Test system for testing dynamic information returned by a web server

• US 20030120464A1
• Filed: 12/21/2001
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Johnson, Debra L., Taft, Frederick D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,665,634 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/186
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation

Abstract

The present invention provides methods, a computer-readable medium, a software system, a system, a testing system and an article of manufacture for tracking information received by a user from a network wherein the information includes at least some dynamic information. One embodiment of the method includes the steps of parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information and validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information.

Claims

1. A method of tracking information received by a user from a network wherein the information includes at least some dynamic information, comprising the steps of:

parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein validating the static information, if present, includes using a comparison string to check for a match.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information includes comparing information received with a predetermined comparison string, wherein tags inserted into the predetermined comparison string are used to distinguish static information from dynamic information, extracting the dynamic information, and comparing static information of the predetermined comparison string to received information that is static.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein, for the dynamic information that is extracted, validating the dynamic information includes checking functionality of web-based services utilizing a predetermined test suite.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein validating the dynamic information includes, where an asset ID is expected, verifying that an ID received for dynamic information is a valid asset ID.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein validating the dynamic information includes assigning a name to a selected portion of the dynamic information received and saving the selected portion under the name.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein, where the name has been assigned to the selected portion of the dynamic information received and the selected portion of dynamic information has been saved under the name, further including sending another request referencing the name of the selected portion of the dynamic information.

10. The method of claim 2 wherein the dynamic information is validated by sequentially running a predetermined series of test cases.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein sequencing of the predetermined series of test cases is controlled based on results of a previous test case.

8. A method of testing a functionality of a networked system that provides at least some dynamic information, comprising the steps of:

emulating a web browser by constructing a request for dynamic information to be sent to a web server;

sending the request to the web server;

parsing information received in response to the request into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information received.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the static information, if present, is validated by matching the static information with a predetermined set of information.

12. A method of testing a set of services provided by a web server, comprising the steps of:

conducting a test case;

comparing results against an expected set of responses; and

archiving test results into a log file.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein sequencing of the predetermined series of test cases is controlled based on results of a previous test case.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the conducting the predetermined series of test cases includes using regression tests.

15. A computer-readable medium useful in association with a client computer coupled to a server via a computer network, the computer network providing a network connection for transmitting data from the server to the client computer and from the client computer to the server, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of tracking information received by a client from a network wherein the information includes at least some dynamic information, the method comprising the steps of:

parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein validating the static information, if present, includes using a predetermined comparison string to check for a match.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information includes comparing information received with the predetermined comparison string, wherein tags inserted into the predetermined comparison string are used to distinguish static information from dynamic information, extracting the dynamic information, and comparing static information of the predetermined comparison string to received information that is static.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein, for the dynamic information that is extracted, validating the dynamic information includes checking functionality of web-based services utilizing a predetermined test suite.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein validating the dynamic information includes, where an asset ID is expected, verifying that an ID received for dynamic information is a valid asset ID.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17 wherein validating the dynamic information includes assigning a name to a selected portion of the dynamic information received and saving the selected portion under the name.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20 wherein, where the name has been assigned to the selected portion of the dynamic information received and the selected portion of dynamic information has been saved under the name, the steps further include sending another request referencing the name of the selected portion of the dynamic information.

22. An article of manufacture comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer-readable code for testing a functionality of a networked system when a client computer makes a request for at least some dynamic information, the computer-executable code comprising;

computer-readable code for emulating a web browser by constructing a request for dynamic information to be sent to a web server;

computer-readable code for sending the request to the web server;

computer-readable code for parsing information received in response to the request into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

computer-readable code for validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information received.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 22 wherein the static information, if present, is validated by matching the static information with a predetermined set of information.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 22 wherein the dynamic information is validated by sequentially running a predetermined series of test cases.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein sequencing of the predetermined series of test cases is controlled based on results of a previous test case.

26. In a computer networking environment, a system for tracking information requested by a client computer from a server in a network wherein the information includes at least some dynamic information, comprising:

a plurality of servers connected by the network;

at least one client computer coupled to the network, wherein the at least one client computer requests information at least part of which is dynamic information and wherein the client computer has installed thereon, computer-readable code for;

parsing the information received into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein validating the static information, if present, includes using a comparison string to check for a match.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the predetermined comparison string includes tags inserted into the predetermined comparison string to distinguish static information from dynamic information, and parsing includes extracting the dynamic information and comparing static information of the predetermined comparison string to received information that is static.

29. The system of claim 26 wherein, for the dynamic information that is extracted, validating the dynamic information includes checking functionality of web-based services utilizing a predetermined test suite.

30. The system of claim 26 wherein validating the dynamic information includes, where an asset ID is expected, verifying that an ID received for dynamic information is a valid asset ID.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein validating the dynamic information includes assigning a name to a selected portion of the dynamic information received and saving the selected portion under the name.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein, where the name has been assigned to the selected portion of the dynamic information received and the selected portion of dynamic information has been saved under the name, further including sending another request referencing the name of the selected portion of the dynamic information.

33. A software system for testing a functionality of a networked system that provides at least some dynamic information in response to a client request, comprising:

a web emulator component, for emulating a web browser by constructing a request for dynamic information to be sent to a web server;

a transmitting component, coupled to receive the request from the web emulator component, for sending the request to the web server;

a parser component, coupled to receive information in response to the request, for parsing the information into static information, if present, and dynamic information; and

a validation component, coupled to receive the static information, if present, and the dynamic information from the parser component, for validating the static information, if present, and the dynamic information.

34. The software system of claim 33 wherein the validation component validates static information, if present, by matching the static information with a predetermined set of information.

35. The software system of claim 33 wherein the validation component validates dynamic information by sequentially running a predetermined series of test cases.

36. The software system of claim 35 wherein the validation component controls sequencing of the predetermined series of test cases based on results of a previous test case.

37. A testing system for testing a functionality of a networked system with a web server that provides at least some dynamic information in response to a client request, comprising:

a test engine, for providing a set of tools for accessing web-based services and testing dynamic information to validate the response;

a test definition repository, coupled to the test engine, for defining test cases to be conducted and information about expected results;

a file storage, coupled to the test engine, for storing a comparison string representing an expected response from the web server;

at least one property file, coupled to the test engine, for providing details about a test suite to be conducted;

a flow property file, coupled to the test engine, for storing flow information; and

a log file, coupled to the test engine, storing test results.

38. The testing system of claim 37 wherein the at least one property file further provides at least a default test personality module for performing custom initialization, cookie construction and variable management.

39. The testing system of claim 37 wherein the at least one property file further provides a test personality file for each test suite.