Software system and methods for testing transactional servers

• US 6,810,494 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2003
• Issued: 10/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Mercury Interactive Corp. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Weinberg, Amir, Kholmyansky, Maxim, Garri, Amos, Tapiro, Nisim, Leshem, Eran, Hillel, Meni
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chu, Gabriel L.
• Application Number:
  US10/372,600
• Publication Number:
  US 20030131290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• Field of Search: 714/32, 714/46, 714/33, 714/45, 345/853, 345/764
• US Class Current: 714/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3664 Environments for testing or debugging software
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

A testing tool records a user session with a transactional server and generates a test for subsequently testing the server. Through a user interface of the testing tool, the user can define verification steps to automatically test for expected server responses during test execution. The test is displayed to the user as a tree having nodes which represent steps of the test. Via the user interface, the user can modify node properties and perform other types of tree edit operations to edit the test, without the need to know a scripting or other programming language. When a user selects a node that corresponds to a particular field or other object of the server screen, the testing tool automatically displays the screen with the object highlighted. The testing tool also allows the test author to use a spreadsheet to conveniently specify data sets for running multiple iterations of a test.

Claims

1. A testing tool for testing transactional servers, the testing tool comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a transactional server to generate a test for testing the transactional server; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides an option for a user to select a node of the hierarchical node structure to select a corresponding step, and to access a spreadsheet to specify a plurality of data values to be used for a parameter of that step during test execution, such that the user may specify different data values to be used for the parameter during different iterations of the test, and the user interface includes a server screen display area that displays a captured server screen associated with a currently selected node of the node structure.

2. The testing tool of claim 1, wherein the spreadsheet stores data values for both input and output parameters of the test, such that a user may specify both data input values and expected server responses for each of multiple iterations of the test.

3. The testing tool of claim 1, wherein the recording module captures screens returned by the transactional server, and the user interface is responsive to user selection of a node within the node structure by displaying a captured screen associated with that node.

4. The testing tool of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by editing properties of the nodes.

5. The testing tool of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by dragging and dropping nodes within the hierarchical node structure.

6. The testing tool of claim 1, wherein the user interface provides a user option to add verification steps to the test for expected server responses, and represents such verification steps as respective nodes in the hierachical node structure.

7. A testing tool, comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a server system to generate a test for testing the server system; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides a user option to parameterize one or more steps of the test such that different data values may be used in different iterations of the test, and further provides access to a spreadsheet for allowing the user to specify said data values;

and wherein the user interface provides a user option to add verification steps to the test to check for expected server responses, and represents such verification steps as respective nodes in the hierarchical node structure.

8. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the user interface provides a user option to generate and parameterize a verification step to test a server response, and to use said spreadsheet to specify different expected values of the server response for different iterations of the test.

9. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the user interface provides a user option to access the spreadsheet during editing of a node corresponding to a parameterized step.

10. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by editing properties of the nodes.

11. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by dragging and dropping nodes within the hierarchical node structure.

12. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the user interface includes a server screen display area that displays a captured server screen associated with a currently selected node of the node structure.

13. The testing tool of claim 7, wherein the recording module captures screens returned by the server system, and the user interface is responsive to user selection of a node within the node structure by displaying a captured screen associated with that node.

14. A testing tool, comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a server system to generate a test for testing the server system, and captures screens returned by the server system during said user interactions; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes, and which provides functionality for a user to edit the node structure to modify the test;

wherein the user interface is responsive to user selection of a node within the hierarchical node structure by displaying the captured screen associated with the corresponding step of the test, such that a user may identify screens that correspond to specific steps of the test during editing of the test.

15. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by editing properties of the nodes.

16. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by dragging and dropping nodes within the hierarchical node structure.

17. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface provides a user option to add verification steps to the test to check for expected server responses, and represents such verification steps as respective nodes in the hierarchical node structure.

18. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface represents a screen step of the test as a respective screen step node of the hierarchical node structure, and represents screen objects associated with the screen step as respective child nodes of the screen step node.

19. The testing tool of claim 18, wherein the user interface is responsive to user selection of one of said child nodes by displaying a corresponding captured server screen with a corresponding screen object thereof highlighted.

20. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface is responsive to user selection of an object of a captured server screen by highlighting a corresponding node in the hierarchical node structure.

21. The testing tool of claim 14, wherein the user interface provides a user option to parameterize steps of the test such that different data values may be used as test parameters during different iterations of the test, and provides access to a spreadsheet for allowing users to specify said data values.

22. A method facilitating user generation of a test that may be run to test a transactional server, the method comprising:

recording an interactive user session with the transactional server during which a user performs steps of at least one transaction to be tested;

capturing screens returned by the transactional server during the interactive user session;

generating a graphical representation of the test in which steps of the test are represented as corresponding nodes of a hierarchical node structure, said hierarchical node structure being editable by a user to modify the test; and

in response to user selection of a node of the hierarchical node structure, displaying a captured screen that corresponds to the node.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising highlighting a screen object to which the selected node corresponds.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising responding to user selection of a screen object within the captured screen by highlighting a node that corresponds to the screen object.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing an option for a user to parameterize steps of the test, and to access a spreadsheet for specifying multiple sets of data values to be used within the parameterized steps such that different sets of data values corresponding to different iterations of the test.

26. A computer-implemented method for facilitating the generation of tests for testing the functionality of a transactional server, the method comprising:

recording an interactive user session with the transactional server during which a user performs steps of at least one transaction to be tested;

generating at least one verification step that specifies an expected server response to be tested during execution of the test;

graphically representing the test as a hierarchical node structure in which the transaction steps and the at least one verification step are represented as corresponding nodes;

providing a user interface through which a user may edit the hierarchical node structure to modify the test; and

responding to user selection of a node of the hierarchical node structure by displaying a captured transactional server screen that corresponds to the node.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interface provides functionality for editing the test by editing properties of the nodes.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the user interface provides functionality for a user to edit the test by dragging and dropping nodes within the hierarchical node structure.

29. The method of claim 26, further comprising providing a user option to parameterize selected steps of the test, and to use a spreadsheet to supply data values to be used for the parameterized steps during execution of the test.

30. The method of claim 26, further comprising running the test to test functionality of the transactional server.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein running the test comprises highlighting nodes of the hierarchical node structure as corresponding steps are performed.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein running the test comprises starting and/or stopping execution at a node selected by the user within the hierarchical node structure.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein graphically representing the test as a hierarchical node structure comprises including icons within the node structure that indicate the types of the steps.

34. A testing tool for testing transactional servers, the testing tool comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a transactional server to generate a test for testing the transactional server; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides an option for a user to select a node of the hierarchical node structure to select a corresponding step, and to access a spreadsheet to specify a plurality of data values to be used for a parameter of that step during test execution, such that the user may specify different data values to be used for the parameter during different iterations of the test;

and wherein the recording module captures screens returned by the transactional server, and the user interface is responsive to user selection of a node within the node structure by displaying a captured screen associated with that node.

35. A testing tool for testing transactional servers, the testing tool comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a transactional server to generate a test for testing the transactional server; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides an option for a user to select a node of the hierarchical node structure to select a corresponding step, and to access a spreadsheet to specify a plurality of data values to be used for a parameter of that step during test execution, such that the user may specify different data values to be used for the parameter during different iterations of the test;

and wherein the user interface provides a user option to add verification steps to the test to test for expected server responses, and represents such verification steps as respective nodes in the hierarchical node structure.

36. A testing tool, comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a server system to generate a test for testing the server system; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides a user option to parameterize one or more steps of the test such that different data values may be used in different iterations of the test, and further provides access to a spreadsheet for allowing the user to specify said data values, and wherein the user interface includes a server screen display area that displays a captured server screen associated with a currently selected node of the node structure.

37. A testing tool, comprising:

a recording module that records user interactions with a server system to generate a test for testing the server system; and

a user interface that graphically represents the test as a hierarchical node structure in which steps of the test are represented as respective nodes;

wherein the user interface provides a user option to parameterize one or more steps of the test such that different data values may be used in different iterations of the test, and further provides access to a spreadsheet for allowing the user to specify said data values;

and wherein the recording module captures screens returned by the server system, and the user interface is responsive to user selection of a node within the node structure by displaying a captured screen associated with that node.