Savon::Client#request returns a Savon::SOAP::Response. Everything's really just a Hash.

response.to_hash  # => { :response => { :success => true, :name => "John" } }

Alright, sometimes it's XML.

response.to_xml  # => "<response><success>true</success><name>John</name></response>"

The response also contains the HTTPI::Response which (obviously) contains information about the HTTP response.

response.http  # => #<HTTPI::Response:0x1017b4268 ...

In case of an emergency

By default, Savon raises both Savon::SOAP::Fault and Savon::HTTP::Error when encountering these kind of errors.

begin
  client.request :get_all_users
rescue Savon::SOAP::Fault => fault
  log fault.to_s
end

Both errors inherit from Savon::Error, so you can catch both very easily.

begin
  client.request :get_all_users
rescue Savon::Error => error
  log error.to_s
end

You can change the default of raising errors and if you did, you can still ask the response to check whether the request was successful.

response.success?     # => false
response.soap_fault?  # => true
response.http_error?  # => false

And you can access the error objects themselves.

response.soap_fault  # => Savon::SOAP::Fault
response.http_error  # => Savon::HTTP::Error

Please notice, that these methods always return an error object, even if no error exists. To check if an error occured, you can either ask the response or the error objects.

response.soap_fault.present?  # => true
response.http_error.present?  # => false