How To Trace SOAP Message In Eclipse IDE

In SOAP web service, each HTTP request or response encapsulates a SOAP envelope, these messages are easy to trace by using Eclipse IDE, build-in “TCP/IP monitor” tool. The idea is host another server in between the client and server to perform port forward function to intercept the HTTP traffic.

1. Normal SOAP envelope flows

In normal SOAP service, client send a HTTP request to server, and server send back a HTTP response to client directly.

1. Client ----> SOAP envelope ----> Server:9999
 
2. Server:9999 ----> SOAP envelope ---> Client

2. Intercepted SOAP envelope flows

To intercept SOAP envelope, you can host another server (“TcpMonitorServer”) in between client and server, see new flows :

1. Client ----> SOAP envelope ----> TcpMonitorServer:8888
 
2. TcpMonitorServer:8888 --> SOAP envelope ---> Server:9999
 
3. Server:9999 ----> SOAP envelope ---> TcpMonitorServer:8888
 
4. TcpMonitorServer:8888 ----> SOAP envelope ---> Client

Note
This method required port changed in your web service client.

Eclipse IDE + TCP/IP Monitor

Eclipse IDE comes with a very easy to use traffic interceptor tool, known as “TCP/IP Monitor“. In this tutorial, we show you how to enable this “TCP/IP Monitor” in Eclipse IDE, and also intercept the SOAP messages generated by web service.

Here’s the steps to enable “TCP/IP Monitor” in Eclispe IDE.

1. In IDE, access Windows –> Preferences –> Run/Debug –> TCP/IP Monitor

2. Fill in server information, and choose type = “TCP/IP”

3. Click on the “start” button to start tracing the web service traffic.

4. Show the traced messaged in the “TCP/IP Monitor” view if any.

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