can't get webservice to work - VIES checkVat WSDL

[fede_ctfd]

I'm trying to incorporate a VAT checking function in my website, for validating entered VAT.
This service is granted by european Vies WSDL service.
No matter what I try, I always get the same error:

Web service operation checkVat with parameters {xx,xxxxxxxxxxx} cannot be found.

This is the last code I tried (maybe the fifth or sixth method experimented),

just straight from the Coldfusion documentation:

<cfscript>

    ws = CreateObject("webservice",

"http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl");

    ws.checkVat("xx","xxxxxxxxxxx");

    req = getSOAPRequest(ws);

</cfscript>

<cfdump var="#req#">

<cfset soapreq = GetSOAPRequest(ws)>

<h2>SOAP Request</h2>

<cfdump var="#soapreq#">

<cfset soapresp = GetSOAPResponse(ws)>

<h2>SOAP Response</h2>

<cfdump var="#soapresp#">

Where red x represent country code and VAT number.

I'm about to let down, three days spent in trying and still no luck.
Someone willing to bang his head with mine?

Thanks anyway.

[BKBK]

Looking very much like a Coldfusion 8 bug. But we shall soldier on.

The error message suggests that Coldfusion might be expecting less than 2 or more than 2 arguments for the checkVat function. This gives me the idea of experimenting with parameter numbers and with the omit attribute.

Test: What about toggling the values of omit between true and false in

<cfinvoke

    webservice="http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl"

    method="checkVat"

    refreshwsdl="yes"

    returnvariable="ws_response">

    <cfinvokeargument name="countryCode" value="GB" omit="true">

    <cfinvokeargument name="vatNumber" value="244155576" omit="false">

</cfinvoke>

<cfset nm = ws_response.getName()>

<cfset addr = ws_response.getAddress()>

<cfoutput>

Name: #nm#<br>

Address: #addr#<br>

</cfoutput>

<!--- Uncomment the following line, to see the various methods you can invoke to obtain information the response contains --->

<!--- <cfdump var="#ws_response#"> --->

[fede_ctfd]

....and we got:

Web service operation checkVat with parameters {vatNumber={244155576},countryCode={GB}} cannot be found.

I've had the chance to try the same experimentation on another server running CF8 from the same network,

and surprisingly (or maybe unsurprisingly) I got the same error.

Those hellish words will resound in my nightmares tonight.

Three days spent trying now, I think I should consider dropping this feature (I probably would have spent less time by checking customer's vat manually as per request!)

Just to know: wich version of CF are you running?

I was already considering an upgrade for other features (but too bad CF8 is no longer considered for upgrading) this could be the final drop...

[BKBK]

OK. And now this invocation with just one parameter:

<cfset checkVat.countryCode="GB">

<cfset checkVat.vatNumber="244155576">

<cfinvoke

    webservice="http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl"

    method="checkVat"

    refreshwsdl="yes"

    returnvariable="ws_response" >

    <cfinvokeargument name="checkVat" value="#checkVat#">

</cfinvoke>

<cfset nm = ws_response.getName()>

<cfset addr = ws_response.getAddress()>

<cfoutput>

Name: #nm#<br>

Address: #addr#<br>

</cfoutput>

[fede_ctfd]

BKBK ha scritto:

OK. And now this invocation with just one parameter:

[.....]

I get this error:

Web service operation checkVat with parameters {checkVat={{VATNUMBER={244155576},COUNTRYCODE={GB}}}} cannot be found.

Now I'm on the ride for hotfixes and updates, that's definitely something I should have checked before.

[BKBK]

fede_ctfd wrote:


BKBK ha scritto:

OK. And now this invocation with just one parameter:

[.....]

I get this error:

Web service operation checkVat with parameters {checkVat={{VATNUMBER={244155576},COUNTRYCODE={GB}}}} cannot be found.

Now I'm on the ride for hotfixes and updates, that's definitely something I should have checked before.

OK. Let's then get back to basics, and find out what kind of methods the service expects.

<cfset   ws = CreateObject("webservice", "http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl")>

<cfdump var="#ws#">

What does it say?

[fede_ctfd]

REALLY interesting approach!
Here comes the first blink of light in days:

object of checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.CheckVatBindingStub
Class Name	checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.CheckVatBindingStub
Methods	Method Return Type checkVat(javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, org.apache.axis.holders.DateHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.BooleanHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder) void checkVatApprox(javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, java.lang.String, java.lang.String, org.apache.axis.holders.DateHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.BooleanHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, types.checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.holders.MatchCodeHolder, types.checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.holders.MatchCodeHolder, types.checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.holders.MatchCodeHolder, types.checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.holders.MatchCodeHolder, types.checkVat.services.vies.taxud.eu.europa.ec.holders.MatchCodeHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder) void
Fields	Field Value java.lang.String ENDPOINT_ADDRESS_PROPERTY   javax.xml.rpc.service.endpoint.address  java.lang.String PASSWORD_PROPERTY   javax.xml.rpc.security.auth.password  java.lang.String SESSION_MAINTAIN_PROPERTY   javax.xml.rpc.session.maintain  java.lang.String USERNAME_PROPERTY   javax.xml.rpc.security.auth.username
Parent Class

I'll have to admit I'm not so confident with java definitions...

what about that authentication fields i.e.?

[fede_ctfd]

Is it expecting 6 different variables?

checkVat(javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, org.apache.axis.holders.DateHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.BooleanHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder, javax.xml.rpc.holders.StringHolder)

-string

-string

-date

-boolean

-string

-string

Searching on other forums I've already tried a similar aproach with no success (but I remember gotting an error on date argument, even passing a "now()" or a createdate(xx,xx,xx) and createdatetime(xx,xx,xx,xx:xx:xx) )

The fields should be:

country code

vat number

request date

valid (yes/not)

company name

company address

[BKBK]

fede_ctfd wrote:

Just to know: wich version of CF are you running?

I was already considering an upgrade for other features (but too bad CF8 is no longer considered for upgrading) this could be the final drop...

I am on version 11. One thing you could do is to implement all the ColdFusion 8 updates and hot fixes.

[fede_ctfd]

BKBK ha scritto:

fede_ctfd wrote:

Just to know: wich version of CF are you running?

I was already considering an upgrade for other features (but too bad CF8 is no longer considered for upgrading) this could be the final drop...

I am on version 11. One thing you could do is to implement all the ColdFusion 8 updates and hot fixes.

I've installed cumulative Hotfix3 (others where only minor fixes for specific issues, not related to this problem)

but no luck.

Just discovered that there was an update to 8.01 version but it is now not downloadable from Adobe website (tried to search in every corner, just linking to other spaces, that link to other spaces, that link to the starting point...) only updates for the latest versions are still available. Seems like a lack of not-so-retro-support, that should have taken small amount of disk space to have a complete service (and CF9 is still considered for purchasing upgrades too).

Not sure if I want to find the 8.01 update from other sources, considering the risk that could be harmful software and that could not fix my problem.

My fault not checking updates before, just like... five or six years ago (I remember buying CF8 when it was brand new)

[BKBK]

fede_ctfd wrote:

Not sure if I want to find the 8.01 update from other sources, considering the risk that could be harmful software and that could not fix my problem.

Wise. Contact Adobe Support. They might be able to help.

[fede_ctfd]

Don't know if this is meaningful, but with this code:

   response = ws.checkVat("GB","244155576","2014-09-29", 1, "name", "addrs");

I get a different error:

Cannot perform web service invocation checkVat.

The fault returned when invoking the web service operation is:

AxisFault

faultCode: {http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Server

faultSubcode:

faultString: INVALID_INPUT

faultActor:

faultNode:

faultDetail:

    {http://xml.apache.org/axis/}stackTrace:INVALID_INPUT

    at org.apache.axis.message.SOAPFaultBuilder.createFault(SOAPFaultBuilder.java:221)

    at org.apache.axis.message.SOAPFaultBuilder.endElement(SOAPFaultBuilder.java:128)

    at org.apache.axis.encoding.DeserializationContext.endElement(DeserializationContext.java:1087)

    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.AbstractSAXParser.endElement(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLNSDocumentScannerImpl.scanEndElement(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl$FragmentContentDispatcher.dispatch(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.impl.XMLDocumentFragmentScannerImpl.scanDocument(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XML11Configuration.parse(Unknown Source)

    at org.apache.xerces.parsers.XMLP... ''

[BKBK]

I think the ColdFusion 8 engine is making quite a dog's dinner of the web service. ColdFusion 11 defines the method as just checkVat(java.lang.String, java.lang.String).

You could do something like this for the date:

<cfset requestDate= createobject("java", "java.util.Date").init()>

[BKBK]

fede_ctfd wrote:

Don't know if this is meaningful, but with this code:

   response = ws.checkVat("GB","244155576","2014-09-29", 1, "name", "addrs");

With requestDate as defined above,

response = ws.checkVat("GB","244155576",requestDate, True, "name", "addrs");

[fede_ctfd]

Still the same (new) error:

Cannot perform web service invocation checkVat.

The fault returned when invoking the web service operation is:

AxisFault

faultCode: {http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/}Server

..../etc.

I too think it has to do with Java date format, and I've alredy tried several conversion methods without luck.

Too bad there's not a javacast for datetime format in CF.

I'm making my mind on all the question:

could it be that CF8 uses an old SOAP protocol, and checkVat WSDL interacts with by dealing with 6 variables,

while the current protocol only makes the same job with two?

Maybe there's a magical datetime format that would do the trick, but it's like throwing stones in water and expecting them to bounce back.

I really would consider upgrading to CF10 if that was still available as an option...

[BKBK · Accepted solution]

I think the error is deeper than just type conversion. For some reason, Coldfusion 8 is messing up the web service definition.

response = ws.checkVat("GB","244155576",requestDate, True, "name", "addrs");

This is unlikely to be correct. In fact, when I run it on Coldfusion 11, where the two-argument function works, I get the error message,

" Web service operation checkVat with parameters {GB,244155576,Tue Sep 30 09:15:45 CEST 2014,True,name,addrs} cannot be found. "

However, looking back with fresh eyes this morning, I found the definitive reason why the 6-argument function won't work anyway. From your result, it returns void.

[fede_ctfd]

OK, I think I'll try upgrading to a new CF version, thank for all the support.

I'll check your last answer as correct as we've concluded there's no way to make it run on CF8.

[BKBK]

fede_ctfd wrote:

I think I'll try upgrading to a new CF version

A good idea, in any case

I'll check your last answer as correct as we've concluded there's no way to make it run on CF8.

CF8 has been phased out, so filing a bug report has no use. Nevertheless, our experiments and discussions will help someone else in future.

I thought of one last idea. It is clear that Coldfusion 8 is making the mistake when locally converting the WSDL into a stub.

We could  test to see what happens when we first download the WSDL, store it locally, then run it as a local  web service. To start with, create a directory, say, VATService. (I have assumed it is directly under the web root. If you create it elsewhere, be sure to modify the code accordingly). The code follows.

<cfset wsdl_url="http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/checkVatService.wsdl">

<!--- Do a cfhttp GET to obtain the WSDL file--->

<cfhttp url="#wsdl_url#">

<!--- Write the WSDL file as myVATService.wsdl, in the directory /VATService on your server --->

<cffile action="write" file="C:\ColdFusion8\wwwroot\VATService\myVATService.wsdl" output="#cfhttp.filecontent#">

<!--- Invoke the web service locally --->

<cfinvoke

    webservice="http://127.0.0.1:8500/VATService/myVATService.wsdl"

    method="checkVat"

    refreshwsdl="yes"

    returnvariable="ws_response">

    <cfinvokeargument name="countryCode" value="GB">

    <cfinvokeargument name="vatNumber" value="244155576">

</cfinvoke>

<cfset nm = ws_response.getName()>

<cfset addr = ws_response.getAddress()>

<cfoutput>

Name: #nm#<br>

Address: #addr#<br>

</cfoutput>

<!--- Uncomment the following line, to see the various methods you can invoke to obtain information the response contains --->

<!--- <cfdump var="#ws_response#"> --->

[fede_ctfd]

I got these errors:

Unable to read WSDL from URL: http://127.0.0.1:8500/VATService/myVATService.wsdl.

Error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect.

or when moving to other directory:

Unable to read WSDL from URL: xxxxxxxxx/myVATService.wsdl.

Error: 401 Unauthorized.

but I didn't play a lot because I just installed CF11 trial version

and.........................

................

CHECKVAT WSDL WORKS FAULTLESSLY!

As we suspected, It is very very probably a CF8 bug.

Can't believe to finally see those vat names with just 2 quick parameters....!

[BKBK]

The errors imply an issue with folder permissions. In any case, I am glad to hear you got your web service up and running.