Michael Ruth

Towards automating regression test selection for web services

This paper reports a framework that makes it possible to carry out safe regression test selection for verification of Web services in an end-to-end manner. The Safe RTS technique has been integrated into a systematic method that monitors distributed code modifications and automates the RTS and RT processes. In doing so, a number of issues due to concurrent changes are recognized and solved.

Applying Safe Regression Test Selection Techniques to Java Web Services

Existing safe regression test selection techniques, especially the white-box testing methods, do not work with Web service applications due to the inherent distributed nature of Web service systems. In this paper, we have presented a code transformation approach to regression test selection. The transformed code forms a local Java program which simulates the functionality and behavior of the Web service applications in an end-to-end manner. Safe regression test selection techniques can then be applied to the transformed code and safely reduce test cases for the Web service applications. A safe regression test selection technique has an additional quality in that it guarantees that nothing that could produce an error in the first set of tests will be left untested in the second set of tests under certain well-defined conditions. Additionally, we provide implementation details as well as an example

Concurrency Issues in Automating RTS for Web Services

Regression testing (RT), testing software with previously used test cases, is a mainstream practice in software maintenance. Regression test selection (RTS) is to reduce the number of tests which need to be retested. Safe RTS techniques add the assurance that no modification-revealing test case will be left unselected. Several effective safe RTS techniques were developed for traditional applications, but none of them can be directly applied to Web services, even though there have been RT tools and techniques for Web services test-case generation, and ranking competing services. We have developed an approach to adapt Rothermel and Harrolds safe RTS technique to Web services. This approach was designed to be automated. In doing so, we have recognized a set of challenging issues that arise as a result of multiple concurrent modifications in distributed, autonomous, but still interconnected services. We believe not only these issues are common to any automated RTS approach, the needs for the solutions to these issues will also become more and more keen as composite Web services are getting more and more ubiquitous.

Empirical studies of a decentralized regression test selection framework for web services

As Web services grow in popularity and use, it is becoming more important for organizations to verify their evolving services to ensure that they are providing a desired level of confidence and one of the most common ways to perform this verification is regression testing. Safe regression test selection techniques are often employed in conjunction with regression testing to reduce the associated costs of testing without reducing the level of confidence provided. In a previous work, a framework which automates the safe regression test selection and regression testing processes was developed in a decentralized, end-to-end manner. This paper reports an empirical study of the framework designed to compare the cost of performing the proposed approach and running the selected tests with the cost of running all tests without performing a selection step. The results indicate that the framework can be effective in reducing the costs of performing regression test selection.

A client-side framework enabling callbacks from Web services

We have designed and implemented a framework assisting client-side applications to utilize asynchronous Web services that deliver results by calling back the applications in the context of enterprise security. This framework can support a number of rich features such as the single-request/multiple-response (SRMR) message exchange pattern, resumable clients, intra-enterprise user and terminal mobility, and flexible interaction modes for client applications to communicate with asynchronous Web services. Practical deployment of this framework in a number of cases has illustrated that this framework can effectively minimize development efforts in facilitating client applications to use Web services with callbacks.

A framework for applications utilizing Web services with callbacks

In this paper, we report on a client-side framework that allows applications to consume Web services that adhere to the callback pattern in the context of network security schemes. This framework supports extensions of the callback pattern such as the one-request-multiple-response pattern, also allows the applications to consume the callback results in a flexible way.

A framework for Web service with callbacks for resumable clients

We have addressed a special case of the asynchronous Web services - Web services with callbacks to resumable clients in the context of network security. Resumable clients refer to the applications that have intermittent connectivity or may intentionally disconnect from the networks and later reconnect due to considerations such as energy preservation. We have designed and implemented a client-side framework that supports Web services with callbacks for resumable clients. Our framework has achieved a number of capabilities including time decoupling, intra-enterprise location transparency, and reliable delivery. Using our solution we have implemented two non-trivial systems.