Abstracting Test Cases From Application Program Interfaces

• US 20090282389A1
• Filed: 05/12/2008
• Published: 11/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kirk, Elliot W., Cheng, Andy M.K., O'Brien, Patrick T., Fransazov, Mariyan D., Slone, Justin A., Widjaja, Herman, Popov, Dimitar K., Needamangala, Ashwin S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,839 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3684 for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

Various embodiments provide a testing infrastructure that abstracts test cases from APIs in a manner that allows for round tripping between production and consumption and APIs.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

converting a first hierarchical representation of information or data into a file using, at least in part, software code that is under test;

converting the file into a second hierarchical representation of information or data; and

comparing the first and second hierarchical representations to ascertain whether the software code under test is valid.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of converting the first hierarchical representation is performed by converting the first hierarchical representation into an object model and then, using the software code that is under test to serialize the object model to the file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of converting the first hierarchical representation is performed by making a series of API calls to production APIs that are under test.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of converting the file into a second hierarchical representation comprises first copying the file to provide a copied file, and then converting the copied file into the second hierarchical representation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of converting the file into a second hierarchical representation comprises using the file to produce an object model and then converting the object model into the second hierarchical representation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the act of converting the first hierarchical representation is performed by converting the first hierarchical representation into a first object model and then, using the software code that is under test to serialize the first object model to the file; and

the act of converting the file into a second hierarchical representation comprises using the file to produce a second object model and then converting the second object model into the second hierarchical representation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second hierarchical representations comprise XML.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first hierarchical representation is compliant with a XML Paper Specification (XPS).

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

converting a first file into a hierarchical representation of information or data using, at least in part, software code that is under test;

converting the hierarchical representation into a second file; and

comparing the first and second files to ascertain whether the software code under test is valid.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of converting the first file into the hierarchical representation is performed by converting the first file into an object model using the software code that is under test and then converting the object model into the hierarchical representation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of converting the first file into the hierarchical representation comprises making a series of API calls to consumption APIs.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the act of converting the hierarchical representation into the second file comprises:

copying the hierarchical representation to provide a copied hierarchical representation;

converting the copied hierarchical representation into an object model; and

converting the object model into the second file.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the act of converting the first file into the hierarchical representation is performed by converting the first file into a first object model using the software code that is under test and then converting the first object model into the hierarchical representation; and

the act of converting the hierarchical representation into the second file comprises copying the hierarchical representation to provide a copied hierarchical representation;

converting the copied hierarchical representation into a second object model; and

converting the second object model into the second file.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first file defines a document that is compliant with a XML Paper Specification (XPS).

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

providing a testing infrastructure that is to be utilized to test developer code that is to process XML Paper Specification (XPS) data; and

using the testing infrastructure to abstract test cases from APIs under test in a manner that allows for round tripping between production and consumption APIs.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of using comprises using a comparison module to compare hierarchical representations of information or data to ascertain whether the hierarchical representations are semantically the same or similar, wherein if the hierarchical representations are semantically the same or similar, then validating the developer code.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of using is performed without predefining an expected result for comparison.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of using comprises producing first and second object models.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the act of using comprises using a comparison module to compare first and second files to ascertain whether the first and second files are semantically the same or similar, wherein if the first and second files are semantically the same or similar, then validating the developer code.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the act of using is performed without predefining an expected result for comparison.