Patent ID: 7664989

Claim:
A computer implemented automated software testing architecture comprising a three-level framework for testing multi-stage scenarios of software applications, the architecture comprising: a computing device comprising a processing unit, memory, and computer-readable storage media, the computer-readable storage media comprising computer-executable instructions for causing the computing device to implement: a first level of the three-level framework comprising an associated first data source, wherein the first data source specifies a plurality of test pages, wherein the plurality of test pages correspond to a plurality of stages of a multi-staged scenario, and wherein the plurality of test pages are selected via one or more first level scripts; a second level of the three-level framework comprising an associated second data source, wherein the second data source specifies a plurality of test cases for the plurality of test pages, and wherein the plurality of test cases are selected via one or more second level scripts; and a third level of the three-level framework comprising an associated third data source, wherein the third data source contains test data for the plurality of test cases specified in the second data source, and wherein the test data in the third data source is used by one or more third level scripts when executing the plurality of test cases specified in the second data source; an intermediate entity data source, wherein the intermediate entity data source is configured to store states for intermediate entities generated by the execution of the plurality of test cases by the one or more third-level scripts, and wherein the intermediate entity data source is configured to provide the stored states for intermediate entities for use by the one or more third-level scripts when executing subsequent test cases of the plurality of test cases; wherein, for each test page of the plurality of test pages: a first level script of the one or more first level scripts calls a second level script of the one or more second level scripts, passing the test page; the second level script selects test cases for the test page, from the plurality of test cases, from the second data source and calls a third level script of the one or more third level scripts; and the third level script executes the selected test cases using test data associated with the selected test cases, from the test data.