Mechanism for Automated and Unattended Process for Testing Software Applications

• US 20100318969A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Macik, Pavel, Petrovicky, Lukas
• Granted Patent: US 8,739,125 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3672 Test management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3696 Methods or tools to render software testable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

In one embodiment, a mechanism for business process-managed testing of software applications is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method for business process-managed testing of software applications includes identifying, by a server computing device, all tools and services used to test a software application deployed on the server computing device, and determining, by the server computing device, an order of execution of the identified tools and services in testing the software application. The method further includes designing, by a business process management (BPM) service of the server computing device, a testing management process that integrates the identified tools and services in the determined order of execution for testing the software application in an automated and unattended manner, and deploying, by the server computing device, the testing management process to act as a controlling layer over the identified tools and services in the testing of the software application.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, by a server computing device, all tools and services used to test a software application deployed on the server computing device;

determining, by the server computing device, an order of execution of the identified tools and services in testing the software application;

designing, by a business process management (BPM) service of the server computing device, a testing management process that integrates the identified tools and services in the determined order of execution for testing the software application in an automated and unattended manner; and

deploying, by the server computing device, the testing management process to act as a controlling layer over the identified tools and services in the testing of the software application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tools and services include at least one of a continuous integration (CI) tool and a test reporting tool.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the BPM service uses at least one of JAVA Business Process Management (jBPM) tools and JBoss™

Rules to design the testing management process.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the testing management process provides instructions, parameters, and resources to the identified tools and services to enable the testing of the software application in the determined order of execution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the testing management process includes a subprocess to control acceptance or rejection of a build of the software application being tested, a subprocess to determine differences of the build of the software application from any previous builds of the software application, and a subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests to the build.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests further includes a subprocess to allocate resources to the tests, a subprocess to execute the tests, a process to de-allocate the allocated resources, a subprocess to resolve a result of the executed test, and a subprocess to control reporting the result of the executed test.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the resources includes at least one of a database, a test machine, and a storage device.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests further includes a subprocess to automatically restart any of the regression tests, the integration tests, and the performance tests if the result of the executed test is unstable.

9. A system, comprising:

a server computing device including a continuous integration (CI) tool for testing an application; and

an application server communicably coupled to the server computing device to deploy the application to be tested, the application server operable to;

identify one or more tools and services on the server computing device and on the application server used to test the application, the one or more tools and services including the CI tool;

determine an order of execution of the identified tools and services in testing the application;

utilize a business process management (BPM) service of the application server to design a testing management process that integrates the identified tools and services in the determined order of execution for testing the application in an automated and unattended manner; and

deploy the testing management process to act as a controlling layer over the identified tools and services in the testing of the application.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the BPM service uses at least one of JAVA Business Process Management (jBPM) tools and JBoss™

Rules to design the testing management process.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the testing management process provides instructions, parameters, and resources to the identified tools and services to enable the testing of the software application in the determined order of execution.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the testing management process includes a subprocess to control acceptance or rejection of a build of the software application being tested, a process determining differences of the build of the software application from any previous builds of the software application, and a subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests to the build.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests further includes a subprocess to allocate resources to the tests, a subprocess to execute the tests, a process to de-allocate the allocated resources, a subprocess to resolve a result of the executed test, and a subprocess to control reporting the result of the executed test

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the resources includes at least one of a database, a test machine, and a storage device.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests further includes a subprocess to automatically restart any of the regression tests, the integration tests, and the performance tests if the result of the executed test is unstable.

16. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-readable storage medium including data that, when accessed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

identifying all tools and services used to test a software application deployed on a server computing device;

determining an order of execution of the identified tools and services in testing the software application;

designing, by a business process management (BPM) service of the server computing device, a testing management process that integrates the identified tools and services in the determined order of execution for testing the software application in an automated and unattended manner; and

deploying the testing management process on the server computing device to act as a controlling layer over the identified tools and services in the testing of the software application.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the tools and services include at least one of a continuous integration (CI) tool and a test reporting tool.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the testing management process provides instructions, parameters, and resources to the identified tools and services to enable the testing of the software application in the determined order of execution.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the testing management process includes a subprocess controlling acceptance or rejection of a build of the software application being tested, a process determining differences of the build of the software application from any previous builds of the software application, and a subprocess to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests to the build.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the process to apply regression tests, integration tests, and performance tests further includes a subprocess to allocate resources to the tests, a subprocess to execute the tests, a subprocess to de-allocate the allocated resources, a subprocess to resolve a result of the executed test, and a subprocess to control reporting the result of the executed test.