System and methods for improved program testing
First Claim
1. A computer-aided system for testing operation of an application program having a user interface, the system comprising:
- means for storing a library of generic element models, each said generic element model encapsulating functionality and behavior for a single user interface element;
means for creating a test model of said application program by combining selected ones of said generic user interface elements into at least one application-specific testing model, each said at least one application-specific testing model representing a high-level model for a specific user interface component for the application program;
message engine means for monitoring events during operation of the application program; and
script engine means for specifying actions of said test model to be undertaken upon occurrence of selected ones of the events.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention includes a Computer-based Training system (CBT) having one or more Application Translation Units (ATUs), a Message Engine, and a Script Engine. For one or more target applications of interest, an ATU is provided for processing events specific to that application, thereby trapping events and translating them into abstract messages or "meta-messages" for conveying information about a particular event to the system. A computer-aided software testing embodiment of the present invention is also described. The system provides prefabricated building blocks for constructing a high-level model of an application'"'"'s User Interface (UI). This high-level model serves as a middle ground between test scripts and the application being tested. The knowledge of how a given UI element is controlled or how it can be observed is retained in the model rather than in a test script. Consequently, the test script consists of easy-to-maintain, high-level testing commands only.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computer-aided system for testing operation of an application program having a user interface, the system comprising:
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means for storing a library of generic element models, each said generic element model encapsulating functionality and behavior for a single user interface element; means for creating a test model of said application program by combining selected ones of said generic user interface elements into at least one application-specific testing model, each said at least one application-specific testing model representing a high-level model for a specific user interface component for the application program; message engine means for monitoring events during operation of the application program; and script engine means for specifying actions of said test model to be undertaken upon occurrence of selected ones of the events. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. In a computer system, a method for testing operation of an application program having a user interface, the method comprising:
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(a) creating a test model of said application program by combining pre-supplied generic element models into at least one application-specific testing model, each said generic element model encapsulating functionality and behavior for a single user interface element, each said at least one application-specific testing model representing a high-level model for a specific user interface component for the application program; (b) monitoring events during operation of the application program; and (c) specifying actions of said test model to be undertaken upon occurrence of selected ones of the events, whereupon a specified action in the application program is effected in response to occurrence of said selected events. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. In a computer system, a method for testing operation of a graphical user interface, the method comprising:
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(a) creating for the graphical user interface at least one model for testing user interface elements, each said at least one model being constructed from a set of generic objects representing basic user interface elements; (b) providing each model a link to its actual user interface element; (c) storing for each model a set of expected characteristics that its actual user interface element is to exhibit; (d) trapping a request to create a user interface element; and (e) in response to a trapped request, loading a model for the user interface element which is requested to be created and comparing its actual characteristics to said stored expected ones. - View Dependent Claims (30, 33, 34, 35)
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31. The method of 30, wherein step (g) includes:
providing a test script, said test script having high-level commands for simulating operation of the graphical user interface.
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32. The method of 31, wherein said high-level commands include a general format of:
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space="preserve" listing-type="equation">[object].[action]where [object] specifies a user interface element and [action] specifies a simulated operation for the object.
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Specification