webservice and reader extensions

[#1]

Hi,



Do I need to have reader extensions enabled in order to invoke web services within a form, even if the form is rendered as a form guide only?.



My problem is that when I try an invoke the web service, nothing happens.

(This happens both in the "preview pdf tab" and when my form is rendered as a form guide)



I've checked that the web service answers via soap ui.



/Lars

[pguerett]

Yes you need to Reader Enable the form to do client side Web Services. Those Web Services will not work in the Guide. You can do a server side Web Service call and that technique will not require Reader Extensions, but you will do a round trip to the server each time the service is run.

[anne_macomb]

Paul,

How do you verify if the form is Reader Enabled?

[SForrest96]

If you are checking this manually, the information will appear in the Navigation Panel  (See attached screen shot).

Regards

Steve

RE_Info.gif ‏17 KB

[#5]

Could you please elaborate.



We have some drop downs which should be prefilled with dynamic data depending on user choices within the form guide.



How can we do this?

[pguerett]

The Form Guide cannot do the web service on its own (without modifying the Flex code underneath). The PDF that is created behind the Guide can have a server side WS call that can be used to populate the PDF dropdowns which in turn will populate the Guide. The Web Service is coded in the XDP template and is setup to run server side. The activation of the WEb Srevice must be done on an event that is shared between the guide and the PDF (i.e. a button click).

[#7]

We have tried this but nothing happens.



We have made a data connection to a wsdl. We have binded this to a drop down via the Dynamic Properties. We have tried activating it via various events (initialize, click) using xfa.connectionSet.DataConnectionName.execute(0);



I have even tried to drag the data connection onto the form to test that way.



Everywhere we select run at server.



But nothing happens - neither in form nor form guides.



I can't see anything in any logs.



If we set it to run on client we get the error message from reader (no reader extensions).



What would be next step to find out what is happening? Are we missing a configuration somewhere?

[pguerett]

Is the wsdl public? Are you rendering the form in your test or simply opening it from your desktop?



These are very difficult to debug because you are running code in two places. I would build this up slowly by using this technique:



1. Make the WS run client side in the PDF form - this ensures that all bindings for inputs and outputs are correct and working.

2. Change the WS to run server side and test it again. The form must be served from the server for this to work so I use FormsIVS as an application for testing.

3. Once that works apply it to the guide and render that from FormsIVS to ensure it will work.



Hope that helps.

[#9]

I am such a newbie 😞 Haven't heard of FormsIVS.



I have set it now but cannot test my form as it says:



The current ContentRootURI and DataURI values are not valid for performing maintenance tasks.



I have no idea what to put in ContentRootURI and where is DataURI?



/Chr

[pguerett]

Are you using a turnkey installation (JBoss with MySQL on a Windoes platform)?

[#11]

We use turnkey with weblogic/mysql on Windows.



In the meantime I got some services working, while others do not reply. All are services generated by CXF.



I suspect it has something to do with the amount of data returned...



The services is invoked and data returned but nothing happens in the PDF.

[pguerett]

The interface only supports simple types ...if you are passing back objects then I can see why it will not work. I do not think that volume is an issue.

[#13]

wrong place

[#14]

Hi Paul,



Sorry to butt in here, but we are currently facing pretty much the same problem, but with an additional wrinkle. The webservice we are trying to invoke is a LiveCycle service which will take the current contents of the form and print it.



First, as a proof of concept we built a stripped down form/form guide, (i.e three fields and a button) where we can invoke the service from the form guide, with the run at server option set. This works great.



Then we tried to migrate this to our main form/form guide (we added the three fields and the button). Both forms use the same render services, both have been set up to run the web service at the server. But the main form/form guide will not invoke the webservice.



I'm at a loss to figure out what is different between the proof of concept form guide and the main form guide, other then size of course. (the example XML file for the main form would be approximately 25Kb)



Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated.



Regards,



Steve

[pguerett]

Is it possible the web service is timing out?

[#16]

Actually, we managed to isolate the problems down to the form/form guide level. We started deleting fields and objects from the form/form guide until it started working. We eventually got the webservice to work.



After doing this clean up the form/form guide we managed to get everything working. Everything we need is now in a fresh version form and form guide, and the web service is functional.



Now, for some reason every time we try to delete the old form from the server, LiveCycle crashes.



Regards,



Steve

[pguerett]

Make sure you clear the cache ....in adminui under the forms section.