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This guide explains how to access GBGroup’s web service products using their Identity Management Platform (IdM), available via SOAP web services. The document provides a general description of the available functionality along with a definition of the corresponding interfaces used to access different datasets and services. The fundamentals of integrating with the service are described here: Integration Fundamentals The main body of this document gives product specific details regarding the use of the Address Web Service products via IdM. Please note: Wherever (LatestWSDLVersion) is shown in Example Code below, please replace this with GlobalServices21a.wsdl.

Address Web Service Product Information

The UK Address web service products are available via the Identity Management ExecuteCapture web service method.

Basic Name and Address Capture

Method: ExecuteCapture

The ExecuteCapture method is used to access the GBG Customer Registration products and services by invoking the corresponding profile.

Input Details

Type: ExecuteCaptureRequest The SecurityHeader structure holds security data to access products and services in the IdM Platform. The ProfileRequestCapture structure contains the criteria to identify the target product being called. In the profileRequest element, the profileGuid should be specified as:

Output Details

The ExecuteCaptureResponse structure contains the results of an capture query. The response contains the authentication token to be passed into subsequent web service calls. The latest authentication token should always be passed into service calls. Type: ExecuteCaptureResponse The ProfileResponse structure contains the results for an operation performed against a profile. Type: ProfileResponse The ProfileResponseDetails structure contains the results for an operation performed against a product/data service in the Profile. It is possible to call multiple products in a single profile; in this case there will be multiple ProfileResponseDetails structures, one for each product. Type: ProfileResponseDetails The CaptureResponse structure contains response records for a particular component/product. The data is held in a standard format across all products. The data structure is a flexible set of arrays designed to represent the data in a way that reflects the records in context of the search. The arrangement of the data will depend on the product in question. For more information on the layout of the response data please refer to the corresponding product documentation. Type: CaptureResponse The ValidateResponse structure contains response records for a particular component/product. The data is held in a standard format across all products. For more information on the layout of the response data please refer to the corresponding product documentation. Type: ValidateResponse

Sample XML

Sample request:
Sample response:

Address Capture - Search Criteria

The address search criteria should be entered into the IdmDataSearchAddress data structure, which is located within the input details as follows: ExecuteCapture → ProfileRequestCapture → ProfileRequestCaptureData → IdmDataSearchAddress

Radius Search Criteria

Address Web Service supports radius searching, where a match is made for premises within a specified radius of a given point. To trigger a radius search values must be provided in the IdmDataGeographic structure of the search address. The easting and northing values should be specified to 5-digit accuracy.

Additional Search Criteria

Additional information can be searched upon by providing the key value pairs specified below to the IdmDataSearchAddress.additionalItems property. For example, if you require to search on Royal Mail Mailsort code the key ‘MSRN’ and the mailsort value should be provided. Below is a list of searchable related fields: Below is a list of additional Royal Mail PAF specific searchable address elements:

Sample Search XML

Additional Execution Options

Configuration options for the GB Address Web Service search can be set in the IdmRequestOptions structure located in the ProfileRequestCaptureData.options property.

Additional Return Data

Additional data can be returned for each address by providing one of the following values to the IdmRequestOption.relatedDataItems property (See section 2.2.3 for an example):

Envelope Format

Address web Service provides the option to return each address as it would appear on an envelope. The IdmRequestOptions.addressEnvelopeFormat property allows you to specify how this should data should be formatted. The following are valid configuration options:

Sample Options XML

Output Format

The results of the Matchcode UK Address Web Service search are returned in a ProfileResponseDetails structure with a ProfileResponseDetail.responseType of ‘CAPTURE’. The ProfileResponseDetails structure contains a single CaptureResponse data structure which holds an array of IdmDataAddress records containing the returned address data. ExecuteCaptureResponse > ProfileResponse [0] > ProfileResponseDetails [0] > CaptureResponse > CaptureResponseData > IdmDataAddress [n]

Sample Output XML

IdM to Royal Mail PAF

The IdM web services provide the address format in a generic international format. The GB Address Web Service product allows address searching capability on UK based addresses. The mapping between the generic international address structure of IdM web service and the Royal Mail Postal Address File (PAF) is detailed below: Data Mapping: IdmDataSearchAddress → Royal Mail PAF → IdmDataAddress
  • Composite fields - Composite input fields offer advanced searching capabilities by searching against multiple target fields. e.g.locality - Searches against PAF Dependant Locality, Double Dependant Locality and PostTown.

Data Paging Additional Records

If the number of records available from a GB Address Web Service search is greater than the specified MaxRecords value provided in the options then that additional data can be acquired through paging. To retrieve the next page of records the search should be submitted again with the offset increased to the start of the next page. Response XML indicating more data:
Search XML requesting more data:

Error Information

Information on possible error codes is given here: Error Code Information