Semi-automatic conversion and execution of functional manual tests

• US 8,984,348 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2012
• Issued: 03/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lau, Tessa A., Mahmud, Jalal U., Pedemonte, Pablo
• Primary Examiner(s): LOHN, JOSHUA A
• Application Number:
  US13/589,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20130227366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: 714/32, 714/46, 714/38.1, 717/124
• US Class Current: 714/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3684 for test design, e.g. generating new test cases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3688 for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to the conversion and execution of functional tests. In one embodiment, a current test step of a manual functional test is executed. The test includes a set of test steps each including at least one action and one target of the action. The test is associated with an application that includes a plurality of objects to be tested. At least two of the objects are determined to be associated with the target of the test step. A user is prompted to provide a selection of one of the at least objects for association with the target of the test step. A new test step is generated. The new test step associates the object selected by the user with the target of the current test step. The new test step is designated for automatic execution in place of the current test step for subsequent executions thereof.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

executing a current test step of a functional test comprising a set of test steps, wherein each test step comprises at least one action and one target of the action, and wherein the functional test is associated with an application comprising a plurality of objects to be tested;

determining that at least two of the objects in the plurality of objects are associated with a target of the current test step;

prompting a user to provide a selection of one of the at least two objects for association with the target of the current test step; and

generating a new test step corresponding to the current test step being executed based on a selection by the user of one of the at least two objects, wherein the new test step associates the selected object with the target of the current test step, and wherein the new test step is designated for automatic execution in place of the current test step for subsequent executions of the current test step.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

identifying, for each object in the plurality of objects, a label associated with the object based on a current state of the application, wherein the current state of the application is based on actions from previous test steps having been applied to the plurality of objects;

determining, for each object in the plurality of objects, a type of the object;

comparing a label and a type associated with the target of the current test step to the label and type of each object in the plurality of objects; and

determining, based on the comparing, that the label and the type of the at least two of the objects match the label and type of the target of the current test step.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the prompting comprises:

presenting a selectable representation of each of the at least objects to the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

applying the action to the object selected by the user; and

updating a current state of the application to reflect the application of the action to the object selected by the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the current test step further comprises:

converting the current test step into at least one tuple comprising at least the action intended by the current test step and the target of the action.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the converting comprises:

identifying a label associated with each object in the plurality of objects;

storing each of the identified labels;

calculating a plurality of n-grams in the current test step;

comparing each n-gram in the plurality of n-grams to each label that has been stored;

identifying, based on the comparing, at least one n-gram that is associated with a target label; and

replacing the at least one n-gram with a label variable.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the converting further comprises:

segmenting the current test step into at least one atomic test step comprising one action and the label variable.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the converting further comprises:

identifying each token within the at least one atomic test step;

annotating each identified token with a set of labels; and

identifying, based on the set of labels, a token referring to an action of the at least one atomic test step, and at least one token referring to at least one target of at the at least one atomic test step.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the converting further comprises:

generating a tuple for each of the at least one identified targets, wherein the generated tuple comprises at least the token referring to an action and at least the token referring to the identified target.