Web-Service Testing

Duration

Full Day

Method

Lecture, Demo and Exercise. Students are required to bring along their laptops.

Goal

To familiarize the participants with the methods & tools required to test web services

Target Group

Testers, Test Designers, Developers

Abstract

In this workshop the participants will learn how web services can be tested with and without the support of automated tools. First they learn how web services are constructed and how they are built into the business processes. Then they are shown how to specify a web service test using live samples. Following that the web service is manually tested via a normal user GUI and the results evaluated. Secondly, the participants are shown how to prepare a test specification for an automated web service test. Then the testing of the web service is demonstrated live and the results evaluated. A change is made to the test and the test repeated. After that a discussion takes place on the advantages and disadvantages of automated testing as applied to web services. The workshop closes with summary of the state of the art in web/cloud service testing and why it is important.

This course provides test leaders and testing managers with the main definitions, ideas, processes, tools and skills they need in order to exercise risk based testing in their projects and organizations.

This course covers the major concepts of risk based testing and risk management. During the course, the methodology behind the RBT concept will be discussed, examples and excel tool templates will be provided to assist participants in their work.

The risk based testing process is presented through theory, examples and exercises that are focused on risk based testing Identification, Selection & Planning – on one hand, and Mitigating, Tracking and Controlling – on the other hand.

Key terms

Cloud computing, service-oriented architectures, web services, WSDL, SOAP, REST, WADL, Test case specification, Test design, Test automation, Test data generation, Test Result Validation, Interface Coverage, Test Evaluation

• In this introductory lecture the role of web or cloud services in automating business processes is discussed. Service-Oriented Architectures are defined and how they are constructed from different sources – legacy, private and public services. The main goal of service testing is to determine if they fit to planed usage. For that the planed usage has to be specified. This usage requirement specification is the basis for the service test. From that and the web service interface definition the test cases are derived and test data generated. The test itself is not so much to discover errors but to determine the suitability of the service for the task at hand. If the service fails to pass the test another service should be tried. Since the testers have no access to the source code and may also have no access to the data, they must concentrate on testing against the interface, trying out all relevant data combinations in a black-box test.

• In this exercise participants are shown a web service interface definition (WSDL) and a short description of the target service in English language. From that they are asked to identify and specify logical test cases. The test cases are then executed manually by the instructor via a GUI interface and the results checked against the expected results.

• In this exercise the participants are shown a web service requirement specification (SRS) for the same service definition (WSDL). An automated text analysis generates the logical test cases automatically which the participants then have to complete by hand. From the test cases and the sample test data a test script is generated. The test script is then compiled and executed. Afterwards the service responses are automatically validated and a test dashboard displayed. It is also shown here what happens when the service requirement specification changes.

• In this summary discussion the test results are displayed and discussed. Various forms of test coverage are presented and compared as well as other criteria for ending the test. The participants are asked to give their opinion on the best way to test web services and on the advantages and disadvantages of test automation. The session is closed out by a review of the state of the art in web service testing and the literature on that subject.

• Students will be given two web services to test – a simple calendar function and a complex order entry service. They are to test these services on their own laptops under MS Windows. The instructor will demonstrate his own test for the students to follow. They will first test them manually and then be given a tool to test them automatically. In so doing they will go through all the steps from the service usage specification to the service evaluation

Biography