REST Template Parameter parsing
The TEMPLATE parameter type for REST calls doesn't properly generate the URL.
I've watched the URL endpoint for what a REST request looks like when only using QUERY parameters, and it ends up looking something like this:
https://<hostname>/<service>?<param1=value1>&....<paramN=valueN> where <hostname> would be the DNS or IP address of the server running the RESTful services, and <service> is the URL extension to the exact service (for example /test/rest/getXMLDocs).
When working with TEMPLATE parameters, the URL should end up looking like:
https://<hostname>/<service>/{template}?<param1=value1>&....<paramN=valueN>. In my case the {template} parameter is a relative path to a file on the server (for example, /store/docs/testDocument.xml). The entire URL put together is a GET request for a specific file and resembles
https://<hostname>/test/rest/getXMLDocs/store/docs/testDocument.xml?request.preventCache=true
If I type the above into a browser, it will correctly return me the file I'm after. But in SoapUI what is generated in the request header is a URL that looks like this:
https://<hostname>/?request.peventCache=true
The absence of the <service> and {template} elements in the request is causing my endpoints to either reject the request as malformed or return an incorrect response because the web service thinks I am trying to call /index.
I am using SoapUI 4.5.2 free, but this problem may also exist in the Pro. I can't say whether this problem exists for http calls or for SOAP calls because all I'm using right now is RESTful services over https. I'm researching doing a work around by using a Groovy script to manually set the header to the correct URL, but I wanted to let you know that this problem is out there.
Edit: I've checked the error logs and there is an exception that comes back: java.net.URISyntaxException: Illegal character in path at index 55.... The index corresponds to the { which indicates the start of the template parameter in the url {file:.*}. I am not allowed to post my exact error log because the server URL contained in the log is considered proprietary.
Edit2: I've done more work and this actually not a major defect as I first thought. What happened is that SoapUI did not correctly parse the {file:.*} template parameter and instead read it as just "file" which caused the template to not be filled out correctly. The URL being submitted therefore contained a { in it, which caused the parser to throw the exception. Once I opened up the method resource window, selected the resource path, and hit enter, SoapUI immediately asked if I wanted to add "file:.*" as a TEMPLATE parameter. Once I did that and disabled URL encoding, everything worked peachily. There's still an issue with the parameter parsing, but it's a pretty minor one and easy to work around.
I've watched the URL endpoint for what a REST request looks like when only using QUERY parameters, and it ends up looking something like this:
https://<hostname>/<service>?<param1=value1>&....<paramN=valueN> where <hostname> would be the DNS or IP address of the server running the RESTful services, and <service> is the URL extension to the exact service (for example /test/rest/getXMLDocs).
When working with TEMPLATE parameters, the URL should end up looking like:
https://<hostname>/<service>/{template}?<param1=value1>&....<paramN=valueN>. In my case the {template} parameter is a relative path to a file on the server (for example, /store/docs/testDocument.xml). The entire URL put together is a GET request for a specific file and resembles
https://<hostname>/test/rest/getXMLDocs/store/docs/testDocument.xml?request.preventCache=true
If I type the above into a browser, it will correctly return me the file I'm after. But in SoapUI what is generated in the request header is a URL that looks like this:
https://<hostname>/?request.peventCache=true
The absence of the <service> and {template} elements in the request is causing my endpoints to either reject the request as malformed or return an incorrect response because the web service thinks I am trying to call /index.
I am using SoapUI 4.5.2 free, but this problem may also exist in the Pro. I can't say whether this problem exists for http calls or for SOAP calls because all I'm using right now is RESTful services over https. I'm researching doing a work around by using a Groovy script to manually set the header to the correct URL, but I wanted to let you know that this problem is out there.
Edit: I've checked the error logs and there is an exception that comes back: java.net.URISyntaxException: Illegal character in path at index 55.... The index corresponds to the { which indicates the start of the template parameter in the url {file:.*}. I am not allowed to post my exact error log because the server URL contained in the log is considered proprietary.
Edit2: I've done more work and this actually not a major defect as I first thought. What happened is that SoapUI did not correctly parse the {file:.*} template parameter and instead read it as just "file" which caused the template to not be filled out correctly. The URL being submitted therefore contained a { in it, which caused the parser to throw the exception. Once I opened up the method resource window, selected the resource path, and hit enter, SoapUI immediately asked if I wanted to add "file:.*" as a TEMPLATE parameter. Once I did that and disabled URL encoding, everything worked peachily. There's still an issue with the parameter parsing, but it's a pretty minor one and easy to work around.
