How to throw a custom fault on a JAX-WS web service?

Question

How do you throw a custom soap fault on a JAX-WS web service? How can I specify the faultCode, faultString and detail of the soap fault? Is it possible to set the value of the detail as bean instead of a String?

Please note that I'm developing using code-first approach.

Answer 1

Use the @WebFault annotation.

You can see a good example in Using SOAP Faults and Exceptions in Java JAX-WS Web Services - Eben Hewitt on Java.

You will see the example:

@WebFault(name="CheckVerifyFault",
    targetNamespace="http://www.example.com")
public class CheckVerifyFault extends Exception {

    /**
     * Java type that goes as soapenv:Fault detail element.
     */
    private CheckFaultBean faultInfo;

    public CheckVerifyFault(String message, CheckFaultBean faultInfo) {
        super(message);
        this.faultInfo = faultInfo;
    }

    public CheckVerifyFault(String message, CheckFaultBean faultInfo, 
           Throwable cause) {
        super(message, cause);
        this.faultInfo = faultInfo;
    }

    public CheckFaultBean getFaultInfo() {
        return faultInfo;
    }
}

---

UPDATE

Another way is to declare the typical exception in the throws clause.

e.g. Suppose the following is my exception class:

package pkg.ex;

public class FooException extends Exception {

    public FooException(String message, Throwable cause) {
        super(message, cause);
    }

}

And the next class is the service implementation.

package pkg.ws;

import javax.jws.WebService;
import pkg.ex.FooException;

@WebService(serviceName = "FooSvc")
public class FooService {

    public String sayHello(String name) throws FooException {
        if (name.isEmpty()) {
            Throwable t = new IllegalArgumentException("Empty name");
            throw new FooException("There is one error", t);
        }
        return "Hello, " + name;
    }

}

If my request is:

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
                  xmlns:ws="http://ws.pkg/">
   <soapenv:Header/>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <ws:sayHello>
         <arg0>Peter</arg0>
      </ws:sayHello>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

There is no problem:

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <S:Body>
      <ns2:sayHelloResponse xmlns:ns2="http://ws.pkg/">
         <return>Hello, Peter</return>
      </ns2:sayHelloResponse>
   </S:Body>
</S:Envelope>

But...

<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" 
                  xmlns:ws="http://ws.pkg/">
   <soapenv:Header/>
   <soapenv:Body>
      <ws:sayHello>
         <arg0></arg0>
      </ws:sayHello>
   </soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>

Then...

<S:Envelope xmlns:S="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
   <S:Body>
      <S:Fault xmlns:ns4="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope">
         <faultcode>S:Server</faultcode>
         <faultstring>There is one error</faultstring>
         <detail>
            <ns2:FooException xmlns:ns2="http://ws.pkg/">
               <message>There is one error</message>
            </ns2:FooException>
         </detail>
      </S:Fault>
   </S:Body>
</S:Envelope>