Streamlining Unit Testing Through Hot Code Swapping

• US 20120084754A1
• Filed: 09/30/2010
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Ziegler, Leo, Hardy, Vincent J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,799,875 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3696 Methods or tools to render software testable

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for testing methods and other functions by swapping external functions for mock functions. A test case definition is entered by a programmer, which can specify the expected number of arguments and argument values of external function or method calls, the context state, the return value, and any expected error conditions. The test case definition is used by a function tester to automatically create mock functions, modify the target function so that it calls the mock functions, execute the target function with specified arguments and a test context, and then compare the results to expected results.

Claims

1. A method of testing a function using a mock function and test case definition, the method comprising:

receiving a test case definition for a target function to be tested, the test case definition including an expected number of arguments and expected argument values to be sent in a call from the target function to an external function;

automatically creating, using a processor operatively coupled to a memory, a mock function using the test case definition;

replacing the external function called in the target function with the mock function;

calling the target function, the target function calling the mock function;

determining whether the target function called the mock function with the expected number of arguments and expected argument values; and

sending a failure or success report based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an expected context state;

saving an original context state before calling the target function;

determining whether a context state underlying the function is the expected context state; and

restoring the original context state after calling the target function.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

generating error messages based on the determinations, the error message for determining whether the target function called the mock function with the expected number of arguments and expected argument values and the error message for determining whether the context state underlying the function is the expected context state being normalized with respect to each other.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an expected return value for the function; and

determining whether a value returned from calling the target function is the expected return value.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an expected error condition;

attaching an error handler to the target function; and

determining whether an exception thrown while calling the target function is the expected error condition.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the attaching an error handler includes wrapping a try/catch wrapper around the target function.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the replacing occurs automatically in conjunction with the automatically creating of the mock function.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the replacing occurs during code execution.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the failure or success report comprises human-readable messages to a user.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the target function is a method.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the expected number of arguments is implicit in a number of expected argument values received.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the target function is part of a class for a graphical shape.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the function is implemented in ECMAScript.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the ECMAScript is a programming language selected from the group consisting of JavaScript, JScript, and ActiveScript.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the operations are performed in the order shown.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein each operation is performed by the processor operatively coupled to the memory.

17. A machine-readable storage medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform the operations of claim 1.

18. A computer system executing instructions in a computer program, the computer program instructions comprising program code for performing the operations of claim 1.

19. A machine-readable storable medium embodying information indicative of instructions for causing one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

receiving a test case definition for a target function to be tested, the test case definition including an expected number of arguments and expected argument values to be sent in a call from the target function to an external function;

automatically creating a mock function using the test case definition;

replacing the external function called in the target function with the mock function;

calling the target function, the target function calling the mock function;

determining whether the target function called the mock function with the expected number of arguments and expected argument values; and

sending a failure or success report based on the determination.

20. A computer system comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory operatively coupled to the at least one processor, the processor enabled to execute program code including;

program code for receiving a test case definition for a target function to be tested, the test case definition including an expected number of arguments and expected argument values to be sent in a call from the target function to an external function;

program code for automatically creating a mock function using the test case definition;

program code for replacing the external function called in the target function with the mock function;

program code for calling the target function, the target function calling the mock function;

program code for determining whether the target function called the mock function with the expected number of arguments and expected argument values; and

program code for sending a failure or success report based on the determination.