Day 11 BoxLang SOAP: Enterprise Integrations Made Simple! 🎄
As we head toward 2026, modern platforms still need to speak the language of the enterprise.
And in many organizations, that language is still SOAP.
With BoxLang 1.8.0, SOAP web services are no longer something you “tolerate” — they’re something you can work with fluently, safely, and cleanly.
Today, we’re exploring BoxLang’s native SOAP client, designed to make consuming SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2 services feel natural, modern, and predictable.
Why SOAP Still Matters
SOAP isn’t going away anytime soon. Many critical systems still depend on it:
- Financial services and payment gateways
- Government and healthcare platforms
- CRMs, ERPs, and enterprise integrations
- Legacy but mission-critical APIs
BoxLang doesn’t treat SOAP as a second-class citizen — it gives you first-class tooling to work with it confidently.
🚀 Quick Start: SOAP in BoxLang
Creating and using a SOAP client in BoxLang is intentionally simple.
// Create SOAP client from WSDL
ws = soap( "http://webservices.oorsprong.org/websamples.countryinfo/CountryInfoService.wso?WSDL" );
// Invoke operations directly as methods
countries = ws.ListOfContinentsByName();
dump( countries );
// Pass arguments
countryInfo = ws.CountryISOCode( { sCountryName: "United States" } );
dump( countryInfo );
That’s it.
No manual WSDL parsing. No XML mapping. No boilerplate.
✨ What Makes BoxLang SOAP Different
BoxLang’s SOAP client is fluent, intelligent, and developer-friendly.
Key Features at a Glance
-
🔍 Automatic WSDL Parsing
Discovers operations, parameters, return types, and SOAP versions automatically.
-
🎯 Fluent API
Call SOAP operations like native BoxLang methods.
-
🔄 Automatic Type Conversion
SOAP XML types are converted into proper BoxLang types (strings, numbers, booleans, dates, structs, arrays).
-
📦 Smart Response Unwrapping
Removes unnecessary SOAP wrapper layers so you work with clean data structures.
-
🔒 Authentication Support
HTTP Basic Authentication built-in.
-
⏱️ Configurable Timeouts
Control request behavior for slow or high-latency services.
-
📊 SOAP 1.1 & 1.2 Support
Automatically detected from the WSDL (or manually overridden).
-
📈 Statistics Tracking
Monitor invocations, successes, and failures.
🔧 Fluent Configuration
SOAP clients can be configured using a fluent, chainable API.
ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" )
.timeout( 30 )
.withBasicAuth( "user", "pass" )
.header( "X-API-Key", "your-api-key" )
.soapVersion( "1.2" );
Each method returns the client itself, keeping your configuration readable and expressive.
🎬 Invoking SOAP Operations
You can call SOAP operations in multiple ways:
Named Arguments (Recommended)
result = ws.GetCustomer( { customerId: 123 } );
Positional Arguments
result = ws.GetCustomer( [ 123 ] );
Explicit Invocation
result = ws.invoke( "GetCustomer", { customerId: 123 } );
Choose what best fits your use case.
🌍 Real-World Use Cases
BoxLang’s SOAP client shines in real integrations:
- Country & geographic services
- Payment gateways
- Shipping providers
- CRMs like Salesforce
- Weather, logistics, and reporting systems
You can authenticate, inspect operations, pass complex structures, and handle responses cleanly — without touching raw XML.
🔍 Service Discovery & Introspection
You can programmatically explore any SOAP service:
operations = ws.getOperationNames();
dump( operations );
Inspect individual operations:
info = ws.getOperationInfo( "GetCustomer" );
dump( info );
Or inspect the entire service:
dump( ws.toStruct() );
This is especially useful when working with unfamiliar or poorly documented services.
🔄 Automatic Type Conversion (A Big Win)
BoxLang automatically converts SOAP types into native BoxLang values:
| SOAP Type | BoxLang Type |
|---|---|
| xsd:string | String |
| xsd:int | Integer |
| xsd:boolean | Boolean |
| xsd:dateTime | DateTime |
| Complex Types | Struct |
| Arrays | Array |
Nested SOAP responses become clean, predictable data structures — no manual parsing required.
⚠️ Error Handling You Can Trust
SOAP faults are automatically converted into BoxLang exceptions:
try {
result = ws.ProcessPayment( { amount: 99.99 } );
} catch ( any e ) {
println( "SOAP Error: " & e.message );
}
You get meaningful error messages, fault details, and consistent exception handling.
📊 Built-In Statistics
Track how your SOAP clients behave over time:
stats = ws.getStatistics();
dump( stats );
This helps with monitoring, debugging, and performance tuning in production environments.
🧠 Best Practices
- Cache SOAP clients — WSDL parsing is expensive
- Always set timeouts
- Use named arguments for clarity
- Wrap calls in
try/catchblocks - Never hardcode credentials
- Inspect operations before calling them
- Reuse clients across requests
🆚 SOAP vs REST in BoxLang
BoxLang supports both, and each has its place:
Use SOAP when:
- Working with enterprise or legacy systems
- Strong contracts and type safety matter
- WS-* standards are required
Use REST when:
- Building modern APIs
- JSON and stateless communication are preferred
BoxLang gives you:
soap()for SOAP serviceshttp()for REST APIs
No trade-offs. No lock-in.
🎯 Day 11 Wrap-Up
BoxLang’s SOAP client proves that enterprise integrations don’t have to feel legacy.
With automatic discovery, fluent invocation, intelligent type handling, and robust error management, SOAP becomes just another clean, modern tool in your BoxLang toolkit.
ws = soap( "http://example.com/service.wsdl" );
result = ws.myOperation( args );
Simple. Predictable. Powerful.
Become a Pioneer or Get a Free Compatibility Report!
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Still Not Convinced?
If you’re unsure how BoxLang will work with your applications, or want clarity before making any decisions, we’ve created a simple, low-risk way to evaluate your path forward:
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What You Get (Free)
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This is a high-touch, hands-on audit — not an automated scan.
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