Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/237035

Title

A metamorphic relation-based approach to testing Web services without oracles

Author(s)

Sun, Chang-ai;  Wang, Guan;  Mu, Baohong;  Liu, Huai;  Wang, ZhaoShun;  Chen, T. Y.

Abstract

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) has become a major application development paradigm. As a basic unit of SOA applications, Web services significantly affect the quality of the applications constructed from them. In the context of SOA, the specification and implementation of Web services are completely separated. The lack of source code and the restricted control of Web services limit the testability of Web services, and make the oracle problem prominent. In this context, can one alleviate the test oracle problem, or effectively and efficiently test such Web services even without oracles? It is an important issue which has not been yet adequately addressed. To address the challenge of testing Web services, the authors propose a metamorphic relation-based approach to testing Web services without oracles. The proposed approach leverages so-called metamorphic relations to generate test cases and evaluate test results. To make the proposed approach practical and effective, the authors proposed a framework taking into account the unique features of SOA, and developed a prototype which partially automates the framework. Three case studies are conducted to validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The work presented in the paper not only alleviates the test oracle problem of testing Web services, but also delivers an effective and efficient test technique without oracles.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology

Source

International Journal of Web Services Research, Vol. 9, no. 1 (Jan-Mar 2012), pp. 51-73

Publication year

2012

FOR Code(s)

08 Information and Computing Sciences

Keyword(s)

Metamorphic testing;  Service Oriented Architecture;  Software;  Testing;  Test oracle;  Web services

Publisher

IGI Global

ISSN

1545-7362

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/jwsr.2012010103

Copyright

Copyright © 2012 IGI Global.

Research Projects

Metamorphic testing: an in depth study to enhance the failure detection capability of software testing without an oracle, Australian Research Council grant DP0771733

Additional information

This paper is an extended version of paper titled 'Metamorphic testing for Web services: framework and a case study' in Proceedings of the 9th IEEE International Conference on Web Services (TCWS 2011) (see: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/205163).

Peer reviewed