How to setup a getDescription request in SOAP UI

SOAP UI is a powerful and easy to use tool to test web services. In a previous post I showed you how to start a SOAP UI project and execute a run request. There are other requests to run in SOAP UI so this week will be how to set up and execute a “getDescription” request. This request can be useful to see what information the web service is expecting to handle.

SOAP UI is a powerful and easy to use tool to test web services. In a previous post I showed you how to start a SOAP UI project and execute a run request. There are other requests to run in SOAP UI so this week will be how to set up and execute a “getDescription” request. This request can be useful to see what information the web service is expecting to handle.

If you missed the first post on how to start a SOAP UI project, you can read it here: http://www.rebdev.com/2019/12/how-to-start-a-web-service-project-in-soap-ui/

Choose the project to run a read request. Double click the request to open the template

Replace the ‘?’ with the appropriate information.

codeLang: language

poolAlias: name of the X3 environment

publicName: name of the web service

Click the Auth button at the bottom of the screen. Type your X3 credentials & make sure “Authenticate pre-emptively” is selected

Click the green start arrow at the top of the window.

The XML result will be the fields the web service expects input for and the output fields based on how the web service is set up in X3

How to Start a Web Service Project in SOAP UI

Web services can be a great and easy way to communicate with X3. Being an industry standard, web services allow easy communication between X3 and many outside systems. Using web services allow for real-time transactions and feedback. You will know instantly if your transaction was successfully processed or if an error occurred. SOAP UI software makes testing these services easy. The software replicates a third party product making it easier to identify issues. Templates can also be saved with parameters already defined, making running process quick. In this post, I’ll show you how to connect SOAP UI to X3 and begin a project.

First, you will need to get the web service URL from your X3. Do this by navigating to Administration > Administration > Web services > Classic SOAP Web Services. Highlight the URL, right click & copy the address for later.

Open your SOAP UI program. (If you need to download the program, go here: https://www.soapui.org/ ) In the top tool bar navigate to File > New SOAP Project

Give your project a name(i.e. Client name_X3 test folder). In the Initial WSDL field, paste the link copied from X3 and press “OK”.

At this point, the program will attempt to make a connection to X3

If successful, your project will now be listed on the left hand list of projects with a connection icon below it(two green arrows). If your connection was unsuccessful, check your URL from X3 and try connecting again

Click the “+” next to the connection to expand your process options. Click the “+” next to the process you’d like to run. In this example I chose “run” . Double click on “Request 1” to start a new run request

By double clicking a request, a template will pop up for you to edit

Replace the “?” with the relevant information.  codeLang = ENG ; poolAlias is the X3 folder you are working in; poolId can stay blank(delete the “?”); request config is the string from the image below(use this if you are using JSON formatting); publicName is the name of the web service created in X3

The information that populates the inputXML/ CDATA tag will differ depending on the web service you are running. In this case, the web service is expecting some input data(in brown text) and if successful, will return a defined output.

When you have your template filled in sufficiently navigate to the bottom of your work space window where there is a button that says “Auth”. SOAP UI needs to validate your X3 credentials

Add a new authorization

Choose “Basic”

Enter your X3 credentials & click “Authenticate Pre-emptively”

Press the green arrow at the top off the pop up window to run the request

The results will populate on the right side of the window. You may have to do some troubleshooting if you did not get the results you expected.

If there was an error, an error message will be at the bottom of the returned output

For more information or help with web services, please reach out to us at (412) 226-3086 or admin@rebdev.com