Unwanted <param0> node from PHP SoapClient non-wsdl mode - php

Question

I'm trying to make a request with the PHP SoapClient in non-WSDL mode. I'm passing parameters as a multi-dimensional object as shown in the below code snippet:
$params = new stdClass;
$params->Characteristic = new stdClass;
$params->Characteristic->Name = 'PRODUCT_TYPE';
$params->Characteristic->CharacteristicValue = new stdClass;
$params->Characteristic->CharacteristicValue->Value = $type;
$params->Characteristic->CharacteristicValue->Type = 'STRING';
$client = new SoapClient(NULL, array( 'trace' => true, 'exceptions' => true, 'uri' => $uri, 'location' => $location,
'connection_timeout'=>9999,
'features' => SOAP_SINGLE_ELEMENT_ARRAYS,
'soap_version' => SOAP_1_1, 'encoding' => 'ISO-8859-1',
'use' => SOAP_LITERAL
));
$response = $client->thisIsTheFunction($params);
The generated XML is almost right apart from being wrapped in a tag:
<soap-env:envelope xmlns:soap-env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns1="http://[removed]">
<soap-env:body>
<ns1:thisisthefunction>
<param0>
<characteristic>
<name>PRODUCT_TYPE</name>
<characteristicvalue>
<value>Adhoc</value>
<type>STRING</type>
</characteristicvalue>
</characteristic>
</param0>
</ns1:thisisthefunction>
</soap-env:body>
</soap-env:envelope>
The problem is this is being detected as malformed by the service. Is there any way we can remove this extra tag?

Answer 1

I think if you want remove param0 and put characteristicValue in this place, you need to use a SoapParam (http://www.php.net/manual/en/class.soapparam.php).
In fact, your call must proceed like that :
$response = $client->thisIsTheFunction(new SoapParam($params->Characteristic, 'ns1:Characteristic'));
Now, your generated XML looks like that :
<soap-env:envelope xmlns:soap-env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:ns1="http://[removed]">
<soap-env:body>
<ns1:thisisthefunction>
<ns1:characteristic>
<name>PRODUCT_TYPE</name>
<characteristicvalue>
<value>Adhoc</value>
<type>STRING</type>
</characteristicvalue>
</ns1:characteristic>
</ns1:thisisthefunction>
</soap-env:body>
Good luck !