Just in case anybody still uses Apache Soap, here are my migration experiences from Soap to Axis:

----- Forwarded by Johannes Fiala/Johannes Fiala on 02.05.2003 09:34 -----
"Johannes Fiala" <soap@fwd.at>

23.03.2003 11:10
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From Apache Soap 2.3.1 to Apache Axis 1.1






Hi there,

Just in case anybody else is finally making the move to Apache 1.1 (RC2 is a good candidate!), here are some facts on it:

Migrating to Apache Axis from Apache Soap 2.3.1 turned out to be quite easy.
Here are the most important things I ran into while exchanging my Apache Soap routines with Apache Axis calls:

*) Apache Axis doesn't return a generic Parameter datatype.
You can set the type you get returned (e.g. a String or a Bean)

*) Interoperability:
It seems Apache Soap Client Interface has no trouble calling an Apache Axis interface and vice versa.
I only ran into troubles with BeanSerializers, but I didn't check that in more detail. I think that was an configuration issue.
However Axis Client to Axis Server BeanSerializers work as expected, even with complex configurations with deeply cascaded beans.

*) Calling Soap Backends - a comparison
Apache Soap 2.3.1 Apache Axis 1.1
    Call call = new Call();

   call.setTargetObjectURI(service);
   call.setMethodName(methodname);

   call.setEncodingStyleURI(Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC);

   // prepare parameters
   Vector params = new Vector();
   params.addElement(new Parameter("command", String.class, command, Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC));
   params.addElement(new Parameter("portalUserId", String.class, portalUserId, Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC));

   params.addElement(new Parameter("vorname", String.class, vorname, Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC));
   params.addElement(new Parameter("nachname", String.class, nachname, Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC));
   params.addElement(new Parameter("geburtsDatum", java.util.Date.class, geburtsDatum, Constants.NS_URI_SOAP_ENC));
   call.setParams(params);

   // Invoke the call.
   Response resp;
   try
   {
     resp = call.invoke(url, "");
   }

   catch (SOAPException exception)
   {
     logger.error("Caught SOAPException (" +
                        exception.getFaultCode() + "): " +
                        exception.getMessage());
     return(null);
   } 		Service  service = new Service();
   Call     call    = (Call) service.createCall();

   call.setTargetEndpointAddress( url );
   call.setOperationName( new QName(servicename, methodname) );

           call.addParameter( "command", XMLType.XSD_STRING, ParameterMode.IN);
           call.addParameter( "portalUserId", XMLType.XSD_STRING, ParameterMode.IN);
           call.addParameter( "vorname", XMLType.XSD_STRING, ParameterMode.IN);
           call.addParameter( "nachname", XMLType.XSD_STRING, ParameterMode.IN);
           call.addParameter( "geburtsDatum", XMLType.XSD_DATETIME, ParameterMode.IN);

           call.setReturnType( XMLType.XSD_STRING );

           result = (String) call.invoke( new Object[] { command, portalUserId, vorname, nachname, geburtsDatum } );
   



The server side:
Apache Axis doesn't need the SoapContext parameter if you need some info about the context. You can turn to a MessageContext instead.
Apache Soap 2.3.1 Apache Axis 1.1
public myfunction (SOAPContext ctx, ...)

HttpServlet servlet = (HttpServlet)ctx.getProperty(Constants.BAG_HTTPSERVLET);
ServletContext context = servlet.getServletContext(); 		MessageContext mycontext = MessageContext.getCurrentContext();
         HttpServlet servlet = (HttpServlet)mycontext.getProperty(HTTPConstants.MC_HTTP_SERVLET);
       ServletContext context = servlet.getServletContext();



Best regards,
Johannes