C# generated .NET stubs break on a null return of a complex object

[Dan A]

I have a SOAP written in Java, and being served by Apache Axis - using the
wrapped mode. I then used VS 2003 to generate C# client stubs.

I have many complex types that are returned - and these work fine for the
most part.

The current problem I have (Which appears to be a bug with .NET - but I
can't seem to find a place to report .NET bugs without paying money) is that
when I call a method that returns an array of one of my own complex object
types - and the resulting array is empty - .NET throws a very nasty
SOAPException that actually has nothing to do with the problem.
When I make this same call with my java client - here is the SOAP message
that is sent to the server:

<soapenv:Envelo pe xmlns:soapenv=" http://schemas.xmlsoap .org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

<soapenv:Body >
<lookupConceptC odesByDesignati on xmlns="urn://hl7.org/CTSVAPI">
<codeSystem_id> ne=uri:iso:2.16 .840.1.113883.6 .2/PROC,ra=HL7</codeSystem_id>
<matchText>Appe ndix</matchText>
<matchAlgorithm _code>StartsWit hIgnoreCase</matchAlgorithm_ code>
<language_cod e xsi:nil="true" />
<activeConcepts Only>false</activeConceptsO nly>
<timeout>1500 0</timeout>
<sizeLimit>50 </sizeLimit>
</lookupConceptCo desByDesignatio n>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelop e>
And here is the response:

<soapenv:Envelo pe xmlns:soapenv=" http://schemas.xmlsoap .org/soap/envelope/"
xmlns:xsd="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
xmlns:xsi="http ://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<soapenv:Body >
<lookupConceptC odesByDesignati onResponse xmlns="urn://hl7.org/CTSVAPI" />
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelop e>
As you can see, the response object is basically empty - because there were
no results. The java code actually returned an empty array - and this is the
SOAP message that was generated.
When .NET receives this message - rather than giving me a null or empty
array of ConceptId objects, as it should - it throws this exception:

System.Web.Serv ices.Protocols. SoapException: Tried to invoke method public
org.hl7.CTSVAPI .ConceptId[]
org.hl7.CTSVAPI .sql.refImpl.Br owserOperations Impl.lookupConc eptCodesByDesig nation(java.lan g.String,java.l ang.String,java .lang.String,ja va.lang.String, boolean,int,int )
throws
org.hl7.CTSVAPI .BadlyFormedMat chText,org.hl7. CTSVAPI.Unknown CodeSystem,org. hl7.CTSVAPI.Unk nownLanguageCod e,org.hl7.CTSVA PI.UnexpectedEr ror,org.hl7.CTS VAPI.TimeoutErr or,org.hl7.CTSV API.UnknownMatc hAlgorithm
with arguments
java.lang.Strin g,java.lang.Str ing,java.lang.S tring,java.lang .String,java.la ng.Boolean,java .lang.Integer,n ull.
The arguments do not match the signature.; nested exception is:
java.lang.Illeg alArgumentExcep tion
at
System.Web.Serv ices.Protocols. SoapHttpClientP rotocol.ReadRes ponse(SoapClien tMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
at System.Web.Serv ices.Protocols. SoapHttpClientP rotocol.Invoke( String
methodName, Object[] parameters)
at
CTS_Demo.browse r.BrowserOperat ionsService.loo kupConceptCodes ByDesignation(S tring
codeSystem_id, String matchText, String matchAlgorithm_ code, String
language_code, Boolean activeConceptsO nly, Int32 timeout, Int32 sizeLimit) in
c:\visual studio projects\ctsdem otool\cts demo\web
references\brow ser\reference.c s:line 168
at CTS_Demo.CTSDem o.search(String text) in c:\visual studio
projects\ctsdem otool\cts demo\ctsdemo.cs :line 86
Which as you can see, makes no sense whatsoever.
I can provide more information as necessary - but I'm basically just trying
to figure out how to report this error to the .NET developers.