SoapClient Escaping XML Tags

[brandonkirsch]

Hey guys,
I recently lost hours to the PHP 5.2.1 SoapClient when trying to use a remote webservice. There are two methods I have to use, the first one worked like a charm and the second one has me fuming mad. The two methods are "GetSessionToken" which expects two strings, and "SetProjectData" which expects XML wrapped in a CDATA tag.

My problem is that the XML I pass to SetProjectData is being escaped by the PHP SoapClient and I don't know how to turn this off. The XML characters < > and & are being escaped to &lt; &gt; and &amp; -- I need this to stop! It's not documented on php.net anywhere and I don't know where to turn.

Sample:

$client = new SoapClient('my.wsdl',array('tracing'=>1));
 
$getSessionTokenParams = array('username'=>$username,'password'=>$password); //When passed to the webservice in the next line, this creates two XML tags, <username> and <password> with the appropriate values inside
 
$client->GetSessionToken($getSessionTokenParams); //Runs properly, gives me a session token.
 
$setProjectDataPayload = "<![CDATA[<data><projectinfo>details</projectinfo></data>]]>"; //Webservice expects inside XML to be wrapped in CDATA
 
$setProjectDataParam = array("sdsXML" => $setProjectDataPayload); //Webservice expects CDATA to be inside one sdsXML tag
 
//Here's where it breaks:
$client->SetProjectData($setProjectDataParam); //Remote webservice fails with "not properly formated XML" error
echo $client->__getLastRequest(); //Output the Webservice request and what do I find?  $setProjectDataPayload has all of the XML tags <, > and & have all been escaped and I didn't do it.  The sdsXML tag itself is not escaped, only its contents.  Why is this happening?  Where is this documented?
 

[Please use CODE tags when posting source code. Thanks! --pbmods]

Most importantly: How the heck do I turn "feature" off? I just want it to pass the literal data I send to it, please no chracter escaping!

[bucabay]

Hey guys,
I recently lost hours to the PHP 5.2.1 SoapClient when trying to use a remote webservice. There are two methods I have to use, the first one worked like a charm and the second one has me fuming mad. The two methods are "GetSessionToken" which expects two strings, and "SetProjectData" which expects XML wrapped in a CDATA tag.

My problem is that the XML I pass to SetProjectData is being escaped by the PHP SoapClient and I don't know how to turn this off. The XML characters < > and & are being escaped to &lt; &gt; and &amp; -- I need this to stop! It's not documented on php.net anywhere and I don't know where to turn.

Sample:

$client = new SoapClient('my.wsdl',array('tracing'=>1));
 
$getSessionTokenParams = array('username'=>$username,'password'=>$password); //When passed to the webservice in the next line, this creates two XML tags, <username> and <password> with the appropriate values inside
 
$client->GetSessionToken($getSessionTokenParams); //Runs properly, gives me a session token.
 
$setProjectDataPayload = "<![CDATA[<data><projectinfo>details</projectinfo></data>]]>"; //Webservice expects inside XML to be wrapped in CDATA
 
$setProjectDataParam = array("sdsXML" => $setProjectDataPayload); //Webservice expects CDATA to be inside one sdsXML tag
 
//Here's where it breaks:
$client->SetProjectData($setProjectDataParam); //Remote webservice fails with "not properly formated XML" error
echo $client->__getLastRequest(); //Output the Webservice request and what do I find?  $setProjectDataPayload has all of the XML tags <, > and & have all been escaped and I didn't do it.  The sdsXML tag itself is not escaped, only its contents.  Why is this happening?  Where is this documented?
 

[Please use CODE tags when posting source code. Thanks! --pbmods]

Most importantly: How the heck do I turn "feature" off? I just want it to pass the literal data I send to it, please no chracter escaping!

I haven't used PHP's built in SOAP client so I can't help you with how to turn the escaping off.. however, if you remove the <![CDATA[ tags it would be equivalent to the actual CDATA wrapped in <![CDATA[.
It would work unless the soap server actually needs the <![CDATA[ tags?

[brandonkirsch]

The server expects the CDATA tags for one, and more importantly the XML I send inside of CDATA is being escaped anyways: Even if I remove the CDATA text, I still end up with &lt;myxmltag&gt; and the remote call fails.

I can't be the first person to use CDATA with PHP's SoapClient. I just can't figure out why in the world my data is being escaped.

Edit** In my original code, I pass:

array('tracing'=>1)

in the SoapClient constructor but the proper value is actually

array('trace'=>1)

[keeby]

I just wrote a simple class to do it.

Signed up to help you out, so, I hope it does!

class XMLClient extends SoapClient {
 
    public function XMLClient($wsdl) {
        try {
          parent::__construct($wsdl);
        } catch (SoapFault $exception) {
            $this->error = $exception;
        }
    }
 
    public function __doRequest($request, $location, $action, $version) {
        $request = str_replace("&lt;", "<", $request);
        $request = str_replace("&gt;", ">", $request);
        print "Request - " . $request;
        return parent::__doRequest($request, $location, $action, $version );
    }
}
 

Usage:

$x = XMLClient("my.wsdl");
$x->getSomeBooks("<some><xml><content></content></xml></some>");
 

[Roel Veldhuizen]

I had the same problem. After some trail and error. If found a solution. You could use SoapVar with XSD_ANYXML.

new SoapVar("<param2><![CDATA[<html><body>Some content</body></html>]]> </param2>", XSD_ANYXML)

Blogged it over here: http://bit.ly/e8oPrt