Subscriptions Test Kit

The Subscriptions Test Suite verifies the conformance of systems to the FHIR Subscriptions framework as specified in the HL7® FHIR® R5 version and above. For systems using the R4 and R4B releases of FHIR, it verifies Subscription functionality against the Subscriptions R5 Backport IG that specifies how to use R5 Subscriptions functionality within those earlier versions.

Status

These tests are a DRAFT intended to allow implementers to perform preliminary checks of their systems against Subscriptions capabilities backported from FHIR R5 to R4 and provide feedback on the tests. Future versions of these tests may verify other requirements and may change the test verification logic. The test kit currently includes suites for systems implementing FHIR R4 only.

Test Scope and Limitations

The Subscriptions Test Kit includes suites for the following Subscriptions actors and versions:

• Subscriptions R4 Client Test Suite: Verifies that a FHIR R4 system implements FHIR R5 Subscriptions client capabilities as specified in the Subscriptions R5 Backport IG, namely the ability to request a Subscription and receive notifications.
• Subscriptions R4 Server Test Suite: Verifies that a FHIR R4 system implements FHIR R5 Subscriptions server capabilities as specified in the Subscriptions R5 Backport IG, namely the ability to receive Subscription requests and send notifications.

Documentation of the current tests and their limitations can be found in each suite’s description when the tests are run and can also be viewed in the source code:

• Subscriptions R4 Client Test Suite Documentation
• Subscriptions R4 Server Test Suite Documentation

Test Scope

To validate the behavior of the system under test, Inferno will act as an exchange partner. Specifically,

• When testing a Subscriptions client: Inferno will simulate a Subscriptions server by responding to Subscription API requests (e.g., create interactions and the $status operation) and sending notifications as directed by created Subscription instances.
• When testing a Subscriptions server: Inferno will simulate a Subscriptions client by requesting a Subscription with notifications delivered to an Inferno-hosted endpoint and responding to notifications sent to that endpoint by the server under test.

Known Limitations

This test kit is still in draft form and does not test all of the requirements and features described in the R5 Subscriptions framework or its backport to R4. You can find information on the requirements that the test kit covers and does not cover in the Requirements Coverage CSV document.

Specific current limitations to highlight include:

• Channels: Inferno only supports the rest-hook notification delivery channel.
• Error Handling and Recovery: Inferno does not test error handling and the ability to recover from errors or missed notifications, including the $events operation.
• Heartbeat Notifications: Inferno will not send heartbeat notifications when simulating a Subscriptions server for the client test suite.
• FHIR Versions: Inferno only supports verification of FHIR R4 systems.

Reporting Issues

Please report any issues with this set of tests in the GitHub Issues section of the open-source code repository.