How to Test a Web Service Using cURL from the Command Line

How to test web service using command line curl.

How to test web service using command line curl, is a very often requirement.

This is always very easy to call the web service via a java client,  but sometimes we need to call the service using curl.

One thing you know ? its really very tactical to  call the web service from terminal/command line using curl command.


I have  steps with sample example :-

You need to know the below things before calling the service via curl.

Service Endpoint - The web service endpoint you want to call.

Example - http://myserverip.mycorpnet.com.au:16500/NaaSAutomation/NaaSManageService

Operation Name - The operation name , you want to execute.

Example - readProviderRequest

SoapAction - The soap action defined in WSDL.

Example - SOAPAction:/NaaSAutomation/Resources/WSDLs/ESB/Service/NaaSManageService-service0.serviceagent/NaaSManageServicePortEndpoint0/ManageProviderRead

Create sample valid request xml for sending to the service.

Request.xml
------------------

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:dto="http://dto.service.myservice.networkservice.test.service.mycorp.com.au/">
   <soapenv:Header/>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <dto:readProviderRequest>
         <callerIdentity>myIdentity</callerIdentity>
         <dto:ProviderName>techbyteslearn</dto:ProviderName>
      </dto:readProviderRequest>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Curl Command :-

curl --header "Content-Type: text/xml;charset=UTF-8" --header "SOAPAction:/NaaSAutomation/Resources/WSDLs/ESB/Service/NaaSManageService-service0.serviceagent/NaaSManageServicePortEndpoint0/ManageProviderRead" --data @Request.xml http://myserverip.mycorpnet.com.au:16500/NaaSAutomation/NaaSManageService

Response got from Curl :-

<SOAP-ENV:Envelope xmlns:SOAP-ENV="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <SOAP-ENV:Body>
      <ns0:ManageProviderCreateRes xmlns:ns0="http://www.mycorpnet.com.au/NaaSAutomation/Resources/Schemas/CreateRequest.xsd">
         <ns0:response>
            <ns0:providerName>techbyteslearn</ns0:providerName>
            <ns0:createStatus>SUCCESS</ns0:createStatus>
            <ns0:rollbackInitiated>TRUE</ns0:rollbackInitiated>
         </ns0:response>
      </ns0:ManageProviderCreateRes>
   </SOAP-ENV:Body>
</SOAP-ENV:Envelope>

How to Create a Client JAR from WSDL

There are many ways you can create the client.jar for your WSDL file . Using the below process you can create the client jar. But its not recommended to use for live project. For live project you need to create a project with maven structure and I will post that later. This can be used for testing purpose.

Open your linux/unix terminal and follow the steps below.


Step 1- Get the published WSDL.Use wsimport command to get the WSDL file. 

dev@optus-developer-desktop ~/temp/test $ wsimport -keep http://localhost:9001/myapps/TestApp?wsdl

dev@optus-developer-desktop ~/temp/test $ ls -ltr
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr  5 10:52 au
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr  5 10:52 webservice
drwxr-xr-x 4 dev dev 4096 Apr  5 10:52 org
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr  5 10:52 types


Step 2- Create Jar file using jar command as below.


dev@javadevelopersguide-developer-desktop ~/temp/test $ jar -cvf client.jar .

.....

.....

.....

.....adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/resource/physicalresourcespec/ObjectFactory.class(in = 1568) (out= 627)(deflated 60%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/resource/physicalresourcespec/PhysicalResourceSpec.class(in = 1205) (out= 500)(deflated 58%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/resource/physicalresourcespec/package-info.class(in = 426) (out= 294)(deflated 30%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/ServiceSpecCharacteristicValue.class(in = 1705) (out= 717)(deflated 57%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/package-info.java(in = 289) (out= 199)(deflated 31%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/ServiceSpecCharacteristicValue.java(in = 5228) (out= 855)(deflated 83%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/ObjectFactory.java(in = 2190) (out= 705)(deflated 67%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/ObjectFactory.class(in = 1711) (out= 639)(deflated 62%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristicvalue/package-info.class(in = 444) (out= 303)(deflated 31%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/(in = 0) (out= 0)(stored 0%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/ServiceSpecCharacteristic.java(in = 8623) (out= 1656)(deflated 80%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/package-info.java(in = 279) (out= 193)(deflated 30%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/ServiceSpecCharacteristic.class(in = 2805) (out= 1068)(deflated 61%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/ObjectFactory.java(in = 2095) (out= 695)(deflated 66%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/ObjectFactory.class(in = 1636) (out= 630)(deflated 61%)
adding: org/javadevelopersguide/apps/com/service/servicespeccharacteristic/package-info.class(in = 434) (out= 297)(deflated 31%)
...........

...........

...........

...........

dev@javadevelopersguide-developer-desktop ~/temp/test $ ls -ltr
total 1356
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr 5 10:52 au
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr 5 10:52 webservice
drwxr-xr-x 4 dev dev 4096 Apr 5 10:52 org
drwxr-xr-x 3 dev dev 4096 Apr 5 10:52 types
-rw-r--r-- 1 dev dev 1369704 Apr 5 10:56 client.jar


Now the client.jar is got generated, you can use this jar file and call the real published service.




Hope it will help you.