WS-I Validation in NetBeans using soapUI Plugin

It's possible to perform WS-I validation of both WSDL files and SOAP messages in NetBeans IDE, using the soapUI plugin, available from the Update Center for NetBeans 6.1 Beta and 6.1 RC 1. soapUI is a leading tool for testig web services, developed by eviware. It's free, open-source software, with a vast feature set that includes Functional and Load Testing for Web Services, Web Services Simulation and Web Service Monitoring. In order to use the soapUI plugin for WS-I validation, you need to download and set up the Interoperability Testing Tool:

1. Download the Java version of the Interoperability Testing Tool from the WS-I.org Deliverables page.
2. Unzip the tool into the location of your choice.
3. Create a WSI_HOME environment variable set to the location of the unzipped Interoperability Testing Tool.
4. Open the IDE and navigate to Tools > soapUI > Preferences. Open the WS-I Settings tab and, in the Tool Location field, enter the location of the downloaded and unzipped wsi-test-tools folder. Select other options according to your preferences and click OK.
   
   

To validate WSDL files, right-click the binding node in the Web Service Tests node and select Check WS-I Compliance.

To validate SOAP messages, first monitor a SOAP request and response, as follows:

1. Find the binding node in the Web Service Tests node and expand it to show the requests.
2. Right-click a request and open the Request Editor, described in soapUI documentation.
3. In the Request Editor, send a request and wait for the response.
4. Right-click in the response window and select Check WS-I Compliance.
   
   

Each WS-I report opens in its own tab. The report is saved automatically if you set a location to save reports in the soapUI preferences. You can also save the report manually by clicking the Save icon above the body of the report.



You can see the test configuration used to generate the test report in the Config tab. SOAP message test reports also have a Log tab, which is an XML log of the request and response SOAP exchange.

Note:  This procedure was tested on Windows XP and Vista, with JDK 6 and JDK 5. The experiences of users with other systems would be most welcome!