should be able to do this:
> 
> select * from localtable, 
> mysoap('http://remotehost/postgresql?query=select * from foo') as soap 
> where soap.field = localtable.field;
> 
> If we can do that, PostgreSQL could fit into almost ANY service 
> environment. What do you guys think? Anyone want to help out?
> 

I have no time to volunteer for projects, but what the hell...!  It's too
cool.  I can't spend much time on it but bounce things off me and I'll
do whatever hacking I can squeeze in.  What soap implementation would you
use for the PostgreSQL plugin?  libsoap, last I checked, is a wee bit 
out of date.  And not documented.

-Jason