SOAP and using a Class containing two sub classes with same name problem

Martin Stevens

Hi I have an existing class that sits in a library project that is used natively for handling data object instances and also serialized/deserialized for use with json, xml and datasets. Changing the class looks to be tricky without compromising other projects. I'm trying to put a SOAP wrapper around some of the class logic but running into problems because the class has multiple Subclasses with the same name. Error Types 'Library.DataModel.HardwareOrder.ResponseSet' and 'Library.DataModel.ProduceOrder.ResponseSet' both use the XML type name, 'ResponseSet', from namespace 'http://MyTest.com/'. Use XML attributes to specify a unique XML name and/or namespace for the type. This is my ASMX

Public Function SubmitHardwareOrder(ByVal Parameters As DataModel.HardwareOrder.Parameters) As DataModel.HardwareOrder.ResponseSet
'other code logic here
End Function


Public Function SubmitProduceOrder(ByVal Parameters As DataModel.ProduceOrder.Parameters) As DataModel.ProduceOrder.ResponseSet
'other code logic here
End Function

This is a small sample of my class

Public Class DataModel

Public Class HardwareOrder

    Public Class ResponseSet

        Public Property ResponseHeader As List(Of ResponseHeaderRow)

        Public Class ResponseHeaderRow

            Public Property TransactSucceed As Boolean
            Public Property TransactCode As String
            Public Property TransactDescription As String
            Public Property TransactionReference As String
            Public Property TpxID As String

        End Class

    End Class

End Class

Public Class ProduceOrder

    Public Class ResponseSet

        Public Property ResponseHeader As List(Of ResponseHeaderRow)

        Public Class ResponseHeaderRow

            Public Property TransactSucceed As Boolean
            Public Property TransactCode As String
            Public Property TransactDescription As String
            Public Property StaffID As String
            Public Property PurchaseOrder As String

        End Class

    End Class

End Class

End Class

I've been looking for solutions but so far I haven't found anything that has enabled me to use my existing class without alteration. Does anyone know of any tricks that can be done in the ASMX to make it work?

jkirkerx

I was going to answer this a couple of days ago when I was compiling; sorry about that. Had to test it. You really just have a bad design and should change it. If your using this for soap you should decorate the class with serializable, so the data sent back to the client can be encoded. I would of wrote it like this to make ResponseSet reusable.

Public Class DataModel

[Serializable()]
Public Class HardwareOrder

    Public Class ResponseSet

        Public Property TpxID As String
        Public Property ResponseHeader As List(Of ResponseHeaderRow)

    End Class

End Class

\[Serializable()\]
Public Class ProduceOrder

    Public Class ResponseSet

        Public Property StaffID As String
        Public Property ResponseHeader As List(Of ResponseHeaderRow)

    End Class

End Class

\[Serializable()\]
Public Class ResponseHeaderRow

    Public Property TransactSucceed As Boolean
    Public Property TransactCode As String
    Public Property TransactDescription As String
    Public Property TransactionReference As String

End Class

End Class

Or perhaps add a property to the ResponseHeader called ID, a generic name and drop your property of TpxId. But if you do that then there is no need to have HardwareOrder and ProduceOrder because they become the same model. Technically this can just become

[Serializable()]
Public Class Order

    Public Property Id As String
    Public Property TransactSucceed As Boolean
    Public Property TransactCode As String
    Public Property TransactDescription As String
    Public Property TransactionReference As String

End Class

If it ain't broke don't fix it Discover my world at jkirkerx.com

Martin Stevens

Hi Jkirkerx Thanks for your posting. I tried it the code compiles fine but the same error I described earlier arises from the asmx at runtime Error Types 'Library.DataModel.HardwareOrder.ResponseSet' and 'Library.DataModel.ProduceOrder.ResponseSet' both use the XML type name, 'ResponseSet', from namespace 'http://MyTest.com/'. Use XML attributes to specify a unique XML name and/or namespace for the type. When serializing to xml or json the class works fine but in SOAP things start to get a little ugly. I found a solution that makes it work by adding the following XmlElement tags to the routines.

Public Function SubmitHardwareOrder( Parameters As DataModel.HardwareOrder.Parameters) As XmlElement("ResponseSet", Namespace:="http://MyTest.com/HardwareOrder.ResponseSet")> DataModel.HardwareOrder.ResponseSet
'other code logic here
End Function


Public Function SubmitProduceOrder( Parameters As DataModel.ProduceOrder.Parameters) As XmlElement("ResponseSet", Namespace:="http://MyTest.com/ProduceOrder.ResponseSet")> DataModel.ProduceOrder.ResponseSet
'other code logic here
End Function

I note that yes the above makes it work but its not beautiful because when you generate your web reference in visual studio the generated class does not have levels eg not not do this "DataModel.ProduceOrder.ResponseSet" instead its just "ResponseSet" and so next time it sees another class called "ResponseSet" it renames it to "ResponseSet1" and next time "ResponseSet2" and so on. So if you are working of a large complicated namespace/class with many levels the web references created wont be overly intuitive if naming is not unique. Clearly SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) is just that simple and this endeavor hits it's limitations bang on. The foreseeable options are -consume the webservice as per my above example with the inconvenience of none intuitive naming -modify the class or create a separate duplicated class just for SOAP webservice -use SOAP differently with passing/returning literals/datasets not strictly working of object model -modify or build the wsdl class manually (this is the biggest time waster! I stay well away from wsdls that dont work as is especially if not generated by visual studio) -just use xml or json and stream the data back v

jkirkerx

I don't know. It looks like your still using the original models or classes to me and not the modified ones. I wrote mine like this, but used serialized classes and not actual XML Then tested it calling the API in the browser, and getting that white and blue page that shows the all the WSDL services. I remember seeing my class outputted on the screen, but can't remember if it was XML. But I wrote a Win App to call this web service and it worked really well.

Public Function customers\_load(

ByVal CustomerRequest As ws_customers_Request) As ws_customers_Response

    Dim customer As New ws\_customers\_Response
    Dim customerList As List(Of ws\_customers\_list) = Nothing

    Dim dwXCode As Integer = crm\_ef\_login.administrator\_Login(
CustomerRequest.Credentials\_Key,
CustomerRequest.Credentials\_Password

)

    If (0 = dwXCode) Then

        If CustomerRequest.PageIndex = 0 Then CustomerRequest.PageIndex = 1
        If CustomerRequest.PageSize = 0 Then CustomerRequest.PageSize = 25

        Dim m\_count As Integer = crm\_ws\_ef\_customers.customers\_Load(
    CustomerRequest.PageIndex,
    CustomerRequest.PageSize,
    customerList
)

        If (m\_count > 0) Then

            customer.response\_Code = "OK"
            customer.response\_Text = m\_count & " subscribers have loaded successfully"
            customer.customerList = customerList

        Else

            customer.response\_Code = "E001"
            customer.response\_Text = "No subscribers exist in the database"
            customer.customerList = customerList

        End If

    Else

        customer.response\_Code = "E000"
        customer.response\_Text = "Failed Authentication"
        customer.customerList = Nothing

    End If

    Return customer

End Function

Public Class ws_customers_Response

Private m\_response\_Code As String
Private m\_response\_Text As String
Private m\_customerList As List(Of ws\_customers\_list)

Public Property response\_Code As String
    Get
        Return m\_response\_Code
    End Get
    Set(value As String)
        m\_response\_Code = value
    End Set

End Property

Public Property response\_Text As String
    Get
        Return m\_response\_Text
    End Get
    Set(value As String)
        m\_response\_Text = val