Web Service Interface

[#1]

Is direct interface to a web service no longer supported in version 10 or above?
I'm trying to connect to a web service using http and when I connect to the web server, I get errors like this:

Invalide xml declaration.

On line number: 1. On column number: 5.

I get the same errors when attempting to download the file as .xml and load it locally.

[rbecher]

Hi,

I think the XML file/result is just not well formatted. Can you post an example?

- Ralf

[#3]

Hi Ralf,

I'm actually using one that was documented in one of the discussions in the community. The URL is

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx?op=GetCityForecastByZIP

When I enter data and invoke the service, I get the following header:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

- <ForecastReturn xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://ws.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/">

I I get similar results when attempting to load from one of our internal web servers:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

- <ApplicationSettingCollection xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns="http://customerdb.sis.slb.com/">

neither will load.

[rbecher · Accepted solution]

You are using the wrong API (Soap API). Just use the HTTP GET request and response:

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx/GetCityForecastByZIP?ZIP=33139

Also take a look into my weather forecast implementation here (QonnView2012 for Qonnections in Miami):

http://community.qlik.com/qlikviews/1235

- Ralf

[rbecher]

You're probably not able to see the content of the Qonnections 2012 group. Here is a second link:

http://community.qlik.com/qlikviews/1233

- Ralf

[#6]

That worked, but all I see is that you've tweaked the URL

Can you point me to some clear documentation on how web services actually work? I've got to replicate this on at least two internal sources and I have a stellar level of inexperience with this sort of thing. I need a 'web services for dummies' manual!

[rbecher]

There is no "tweaking" here. Just read the documentation:

http://wsf.cdyne.com/WeatherWS/Weather.asmx?op=GetCityForecastByZIP

QlikView cannot access web services (like Soap). It can only retrieve the results of a HTTP GET request. Just use the URL as a web source. Ususally the result is XML formatted then.

In the case above the URL has a parameter ZIP which is attached after the URL with a question mark:

<URL>?ZIP=<zip code>

Hope that helps,

- Ralf

[#8]

Ok, the URL to use GET is actually documented on their web page - I get it now

However, when I look at the equivalent page on my internal server, I see only SOAP 1.1 and 1.2, and HTTP POST - there is no GET.

When I invoke the HTTP POST directly from a browser, I get the data in xml format which I could save and load as text, and the parse within the Qlikview script, but I'm trying to automate the load. And when I try to use the POST to retrieve it from within Qlikview script, it sees it as HTML but I don't see the fields and values. So I am thinking that I need to talk to the server owner to see if they can enable using a GET and what the syntax should be?

Forgive my ignorance here, like I said this is all new to me...

[rbecher]

There are some examples around here how to code a HTTP POST request in QlikView macro code by using Microsoft.XMLHTTP object. But, I think this is not a good implementation because this will not work on QlikView Server. So, maybe someone from your IT department can help.

- Ralf

[#10]

Thanks for the input - you've been quite helpful.

- calvin