Note that if you should need to set the timeout for your soap request,  you can use ini_set to change the value for the default_socket_timeout. I previously used NuSOAP, whose soap client class has a timeout option, and it took me a while to figure out that PHP's soap uses the same socket options as everything else.

Having trouble passing complex types over SOAP using a PHP SoapServer in WSDL mode?  Not getting decoded properly?  This may be the solution you're looking for!

When using ComplexType in the schema portion of the WSDL file, You need use an additional step to tell PHP SOAP how to encode the objects.  The first method would be to explicitely encapsulate the object in a SoapVar object - telling PHP to use generalized SOAP encoding rules (which encodes all ComplexTypes as Structs).  This won't work, though, if the client is expecting the objects to be encoded according to the WSDL's schema.  So, The actual way to do this is:

* First, define a specific PHP class which is actually just a data structure holding the various properties, and the appropriate  ComplexType in the WSDL.

<?php
 class MyComplexDataType {
     public $myProperty1;
     public $myProperty2;
 }
?>
 <complexType name="MyWSDLStructure">
 <sequence>
    <element name="MyProperty1" type="xsd:integer"/>
    <element name="MyProperty2" type="xsd:string"/>
 </sequence>
 </complexType>

* Next, Tell the SoapServer when you initialize it to map these two structures together.

<?php
 $classmap = array('MyWSDLStructure' => 'MyComplexDataType');
 $server = new SoapServer("http://MyServer/MyService.wsdl", array('classmap' => $classmap))
?>

* Finally, have your method return an instance of your class directly, and let the SoapServer take care of encoding!

<?php
 public function MySoapCall() {
     $o = new MyComplexDataType();
 
     $o->myProperty1 = 1;
     $o->myProperty2 = "MyString";
 
     return $o
 }
?>

when dealing with wsdl and flash soap with php
(not exactly php, but proper wsdl - took me hours to figure it to work properly in flash webservice)

when naming definitions,
don't use "tns:" but use "typens:"

makesure your "definitions/targetNamespace"
is same as your "soap:body" namespace
example: "urn:mynamespace"

makesure your "binding/type" is declared with "typens"

makesure your service/port/binding is set to 'typens:...'

if you did not do it properly, you will end up with
WSDL.UnrecognizedNamespace - in flash
but seems okay in php soapclient...

happy coding :)
hope this help you to save your time on the wsdl :)

If you dont want to manually maintain the classmap, make sure you use the same names for your PHP object classes and your WSDL complexTypes, and use the following code:

$classmap = array();
$tmpClient = new SoapClient("soapserver.wsdl");
    
foreach($tmpClient->__getTypes() as $type)
{
    $array = split(" ", $type);
    if($array[0] == "struct" && class_exists($array[1]))
    {
        $classmap[$array[1]] = $array[1];
    }
}
unset($tmpClient);
    
$server = new SoapServer("soapserver.wsdl", array("classmap" => $classmap));
unset($classmap);
$server->setClass("someclass");
$server->handle();

I hope this will save someone time. When developing and testing your SOAP server, remember to disable WSDL caching in BOTH client and server:

$ini = ini_set("soap.wsdl_cache_enabled", 0);

If you are working
- on localhost 
- in WSDL mode 
and encounter the following error when you try to connect the soap client with the soap server

Fatal error: Uncaught SoapFault exception: [HTTP] Could not connect to host... 

then change "localhost" to "127.0.0.1" in your WSDL file:
<soap:address location='http://127.0.0.1/soap-server.php'/>

To debug a SOAP service using SoapServer(), a WSDL file and Zend Studio Client/Server, you have to append ?start_debug=1&debug_port=10000 to the service location:
--- snip ---
... method / service definition ....

<service name="SOAPService">
  <port 
    name="SOAPServicePort"
    binding="typens:SOAPServiceBinding">
   <soap:address
   location="$URL?start_debug=1&amp;debug_port=10000"/>
  </port>
</service>
--- snap ---

wokan at cox dot net is incorrect about the security of URI-passed values to HTTPS URIs.  HTTPS connections are HTTP inside SSL -- all of the HTTP traffic, including the request, are encrypted.

Here are 73 test cases that detail the kinds of schemas that PHP5 currently supports and the structures you are expected to plug into them for the return value from your services.   Much better than trying to guess!

http://cvs.php.net/co.php/pecl/soap/tests/schema

You can cycle through the listings by changing the main index in the URL below,  rather than go in and out of the pages

http://cvs.php.net/co.php/pecl/soap/tests/schema/schema052.phpt?r=1.2

I downloaded the whole thing with this,  CVS might work too.
http://www.httrack.com/

With them all downloaded I just browse them with Textpad.

If you are scratching your head why NuSOAP not working on PHP 5.x , the reason is this built-in SOAP Extenstion uses same soapclient() class name as Nusoap. 

replace 'soapclient' with 'soapclient_xxx'  in nusoap.php and you are good to go...

When encountering an error message like this

[faultstring] => Function ("yourMethod") is not a valid method for this service

although it is present in the WSDL etc., be aware that PHP caches the wsdl locally for better performance. You can disable the caching via php.ini/.htaccess completely or remove the cache file (/tmp/wsdl-.. if you are on Linux) to force regeneration of it.

Heads up for anyone using PHP Soap + Sessions + PEAR DB classes.

Every time you make a call, via the soap client to your web service, your PEAR DB session is put to sleep and it doesnt by default wake upon the next request.

To fix this I simply called my particular database close call ifx_close() below my $soap->handle();

A note for ppl who use certificates with SOAP under a Windows config: it seems to be required to give the full path to the certificate file - and don't prepend 'file://' :

<?php

$wsdl = "test.wsdl";
$local_cert = "c:\htdocs\mycert.pem";
$passphrase = "xyz";

$client = new SoapClient($wsdl, array('local_cert' => $local_cert, 'passphrase' => $passphrase);

?>

wow, actually a cool program and soap is new for me.
I found out some interessting things i can not debug because the scripts exit without any error messages or notes. :-(

you may have problems with the memory and/or especially on "shared servers" when server load is high. 
sometimes the script does the job, sometimes it just stopping at any unknown point.
these are the steps my script does:
* get data from remote server ( ~ 4.5 MB)
* parsing requested object and store the data in a database.

the return with debug messages was intressting:
-> check Mem limit: 30M
-> $client = new new SoapClient($url_wsdl, $options);
-> Memory usage: 185888
-> $client->[requested_method_to_get_data]();
-> check: __getLastResponseHeaders() - after:
-> HTTP/1.1 200 OK // remote server is fine with me :-)
-> Content-Length: 4586742  // I got the data
-> check: Memory usage now: 23098872 // ups !!! this can't be true!!

so, and if now someone on the server takes the rest of RAM  the walk thought the data breaks :-(

so, i need to store the xml tree ($client->client->__last_response) and parsing it by the classical way. (if you would request more RAM, you may get in trouble with the admin if you run a script like this more often! (on shared servers)

Wondering why the function you just added to your WSDL file is not available to your SOAP client? Turn off WSDL caching, which (as the documentation says) is on by default.

At the top of your script, use: 

$ini = ini_set("soap.wsdl_cache_enabled","0");

this might be helpful, as it took quite some time for me to find this out:

if you're using some .wsdl and there's a sequence that can be there more than once (ie: maxOccurs > 1), you can specify an non-associative array for it if you have more than 1 items OR you could just specify the one item if there is only one:

<?php
'items' => array(
    array(
        'itemId' => 5,
        'name' => 'some name',
    ),
    array(
        'itemId' => 6,
        'name' => 'some other name',
    ),
),
?>

this also works:

<?php
'items' => array(
    'itemId' => 5,
    'name' => 'some name',
),
?>

PROBLEM (with SOAP extension under PHP5) of transferring object, that contains objects or array of objects. Nested object would not transfer.

SOLUTION:
This class was developed by trial and error by me. So this 23 lines of code for most developers writing under PHP5 solves fate of using SOAP extension.

<?php
/*
According to specific of organization process of SOAP class in PHP5, we must wrap up complex objects in SoapVar class. Otherwise objects would not be encoded properly and could not be loaded on remote SOAP handler.

Function "getAsSoap" call for encoding object for transmission. After encoding it can be properly transmitted.
*/
abstract class SOAPable {
    public function getAsSOAP() {
        foreach($this as $key=>&$value) {
            $this->prepareSOAPrecursive($this->$key);
        }
        return $this;
    }

    private function prepareSOAPrecursive(&$element) {
        if(is_array($element)) {
            foreach($element as $key=>&$val) {
                $this->prepareSOAPrecursive($val);
            }
            $element=new SoapVar($element,SOAP_ENC_ARRAY);
        }elseif(is_object($element)) {
            if($element instanceof SOAPable) {
                $element->getAsSOAP();
            }
            $element=new SoapVar($element,SOAP_ENC_OBJECT);
        }
    }
}

// ------------------------------------------
//  ABSTRACT EXAMPLE
// ------------------------------------------

class PersonList extends SOAPable {
  protected $ArrayOfPerson; // variable MUST be protected or public!
}

class Person extends SOAPable {
   //any data
} 

$client=new SoapClient("test.wsdl", array( 'soap_version'=>SOAP_1_2, 'trace'=>1, 'classmap' => array('Person' => "Person", 'PersonList' => "PersonList")  ));

$PersonList=new PersonList;

// some actions

$PersonList->getAsSOAP();

$client->someMethod($PersonList);

?>

So every class, which will transfer via SOAP, must be extends from class SOAPable.  
As you can see, in code above, function prepareSOAPrecursive search another nested objects in parent object or in arrays, and if does it, tries call function getAsSOAP() for preparation of nested objects, after that simply wrap up via SoapVar class.

So in code before transmitting simply call $obj->getAsSOAP()

Just a note on "DTD not recognised..." faults. Check to make sure your wsdl file contains:

<?xml version ='1.0' encoding ='UTF-8' ?>  

Also make sure you use full paths, to your service (in the wsdl, client and server) 
...
<wsdlsoap:address location='http://www.mysite.com.au/web_services/myserver.php' />
...
<?php
// SOAP Server
$server = new SoapServer('http://www.mysite.com.au/web_services/hello.wsdl');
...
...
?>

<?php
// SOAP Client
 $client = new SoapClient('http://www.mysite.com.au/web_services/hello.wsdl');
...
...
?>

FYI im no SOAP expert but I hope this helps someone out ;)

Working with a third party service I got: "SOAP-ERROR: Parsing Schema: unexpected <text> in restriction"

Thought it would be worth it to share.  What it is saying is that there is some text in an invalid place.  C# seems to ignore it, and if you are using nusoap it doesn't notice it either.  But what was causing my problem was something like:
<types>
    <schema ...

            <simpleType name="some type">
                <restriction base="xsd:string">
                    <enumeration value="foo"/>;
                </restriction>
            </simpleType>

Note the semicolon (;).  Filter that out and your good.

If you use wsdl,

makesure you define the input correctly.
if your method does not contain any input parameter,
you got to makesure that you:

 - do not create the message tag for the input..
 - do not put input within porttype / operation
 - do not put input within binding / operation 

if not, you will get the error:
[Client] looks like we got no XML

d***, took me several hours figuring that out...

For those working from a wsdl full of complex types that just want a class structure to hang your code on and not worry about typing in long parameter lists (or creating a script to do so): wsdl2php is a wonderful time-saver. Gets a structure going so you can go in and add what validation and special data munging you need: http://www.urdalen.no/wsdl2php/

Big up yourself, Knut.

If you use SSL with a cert and password authentication:

$wsdl = "https://ws.ecopatz.de/ProductInfo?wsdl";
$pass = 'a password';
$certFile = "./mycert.pem";

  $client = new SoapClient($wsdl,
    array(
     'local_cert' => $certFile,
     'passphrase' => $pass
    )
  );

If you have problems with the certfile like this:

  Warning: SoapClient::__construct(): Unable to set local cert chain file `./mycert.pem'; Check that your cafile/capath settings include details of your certificate and its issuer in productinfo.php on line 27

then the certFile is probably in the "wrong format" (the wrong format for php maybe). It worked for me, when i appended the content of the private key file and the certificate file to a single file "mycert.pem":

  cat mycert.key >mycert.pem # mycert.key was the private key
  cat mycert.crt >>mycert.pem # mycert.crt was the signed certificate

Thanks to an author somewhere, who pointed to "curl --cert", where this little "so unimportant" dependency has been mentioned.

If you want to build a Soap Server for Microsoft Office's client (like Microsoft Office Research Service) you need to rewrite SOAP's namespaces :

<?php 
// (...)

$server = new SoapServer($wsdl, array('uri' => $uri, 'classmap' => $classmap));
$server->setClass($class);
function callback($buffer)
{
    $s = array('<ns1:RegistrationResponse>', 'ns1:', 'xmlns:ns1="urn:Microsoft.Search"');
    $r = array('<RegistrationResponse xmlns="urn:Microsoft.Search">', '', '');
   return (str_replace($s, $r, $buffer));
}
ob_start('callback');
$server->handle();
ob_end_flush();

// (...)
?>

There are a complete example at this URL : http://touv.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=104

Here's an example on how to pass ArrayOfAnyType arguments
containing complex types.

Suppose your WSDL file defines "http://any.url.com/" as the default namespace and a complex type "SomeComplexType".

If you want to call a WebServices which takes an ArrayOfAnyType argument of "SomeComplexType"s you need to perform the following:

<?php
// complexTypes being an array containing several instances of SomeComplexType

myWSParameter = array();
foreach (complexTypes as ct)
{
   // Don't misspell the type or the namespace. Also note that php won't assume the default namespace defined in the WSDL file.
   myWSParameter []= new SoapVar(ct, 0, "SomeComplexType", "http://any.url.com/"); 
}
?>

On the other hand, when a WebService returns an ArrayOfAnyType you have to do the following to access each of its elements.

<?php
// Here, we will be echoing each return item
$res = $someWS->myFunction($myArgs)

// If only one element is returned, an array won't be built
if (is_array(myFunctionResult->anyType))
{
   foreach (myFunctionResult->anyType as $soapVar)
   {
      echo $soapVar->enc_value;
   }
}
else
{
   echo myFunctionResult->anyType->enc_value;
}
?>

This has all been tested using a .NET WebService.

If you're trying to use the SOAP Extension over SSL with a custom PEM file you need to do this:

$client->_local_cert = "C:\\path\myCert.pem";

If you're having problems calling a .NET web service, see the comments over on http://php.net/soap_soapclient_soapcall (the __soapCall method).

It's not good security practice to pass the username and password in the URI when the point of SSL is to prevent that information from being intercepted.  Putting that information in the URI makes it interceptable.  HTTPS-Posted values are safe because values passed in the headers are sent after the SSL handshake has been completed.

It took me a while to properly establish a password protected client connection via https on windows/apache1.3. Here my little guide:

1. The SOAP extension isn't activated by default (PHP5 RC1). Just add "extension=php_soap.dll" to the php.ini and don't forget to set the extension_dir properly (in most cases "c:\php\ext").

2. Add "extension=php_openssl.dll" to the php.ini. This module depends on libeay32.dll and ssleay32.dll - copy them from your php folder to your system32 folder.

3. Restart apache 

4. The sourcecode

$client = new SoapClient("https://yourLogin:[email protected]/bar.wsdl", array(
    "login"      => "yourLogin", 
    "password"   => "yourPassword",
    "trace"      => 1, 
    "exceptions" => 0)); 

$client->yourFunction();

print "<pre>\n"; 
print "Request: \n".htmlspecialchars($client->__getLastRequest()) ."\n"; 
print "Response: \n".htmlspecialchars($client->__getLastResponse())."\n"; 
print "</pre>"; 

Currently it seems to be necessary to add your login and password both in the uri and in the options array. Not sure if this is the expected behavior.

I have PHP 5.2.5 on my computer. I get this result:

Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [Client] => stdClass Object
                (
                    [Nom] => LeNom:00000
                    [Prenom] => LePrenom:00000
                )

        )

My host have 5.1.6, the same call returns this result:
Array
(
    [0] => stdClass Object
        (
            [Client] => Array
                (
                    [0] => stdClass Object
                        (
                            [Nom] => LeNom:00000
                            [Prenom] => LePrenom:00000

                        )

5.2.5 is the good structure.

Take care of the version you're using. It can be a lot of work to change all the code

For those wondering on how to set attributes on nodes with PHP5 SOAP, it would be done as such:

<... soap env/header>
<foo bar="blah">12345</foo>

array("foo" => array("_" => 12345, "bar" => "blah"));