Automatic configuration of regression test controls

• US 20060225048A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/04/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Parasoft Corporation
• Original Assignee: Parasoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jakubiak, Nathan Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,620,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/127
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

A method and system for regression testing of a computer software. The method and system execute the software for a first time to create a first data set; execute the software for a second time after the first time to create a second data set; compare the two data sets to determine differences between the two data sets; and store the differences as allowable differences to be ignored in a subsequent regression testing of the software.

Claims

1. A method for regression testing of a software, the method comprising:

executing the software for a first time to create a first data set;

executing the software for a second time after the first time to create a second data set;

comparing the two data sets to determine differences between the two data sets; and

storing the differences as allowable differences to be ignored in a subsequent regression testing of the software.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein only a portion of the software is executed for the first time and the same portion of the software is executed for the second time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is a web application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the software is a web service, the first data set is a first XML response and the second data set is a second XML response of the web service.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the comparing the two data sets to determine differences comprises comparing the two data sets to create XPaths that represent differences in the first and second XML responses.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing the differences comprises storing a text output including the line numbers on which the differences occurred.

7. A method for regression testing of a software, the method comprising:

storing allowable differences between a first execution of the software and a second execution of the software;

regression testing the software;

comparing the results of the regression testing to the stored allowable differences; and

ignoring the portion of the results that match the allowable differences.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first execution of the software and the second execution of the software execute a same portion of the software.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the software is a web service, the first execution output is a first XML response and the second execution output is a second XML response of the web service.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the comparing the results of the regression testing comprises comparing the two data sets to create XPaths that represent differences in the first and second XML responses.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the ignoring the portion of the results that match the allowable differences comprises determining if the results of the regression testing appear at the same location as the stored allowable differences;

and ignoring the portion of the results that appear at the same location.

12. A method for regression testing of a software, the method comprising:

executing the software to create an output;

determining allowable changes in the output due to dynamic portions of the output that are expected to change over time;

regression testing the software;

comparing the results of the regression testing to the allowable changes; and

ignoring the portion of the results that match the allowable changes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the software is a web application.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the software is a web service, the output is a first XML response and the results of the regression testing is a second XML response of the web service.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the comparing the results of the regression testing comprises comparing the two data sets to create XPaths that represent differences in the first and second XML responses.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the ignoring the portion of the results that match the allowable differences comprises determining if the results of the regression testing appear at the same location as the allowable differences;

and ignoring the portion of the results that appear at the same location.

17. A system for regression testing of a software comprising:

an execution engine for executing the software for a first time to create a first data set and executing the software for a second time after the first time to create a second data set;

a comparison engine for comparing the two data sets to determine differences between the two data sets;

a memory for storing the differences as allowable differences; and

a reporting engine to ignore the allowable differences in a subsequent regression testing of the software.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the software is a web service, the first data set is a first XML response and the second data set is a second XML response of the web service.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the comparison engine creates XPaths that represent differences in the first and second XML responses.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the memory stores a text output including the line numbers on which the differences occurred.