SOAP

Parse WSDL files, generate envelopes automatically, and send SOAP 1.1 and 1.2 requests — all offline.

Testnizer’s SOAP editor is built on the soap npm library (v1.9) with wsse for security headers. WSDL parsing, envelope generation, and request execution all run in the Node main process — no proxy, no cloud service.

Opening a SOAP tab

Click + New → SOAP. The editor opens with a mode picker: start from WSDL or write an envelope manually.

Starting from WSDL

Load the WSDL

Provide a WSDL source in one of two ways:

URL: paste the WSDL endpoint URL (e.g. https://api.example.com/PaymentService?wsdl) and click Load. Testnizer fetches the file over the main process — the renderer never touches the network.
File: click Load from file and pick a .wsdl or .xml file from disk. Useful for offline environments or versioned WSDLs checked into a repo.

After loading, Testnizer parses services, ports, and operations. Any imported schemas (<xsd:import> / <wsdl:import>) are resolved relative to the base URL or file path.

Navigate services and operations

Three dropdowns appear in the editor toolbar:

Service — one entry per <wsdl:service> element
Port — ports for the selected service
Operation — available operations on the selected port

Pick an operation and click Generate envelope. Testnizer builds a skeleton request envelope from the operation’s input message schema — complex types are expanded, required elements are included, optional elements are shown commented out.

Example generated envelope for a GetAccountBalance operation:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope
    xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/"
    xmlns:tns="http://banking.example.com/accounts">
  <soap:Header/>
  <soap:Body>
    <tns:GetAccountBalance>
      <tns:AccountId><!-- string --></tns:AccountId>
      <tns:Currency><!-- string --></tns:Currency>
    </tns:GetAccountBalance>
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Edit the skeleton directly in the Monaco envelope editor. The endpoint URL and SOAPAction header are pre-filled from the WSDL binding.

Manual mode

Click Manual at the top of the editor to skip WSDL loading and write the envelope from scratch. Use this when:

The WSDL is unavailable or locked behind a VPN you can’t reach from the dev machine
The service predates WSDL or uses a non-standard binding
You captured a raw envelope from a network trace and want to replay or modify it

The Monaco editor is pre-seeded with a minimal envelope template:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<soap:Envelope
    xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
  <soap:Header/>
  <soap:Body>
    <!-- paste or write your request element here -->
  </soap:Body>
</soap:Envelope>

Fill in the namespace declarations and body element, set the endpoint URL, and send.

SOAP 1.1 vs 1.2

Use the Version toggle in the editor toolbar to switch between SOAP 1.1 and SOAP 1.2. The differences Testnizer handles for you:

	SOAP 1.1	SOAP 1.2
Envelope namespace	`http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/`	`http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope`
Content-Type	`text/xml; charset=utf-8`	`application/soap+xml; charset=utf-8`
SOAPAction header	Required (can be empty string)	Moved into Content-Type `action` parameter
Fault structure	`<faultcode>` / `<faultstring>`	`<Code>` / `<Reason>`

When you switch versions on a WSDL-loaded request, Testnizer regenerates the envelope namespace and updates the Content-Type automatically.

Request tabs

Action URL

Overrides the endpoint URL taken from the WSDL or entered manually. Useful when the WSDL lists a production endpoint but you want to target a staging environment — or when the service is behind a gateway at a different path.

Variables resolve in the URL field:

{{soapGatewayUrl}}/PaymentService

Custom Headers

Add or override HTTP headers sent with the SOAP request. Common uses:

Authorization: Bearer {{accessToken}} (when the service sits behind an OAuth gateway)
X-Correlation-ID: {{$randomUUID}}
Custom proxy headers

SOAPAction override

By default, Testnizer sets the SOAPAction header from the WSDL binding or leaves it blank for SOAP 1.2. To override it explicitly, enter the action URI in this field.

Some services require an exact SOAPAction string that differs from what the WSDL specifies — particularly older Microsoft WCF services.

WS-Security

Open the WS-Security tab in the request editor to add message-level security headers: UsernameToken (Text and Digest), Timestamp, XML Signature, and XML Encryption.

See the full guide at /docs/ws-security.

Response view

Raw XML

The unmodified response body as received — byte-for-byte, including whitespace and encoding declarations. Use this when you suspect a gateway is modifying the envelope in transit.

Pretty-printed

The same XML formatted with consistent indentation. Namespace prefixes are normalized and the structure is easier to read.

XPath query panel

Type an XPath expression in the query bar and Testnizer evaluates it against the response document. Results are highlighted inline and listed below the query bar.

Common patterns:

//soap:Body/*                         (select everything in the body)
//tns:AccountBalance/text()           (extract a text value)
//*[local-name()='Fault']             (find faults regardless of namespace prefix)

Namespace prefixes in XPath expressions are resolved against the namespaces declared in the response document.

Common issues

HTTP 500 vs SOAP Fault

A 500 Internal Server Error HTTP status with a SOAP Fault body is valid SOAP 1.1 — the service processed the request and returned a structured error. This is different from a 500 caused by a network or infrastructure failure.

Testnizer distinguishes them: if the response body parses as a valid SOAP envelope containing a <Fault> element, the response pane shows the fault code and message in a dedicated banner above the XML viewer, even when the HTTP status is 500.

If the body is not parseable as SOAP (plain HTML error page, empty body), the response pane shows the raw HTTP error without a fault banner.

Missing SOAPAction header

Many SOAP 1.1 services reject requests with a missing or incorrect SOAPAction header with a vague 400 Bad Request or 500 response. If you get an unexpected error from a WSDL-loaded request, check the Console tab to confirm the SOAPAction header was included. If the WSDL binding omits the action, set it explicitly in the SOAPAction override field.

Character encoding

Testnizer sends requests as charset=utf-8 by default. If the service returns an encoding error or garbled characters, check whether it expects a different encoding (common with legacy IBM or SAP ABAP services). Override the Content-Type header in the Custom Headers tab to specify a different charset.