Cannot Add Http Headers to Message with Spring's WebServiceTemplate

Question

I have a fairly simple case where I am trying to add HTTP headers (not SOAP headers) to a request I am making using Spring's WebServiceTemplate.

I have defined a ClientInterceptor where I am doing:

@Override
    public boolean handleRequest(MessageContext messageContext) throws WebServiceClientException {

        try {
            TransportContext context = TransportContextHolder.getTransportContext();
            HttpComponentsConnection connection = (HttpComponentsConnection) context.getConnection();
            connection.addRequestHeader("Authorization", String.format("Bearer %s", someAccessToken));
        } catch (IOException exception) {
            // Do nothing
        }

        return true;
        }

This is how I configure my SomeClient which extends WebServiceConfigurationSupport:

@Bean
public SomeClient someClient() {

    ...

    SomeClientImpl service =  new SomeClientImpl();

    service.setObjectFactory(new com.path.ObjectFactory());
    service.setDefaultUri(someUri);
    service.setMarshaller(marshaller);
    service.setUnmarshaller(marshaller);
    service.setxStreamMarshaller(xStreamMarshaller);
    service.setInterceptors(new ClientInterceptor[]{wss4jSecurityInterceptor()});
    service.setMessageSender(new HttpComponentsMessageSender());
    service.setInterceptors(new ClientInterceptor[]{wss4jSecurityInterceptor(), addHttpHeaderInterceptor()});
    return service;
}

@Bean
public ClientInterceptor addHttpHeaderInterceptor() {
    return new AddHttpHeaderInterceptor(someAccessToken);
}

@Bean
public Wss4jSecurityInterceptor wss4jSecurityInterceptor() {

    Wss4jSecurityInterceptor interceptor = new Wss4jSecurityInterceptor();

    interceptor.setSecurementActions(securementAction);
    interceptor.setSecurementUsername(securementUsername);
    interceptor.setSecurementPassword(securementPassword);
    interceptor.setSecurementPasswordType(WSConstants.PW_TEXT);
    interceptor.setSecurementMustUnderstand(false);

    return interceptor;
}

But the Authorization header is not being added. I have also tried with a CustomMessageCallback:

public class CustomMessageCallback implements WebServiceMessageCallback {
    private String headerKey;
    private String headerValue;

    public CustomMessageCallback(String headerKey, String headerValue) {
        this.headerKey = headerKey;
        this.headerValue = headerValue;
    }

    @Override
    public void doWithMessage(WebServiceMessage webServiceMessage) throws IOException, TransformerException {

        TransportContext context = TransportContextHolder.getTransportContext();
        HttpComponentsConnection conn = (HttpComponentsConnection) context.getConnection();

        HttpPost post = conn.getHttpPost();
        post.addHeader(headerKey, headerValue);
    }
}

But it does not seem to work as well. What am I doing wrong, why the Authorization header is not being added? Thanks!

Answer 1

Use the HeadersAwareSenderWebServiceConnection interface instead of the actual underlying connection.

TransportContext context = TransportContextHolder.getTransportContext();
HeadersAwareSenderWebServiceConnection connection = (HeadersAwareSenderWebServiceConnection) context.getConnection();
connection.addRequestHeader("Authorization", String.format("Bearer %s", "********"));

Now if you upgrade/switch HTTP library you don't need to change this code.

To answer your question about what you are doing wrong is that you are casting to the wrong class. Yes the class you are using is deprecated but it is part of the library you are using, you cannot just cast to a different class without changing the underlying HTTP library.