A non-invasive object-oriented tool for software testing

Abstract

A non-invasive approach for capture and playback (C&P) can be a very useful tool for testing applications endowed of a graphic user interface in local and/or distributed environments, and in general for testing applications without modifying their run-time environment. In the software lifecycle, the phases of C&P are performed after the application design. Since these are close to the delivery deadline, the time needed for application testing is considered as a high, and frequently unacceptable, cost. In this paper, a new approach for non-invasive C&P testing techniques is proposed. This is strongly based on the object-oriented paradigm at both hardware and software levels. In particular, a new board for image grabbing and pattern matching, and a new object-oriented language for specifying the tests have been defined. The main goals of this new approach are (i) the reduction of testing time by supporting the reuse of tests (coded by using a specific language) at each level of abstraction, and (ii) the anticipation of the capture-phase of testing with the system design.

A tutorial on creating logfiles for event-driven applications

“…Later, this script file can be played back to the original software, to simulate the presence ofthe user. The programming needed to modify software so that it generates such scripts is often a difficult and time-consuming task, and recently, noninvasive methods that do not require that the original software be modified have been developed (Nesi & Serra, 1995). Although the capture and playback method provides a good visual record ofthe user's actions, it is often not suited for statistical analysis, because the script file is structured to aid the replay and not the analysis of the data.…”