Software development assistant method and system

• US 9,064,055 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2011
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hu, Xiao Wei, Zhang, Xia, Han, Dan
• Primary Examiner(s): Rampuria, Satish
• Application Number:
  US13/191,429
• Publication Number:
  US 20120030658A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 717124-154, 717168-178, 714 37- 39
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3668 Software testing software testing in telephone exchanges H04M3/242, testing of hardware G06F11/22
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3692 for test results analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57

Abstract

The present invention provides a software development method, system and computer program product. Generally, a computer program product for software development assistance includes a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith such that the computer readable program receives from a server over a computer communications network both a software update for software installed in an end user device, and also test cases and a testing tool. The test cases are loaded in memory of the end user device and executed in the end user device with the execution tool with respect to the software update. Execution information produced by the execution of the test cases is collected and transmitted back to the server from the end user device. Optionally, a new test case for the software update can be created within the memory of the end user device the new test case can be executed along with the received test cases with the execution tool in the end user device. Consequently, the new test case can be transmitted to the server along with the collected execution information.

Claims

1. A software development assistant method, comprising:

acquiring, by an end user device, related test cases and execution tool thereof from a software developer device side for testing a function of a software at the end user device, wherein the related test cases and execution tool thereof are used to test the software on the end user device;

creating new test cases for testing the function of the software at the end user device;

executing the related test cases and the new test cases by the end user device using the execution tool with respect to the software;

collecting execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases for feeding back to the software developer device side, the execution information including the function usage information comprising a frequency that a specific function is used and a frequency that a specific error occurs for the specific function, when the specific error occurs, sending a notification about the specific error to the software developer device side online in real time and feeding back the execution information;

analyzing, at the software developer device side, the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases collected from the user devices to derive a test case based on the collected execution information;

generating, at the software developer device side, a new version of software upon analyzing the execution information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of creating new test cases for the software is implemented through a test case creation tool provided to the end user device by the software developer device side along with the software.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases for feeding back to the software developer device side includes records for indicating at least one of successes and failures of execution of the related test cases and the new test cases.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the software further includes a software update.

5. A software development assistant system, comprising:

a test case management unit executing in memory of a software developer device side and configured to provide related test cases and an execution tool thereof to end user devices for testing a function of a software at the end user device, to collect execution information of the test cases from the end user devices, to analyze the execution information of the related test cases and new test cases collected from the user devices to derive a test case based on the collected execution information, and to generate a new version of software upon analyzing the execution information; and

,

a test case management unit executing in memory of the end user device and configured to acquire the related test cases and the execution tool thereof from the software developer device, to create the new test cases for testing the function of the software at the end user device, to execute the related test cases and the new test cases using the execution tool, to collect execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases for feeding back to the software developer device side, the execution information including the function usage information comprising a frequency that a specific function is used and a frequency that a specific error occurs for the specific function, when the specific error occurs, sending a notification about the specific error to the software developer device side online in real time and feeding back the execution information.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the related test cases and execution tool thereof are packaged along with the software and are provided to the end user devices.

7. The system according to claim 5, wherein the related test cases and execution tool thereof are provided to the end user devices via a software developer site to which the end user devices are accessible.

8. The system according to claim 5, wherein the analysis of the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases includes statistics about at least of one an execution result and a function error of the software.

9. The system according to claim 5, further comprising:

a defect tracking unit configured to determine at least one of a defect existing and a function frequently used in the software based on the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases.

10. The system according to claim 9, comprising:

an automatic deployment unit configured to deploy at least one of a new software update developed for the defect existing and a function frequently used in the software selectively and automatically to a portion of the end user devices that are closely related to function involved in the new software update.

11. The system according to claim 5, wherein the software further includes a software update.

12. The system according to claim 5, further comprising an analysis unit executing in the memory of the software developer device side and configured to summarize and to analyze the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases collected from the end user devices to derive the test case based on the collected execution information.

13. A computer program product for software development assistance, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable hardware storage device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable program code for receiving, by an end user device, from a server over a computer communications network both software to be installed in the end user device, and also test cases and a testing tool for testing a function of a software at the end user device;

computer readable program code for creating new test cases for testing the function of the software at the end user device;

computer readable program code for loading the test cases and the new test cases in memory of the end user device and executing the test cases and the new test cases in the memory of the end user device with the execution tool with respect to the software;

computer readable program code for collecting execution information produced by the execution of the test cases and the new test cases, the execution information including function usage information comprising a frequency that a specific function is used and a frequency that a specific error occurs for the specific function;

computer readable program code for sending a notification about the specific error to the server online in real time and feeding back the execution information when the specific error occurs;

computer readable program code for analyzing, at the server, the execution information of the related test cases and the new test cases collected from the user devices to derive a test case based on the collected execution information;

generating, at the server, a new version of software upon analyzing the execution information.

14. The computer program product according to claim 13, further comprising:

computer readable program code for receiving along with the execution tool, a test case creation tool; and

,

computer readable program code for creating the new test case for the software with the received test case creation tool.

15. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the execution information of the test cases and the new test cases includes records for indicating at least one of successes and failures of execution of the test cases and the new test cases.

16. The computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the software further includes a software update.