Method and system for testing the interoperability of application programs

• US 5,745,767 A
• Filed: 03/28/1995
• Issued: 04/28/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rosen, Douglas Jay, Smith, Ross Faulkner Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CORCORAN, PETER JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US08/411,534
• Time in Patent Office: 1,127 Days
• Field of Search: 395/700, 395/703, 395/704, 395/701, 395/650, 395/500, 395/183.01, 395/183.13, 395/183.14, 395/183.22
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3414 Workload generation, e.g. scripts, playback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3684 for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/86 Event-based monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/88 Monitoring involving counting

Abstract

A method and system for testing the interoperability of application programs. The interoperability testing system uses an application-independent test script and application-specific command scripts to test the interoperability of application programs. An application-independent test script contains a series of high-level application-independent commands that are to be performed to test the application programs. Each application program to be tested has a corresponding application-specific command script. An application-specific command script contains an implementation of each high-level command for the corresponding application program. To test application programs, the interoperability testing system executes an application-independent test script by reading each high-level command from the test script, retrieving the implementation of that high-level command for the application program that is to perform that command, and executing that implementation.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for testing a plurality of application programs, each of the application programs having low-level commands, each of the low-level commands indicating a task to be performed by the application program, the computer system having a test script containing a description of a test to be performed on each of the application programs, the test script having a plurality of application-independent high-level commands, each of the high-level commands specifying a task to be performed by the application program being tested, each of the application programs having an implementation of each of the high-level commands for the application program, each of the implementations having an associated plurality of low-level commands for directing the application program to perform the task of an associated one of the high-level commands, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting each of the high-level commands in the test script;

retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program being tested;

selecting each of the low-level commands in each retrieved implementation; and

directing the application program being tested to perform the task of each of the selected low-level commands to effect the performance of the task of each of the selected high-level commands.

2. The method of claim 1 including an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs, a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess, and including the step of determining from the application information table and the test script information table which application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein an event may be a mouse movement or a keyboard command.

5. The method of claim 1 for testing the interoperability of two application programs, wherein each of the high-level commands indicates which of the two application programs is to perform the task of the high-level command;

wherein the step of retrieving the implementation retrieves the implementation of the high-level command for the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command; and

wherein the step of directing directs the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command.

6. The method of claim 5 including an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs, a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess, and including the step of determining from the application information table and the test script information table which application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein an event may be a mouse movement or a keyboard command.

9. The method of claim 1 including, for each of the plurality of application programs, a high-level command table having an indicator for the implementation of each of the high-level commands for each of the application programs, and a mapping from an identifier of each of the application programs to the high-level command table for that application program, and wherein the step of retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands includes using the mapping to retrieve the high-level command table for the application program being tested.

10. The method of claim 1 including an application programming interface function for each of the high-level commands, each application programming interface function for receiving an identifier of the application program being tested and for retrieving the implementation of the high-level command corresponding to the identifier of the application program, and including the step of invoking a corresponding application programming interface function for each of the selected high-level commands.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the application programming interface function returns to the test script, when its execution is successful, a flag indicating successful, and when its execution is not successful, a flag indicating not successful.

12. The method of claim 1 further including the step of receiving an implementation of a user-defined high-level command and wherein the step of retrieving retrieves the received implementation when each of the selected high-level commands is the user-defined high-level command.

13. The method of claim 12 including, for each of the plurality of application programs, a system-defined high-level command table and a user-defined high-level command table, the system-defined high-level command table having an indicator to the implementation of each system-defined high-level command for the application program, the user-defined high-level command table having an indicator to the implementation of each user-defined high-level command for the application program, a mapping from an identifier of the application program to the system-defined high-level command table and to the user-defined high-level command table for the application program, and wherein the step of retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands includes the steps of retrieving the system-defined high-level command table when the high-level command is a system-defined high-level command;

and retrieving the user-defined high-level command table when the high-level command is a user-defined high-level command.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein an application program further includes a configuration of an application program.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein in performing the step of retrieving, different application programs may retrieve the same implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program being tested.

16. A computer testing system for testing a plurality of application programs, each of the application programs having low-level commands, each of the low-level commands indicating a task to be performed by the application program, the computer testing system comprising:

a test script containing a description of a test to be performed on each of the application programs, the test script having a plurality of application-independent high-level commands, each of the high-level commands specifying a task to be performed by the application program being tested;

for each of the plurality of application programs,

for each of the high-level commands,

an implementation of the high-level command for the application program, the implementation having a plurality of low-level commands for directing the application program to perform the task of the high-level command; and

a testing component for testing one of the application programs based on the test script, the testing component having

means for selecting each of the high-level commands in the test script;

means for retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program being tested;

means for selecting each of the low-level commands in the retrieved implementation; and

means for directing the application program being tested to perform the task of each of the selected low-level commands to effect the performance of the task of each of the selected high-level commands.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs;

a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess; and

means for determining from the application information table and the test script information table which the application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the event may be an event triggered by a mouse or a keyboard.

20. The system of claim 16 for testing the interoperability of two application programs, wherein each of the high-level commands indicates which of the two application programs is to perform the task of the high-level command;

and wherein the means for retrieving the implementation retrieves the implementation of the high-level command for the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command; and

wherein the means for directing directs the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising:

an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs;

a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess; and

means for determining from the application information table and the test script information table which the application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the event may be an event triggered by a mouse or a keyboard.

24. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

for each of the plurality of application programs, a high-level command table having an indicator for the implementation of each of the high-level commands for each of the application programs;

a mapping from an identifier of each of the application programs to the high-level command table for that application program; and

wherein the means for retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands further comprises means for using the mapping to retrieve the high-level command table for the application program being tested.

25. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

an application programming interface function for each of the high-level commands, each application programming interface function for receiving an identifier of the application program being tested and for retrieving the implementation of the high-level command corresponding to the identifier of the application program, wherein each of the high-level commands is implemented as an invocation of the corresponding application programming interface function.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the application programming interface function returns to the test script, when its execution is successful, a flag indicating successful, and when its execution is not successful, a flag indicating not successful.

27. The system of claim 16 further including means for receiving an implementation of a user-defined high-level command and wherein the means for retrieving retrieves the received implementation when the selected one of the high-level commands is the user-defined high-level command.

28. The system of claim 27 including, for each of the plurality of application programs, a system-defined high-level command table and a user-defined high-level command table, the system-defined high-level command table having an indicator to the implementation of each system-defined high-level command for the application program, the user-defined high-level command table having an indicator to the implementation of each user-defined high-level command for the application program, a mapping from an identifier of the application program to the system-defined and user-defined high-level command tables for the application program, and wherein the means for retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands includes means for retrieving the system-defined high-level command table when the high-level command is a system-defined high-level command and means for retrieving the user-defined high-level command table when the high-level command is a user-defined high-level command.

29. The system of claim 16 wherein an application program further comprises a configuration of an application program.

30. The system of claim 16 wherein the means for retrieving may retrieve for different application programs the same implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program being tested.

31. A method in a computer system for testing a plurality of application programs, the computer system having a test script, the test script having a description of a test to be performed on each of the application programs, the test script having application-independent high-level commands, each of the high-level commands having a task, each application program having an application-specific implementation of each of the high-level commands, each application-specific implementation having low-level commands, each of the low-level commands having events for directing the application program to perform a task of the low-level command, the method comprising the steps of:

for each of the application programs

selecting each high-level command in the test script,

retrieving the application-specific implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program; and

for each of the low-level commands in each retrieved application-specific implementation,

selecting the low-level command; and

for each event of each of the selected low-level commands, sending the event to the application program to effect the performance of the task of each of the selected high-level commands,

whereby each of the application programs is tested using the test script.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein the event may be a mouse movement or keyboard command.

34. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer system to test a plurality of application programs, the computer system having a test script, the test script having a description of a test to be performed on each of the application programs, the test script having application-independent high-level commands, each of the high-level commands having a task, each application program having an application-specific implementation of each of the high-level commands, each application-specific implementation having low-level commands, each of the low-level commands for directing the application program to perform a task of the low-level command, by:

for each of the application programs,

selecting each high-level command in the test script,

retrieving the application-specific implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program; and

for each of the low-level commands in each retrieved application-specific implementation,

selecting the low-level command; and

sending to the application program an indication to effect the performance of the task of each of the selected low-level command.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35 wherein the event may be a mouse movement or keyboard command.

37. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for causing a computer system to test a plurality of application programs, each of the application programs having low-level commands, each of the low-level commands indicating a task to be performed by the application program, the computer system having a test script containing a description of a test to be performed on each of the application programs, the test script having a plurality of application-independent high-level commands, each of the high-level commands specifying a task to be performed by the application program being tested, each of the application programs having an implementation of each of the high-level commands for the application program, each of the implementations having an associated plurality of low-level commands for directing the application program to perform the task of an associated one of the high-level commands, by:

selecting each of the high-level commands in the test script;

retrieving the implementation of each of the selected high-level commands for the application program being tested;

selecting each of the low-level commands in each retrieved implementation; and

directing the application program being tested to perform the task of each of the selected low-level commands to effect the performance of the task of each of the selected high-level commands.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 including an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs, a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess, and including determining from the application information table and the test script information table which application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38 wherein each of the low-level commands is a message indicative of an event.

40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein an event may be a mouse movement or a keyboard command.

41. The computer-readable medium of claim 37 for testing the interoperability of two application programs, wherein each of the high-level commands indicates which of the two application programs is to perform the task of the high-level command;

wherein the retrieving of the implementation retrieves the implementation of the high-level command for the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command; and

wherein the directing directs the application program that is to perform the task of the high-level command.

42. The computer-readable medium of claim 41 including an application information table indicating properties possessed by each of the plurality of application programs, a test script information table indicating which properties each of the application programs to be tested is to possess, and including determining from the application information table and the test script information table which application programs possess the properties of the application programs to be tested.