System and method for testing of web services

Abstract

The present invention is a module testing tool for Web services. In one embodiment, the present invention automates the testing of Web services that use SOAP as a wire protocol and HTTP as a transport protocol. The invention provides an easy interface for exercising Web services and testing their functionality. The invention helps users confirm the responses to SOAP messages with such features as fault detection, textual comparisons, XML validation by DTDs or XML Schemas, and the ability to express and flag complex patterns in XML. The invention lets the users validate responses that require application-specific verification (such as business logic validation) by plugging in their own code. It also provides the capability to perform regression testing of web services. The invention can automatically creates regression test controls from SOAP Client responses, or users can create their own regression tests.

1 . A method for testing of a web service software including service oriented architecture protocol (SOAP) and metadata, the method comprising: 
 creating one or more test cases for exercising behavior of the web service;    creating an internal representation of the metadata for the web service;    incorporating the internal representation of the metadata into the generated test case; and    executing the created one or more test cases for obtaining results for the behavior of the identified web service.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying comprises identifying a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) related to the web service.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying comprises identifying a metadata related to the web service.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising modifying the created test cases for future use.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising validating conformance to specification included in the SOAP.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising confirming responses to the web service.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising enforcing coding rule against the responses to the web service.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the SOAP is implemented in Extensible Markup Language (XML).  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising validating the XML.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising identifying complex patterns in the XML.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining the response time of the web service.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the web service is executed on a server, the method further comprising determining how the response time of the web service changes as the server is placed under load.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising load testing of the web service.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising chaining a plurality of testing tools to create complex tests.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising comparing a received response of a test case to an expected response of the test case.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata for the web service includes one or more of a service name, a number of parameters, a parameter type, and a return type.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating a graphical user interface (GUI) representation of the test case.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising displaying complex components and primitive components in the GUI, wherein the primitive components are based on a mapping of primitive XML types to primitive GUI components.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising regression testing of the web service.  
     
     
         19  The method of  claim 1 , further comprising creating rules to check whether a response of the web service matches certain general pattern, and enforcing the rules.  
     
     
         20 . A computer system for testing of a web service software including service oriented architecture protocol (SOAP) and metadata, comprising: 
 means for creating one or more test cases for exercising behavior of the web service;    means for creating an internal representation of the metadata for the web service;    means for incorporating the internal representation of the metadata into the generated test case; and    means for executing the created one or more test cases for obtaining results for the behavior of the identified web service.