Testing with Microsoft™ .NET objects

You can import serializable .NET objects from .NET assembly files (.exe or .dll) into IBM® Rational® Integration Tester and apply them to messages in the same way as you would apply a schema. A service-based test or stub can then send and receive a message containing a serialized form of a .NET object from the assembly file. You can construct and parse the .NET objects and perform validation, but you cannot test the objects directly.

Rational® Integration Tester makes available as schema roots those classes that meet the following requirements:
  • The class must be public.
  • The class and all its references must be serializable, that is, marked with the [Serializable] attribute.
  • The class must have a public no-argument constructor.
  • The class must be instantiable.
Of the classes added, the following are supported and will be visible in the resulting schema:
  • Public fields (primitive data types, single dimensional arrays, ArrayList, and List<>)
  • Public properties
This schema and associated roots can then be applied to messages in the usual way from the schema wizard.
Note: A .NET object schema can be applied to byte array or string fields. Byte array fields are serialized to binary format, and string fields are serialized to XML format.

Requirements

Microsoft™ .NET Framework

If you want to use Rational® Integration Tester with .NET, you must install the following software:
  • Microsoft™ .NET Framework 4 or later (Microsoft™ .NET Framework Client Profile is different from the full version and does not meet the requirement)
  • Microsoft™ Windows™ SDK for Windows™ 7 and .NET Framework 4 or later
    Note: Some versions of Microsoft™ Windows™ do not support the .NET Framework. For information about supported operating systems, go to the Microsoft™ website.

Rational® Integration Tester DLL file

After installing the required .NET Framework software, you must add the GHDotNetUtils.dll file to the global assembly cache (GAC). The GHDotNetUtils.dll file is located in the root of the Rational® Integration Tester installation directory.
Note: Sometimes, Rational® Integration Tester might detect the GHDotNetUtils.dll file, but adding the file to the GAC ensures that it will be detected by Rational® Integration Tester.