javax.xml.soap
Interface SOAPHeader

All Superinterfaces:

Node, SOAPElement

All Known Implementing Classes:

SOAPHeader

public interface SOAPHeader

extends SOAPElement

A representation of the SOAP header element. A SOAP header element consists of XML data that affects the way the application-specific content is processed by the message provider. For example, transaction semantics, authentication information, and so on, can be specified as the content of a SOAPHeader object.

A SOAPEnvelope object contains an empty SOAPHeader object by default. If the SOAPHeader object, which is optional, is not needed, it can be retrieved and deleted with the following line of code. The variable se is a SOAPEnvelope object.

     se.getHeader().detachNode();
 

A SOAPHeader object is created with the SOAPEnvelope method addHeader. This method, which creates a new header and adds it to the envelope, may be called only after the existing header has been removed.

     se.getHeader().detachNode();
     SOAPHeader sh = se.addHeader();
 

A SOAPHeader object can have only SOAPHeaderElement objects as its immediate children. The method addHeaderElement creates a new HeaderElement object and adds it to the SOAPHeader object. In the following line of code, the argument to the method addHeaderElement is a Name object that is the name for the new HeaderElement object.

     SOAPHeaderElement shElement = sh.addHeaderElement(name);
 

See Also:

SOAPHeaderElement

Method Summary

SOAPHeaderElement	addHeaderElement(Name name) Creates a new SOAPHeaderElement object initialized with the specified name and adds it to this SOAPHeader object.
java.util.Iterator	examineHeaderElements(java.lang.String actor) Returns a list of all the SOAPHeaderElement objects in this SOAPHeader object that have the the specified actor.
java.util.Iterator	extractHeaderElements(java.lang.String actor) Returns a list of all the SOAPHeaderElement objects in this SOAPHeader object that have the the specified actor and detaches them from this SOAPHeader object.

Methods inherited from interface javax.xml.soap.SOAPElement

addAttribute, addChildElement, addChildElement, addChildElement, addChildElement, addChildElement, addNamespaceDeclaration, addTextNode, getAllAttributes, getAttributeValue, getChildElements, getChildElements, getElementName, getEncodingStyle, getNamespacePrefixes, getNamespaceURI, removeAttribute, removeNamespaceDeclaration, setEncodingStyle

Methods inherited from interface javax.xml.soap.Node

detachNode, getParentElement, getValue, recycleNode, setParentElement

Method Detail

addHeaderElement

public SOAPHeaderElement addHeaderElement(Name name)
                                   throws SOAPException

Creates a new SOAPHeaderElement object initialized with the specified name and adds it to this SOAPHeader object.

Parameters:

name - a Name object with the name of the new SOAPHeaderElement object

Returns:

the new SOAPHeaderElement object that was inserted into this SOAPHeader object

Throws:

SOAPException - if a SOAP error occurs

examineHeaderElements

public java.util.Iterator examineHeaderElements(java.lang.String actor)

Returns a list of all the SOAPHeaderElement objects in this SOAPHeader object that have the the specified actor. An actor is a global attribute that indicates the intermediate parties to whom the message should be sent. An actor receives the message and then sends it to the next actor. The default actor is the ultimate intended recipient for the message, so if no actor attribute is included in a SOAPHeader object, the message is sent to its ultimate destination.

Parameters:

actor - a String giving the URI of the actor for which to search

Returns:

an Iterator object over all the SOAPHeaderElement objects that contain the specified actor

See Also:

extractHeaderElements(java.lang.String)

extractHeaderElements

public java.util.Iterator extractHeaderElements(java.lang.String actor)

Returns a list of all the SOAPHeaderElement objects in this SOAPHeader object that have the the specified actor and detaches them from this SOAPHeader object.

This method allows an actor to process only the parts of the SOAPHeader object that apply to it and to remove them before passing the message on to the next actor.

Parameters:

actor - a String giving the URI of the actor for which to search

Returns:

an Iterator object over all the SOAPHeaderElement objects that contain the specified actor

See Also:

examineHeaderElements(java.lang.String)