Traffic Viewer/Diff tool issue

JeffStrom

I am using SOAtest 2023.2 and have noticed that with the Traffic Viewer response (which I then validate using a Diff tool), an empty XML item is shown as the following (file attached).

In migrating to this version from a prior version, this issue breaks a very significant number of tests. Is there a setting in SOAtest such that the extra text is not part of the response?

JeffStrom

Actual:

JeffStrom

Actual and expected results

benken_parasoft

The Traffic Viewer simply shows the response from your service. If the response from your service changed then you would need to ask someone who understands your service as to why it is returning a different response than what you expect.

You show these extra attributes:

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:nil="true"

This is the typical way to say that the element represents a null pointer as opposed to an empty string, for example.

benken_parasoft

Please also be aware that the Traffic Viewer may not show you the original response but a pretty-printed or "beautified" version. Please review Parasoft > Preferences > Misc > Auto Beautify > Traffic Viewer.

JeffStrom

I probably should have mentioned that this issue is for database validations so the Traffic Viewer is for a SQL query.

For example, please note that SOAtest 2020.2 shows such empty XML nodes as ; the only difference is the version of SOAtest (2020.2 vs. 2023.2) - the other odd part is that some empty nodes with SOAtest 2023.2 are shown as , but none as as with SOAtest 2020.2 (our current tool version).

JeffStrom

Added file for SQL results ("SQL Results in XML.txt")

benken_parasoft

This is an intentional change made a few years ago for the SOAtest 2021.2 release.
From the SOAtest 2021.2 release notes:

SOA-8013 Database Tool Returns zero or empty string for null values

Previously, the result set XML did not distinguish whether a value was a null as opposed to empty string or zero but now it does. The Traffic Viewer's Table view will also now render null values a special way, those that have xsi:nil="true" in the XML representation.

Is there a setting in SOAtest such that the extra text is not part of the response?

No. Please update your Diff controls, for example.