Abstract:
A system and method for automated software testing includes defining a data model of an automated software test for a feature or business process being tested and then identifying an address for a function library at a local or remote location for executing the data model of the automated software test based upon the platform of the application. This identified function library is accessed at the address at the local or remote location so that an execution of a function within the function library may be invoked to obtain results therefrom.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/033,361 (Atty. Dkt. No. WSFT-26,660), entitled “EXTENSIBLE EXECUTION LANGUAGE,” filed on Jan. 11, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to automated software testing across multiple software platforms, and more particularly, to a method for testing across multiple software platforms using a mix of languages.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     The implementation of software on a computer system requires that the software be tested in order to confirm that is operating as expected. Historically, software functionality has been tested by creating a large combination of inputs to the software and verifying the outputs against the expected correct response.  
         [0004]     To date, these inputs have been supplied and outputs verified either by manual or automated test execution. Manual execution is time and labor intensive, so automation is important to achieve economical test coverage. Scripting languages enable a programmer to automate test execution by simulating manual activity using code.  
         [0005]     The problem with using scripting languages is that they are platform specific. Modern applications and business processes comprise components that are distributed over multiple platforms, and functionality may be ported from one platform to another. This requires a means of test automation that can execute across multiple platforms using the languages best suited to each platform, with flexibility to change to different languages should future needs arise.  
         [0006]     This need for test procedures that span multiple platforms or applications is exemplified by enterprise planning applications such as SAP software whose functionality may be implemented using one or more platforms, or whose business processes may integrate with third party applications. In either case there is a need to execute tests that span platforms or applications end to end within a single procedure.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0007]     The present invention disclosed and described herein, in one aspect thereof, comprises a system and method for automated software testing. A data model is defined of an automated software test for a business process being tested. The data model may span test steps across multiple applications or multiple components of the same application. An identification is made of at least one available address for a function library at a local or remote location for executing the automated software test based upon a platform of the application being tested. The identified function library is accessed at the local or remote location to invoke an execution of a function in the function library to obtain results from the execution of the function.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     For a more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings in which:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a general block diagram illustrating a system for automated application testing;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating a software application or business process that may be executed over multiple platforms;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3   a  is a block diagram illustrating the system enabling automated testing of software over multiple platforms;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3   b  illustrates a test action request;  
         [0013]      FIG. 3   c  illustrates results provided from a function library;  
         [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates the process for executing an automated test over multiple platforms;  
         [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates a further embodiment of the system of  FIG. 2  wherein the system library function tools are distributed over multiple platforms locations;  
         [0016]      FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating the system enabling automated testing of software, wherein the function libraries are located at a number of IP addresses;  
         [0017]      FIG. 7  illustrates a function library;  
         [0018]      FIG. 8  illustrates the operation of a function library;  
         [0019]      FIG. 9  illustrates an example of testing an application using the described system;  
         [0020]      FIG. 10  illustrates a business process; and  
         [0021]      FIG. 11  illustrates configuration and testing of a business process.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]     Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly, to  FIG. 1 , there is a system and method for automated software testing that enables the automation of test procedures whose definition is independent from a specific platform or scripting language. The system comprises a database  102  containing the test procedures that is logically connected during execution to one or more function libraries  106  containing a number of functions  112  that are specific to a particular language or platform. This database  102  describes the enterprise execution environment including all applications, application components, platforms and their location, and a table  108  that describes how each type of component is recognized and what actions can be performed against it.  
         [0023]     The test procedures are constructed within the database  102  by selecting the application, the component within the application, the action to be performed against the component, and the relevant data value(s) to be either input to the software or verified against the output. This data is passed to an application program interface (API)  110  that makes a call to the function library  106  associated with the platform and invokes the function  112  needed to execute the specified action. The function  112  returns its results to the API  110  that in turn logs the results into the database  102 . These functions  112  maybe written in any language or protocol that is appropriate to the associated platform or software operating environment. Thus, a mix of these functions  112  on different platforms may be executed during a single test procedure, and functions  112  may be substituted if the same test procedure must be executed on another platform.  
         [0024]     Platforms are identified by an interface mechanism. This interface mechanism may be operating system dependent or independent, or may be a capability of the development environment used to construct the application. For example, the Windows operating system provides an API for standard application components within its environment as this interface mechanism, while the Java runtime environment is operating system independent and supports accessibility through a standard class. Applications developed using either Java or .NET provide reflection interfaces, and applications executing within a browser may be accessed through the document object model interface. This multiplicity of potential interface mechanisms introduces complexity into the automated test process that this invention addresses.  
         [0025]     Software applications may also provide their own interface mechanism for interacting with the software. SAP software, as a specific instance of this, provides an interface known as the SAP GUI API (graphical user interface application programming interface) that allows actions to be performed with and against the components of SAP software for various purposes including the automated execution of tests. SAP software also provides services in the form of XML messages that may be used to invoke business processes and related functionality within the SAP software that may also be used for automated testing. A business process is a transaction such as creating a sales order or generating an invoice that may require the use of one or more software components or applications to complete the transaction.  
         [0026]     Referring now to  FIG. 10 , there is illustrated the manner in which a business process  1002  may be implemented across a plurality of software applications  1004 . A business process  1002  could comprise any business application such as generating a sales order or invoice that may require the use of multiple software components or applications  1004  in order to complete the business process. Each of the software components or applications  1004  which are implementing the business process  1002  may be executed on a number of different platforms  1006 . Thus, each business process  1002 , in addition to requiring operation across multiple software components or applications  1004  require the execution of these components or applications on multiple types of platforms  1006 . This of course renders the testing of the business process  1002  a very complex process.  
         [0027]     Referring now also to  FIG. 11 , there is illustrated the manner in which a business process  1002  may be implemented and tested to confirm its proper operation. Various software components or applications  1102  necessary to incorporate a desired business process  1002  are purchased at step  1102 . The software components or applications  1004  are configured to a desired business process  1002  at step  1104 . Once the software has been configured to operate according to the desired business process  1002  on the appropriate platforms  1006 , the configuration of the business process is tested at step  1106 . The proper operation of the configuration of the software may then be tested.  
         [0028]     Referring now to  FIG. 2 , there is illustrated a software application or business process  200  that requires an automated software testing procedure. The software application or business process  200  may include any type of code operable on any hardware platform or in any software environment. The software application or business process  200  includes components that are distributed across a mainframe  202 , a browser  204 , a PC  206 , a server  208 , mobile devices  210  and XML messages  212 . The mobile devices  210  may include any number of devices including a mobile telephone personal data assistant, mobile e-mail device, etc. The XML messages  212  may be delivered across multiple transports using various protocols. Thus, the execution of the software application or business process requires the execution of each of these components in different platforms as discussed previously and any testing procedure must demonstrate this behavior.  
         [0029]     As can be seen, an automated test procedure using a scripting language formatted only for the mainframe platform would be able to test the inputs and outputs of the mainframe component  202  of the software application or business process  200  but cannot provide testing capabilities with respect to the remaining components. Likewise, scripting languages for mobile devices  210  may not be able to execute components against the mainframe  202 , browser  204 , PC or server  208 . The execution of XML messages may require yet another language depending on the protocol and transport. The limits of a particular scripting language to a specific component greatly limits the use of the scripted language. The manner of overcoming this problem is using multiple scripting languages, one for each separate component. However, composing a testing procedure for each component would require a great deal of programming time.  
         [0030]     Referring now to  FIG. 3   a , there is illustrated a block diagram of the system enabling the automation of software testing across any platform using a mix of scripting languages. The database  102  contains data models of automated test procedures described by actions to be performed on the application and components associated with different platforms to execute tests over each of the components. The data model of the automated test procedure including the application, its platform interface, component, the component type, action and data combined are generated and forwarded from the database  102  to an API  110 . The application, its platform interface, the component, the component type, action and data comprises the test action request  302  illustrated in  FIG. 3   b.    
         [0031]     The application  303  includes an indication of the software application that is being tested by the automated testing software. The platform interface information  305  provides an indication of the location of the function library  106   a - f  for the application being tested. The component information  307  includes an indication of the part of the software application that is to be tested. The component type  309  indicates what kind of component is to be tested. The action information  311  provides an indication of which particular function or activity is to be formed on the selected component type, and the data  313  includes any physical data necessary to carry out the requested action on the component. The test action request  302  enables the API  110  and function libraries  106   a - f  to perform any desired test execution.  
         [0032]     Referring now back to  FIG. 3   a , the API  110  selects the particular function  112  from a function library  106   a - f  based on the platform interface necessary to perform the action forwarded from the database  102  in the test action request  302  and routes the test action request  302  to the proper function library  106   a - f  based on the location of the application. The selected function  112  performs the action included within the test action request  302  to generate a particular test result based upon the provided data. The function  112  receives back the actual results, which are compared to the expected results at the function  106 . These results  308 , including either or both of the actual results and the comparison results, are sent back to the database  102  through the API  110  and saved for logging purposes.  
         [0033]     The function library  106   a - f  comprises one or more functions  112  each associated with a particular component. Each of the functions  112  executes the test action request  302  and generates a result  308  of the action including any returned data values. The results  308  illustrated in  FIG. 3   c  includes the results  320  provided by function library  106   a - f  and the results of the comparison  322  of the results  320  with an expected result. The expected result is provided to the function library  106   a - f  from the database  102  in the test action request  302 . Using a combination of the functions  112 , applications and business processes  200  may be tested over a number of platforms. Thus, for example, the test procedure data model for an application or business process  200  that is executed on a browser  204 , PC  206  and a mobile device  210  would provide a set of test action requests that accessed function libraries  106   b ,  106   c  and  106   e  to generate results  308  simulating execution of the application and business process  200  across these components. Each of the functions  112  in the function libraries  106   a - f  enable particular actions to be executed on the platform with which the function library  106   a - f  is associated. Function library  106   a  enables the execution of actions on a mainframe platform  102 . Function library  106   b  executes actions against components on a browser platform  106   a - f . Function library  106   c  executes actions on a PC platform  206 . Function library  106   d  executes actions on a server platform  208  and function library  106   e  executes actions against components associated with mobile device platforms  210 . Function library  106   f  executes actions on an XML message platform  212 .  
         [0034]     Referring now to  FIG. 4 , there is a flow diagram illustrating the process by which a particular test procedure may use the cross-platform automated software testing functionalities of the present invention. Initially, at step  402 , an application or business process to be tested is selected from the database  102 . Next, the platform interface of the application or business process  200  is selected at step  404  from a list of the platform interfaces within the database  102 . Next, a component within the application or business process  200  is selected at step  406 . The component comprises some part of the application that is to be tested by the automated testing process. The database  102  performs at step  408  a lookup of the component type from the database  102 . The type of the component describes its characteristics; for example, whether it is a text field, a push button, a menu or a list. Each component type has an associated list of actions that may be performed against the component; for example, input or verify the value in a text box. Next, an action that may be associated with the selected component type is selected at step  410 , and all necessary data parameters for performing the selected action on the component are supplied at step  412 . This collection of information is stored as a test action request  302  at step  413 , and passed to the API  110  at step  414 .  
         [0035]     The API  110  uses the IP address of the function library  106   a - f  within the test action request  302  to connect at step  416  to the associated function  112  in the function library  106   a - f  necessary for carrying out the software test. The test action request  302  is used to invoke the function  112  to execute at step  418  the information contained in the test action request  302 . This process involves performing the provided action on the provided component using any of the data provided in the test action request  302 . A result is received from the execution of the function at step  420  and the result may be compared to an expected result at step  422 . The results  420  are returned to the database  102  via the API  110  at step  424 . The results  420  are stored at step  426  within the database  102 .  
         [0036]     In  FIG. 5 , there are illustrated function libraries  106   a - f  and an application or business process  200  that resides upon multiple platforms at multiple locations. The function libraries  106   a - f  are distributed across a PC platform  502  in a first location, a mainframe platform  504  in a second location and a web browser platform  506  in a third location. Each of these platforms is able to communicate with each other via the Internet  508  or intranet  510 . The application or business process  200  is additionally implemented on each of the different platforms illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The fact that the application or business process  200  may be executed on the PC platform  502 , mainframe platform  504  and browser platform  506  require that locations of the function libraries  106   a - f  must be able to be determined such that the automated test execution may be run. The locations of the function libraries  106   a - f  are identified by an IP address.  
         [0037]     The PC platform  502  includes application or business process  200  and function libraries  106   a - f  that are associated with execution on the PC platform  502 . The PC platform  502  is able to communicate with the mainframe platform  504  via an intranet  510 . The intranet  510  may comprise any type of internal network that is implemented within a defined location or area such as a company intranet. The PC platform  502  communicates with the browser platform  506  over the Internet  508 . The Internet  508  comprises a worldwide communications network enabling wide spread communication amongst connected entities.  
         [0038]     The mainframe platform  504  also includes applications  200  and function libraries  106   a - f  that are executed within this operating environment. Likewise, the browser platform  506  includes applications  200  and function libraries  106   a - f  that are executable and operable within the browser environment. Since the function libraries  106   a - f  are located and associated with different platforms that are interconnected via an intranet  510  or internet  508 , in order for an application program interface to access these function libraries  106   a - f  to perform automated testing procedures, there is the necessity of some manner for accessing these function libraries  106   a - f  in different locations.  
         [0039]     In  FIG. 6  there is illustrated the operation of the automated software testing system of the present invention having function libraries  106   a - f  located at a number of locations having separate IP addresses. Thus, the mainframe  602 , browser  604 , PC  606 , server  608 , mobile devices  610 , and XML message  612  and the associated functions  112  of the function libraries  106   a - f  are at separate locations associated with separate IP addresses. In order to make it possible for the API  110  to locate a particular function  112  in a function library  106   a - f , each function library  106   a - f  will have associated therewith an IP address. The function library  106   a - f  at that location associated with the application or business process is accessed via the Internet  508  or an intranet  510  using this IP address. In this manner, the API  110  may access functions  112  by routing test action requests  302  to and receiving results from the IP address which is associated with the function library  106   a - f.    
         [0040]     The table  600  containing the information including the application or business process  200 , function library  106   a - f  and IP address  602  is contained within the database  102  described with respect to  FIG. 1 . In this manner, a much greater variety of function libraries  106   a - f  may be accessed since a user is not limited to those function libraries contained within the processing entity with which the user is working but may access any platform containing function libraries  106   a - f  that are accessible via some type of intranet or Internet network.  
         [0041]     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , there is illustrated a function library  106   a - f  which is comprised of a set of functions  702   a - d  that are each associated with a component type and the action to be performed against the component type and the process performed by the function  112 . The API  110  passes the test action request  302  that contains the component, component type, action and data to the function library  106   a - f  and the function library  106   a - f  selects the function  702  that is associated with the selected action and component type. This function  702  executes the action and retrieves the result, which is returned to the API  110 . The particular function  702  within the function library  106   a - f  that is selected for generating the execution results is selected based upon the component selected, the type of action that is being performed and the data upon which the action is to be performed. The function library  106   a - f  is at a location having an associated IP address.  
         [0042]     The operation of the function library  106   a - f  is more fully illustrated in  FIG. 8 , wherein, once the function is selected at step  802 , the test action request  302  is provided to the selected function  112  at step  804 . The function  112  extracts at step  805  the provided data from the test action request  302  and uses this data to perform the particular action associated with the selected function on a particular component at step  806 . This operation provides a particular result and this result is retrieved at step  810  such that the results may be provided back to the application program interface at step  812 . Alternatively, results from step  810  may be compared to an expected result and this result is additionally provided back to the API at step  812 . In this manner, for the selected action and associated data, automated execution may be performed on any number of platforms or software operating environments.  
         [0043]     Referring now to  FIG. 9 , there is provided a particular example wherein the system of the present disclosure is used to execute tests for an application or business process  900 . The application or business process  900  includes three components, a browser component  902  that is operable within a browser environment, a server component  904  that is operable within a server environment and a mobile device component  906  that is operable within a mobile device environment. A test action request  908  is created for each of these components. The makeup of the test action request  908  depends upon the particular action that is desired to be tested with respect to the application or business process  900  for the associated component. While the disclosure with respect to  FIG. 9  illustrates a test action request  908  being created for each of the browser component  902 , server component  904  and mobile device component  906 , a user might desire to test only a single one or pair of these components, in which case there would only be one or two test action requests  908  provided to the application program interface  910 . Additionally, any component of the application or business process  900  may be tested in addition to those discussed above.  
         [0044]     The application program interface  910  utilizes the IP address information within each of the test action requests  908  to route the test action request to three different function libraries associated at three different locations having separate IP addresses. For the test action request  908  for the browser component  902 , the API routes the test action request at  912  to function library one  914  at IP address one. For the server component  904 , the test action request  908  is routed at  916  from the API to a function library two  918  at IP address two. Finally, the test action request  908  for the mobile device component  906  is routed to function library three  922  at  920  wherein the function library three  922  is located at IP address three. It is noted that no test action request  908  is transmitted to function library four  924  at IP address four since no component requiring the functions of function library four is included within the application  900  being tested.  
         [0045]     Each of the function libraries  914 ,  918  and  922  generates a result in the manner described hereinabove responsive to each of the test action requests  908  received from the application program interface  910 . The results may be compared with an expected result in the test action request  908  to see if they match. The function libraries  914 ,  918  and  922  transmit the results back to the API  910 . Function library one  914  transmits the results of the test for the browser component to the API at  926 . Function library two  918  transmits the results for the test of the server component  904  back to the API at  928 . Function library three  922  transmits the results of the test for the mobile device component  906  back to the API at  930 . Each of the results received at the API  910  is transmitted from the API  910  at  932  to a result log  934 . There are three separate results transmitted from the API  910  to the result log  934  at  932  since there are three separate results coming from each of the function libraries  914 ,  918  and  922 . Each of these results are associated with a separate test for each of the browser component  902 , server component  904  and mobile device component  906 , respectively. The result log  934  then has three separate results stored therein that may be accessed by the user to determine the results of a test for application  900 .  
         [0046]     Although the preferred embodiment has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.