SoapServer header magic

Hello,

    I can't seem to figure out how to send a SOAP header to the client without having received the same. The only reference to headers at all that I could find was in the SOAP extension tests directory.

    I am trying to implement SimpleSessionHandler (Apache Axis) compatible sessions, but am failing to understand how to send a SOAP header to the client without having first received a header by same name.

    In other words, if I send the server a sessionId element with my request, I get a response back (determined by the sessionId method); but if I don't give it a sessionId element, the method isn't called and I get no response.

    Is this by design, or is there something that I have overlooked? If it's the former, is it by design of SOAP or a flaw in PHP's implementation?

Thanks, Harlan -- Client Call -- <env:Envelope xmlns:env="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope"

              xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
              xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
              xmlns:enc="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"
              xmlns:axis-session="http://xml.apache.org/axis/session">

<env:Header>

    <!-- if this is present, I get a sessionId back from the server...
          if not, I don't -->
    <axis-session:sessionId
      env:mustUnderstand="true">clientSessionId</axis-session:sessionId>

</env:Header> <env:Body>

    <test:echoString xmlns:test="http://example.org/ts-tests"
          env:encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding">
      <test:inputString xsi:type="xsd:string">ouch</test:inputString>
    </test:echoString>

</env:Body> </env:Envelope> -- Server Class -- class Soap12test { public $sessionId; function echoString($inputString) { return $inputString . "[ ".$this->sessionId." ]"; } function sessionId( $id ) { $this->sessionId = $id; return "from server - $id"; } } -- WSDL -- <definitions name="SOAP-12-TestDefinitions" ... xmlns:axis-session="http://xml.apache.org/axis/session"> .... <schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="http://xml.apache.org/axis/session"> <element name="sessionId" type="xsd:string"/> </schema> .... <message name="sessionIdRequest"> <part name="sessionId" element="axis-session:sessionId"/> </message> <message name="sessionIdResponse"> <part name="sessionId" element="axis-session:sessionId"/> </message> .... <operation name="echoString"> <soap12:operation/> <input> <soap12:body use="encoded" namespace="http://example.org/ts-tests" encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"/> <soap12:header message="tns:sessionIdRequest" part="sessionId" use="encoded" encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"/> </input> <output> <soap12:body use="encoded" namespace="http://example.org/ts-tests" encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"/> <soap12:header message="tns:sessionIdResponse" part="sessionId" use="encoded" encodingStyle="http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-encoding"/> </output> </operation>