Web API Fragility: How Robust Is Your Mobile Application?
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The document analyzes the robustness of mobile applications against web API fragility, highlighting that many apps fail silently when faced with API response mutations. It identifies common issues, such as application crashes and errors due to specific types of response message alterations. Recommendations for improvement include adopting hateoas versioning, enhancing error reporting, and implementing validity checks for API responses.
Web API Fragility: How Robust Is Your Mobile Application?
- 1. Web API Fragility How Robust Is Your Mobile Application? Tiago Espinha, Andy Zaidman, Gerd Gross MobileSoft 2015, Firenze, Italy
- 6. Developer decides when Web API provider decides when
- 8. v1 v2
- 9. What is the damage?
- 10. 43 Android apps Proxy server
- 12. Mutation operators on response message - Remove node - Add irrelevant node - Malformed response - Empty message response - Change of implicit data type - Data formatting disruption
- 13. Mutation operators on response message - Remove node - Add irrelevant node - Malformed response - Empty message response - Change of implicit data type - Data formatting disruption
- 14. App behaviour • Force close • Error message (no silent fail) • Timeout (versus indefinitely loading) • No indication
- 16. • >50% apps fail silently • Most apps fairly robust (30% crash on field removal) Recommendations • HATEAOS versioning of Web APIs • Better error reporting for users • Built-in validity checks for Web API response • Design for change when dealing with Web APIs