Difference between replace entire node and replace

Question

I have recently started using OSB and i came across the feature "replace entire node or replace node contents". Could anyone help me in listing out the difference between the two with examples. This is a very basic question but i just started learning osb and wanted to get this right.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers..

Answer 1

OK, let's assume you have a variable, $body. Your proxy has done some stuff, and already has $body set, and you want to run it through an xquery transform before you return it.

$body will be something like

<soap:Body xmlns:soap="etc">
  <ns0:response xmlns:ns0="etc2">
    <ns0:item>
      <!-- etc etc -->
    </ns0:item>
  </ns0:response>
</soap:Body>

If you replace the entire node, you must replace it with a <soap:Body>. (I mean, you could replace it with something different, but you'll encounter an error somewhere because OSB expects $body to be a certain type)

If you replace the node contents, you may replace it with anything: perhaps a transformed <ns0:response>, but it's common to replace it with totally different elements. Either way, the <soap:Body> element is unaffected, and all the insides are scooped out and replaced.

Most of the time, you'll replace node contents of $body rather than replacing the entire node, but if it's a variable you've created yourself, it could go either way depending on what you want.