Rocket Surgery

In an earlier post I wrote about how you can use JMeter to do automated functional and regression testing for web services. In this post I will talk about how you can parameterize your tests from external files to quickly get more thorough tests.

Parameterizing tests means that you run the test with different data each time, the data being passed in as parameters to your test. Obviously it would be preferable to run the same test 50 times with different values than to explicity put 50 different tests in the script that are identical except for the value used (duh.)

JMeter has a facility for doing just that. In my opinion, it’s a bit crude, but it works, and that’s what really counts.

Let’s start with a JMeter test that calls a web service. (You can download my sample). The test calls a web service that gives you the words for an integer (e.g., “fifteen” for 15), and calls the service three times with the same value (15) hard-coded in it, and looks for a 200 response code from the service, and the word “fifteen” in the response SOAP envelope. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve started introducing Apache JMeter at my workplace as a tool for automatic functional and load testing of Web Services. This is the first of what I plan to be the first of a multi-part series on setting up JMeter, developing tests for it, and incorporating its output as part of an overall strategy for testing our code as it moves through the lifecycle.

A bit about JMeter

At the JMeter site, they define JMeter as “…a 100% pure Java desktop application designed to load test functional behavior and measure performance. It was originally designed for testing Web Applications but has since expanded to other test functions.” One of the other types of applications it can test is a Web Service - which of course is not terribly different from testing a regular web application.
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Ever since GotDotNet shut down, it’s become very difficult to find a copy of the .NET Web Service Studio 2.0.

So, as a public service, I am providing it for download free of charge here.

If you’re not familiar with it, here is a blurb from the readme and a screenshot:

.NET Webservice Studio is a tool to invoke webmethods interactively. The user can provide a WSDL endpoint. On clicking button Get the tool fetches the WSDL, generates .NET proxy from the WSDL and displays the list of methods available. The user can choose any method and provide the required input parameters. On clicking Invoke the SOAP request is sent to the server and the response is parsed to display the return value.

This tool is meant for webservice implementers to test their webservices without having to write the client code. This could also be used to access other webservices whose WSDL endpoint is known.

Lately I have started messing with Apache’s CXF Web Services framework. Now I must admit, I have held a bias for a long time for market share. Products, frameworks, packages, etc. that have the highest market adoption usually (not always) do for a reason. Working with a niche product is fine, but in my opinion the benefits of the product should significantly outweigh the risks and effort of swimming against the current. Maybe that makes me sound like a lemming, but I find that there are relatively few cases where the special benefits of a fringe product can really be brought to bear.
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