I am able to send requests to the web service using javax.xml.soap.*. I would like to convert the code to use webServiceTemplate. I am struggling with creating request and result objects. (sample I've found is related to xml not SOAP)  I am also wondering whether there are advantages to usingwebServiceTemplate over java.xml.soap. If there is not, am I doing it correctly? Given that I need to get connected to 20 web services.The only service it has is findEvents as follows:<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:xsi=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance xmlns:xsd=http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema xmlns:soapenv=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/ xmlns:soap=http://ticketmaster.productserve.com/v2/soap.php xmlns:soapenc=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/>   <soapenv:Header/>   <soapenv:Body>      <soap:findEvents soapenv:encodingStyle=http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/encoding/>         <request xsi:type=soap:Request>            <!--You may enter the following 7 items in any order-->            <apiKey xsi:type=xsd:string>?</apiKey>            <country xsi:type=xsd:string>?</country>            <resultsPerPage xsi:type=xsd:int>?</resultsPerPage>            <currentPage xsi:type=xsd:int>?</currentPage>            <sort xsi:type=soap:Request_Sort>               <!--You may enter the following 2 items in any order-->               <field xsi:type=xsd:string>?</field>               <order xsi:type=xsd:string>?</order>            </sort>            <filters xsi:type=soap:ArrayOfRequest_Filter soapenc:arrayType=soap:Request_Filter[]/>            <updatedSince xsi:type=xsd:string>?</updatedSince>         </request>      </soap:findEvents>   </soapenv:Body></soapenv:Envelope>My code is as follows:try {    SOAPConnectionFactory soapConnectionFactory =            SOAPConnectionFactory.newInstance();    SOAPConnection connection =            soapConnectionFactory.createConnection();    MessageFactory factory =            MessageFactory.newInstance();    SOAPMessage message = factory.createMessage();    SOAPHeader header = message.getSOAPHeader();    header.detachNode();    SOAPBody body = message.getSOAPBody();    SOAPFactory soapFactory =            SOAPFactory.newInstance();    Name bodyName;    bodyName = soapFactory.createName(findEvents,            xsd, http://ticketmaster.productserve.com/v2/soap.php);    SOAPBodyElement getList =            body.addBodyElement(bodyName);    Name childName = soapFactory.createName(findEvents);    SOAPElement eventRequest = getList.addChildElement(childName);    childName = soapFactory.createName(apiKey);    SOAPElement apiKey = eventRequest.addChildElement(childName);    apiKey.addTextNode(MYAPI);    childName = soapFactory.createName(country);    SOAPElement cid = eventRequest.addChildElement(childName);    cid.addTextNode(UK);    message.writeTo(System.out); //show message details    URL endpoint = new URL(http://ticketmaster.productserve.com/v2/soap.php);    SOAPMessage response =            connection.call(message, endpoint);    connection.close();    //SOAPBody soapBody = response.getSOAPBody();    SOAPMessage sm = response;    System.out.println(Response:);    ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();    sm.writeTo(out);    String validSoap = <?xml version=\1.0\?>  + out.toString();    System.out.println(It is ValidSoap:  + validSoap);  //ValidSoap message    SAXBuilder builder = new SAXBuilder();    Reader in = new StringReader(validSoap);  //reading character stream    Document doc = null; //empty jDom document is instantiated    doc = builder.build(in); //build the jDom document    Element root = doc.getRootElement(); //Envelope    List allChildren = root.getChildren(); //list of all its child elements    System.out.println(Root is: + ((Element) allChildren.get(0)).getName());   listChildren(root);} catch (Exception ex) {    ex.printStackTrace();}New Code  webServiceTemplate.sendSourceAndReceiveToResult               (http://ticketmaster.productserve.com/v2/soap.php,source, result);@XmlRootElementpublic class FindEvents {    @XmlElement    Request request;    public Request getRequest() {        return request;    }    public void setRequest(Request request) {        this.request = request;    }}@XmlSeeAlso(SortTicket.class)public class Request {    @XmlElement    String apiKey;    @XmlElement    String country;    @XmlElement    int resultsPerPage;    @XmlElement    int currentPage;    @XmlElement(name = Sort)    SortTicket sort;    @XmlElement    String[] filters;    @XmlElement    String updatedSince;    public String getApiKey() {        return apiKey;    }    public void setApiKey(String apiKey) {        this.apiKey = apiKey;    }    public String getCountry() {        return country;    }    public void setCountry(String country) {        this.country = country;    }    public int getResultsPerPage() {        return resultsPerPage;    }    public void setResultsPerPage(int resultsPerPage) {        this.resultsPerPage = resultsPerPage;    }    public int getCurrentPage() {        return currentPage;    }    public void setCurrentPage(int currentPage) {        this.currentPage = currentPage;    }    public SortTicket getSort() {        return sort;    }    public void setSort(SortTicket sort) {        this.sort = sort;    }    public String[] getFilters() {        return filters;    }    public void setFilters(String[] filters) {        this.filters = filters;    }    public String getUpdatedSince() {        return updatedSince;    }    public void setUpdatedSince(String updatedSince) {        this.updatedSince = updatedSince;    }}public class SortTicket {    @XmlElement    String field;    @XmlElement    String order;    public String getField() {        return field;    }    public void setField(String field) {        this.field = field;    }    public String getOrder() {        return order;    }    public void setOrder(String order) {        this.order = order;    }}
Converting code for javax.xml.soap.* to webServiceTemplate
java;web services;spring
Since you have generated DTO classes with Jaxb annotation you can create a marshaller ,unmarshaller and create objects of the DTO classes (SortTicket, Request, FindEvents) and send the objects directly instead of using the xml requestwebServiceTemplate.marshalSendAndReceive(findEvents);Something like this you'll have to configure.Create a marshaller<oxm:jaxb2-marshaller id=marshaller contextPath=com.yourcontextpath />create web service template<bean id=webServiceTemplate class=org.springframework.ws.client.core.WebServiceTemplate>    <property name=marshaller ref=marshaller />    <property name=unmarshaller ref=marshaller />    <property name=defaultUri        value=http://ticketmaster.productserve.com/v2/soap.php /></bean>and in some class's method where you want to send soap request inject webServiceTemplate using @Autowired@Autowiredprivate WebServiceTemplate webServiceTemplate;public void sendSampleSoapRequest() {   SortTicket sortTicket=new SortTicket();   // set its values   Request request=new Request();   //set its values   request.setSort(sortTicket);   FindEvents findEvents=new FindEvents();   setRequest(request)   Object response=webServiceTemplate.marshalSendAndReceive(findEvents); }marshalSendAndReceive message uses the Jaxb marshaller to convert your objects (marked with JaxB annotation)to xml.So above your findEvents object will be converted to its xml from. Advantage of using this is that you will be getting rid of creating xml elements manually.Regarding your second pointadvantages of using webServiceTemplate over java.xml.soap. : you don't have to create those SOAPElements manually you just create an object and send it instead of big code for manually handling it.Since you'll have to connect to 20 different webservices it will be much easier for you to create DTO objects and send them directly.You may need to modify my above samples a little. Remove the deault uri<bean id=webServiceTemplate class=org.springframework.ws.client.core.WebServiceTemplate>    <property name=marshaller ref=marshaller />    <property name=unmarshaller ref=marshaller /></bean>and while sending request give the URI requestObject response=webServiceTemplate.marshalSendAndReceive(uri,object);For sending it to multiple server Object response1=webServiceTemplate.marshalSendAndReceive(uri1,object);Object response1=webServiceTemplate.marshalSendAndReceive(uri2,object) uri1 and uri2 can be different soap service and if you don't have the wsdl you can send xml with this method sendSourceAndReceiveToResult(uri1,source, result);sendSourceAndReceiveToResult(uri2,source, result);Sending a uri in the send method over rides the default URIFor example check this also check the api doc