Java Apache Axis2 web services client examples advanced

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  • Updated July 31, 2025
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    Summary of Java Apache Axis2 web services client examples advanced

    This content provides practical examples for system administrators with basic Java development skills on how to construct and use an Apache Axis2 client to consume ServiceNow SOAP web services. Apache Axis2 is a Java-based SOAP engine facilitating the creation of SOAP clients, servers, or gateways.

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    Prerequisites include Java JDK version 1.4.2 or higher and Axis2 version 1.0 or higher. While Eclipse IDE (version 3.4.2 used in examples) is recommended for managing and executing the Java project, it is not mandatory.

    Creating and Generating the Axis2 Client

    • Create a Java project in Eclipse or your preferred environment, ensuring the JRE version matches your development needs.
    • Generate client code from the ServiceNow WSDL using the wsdl2java utility included with Axis2. This can be done via command line by specifying the WSDL location using the -uri parameter and output directory with -o.
    • After code generation, refresh your project to access generated stub classes and callback handlers, which facilitate SOAP communication.

    Authentication and Configuration

    • Use basic HTTP authentication by configuring HttpTransportProperties.Authenticator with your ServiceNow username and password, then set it on the stub’s service client options.
    • Ensure compatibility with Axis2 versions 1.1 and higher by disabling HTTP chunking, as ServiceNow does not support chunking. This can be done either at deployment by modifying the Axis2.xml file or programmatically at runtime by setting the HTTPConstants.CHUNKED property to false on the client options.

    Advanced Configuration

    To avoid package naming conflicts when generating client code for multiple namespaces, use the namespace2package parameter with wsdl2java to assign unique Java package names to each namespace.

    This facilitates organized, maintainable client code when consuming multiple ServiceNow web services.

    Examples showing how to construct and use an Axis2 client to consume a ServiceNow Web Service.

    Axis is essentially a SOAP engine -- a framework for constructing SOAP processors such as clients, servers, or gateways. The current version of Axis is written in Java. This content is intended for system admins with a light development background in Java. To begin you would need Java JDK version 1.4.2 or higher and Axis2 version 1.0 or higher.

    Create a Java Project

    This example uses Eclipse SDK Version: 3.4.2 for managing the source code and executing the web request. Eclipse is not required.
    • Open Eclipse and from the menu select File > New > Project > Java Project.
    • Give the project a name.
    • Verify that the correct JRE is specified.
      • If using wsdl2java run "java -version" on the command line and this will be the version to specify for the project specific JRE.
      • If using the Axis2 Codegen plugin use default JRE.

    Generate your Axis2 client code

    • From a command line in the bin directory of the axis folder:
      ./wsdl2java.sh -uri https://<instance name>.service-now.com/incident.do?WSDL -o /glide/workspace/TestWebService/
    • In the above example:
      • The "-uri" is either the path where you have saved a copy of the wsdl to either ".wsdl" or ".xml", or the URL the WSDL resides at.
      • The "-o" is the path where you want the files to be written out to. If not specified, the files will be written out to the current bin location.
    • In Eclipse refresh the project and the generated Stub and CallbackHandler should now be displayed
      Figure 1. Axis Stub

    Basic Authentication

    HttpTransportProperties.Authenticator basicAuthentication  = new HttpTransportProperties. Authenticator ( ) ;
basicAuthentication. setUsername ( "admin" ) ;
basicAuthentication. setPassword ( "admin" ) ;
...
 ServiceNowStub proxy  = new ServiceNowStub ( ) ;
...
 
 proxy._getServiceClient ( ). getOptions ( ). setProperty (org. apache. axis2. transport. http. HTTPConstants. AUTHENTICATE, basicAuthentication ) ;

    Compatibility with Axis2 Versions 1.1 and higher

    Chunking support is only available in HTTP Version 1.1. By default chunking is enabled in Axis2.xml for versions 1.1 and higher. ServiceNow does not support Chunking, so you will need to disable chunking at deployment time or at runtime.
    • Deployment time: One can disable HTTP chunking by removing or commenting out the following element from Axis2.xml
      <parameter name= "Transfer-Encoding" >chunked</parameter>
    • Runtime: User can disable the chunking using following property set in Client or Stub, versions 1.1.1 and higher only
      options.setProperty (org. apache. axis2. transport. http. HTTPConstants. CHUNKED,  Boolean. FALSE ) ;

    Creating Unique Packages

    You can use the Axis2 parameter namespace2package (ns2p) to create unique package names. The parameter uses this format:
    <Axis path>\bin\wsdl2java.bat -u -p cr2 -ns2p <namespace>=<package name> -uri <wsdl to convert>
    For example:
    <Axis path>\bin\wsdl2java.bat -u -p cr2 -ns2p http://www.service-now.com/change_request=my.change_request -uri change_request