Overview of web service testing with the Generic Service Client

The generic service client invokes calls to any kind of service that uses an HTTP, JMS, or WebSphere® MQ transport and views the message that is returned by the service. The generic service client is useful for debugging or testing a service when you do not have access to a dedicated client to invoke the service call. You can set up a large variety of transport and security configurations for the service, edit the parameters of the call and send attachments.

For detailed information about how to use the generic service client to test web services, see Sending service requests with the generic service client.

Supported services

The generic service client can invoke requests for many types of services that use the following transport protocols:
  • HTTP
  • Java™ Message Service (JMS), including JBoss and WebSphere® implementations
  • WebSphere MQ
The Generic Service Client does not currently support testing secured web services.

Watch a demonstration of the Generic Service Client being used to test a web service: Testing web services with the Generic Service Client

Launching the generic service client

You can launch the Generic Service Client in the following ways:
  • Right-click a WSDL file in the Enterprise Explorer view, and select Web services > Test with Generic Service Client
  • Right-click a service node in the Services view, and select Test with Generic Service Client
  • From the Run menu, select Launch the Generic Service Client
  • In the web services wizards, select the Generic Service Client as your test facility. You can also set it as your default test facility in the web services Preferences.
  • Click the Launch the Generic Service Client icon in the toolbar:
    The button that launches the Generic Service Client

Limitations:

Arrays are not supported.

Because of a lack of specification, attachments are not supported with the Java Message Service (JMS) transport. The envelope is directly sent using UTF-8 encoding.

All security algorithms are not always available for every Java Runtime Environment (JRE) implementation. If a particular security implementation is not available, add the required libraries to the class path of the JRE that this product uses.

The generic service tester displays the envelope as reflected in the XML document. However, security algorithms consider the envelope as a binary. Therefore, you must set up the SOAP security configuration so that incoming and outgoing messages are correctly encrypted but remain decrypted inside the test.