Re: PostgreSQL and SOAP, version 7.4/8.0

First, a SOAP query should be posted in SOAP message format, not using the
query string as you do. Second, I like the idea of calling external SOAP
services, but consider creating a language 'soap' you could do with a CREATE
FUNCTION type thing. e.g.

CREATE FUNCTION "foo" (TEXT) RETURNS INTEGER AS
'http://somewhere.com/path/to/.wsdl', 'foo'
LANGUAGE 'soap';

(hmm, it is unclear if this is what you are suggesting or not...)

Second, I hate SOAP because it is too bloated (have you read the spec(s)?).
If you can support xmlrpc instead, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches.
If you got SOAP working, though, I'd use it. It's more an implementation
thing.

On Fri, Mar 28, 2003 at 09:01:08AM -0500, mlw wrote:
> I have been working on moving some of my software to a more SOAP
> compatible interface. As I was doing it, it occured to me that a generic
> function could be written, in PostgreSQL's new function manager that
> allows multiple columns to be returned, that is a generic SOAP interface.
>
> All one would need do is define what is expected from the SOAP call in
> the "CREATE FUNCTION" statement. Then the generic SOAP function could
> then read what is expected and return the XML/SOAP data as a set of
> results as if it were a subquery.
>
> What is needed is an efficient way to find the data types and names from
> the functions definition. Does anyone know how to do that?
>
> A small program could also parse a WSDL file and write a "CREATE
> FUNCTION" script for the XML as well.
>
> On the flip side, I am also working on a PostgreSQL SOAP interface,
> where one does this:
>
> http://somehost/postgresql?query="select * from table"
>
> And a SOAP compatible resultset is returned.
>
> On a more advanced horizon, one should be able to do this:
>
> select * from localtable,
> mysoap('http://remotehost/postgresql?query=select * from foo') as soap
> where soap.field = localtable.field;
>
> If we can do that, PostgreSQL could fit into almost ANY service
> environment. What do you guys think? Anyone want to help out?
>

I have no time to volunteer for projects, but what the hell...! It's too
cool. I can't spend much time on it but bounce things off me and I'll
do whatever hacking I can squeeze in. What soap implementation would you
use for the PostgreSQL plugin? libsoap, last I checked, is a wee bit
out of date. And not documented.

-Jason