Using the Europe PMC SOAP web service with Java in JAX-WS 2.1

The user must first have installed JDK, version 5 or higher.

Building the client

A client program must be created to access the service. The user can choose to use or adapt the example client provided in the following steps:

Generate portable artefacts required to compile the client

You will use the wsimport tool (install separately if not included in JDK) to generate the client side artefacts.

Assuming you are working in a directory "wsclient", to generate all the portable artefacts for the client, execute the following wsimport command: 

wsclient> %JAVAPATH%\wsimport.exe -p ebi.ws.client \
-keep -target 2.1 https://www.ebi.ac.uk/europepmc/webservices/soap?wsdl

This generates the artefacts in the ebi\ws\client directory. Note: Omitting the p or package name will generate the package in uk\ac\ebi\cdb\webservice.

Back to top

Write the client

Write the client or use/adapt the following WSCitationImplPortClient example client program.

Refer to the Web Services Reference GuidePDF icon for the full details of the available methods and their inputs/outputs.

The example client shown below invokes the following methods and parameters:

MethodParameters in Example Client
listSearchFieldsemail = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
searchPublications queryString = HAS_UNIPROT:y HAS_FULLTEXT:y HAS_REFLIST:y HAS_XREFS:y
sort = cited desc
cursorMark = *
resultType = lite
synonym = false
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
getDatabaseLinks id = for each record in searchPublications
source = for each record in searchPublications
database = UNIPROT
offset = 0
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
getCitations id = for each record in searchPublications
source = for each record in searchPublications
offset = 0
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
getReferences id = for each record in searchPublications
source = for each record in searchPublications
offset = *
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
profilePublications queryString = HAS_UNIPROT:y HAS_FULLTEXT:y HAS_REFLIST:y HAS_XREFS:y
sort = cited desc
profileType = pub_type
synonym = false
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
getFullTextXML id = PMC3280045
source = pmc
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk
getSupplementaryFiles id = PMC3253803
source = pmc
email = testclient@ebi.ac.uk

You can find an example client here

Classes in the package ebi\ws\client are from the portable artefacts generated in the previous step. WSCitationImplService is the portable artefact for the service implementation. WSCitationImpl is the Java interface for the service endpoint generated from the WSDL. The WSDL endpoint is defined inside the WSCitationImplService class. After the client retrieves the endpoint, it invokes the operation required.

Back to top

Compile the client

The next step is to compile the client classes. The following command compiles WSCitationImplPortClient and writes the class file to the current directory. 

wsclient> %JAVAPATH%\javac.exe WSCitationImplPortClient.java

Back to top

Run the client

From build/classes/client directory, execute the following command 

wsclient> %JAVAPATH%\java.exe WSCitationImplPortClient.java

Back to top