If you're looking to use SOAP-style web services to access Clearspace, this basic information can get you started.

Note: In previous versions, Clearspace included a client API for access to SOAP-style web services. That API has been removed. To build a client, one approach is to use WSDL files provided by Clearspace. You can get Clearspace WSDL description files by requesting the following URL from your Clearspace instance: http://<hostname>:<portnumber>/<context>/rpc/. With WSDLs in hand, you can use one of the WSDL2Java tools provided by Apache Axis, CXF, or JAX-RPC.

Note: By default, web services are disabled in Clearspace. You can enable them in the admin console. In the console, go to System > Settings > Web Services, then click Enable for the style you want. Be sure that the User Access and Force SSL settings are what you want also.

Web Service Style

Clearspace Web Services use Document-Literal style binding with wrapped parameter format. This style was chosen for a number of reasons: it is WS-I compliant and the message is easily validated. There is also a general push towards Document-Literal style web services.

For a general description about web services styles see: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-whichwsdl/

Authentication

Clearspace Web Services uses the Username Token Profile V1.0 (pdf) specification. The Username Token Profile specification is part of the OASIS Web Services Security (WS-Security) specification.

A header containing the username and password must be passed into every request. Here's an example:

<wsdl:Envelope xmlns:soap="..." xmlns:wsse="..." >
   <wsdl:Header>
      <wsse:Security>
         <wsse:UsernameToken>
            <wsse:Username>admin</wsse:Username>
            <wsse:Password>password</wsse:Password>
         </wsse:UsernameToken>
      </wsse:Security>
   </wsdl:Header>
</wsdl:Envelope>