Generating type-safe wrappers for dynamic detouring

• US 8,726,239 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2010
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: de Halleux, Jonathan Paul, Tillmann, Nikolai
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US12/773,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20110276943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-167, 714 15- 24, 714 37- 39, 714799-824
• US Class Current: 717/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3696 Methods or tools to render software testable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/315 Object-oriented languages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/449 Object-oriented method invocation or resolution

Abstract

An isolation system is described for converting original product code into corresponding modified code. The isolation system operates by identifying a subset of original methods to be converted. For each such original method, the isolation system generates a modified part having at least one property with a type-safe delegate type which matches a signature of the original method. Test code, which tests the product code, can then associate a delegate instance to the thus-defined property of the original method. This prompts an execution system to dynamically execute detour code associated with the delegate instance, rather than an instrumentation of the original method, thus avoiding dependency on potentially non-deterministic functionality which would be otherwise invoked by an instrumentation of the original method.

Claims

1. An isolation system comprising:

logic configured to;

receive original product code, the original product code containing a plurality of original methods, at least one original method being dependent on external functionality that is not under control of a test being performed;

receive selection information which defines a subset of selected original methods of the plurality of original methods to be processed;

at a first time, convert each of the selected original methods in the subset of selected original methods of the plurality of original methods into corresponding modified parts declaring type-safe property properties having delegate types;

at a second time, determine that an individual selected original method in the subset of selected original methods of the plurality of original methods has a corresponding individual modified part that has already been converted and stored; and

use the individual modified part that has already been converted and stored to invoke associated detour code instead of the individual selected original method; and

one or more processing devices configured to execute the logic.

2. The isolation system of claim 1, wherein the individual selected original method is a static method, and wherein said logic is further configured to declare a corresponding static-related property for the static method.

3. The isolation system of claim 1, wherein the individual selected original method is an instance method, and wherein said logic is further configured to declare a corresponding instance-related property and a static-related property for the instance method.

4. The isolation system of claim 1, wherein the logic is configured to convert the individual selected original method into an individual modified part with an individual type-safe property having an associated signature which matches a corresponding signature of the individual selected original method.

5. The isolation system of claim 1, wherein each original method is converted at the first time and is cached by the logic for use at the second time.

6. A method for testing original product code using at least one computing device, the method comprising:

receiving the original product code, the original product code containing an original method that is dependent on functionality that is not under control of a test being performed, the original method having an associated original method signature;

converting the original method into a type-safe modified part, the type-safe modified part declaring a property having a delegate type that has a delegate type signature that is based on the original method signature;

receiving test code which tests at least some aspect of the original product code, the test code assigning a delegate instance to the property using at least one statement, wherein the at least one statement prompts an execution system to invoke detour code associated with the delegate instance instead of invoking the original method; and

executing the test code using the execution system, the execution system detouring calls to an instrumentation of the original method to the detour code associated with the delegate instance to thereby execute the detour code associated with the delegate instance instead of the instrumentation of the original method.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the original product code is expressed in a programming language that employs static checking.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the programming language employs static binding.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the original product code includes a collection of original methods, and wherein said converting comprises:

receiving selection information that defines a subset of original methods selected from the collection of original methods; and

providing a subset of modified parts which are respective corresponding versions of the subset of original methods.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said converting further comprises:

determining whether each original method in the subset of original methods has a respective corresponding modified part that has already been generated and stored; and

using the corresponding modified part that has already been generated and stored when the corresponding modified part exists.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the original method is defined with respect to an original class, and wherein the type-safe modified part is defined with respect to a modified class, wherein said converting comprises generating the modified class when the modified class has not been previously generated.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said converting comprises assigning the modified class a name which is a variant of an original class name of the original class.

13. The method of claim 6, wherein the original method is a static method, and wherein the converting comprises declaring a corresponding static-related property.

14. The method of claim 6, wherein the original method is an instance method, and wherein the converting comprises declaring a corresponding instance-related property and a static-related property.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the delegate type signature which matches the original method signature.

16. The method of claim 6, wherein the property has a set operation for setting detour-related information in a detour manager module, enabling the detour manager module to identify the original method to be detoured.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein said executing comprises instrumenting the original product code to interact with a detour manager.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein said executing comprises:

interacting with a detour manager module to determine that a detour has been installed for the original method; and

when the detour is installed, executing the detour code.

19. A volatile or non-volatile hardware memory device or non-volatile hardware storage device storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions providing an isolation system when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer readable instructions comprising:

logic configured to receive an original method that is dependent on functionality that is not under control of a test being performed, wherein the original method has an original method signature specifying at least one of return values or parameters of the original method; and

logic configured to convert the original method into a corresponding modified part, the modified part declaring settable property information that is configured to be set, by test code, to associate the settable property information with detour code to be executed in lieu of an instrumentation of the original method,

wherein the settable property information has a function signature that matches the original method signature specifying the at least one of the return values or the parameters of the original method.

20. The volatile or non-volatile hardware memory device or non-volatile hardware storage device of claim 19, wherein said logic configured to convert is operative to provide different kinds of settable property information for different respective kinds of methods.