Returning multiple values via SOAP in PHP

tl;dr: sending multiple strings as a response to SOAP request.

I am new to SOAP. I have written a simple web service which serves request via SOAP. As I wanted to implement this in PHP, I have used NuSOAP library. The specification given to me for the SOAP API design is as follows.

REQUEST FORMAT:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:q0="http://www.sandeepraju.in/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> 
<soapenv:Body> 
<q0:getData> 
<token>String</token> 
</q0:getData> 
</soapenv:Body> 
</soapenv:Envelope>

EXAMPLE / SAMPLE RESPONSE:

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<S:Body>
<ns2:getDataResponse xmlns:ns2="http://www.sandeepraju.in/">
<return>
<Data>
   <animal>cat</animal>
   <phone>225</phone>
   <code>FYI</code>
</Data>

The PHP code I have written for the above specification is as follows.

require_once("../nusoap_old/lib/nusoap.php");

// Definition of getData operation
function getData($token) {
    if($token == "somestring") {
        return array("animal" => "cat", "phone" => "225", "code" => "FYI");
    }
    else {
        return array("animal" => "null", "phone" => "null", "code" => "null");
    }  
}

// Creating SOAP server Object
$server = new soap_server();

// Setup WSDL
$server->configureWSDL('catnews', 'urn:catinfo');

$server->wsdl->addComplexType('return_array_php',
    'complexType',
    'struct',
    'all',
    '',
    array(
    'animal' => array('animal' => 'animal', 'type' => 'xsd:string'),
    'phone' => array('phone' => 'phone', 'type' => 'xsd:string'),
    'code' => array('code' => 'code', 'type' => 'xsd:string')
   )
);

// Register the getData operation
$server->register("getData",
    array('token' => 'xsd:string'),
    array('return' => 'tns:return_array_php'),
    'urn:catinfo',
    'urn:catinfo#getData');

// Checking POST request headers
$HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA = isset($HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA)? $HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA : "";
$server->service($HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA);

Here, I think I should NOT return a PHP array. But I am not sure what I should return according the specification. Can anyone help me with this. Or returning an array is correct?

Solution

You need to add another complex type for an array consisting of your data. Like this:

$server->wsdl->addComplexType(
    'dataArray',    // MySoapObjectArray
    'complexType', 'array', '', 'SOAP-ENC:Array',
    array(),
    array(array('ref'=>'SOAP-ENC:arrayType','wsdl:arrayType'=>'tns:return_array_php[]')), 'tns:return_array_php'
);

$server->register(
    'getData',     
    array('Datum'=>'xsd:token'), 
    array('return'=>'tns:dataArray'),
    $namespace,
    false,
    'rpc',
    'encoded',
    'description'
);

Then your function needs to set the single parts of the array.

function GetData($token)
{
    if($token == "somestring") {
        $result[0] = array(
            "animal"  => "cat",
            "phone"   => "225",
            "code"    => "FYI"
        );

        $result[1] = array(
            "animal"  => "dog",
            "phone"   => "552",
            "code"    => "IFY"
        );
    } else {
        $result = null;
    }
    return $result;
}

The response of this service called with the string "somestring" will be:

<ns1:getDataResponse xmlns:ns1="http://localhost/status/status.php">
    <return xsi:type="SOAP-ENC:Array" SOAP-ENC:arrayType="tns:return_array_php[2]">
        <item xsi:type="tns:return_array_php">
           <animal xsi:type="xsd:string">cat</animal>
           <phone xsi:type="xsd:string">225</phone>
           <code xsi:type="xsd:string">FYI</code>
        </item>
        <item xsi:type="tns:return_array_php">
           <animal xsi:type="xsd:string">dog</animal>
           <phone xsi:type="xsd:string">552</phone>
           <code xsi:type="xsd:string">IFY</code>
        </item>
    </return>
</ns1:getDataResponse>

That matches your specifications.