Minimal Service Implementations for Client System Testing

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Solution Overview

Problem

There is a need to effectively test client systems consuming contractual services on different server systems, particularly in varying operating environments, as existing methods lack efficient mechanisms for simulating responses and ensuring interoperability between web services and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) services.

Innovation Solution

The approach involves generating minimal implementations of contractual services, which provide arbitrary outputs consistent with the contract specifications, allowing client systems to invoke and receive responses from these implementations, facilitating quick testing across different server environments, including web services and SOA services.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If minimal implementations are generated to simulate contractual service responses, then testing speed and efficiency improve, but system complexity increases due to implementation generation mechanisms

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetesting speedVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by generating minimal implementations of contractual services before actual testing begins. These stub implementations are created in advance based on service contracts, allowing client systems to be tested immediately without waiting for full service implementations to be available.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The minimal implementations act as intermediaries between the client system under test and the actual contractual services. These stubs receive requests from the client system and return simulated responses, mediating the interaction without requiring the real services to be operational.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Ease of operation

If arbitrary outputs are provided by minimal implementations, then interoperability testing becomes easier, but measurement precision of service behavior decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinteroperability testing easeVSAvoidservice behavior accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The system creates simplified copies of actual service implementations called minimal implementations or stubs. These copies replicate the essential interface and contract behavior of the real services, allowing client systems to be tested against them without needing the full complexity of the actual service logic.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentUS9043384B2Testing of client systems consuming contractual services on different server systems

Publication Date: 2015.05.26 ORACLE INT CORP

AI summary

An aspect of the present invention facilitates testing of client systems consuming contractual services on different server systems. In one embodiment, a contract (for which the client system is sought to be tested) is first inspected to determine the set of contractual services present in the contract and a minimal implementation for each of the determined set of contractual services is generated. The minimal implementations are designed to merely provide arbitrary outputs consistent with the contract. On receiving a request to invoke a desired one of the set of contractual services from the client system, a corresponding response is sent due to invocation of the (minimal) implementation generated for the desired contractual service, thereby facilitating testing of client system for a different server system.