SOAP - testing SOAP

Right — testing SOAP endpoints is often much easier with the right tooling before you start writing code. The main options people use are:

• SoapUI

  • Purpose-built for SOAP.

  • Lets you import a WSDL, auto-generate requests, edit XML, and run functional/regression tests.

  • Great for debugging namespace mismatches and SOAPAction issues.

• Postman

  • Originally more REST-focused, but you can absolutely send raw SOAP XML as the request body.

  • Just set the body type to raw → XML, and add the right Content-Type (text/xml) and SOAPAction headers.

  • More modern interface and team collaboration features than SoapUI.

• Fiddler

  • Not a SOAP client per se, but an HTTP traffic sniffer.

  • Useful for watching what your app actually sends, comparing it with a working client, and tweaking the request manually.

  • Helpful when dealing with authentication, headers, or HTTPS quirks.

• cURL (bonus)

  • For quick command-line testing:

    curl -X POST http://localhost/MyService.asmx \
      -H "Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8" \
      -H "SOAPAction: http://tempuri.org/HelloWorld" \
      -d @soap-request.xml
    

This kind of manual testing is invaluable before you wire up your HttpClient or generated proxy, because you can confirm the service’s expected envelope shape, namespaces, and headers.