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CXF includes a provides the 'simple frontend which builds services from reflection. This is in contrast to the JAX-WS frontend which requires you to annotate your services. The simple frontend will use reflection to intelligently map your classes to a WSDL model. ' frontend to map Java APIs to and from WSDL models for web services. The simple front end is much like JAX-WS, however, where JAX-WS uses Java annotations to specify detailed configuration (and, indeed, requires a few), Simple is willing to map a 'naked' interface or class to a service, and respects some configuration options from .aegis.xml files shared with the Aegis data binding.

Simple Pitfall: Unreliable Parameter Names

The typical pattern of a web service is to define a Service Endpoint Interface and then create a class that implements that interface. When you own both ends of the process, you can simply use the SEI in both the server and the client.

The problem has to do with a quirk of Java reflection. If a program uses Java reflection to examine a concrete method of a class, the data available may provide the parameter names from the source. The behavior of current Java compilers depends on whether you ask them to provide debug symbols. However, if a program uses reflection to look at an abstract method, current Java compilers never provide the parameter names.

If there are no names, Simple creates ugly parameters named arg0, arg1, ... Further, if you forget to specify the SEI when creating a service, and only provide the SEB, Simple will see your concrete methods and assign actual parameter names (if you have debug symbols). If you client uses the SEI, they won't communicate. If you change your mind about debug symbols, you will change the contract.

Thus, while JAX-WS @WebParam annotations may seem noisy and inconvenient, they are, in fact, ensuring that your service has a consistent contract.

If you choose to use the Simple front end, you will need to use parameter elements in a .aegis.xml file to give useful names, or be sure to provide the SEI to the ServerFactoryBean.

Simple and Data Bindings

By default CXF uses the JAXB databinding. If you are interested in a databinding which does not require annotations, please see the documentation on the Aegis Databinding.

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This is a historical default, but often not what you will want, both due to the pitfall described above and the JAX-B issue described at the bottom of this page. If you choose to use the Simple front end, we recommend that you use the Aegis databinding.

ServerFactoryBean – Making a Service Endpoint

The ServerFactoryBean produces a Server instance for you. It requires a service class and an address to publish the service on. By creating a Server you'll have started your service and made it available to the outside world.

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Your service is now started! You can access the wsdl at "http://localhost:9000/Hello?wsdl".

ClientProxyFactoryBean – Making a Client Proxy

You'll also want to create a client for your service. CXF includes a ClientProxyFactoryBean which will create a Java proxy for you from your interface which will invoke the service.

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You simply need to set your service class and your service's URL on the bean. Calling create() will then create a proxy for you based on your interface.

Configure with Spring

The XML configuration for do-it-yourself Spring beans and cxf.xml or cxf-servlet.xml are all very similiar.
The simple front-end does not have its own extension, so you don't need any extra imports if are setting up your
own application context.

If you want to deploy the server to a container, you need to configure the cxf-servlet.xmlHere's an example cxf-servlet.xml with simple front end endpoint configuration. If you use your own application context, you'll need to import the soap extension and http servlet extension.

<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
      xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
      xmlns:simple="http://cxf.apache.org/simple"
      xmlns:soap="http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/soap"
      xsi:schemaLocation="
http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.0.xsd
http://cxf.apache.org/bindings/soap http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/configuration/soap.xsd
http://cxf.apache.org/simple http://cxf.apache.org/schemas/simple.xsd">

  <simple:server id="pojoservice" serviceClass="demo.hw.server.HelloWorld" address="/hello_world">
  	<simple:serviceBean>
  		<bean class="demo.hw.server.HelloWorldImpl" />
  	</simple:serviceBean>
  </simple:server>
</beans>

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