Input SOAP

The Input SOAP task is used to answer calls from a remote SOAP client and to return a response to that request. It is similar in functionality to the HTTP Server Input and NodeJS Server Input task.

Note: SOAP communication is non-trivial and requires a certain understanding of XML and the SOAP protocol. Using the SOAP tasks pre-supposes this knowledge and this documentation does not attempt to provide it.
For more information about SOAP workflows, see SOAP workflows.

The Input SOAP Task only responds to a single SOAP action by the client: SubmitJob. Within this request however, a secondary action (SubmitSOAPActionName) can be specified - this is what the SOAP Action corresponds to in this task properties.

Input

This task does not poll any location by itself. It sits there waiting for requests coming in through WSDL (SOAP communication) and, when it receives a request, runs the process and returns the last output generated by the process to the client.

Processing

No processing is done. The request that is received by this task is XML and it is maintained as such.

Output

As with the HTTP Server Input, this task has a dual-output purpose. First, when the initial input task is run, the XML request is output onto the process. Then, when the process is finished, the last job file generated by the process is returned to the requesting client.

Task properties

General Tab

  • SOAP Action: The SOAP action is used with the SubmitJob action. It’s the equivalent of the process name. The difference is that more than one processes can share the same SOAP action. That way more than 1 CPU can be used to process all the incoming requests however this means that all process sharing the same SOAP action must be identical because there is no way to decide the execution order of all the process.

"Other" Tab

  • Job Information group
    • Information elements: Indicates what Job Info variables are automatically created by the input task.
    • Add lines before first data page: Using the arrows keys you can add any job information directly at the beginning of your data file.
  • Backup input files: Check this to save a copy of each data file that is captured by your input. These files are saved in the OL Connect Workflow Tools working folders under the "Backup" folder.
    To navigate quickly to the Workflow working folders, press the keyboard shortcut CTRL+ALT+Shift+F4 from within the Workflow configuration tool.
    The number of days to keep backups of jobs processed by input tasks is set per process; see Process properties.
  • Backup filename: Enter the file name that you wish the input data file backup to be saved under.
  • Delete Existing Metadata: Check to remove any Metadata from memory. This option is disabled on initial input tasks, and is checked by default on secondary input tasks.

Job Information definitions

  • This task does not generate any job information.

On Error Tab

For a description of the options on the On Error tab see Using the On Error tab.

Miscellaneous Tab

The Miscellaneous tab is common to all tasks.

It contains a text area (Task comments) that lets you write comments about the task. These comments are saved when the dialog is closed with the OK button and are displayed in The Task Comments Pane.

Check the option Use as step description to display the text next to the icon of the plugin in the Process area.

The tab also provides an option to highlight the task in The Process area with the default color, set in the Preferences (see Colors), or the color selected or defined under Highlight color on this tab.
To revert the selected highlight color to the default color, open this tab, turn the Highlight option off and close the dialog with the OK button; then turn highlighting back on.
Highlighting can also be turned on and off via the task's contextual menu and with the Highlight button on the View ribbon.