Since WSJ last looked at Mindreef's SOAPScope back in July '03 (Vol. 3, issue 7), much has been added in functionality and features to benefit the package. New items include integration with Visual Studio .NET, integration with the WS-I testing tools, a new Graph View for looking at historical data, and a differencing engine, among others. Overall, this is an excellent update; what follows are some of its highlights.

Visual Studio
Mindreef has nicely integrated access to the SOAPscope tool into Visual Studio .NET. (at the time of this writing, a plug-in for the Eclipse platform was also under development, and will be available shortly) As seen in Figure 1, developers have complete access to all SOAPscope functions from the workspace. One of the nice advantages of this is the ability to launch a Web service in the debugger, and then use SOAPscope's Invoke functionality to test the service without using the separate instance of IE. Seemingly a small detail, but these details are what this tool excels at.

Another nice feature of the Visual Studio integration is the ability to use SOAPscope to test and validate Web References before adding them to the project. By pointing the Visual Studio Add Web Reference tool to the SOAPScope repository, all services registered in the repository become available to the developer. From here, each available WSDL may be viewed, tested using WS-I tools, analyzed, compared against other versions for changes, and tested using the Invoke functionality. We've been told by Mindreef that by the time this article has been printed, an Eclipse version will be available.

Interoperability Testing
SOAPScope provides a set of tools for testing the interoperability of Web services. The Message Analysis tool submits logged messages to a series of compatability tests including conformance to SOAP 1.1, conformance to WSDL 1.1, XML parsing and schema validation errors, as well as against a set of best practices. Additionally, SoapScope has added SOAPscope has added the ability to use WS-I testing tools to produce a WS-I Basic Profile Conformance Report. It supports both the Java and C# versions of the toolset. The only requirements from the developer's perspective are downloading and installing either the Java or C# test kit from the WS-I Web site, and pointing SOAPscope to the installation directory. Once set up, executing a test is as simple as specifying the WSDL document and the service port to use.

Graph View
Figure 1 also shows the new Graph View that has been included in this version of SOAPscope. Messages archived in the local database may be viewed in three different graphs: Response Time, Message Frequency, and Transaction Size. The graph itself is also interactive. By clicking on a data point within the graph, the view is zoomed to include the relevant information captured by that point. This utility helps developers visualize the performance and characteristics of the Web services they are using.

Differencing Engine
Another new addition since we last looked at SOAPscope is the differencing engine, which supports both WSDL documents and SOAP messages. Its output is a clear and concise summary of the changes within a document. When comparing WSDL documents, developers may compare the WSDL stored in SOAPscope with the server version, a previously cached version, or a version stored at an arbitrary URL. This makes it easier to spot out-of-date WSDL references.

Company Information
Mindreef, Inc.
22 Proctor Hill Road
Hollis, NH 03049
Tel: 603-465-2204
Fax: 603.465.6583
Web: www.mindreef.com
E-mail: mrsoapscope@mindreef.com

Download Information
www.mindreef.com
Price: $99

Summary
Mindreef's new version of SOAPscope features a set of very nice enhancements that add to an already solid product. Its Visual Studio integration will improve the productivity of its user; it has made WS-I testing tools easy to use; and the additional information available from the Graph View, enhanced analysis module, and the differencing engine make development and testing Web services more efficient. As Joe Mitchko said in the original review, "Like a Swiss Army Knife, it is a trusted tool that you will use again and again."