How to specify credentials from a Java Web Service in PTC Windchill PDMLink - ptc-windchill

Question

I am currently investigating the possibility of using a Java Web Service (as described by the Info*Engine documentation of Windchill) in order to retrieve information regarding parts. I am using Windchill version 10.1.
I have successfully deployed a web service, which I consume in a .Net application. Calls which do not try to access Windchill information complete successfully. However, when trying to retrieve part information, I get a wt.method.AuthenticationException.
Here is the code that runs within the webService (The web service method simply calls this method)
public static String GetOnePart(String partNumber) throws WTException
{
WTPart part=null;
RemoteMethodServer server = RemoteMethodServer.getDefault();
server.setUserName("theUsername");
server.setPassword("thePassword");
try {
QuerySpec qspec= new QuerySpec(WTPart.class);
qspec.appendWhere(new SearchCondition(WTPart.class,WTPart.NUMBER,SearchCondition.LIKE,partNumber),new int[]{0,1});
// This fails.
QueryResult qr=PersistenceHelper.manager.find((StatementSpec)qspec);
while(qr.hasMoreElements())
{
part=(WTPart) qr.nextElement();
partName = part.getName();
}
} catch (AuthenticationException e) {
// Exception caught here.
partName = e.toString();
}
return partName;
}
This code works in a command line application deployed on the server, but fails with a wt.method.AuthenticationException when performed from within the web service. I feel it fails because the use of RemoteMethodServer is not what I should be doing since the web service is within the MethodServer.
Anyhow, if anyone knows how to do this, it would be awesome.
A bonus question would be how to log from within the web service, and how to configure this logging.
Thank you.

Answer 1

You don't need to authenticate on the server side with this code
RemoteMethodServer server = RemoteMethodServer.getDefault();
server.setUserName("theUsername");
server.setPassword("thePassword");
If you have followed the documentation (windchill help center), your web service should be something annotated with #WebServices and #WebMethod(operationName="getOnePart") and inherit com.ptc.jws.servlet.JaxWsService
Also you have to take care to the policy used during deployment.
The default ant script is configured with
security.policy=userNameAuthSymmetricKeys
So you need to manage it when you consume your ws with .Net.
For logging events, you just need to call the log4j logger instantiated by default with $log.debug("Hello")

Answer 2

You can't pre-authenticate server side.
You can write the auth into your client tho. Not sure what the .Net equivilent is, but this works for Java clients:
private static final String USERNAME = "admin";
private static final String PASSWORD = "password";
static {
java.net.Authenticator.setDefault(new java.net.Authenticator() {
#Override
protected java.net.PasswordAuthentication getPasswordAuthentication() {
return new java.net.PasswordAuthentication(USERNAME, PASSWORD.toCharArray());
}
});
}