Testing REST webservices? (Not Rails)

Testing RSpec
1

Hi,

I am new to RSpec and BDD.
I was wondering if RSpec specifications are a good solution for testing
REST webservices (not implemented in Rails).
If so, what would be a good way to test something like the API described
below?

===========

GET http://localhost/workflow text/xml

Result: 200 OK

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<workflows>
    <workflow>flow1</workflow>
    <workflow>flow2</workflow>
    <workflow>flow3</workflow>
</workflows>

POST http://localhost/workflow?name=flow4 text/xml

Data:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<workflow>
    <monitor type="page" priority="0">
        <provides result="test"/>
    </monitor>
    <process command="test" id="test" weight="100">
        <needs result="test"/>
        <provides result="test_result"/>
        <error result="error"/>
    </process>
</workflow>

Result: 201 Created

GET http://localhost/workflow text/xml

Result: 200 OK

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<workflows>
    <workflow>flow1</workflow>
    <workflow>flow2</workflow>
    <workflow>flow3</workflow>
    <workflow>flow4</workflow>
</workflows>

GET http://localhost/workflow/flow4 text/xml

Result: 200 OK

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<workflow>
    <monitor type="page" priority="0">
        <provides result="test"/>
    </monitor>
    <process command="test" id="test" weight="100">
        <needs result="test"/>
        <provides result="test_result"/>
        <error result="error"/>
    </process>
</workflow>

DELETE http://localhost/workflow/flow3

Result: 204 No Content

GET http://localhost/workflow text/xml

Result: 200 OK

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<workflows>
    <workflow>flow1</workflow>
    <workflow>flow2</workflow>
    <workflow>flow4</workflow>
</workflows>

=====

TIA,

Erik.

2

On 21 May 2008, at 21:37, Erik T. wrote:

I am new to RSpec and BDD.
I was wondering if RSpec specifications are a good solution for
testing REST webservices (not implemented in Rails).
If so, what would be a good way to test something like the API
described below?

Hi Erik

RSpec would be fine to test that, it’s just a web app returning XML
instead of HTML. You don’t say what you are building the web service
in. If you want acceptance/integration-style specs that are
implementation-independent, you could use the story runner with steps
to make HTTP requests. And look at Kyle’s rspec_hpricot_matchers for
a way of specifying XML output. You will also want unit specs for
your models, controllers etc which will be more framework-dependent.

That’s all I can offer based on your description.

Ashley

–
http://www.patchspace.co.uk/