REST service testing based on inferred XML schemas

Abstract

The concept of service oriented architecture has been extensively explored in software engineering, due to the fact that it produces architectures made up of several interconnected modules, easy to reuse when building new systems. This approach to design would be impossible without interconnection mechanisms such as REST (Representational State Transfer) services, which allow module communication while minimizing coupling. . However, this low coupling brings disadvantages, such as the lack of transparency, which makes it difficult to systematically create tests without knowledge of the inner working of a system. In this article, we present an automatic error detection system for REST services, based on a statistical analysis over responses produced at multiple service invocations. Thus, a service can be systematically tested without knowing its full specification. The method can find errors in REST services which could not be identified by means of traditional testing methods, and provides limited testing coverage for services whose response format is unknown. It can be also useful as a complement to other testing mechanisms.

Special Issue on JITEL 2013 Best Papers

“…The first one [2] authored by A. Navas et al proposes an automatic error detection system for REST services. It considers XML format based responses produced at multiple service innovations so that web services can be systematically tested as a black-box without knowing its full specification.…”

A proposal for a model-based approach for adapting software configuration to runtime environments

“…One way in which the mining algorithm, and consequently this step, could be improved is by introducing type inference like the one used in XSD mining for XMLs [43]. This would allow to not only check structural correctness but also type correctness.…”