AUTOMATICALLY GENERATING SERVICE DOCUMENTATION BASED ON ACTUAL USAGE

• US 20170012838A1
• Filed: 07/09/2015
• Published: 01/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Yahalom, Saar, Kashtan, Guy, Schlesinger, Benny
• Granted Patent: US 9,954,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0273 using web services for network management, e.g. simple object access protocol [SOAP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A computer system automatically generates service documentation based on usage of a web service. The computer system captures network traffic including actual requests to a service endpoint of the web service and actual responses from the service endpoint of the web service. The captured network traffic can be analyzed using machine learning to determine one or more operations that are available at the service endpoint, input arguments that are accepted by the service endpoint, and output arguments that are provided by the service endpoint. The computer system can automatically generate service documentation for the web service based on metadata that identifies the operations, the input arguments, and the output arguments.

Claims

1. A computer system for automatically generating service documentation based on usage of a web service, the computer system comprising:

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions; and

memory storing computer-executable instructions configured to;

capture network traffic including actual requests to a service endpoint of the web service and actual responses from the service endpoint of the web service;

analyze captured network traffic to determine one or more operations that are available at the service endpoint, input arguments that are accepted by the service endpoint, and output arguments that are provided by the service endpoint;

generate metadata for the service endpoint that identifies the one or more operations, the input arguments, and the output arguments;

automatically generate service documentation for the web service based on the metadata; and

communicate the service documentation for the web service to a client device.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the input arguments include one or more of:

headers supplied in the actual requests to the service endpoint and message body content supplied in the actual requests to the service endpoint.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the output arguments include one or more of:

headers provided in the actual responses from the service endpoint, status codes provided in the actual responses from the service endpoint, and message body content provided in the actual responses from the service endpoint.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein analyzing the captured network traffic comprises determining whether each of the input arguments is mandatory or optional.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein analyzing the captured network traffic comprises determining a data type of each input argument.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein analyzing the captured network traffic comprises determining frequent values for one or more of the input arguments.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions configured to select an actual request to the service endpoint for use as a sample request message.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions configured to calculate statistics pertaining to one or more of:

usage of the operations of the service endpoint,

usage of values for the input arguments,

usage of different service endpoints of the web service, and

usage of different versions of the web service.

9. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions configured to search or filter the service documentation based on message data included in one or more actual requests to the service endpoint.

10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores computer-executable instructions configured to generate synthetic requests to the service endpoint.

11. A computer-implemented method performed by a computer system to automatically generate service documenting based on usage of a web service, the computer-implemented method comprising:

capturing network traffic including actual requests to a service endpoint of the web service and actual responses from the service endpoint of the web service;

analyzing captured network traffic to determine one or more operations that are available at the service endpoint, input arguments that are accepted by the service endpoint, and output arguments that are provided by the service endpoint; and

automatically generating service documentation for the web service based on the one or more operations, the input arguments, and the output arguments.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating metadata for the service endpoint that identifies the one or more operations, the input arguments, and the output arguments.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining whether each of the input arguments is mandatory or optional.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting an actual request to the service endpoint for use as a sample request message.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

calculating statistics pertaining to usage of the service endpoint.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

filtering, by the computer system, the service documentation based on message data included in one or more actual requests to the service endpoint.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating synthetic requests to the service endpoint; and

analyzing the synthetic requests and responses to the synthetic requests to determine an additional operation that is available at the service endpoint, input arguments that are accepted by the service endpoint to perform the additional operation, and output arguments that are provided by the service endpoint when the additional operation is performed.

18. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to implement:

a network traffic capturer configured to capture actual requests to a service endpoint of a web service and capture actual responses from the service endpoint of the web service;

a machine learning component configured to analyze captured network traffic and generate metadata that identifies one or more operations that are available at the service endpoint, input arguments that are accepted by the service endpoint, and output arguments that are provided by the service endpoint; and

a service documentation generator configured to automatically generate service documentation for the web service based on the metadata.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the machine learning component is further configured to:

determine a data type of each input argument,

determine whether each of the input arguments is mandatory or optional,

select an actual request to the service endpoint for use as a sample request, and

calculate statistics pertaining to usage of the operations of the service endpoint.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, further storing computer-executable instructions that implement a synthetic request generator configured to generate synthetic requests to the service endpoints of the web service for exploring functionality of the web service.