Workflow
Your workflow will vary depending on your individual use case(s) and your level of expertise. The most significant influence on your workflow will be the use case. The process diagram below shows the different workflows on a high level.
The different workflows are discussed in more detail in the following sections.
Web Service
You can import an OpenAPI document describing the service's capabilities on the Tests Assets page or via the API to test your web services. GUARDARA validates and processes this document to create all the necessary test configurations so that you can run tests by simply clicking a button or calling the appropriate API endpoint. The test configurations produced by GUARDARA are fully configurable, editable and transparent.
The Web Service Testing process is made up of the following phases.
| # | Phase | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Document Validation | Static validation of your OpenAPI document to detect errors, security, design and implementation issues. |
| 2 | Analyzer Execution | A set of dynamic tests to verify the test configuration and the test target. |
| 3 | Performance Baseline Recording | Recording of a performance baseline to detect performance issues triggered by the test cases generated later, during the Test Execution phase. |
| 4 | Test Execution | Execution of the actual testing process. |
The Web Service Testing tutorial guides you through the entire process in more detail.
Web Application
GUARDARA's Google Chrome extension allows testing web applications with ease. Using the extension, you can start tests straight from your web browser with just three clicks.
Once the extension is installed and configured, the extension displays requests made by the web browser under the the REQUESTS tab. You can import captured requests into GUARDARA by right-clicking on the request you wish to import and selecting the Import to GUARDARA option from the context menu.
GUARDARA automatically creates the test assets for the imported requests, including the Message Template, Test Flow Template and the Project. You can start testing by clicking the Start Test button of the Project on the Test Assets page.
Should you need to customize any of the test configuration assets, you can do so by clicking the Edit button of the assets on the Test Assets page. The Message Template Designer and Flow Template Designer make customization of the assets quick and efficient.
The Web Application Testing tutorial guides you through the entire process in more detail.
Network Service
GUARDARA has an import feature that allows importing messages from Wireshark network captures. During the import process you can select whether to import the selected messages in a way suitable for Generation-based or Mutation-based test case generation.
While GUARDARA takes care of the most time-consuming process, the Message Template generation, it does not create Test Flow Templates and Projects for the imported data. Those have to be implemented manually according to your specific requirements.
The Network Service Testing tutorial guides you through the entire process in more detail.
Please note, depending on the network service you are testing and the protocol used to communicate with the service you may have to customize the generated Message Templates. Being familiar with the topics discussed by the Custom / Proprietary workflow and going through the related tutorial may come in handy.
Custom / Proprietary
GUARDARA supports testing custom, proprietary and legacy applications and services that could not be tested using any other workflows. GUARDARA excels at dealing with such targets. This workflow requires the most manual work. However, numerous features are available to make the process a lot less painful, faster and more efficient than it would take to create testing capability for these targets from scratch.
When testing custom, proprietary and legacy applications, you will likely have to manually create one or more test assets. Your workflow may involve creating Message Templates to model non-standard or unknown data structures, creating Test Flow Templates and configuring Projects before being able to run your first test.
The Custom / Proprietary Testing tutorial guides you through the process in more detail. To build high-quality tests efficiently, you will also have to familiarize yourself with the features and topics discussed by the User's Guide.