WSDL Testing

Question

Hi,

Has anybody worked on wsdl testing? Namely,

• Schema validation
• Semantic validation
• Regression testing of WSDL
• Interoperability

Does anybody have an idea of how to implement the above?

Answer 1

You'd normally use a tool/product to do this. Altova (XMLSpy) comes to mind.

Answer 2

I use SoapUI for all my SOAP/REST testing. It does all the things that you want is probably one of the most widely used tools out there

Answer 3

I used to use SoapScope from MindReef (ok, I used their trials, but couldn't convince the company to buy it!) This was a very good product for compliance testing as well as for creating regression tests.

They have been purchased by Progress Software. The new URL is http://www.actional.com/mindreef/. I have not used this product they are now a part of.

Answer 4

For interoperability testing of WSDL's the toolkit I would recommend is that which is published by the WS-I for testing compliance against Basic Profile 1.1 and Basic Security Profile 1.0.

To download the tools look for "Interoperability Testing Tools 1.1" on the WS-I Testing tools page

Note that the test tool does 2 types of testing, a) Analysing the WSDL and b) Monitoring the traffic on the wire. I've only used the WSDL analysis.

The output from the WSDL analysis can be a pig to understand and decode and it really helps if you have a handy WSDL/XSD guru near to hand. Sadly these seem in short supply. Also it really helps to have a thorough understanding of WS-I Basic Profile beforehand (the 1.1 specification is at www.ws-i.org/Profiles/BasicProfile-1.1.html) and if you write your WSDLs to this specification then you should achieve conformance readily; which is also an argument against letting tools generate WSDLs for you as they rarely have achieving compliance as a goal.

Also note that when your WSDL comes through the analysis with a PASS this still doesn't guarantee interoperability with consumers written with the wide range of tools out there which generate proxy code from a WSDL.

At best you are getting a "stamp of approval" that gives you the best chance of meeting interoperability with the widest range of consumers. Once you do have a compliant WSDL you can claim compliance and assert this in the WSDL using the recommendations in the www.ws-i.org/Profiles/ConformanceClaims-1.0-2004-11-15.html specification.

Sorry couldn't post with more hyperlinks but as a new user I'm only allowed one!