Web Service Validation Enabling Test-Driven Development of Service-Oriented Applications

Abstract

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is an important software development practice that enables rapid iterations, refactoring, and improved quality. Supporting TDD can be difficult when building Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications, since standard test frameworks often do not have capabilities for performing and validating Web service (WS) calls; invoking Web services depends on running and connecting to a service container; and services and clients often have entirely separate implementations. In this paper we present case studies of two SOA applications we developed, GRIDL[i] and TxFlow. These are distributed, multi-language applications using Web services as the interface between service and client components. They implement Web service and client tests both for verification and validation of the application components and to facilitate the TDD process. Our approach to Web service testing to support TDD is easily reproducible in any SOA application without requiring significant development effort or changes to the software design.