Patent ID: 8856749

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: executing an automated computer test case that indicates a set of actions to be executed; receiving an indication of a first action of the set of actions at an action broker, the action broker performing the following acts in response to receiving the indication of the first action: choosing a first automation implementation to execute the first action; sending a request to the first automation implementation to execute the first action through a first action execution path by communicating with software being tested, the execution of the first action by the first automation implementation through the first action execution path comprising using the first action execution path to request that the software being tested perform the first action; and receiving a result from the execution of the first action by communicating with the software being tested through the first action execution path, the result from the execution of the first action being received in a format that is specific to the first action execution path; and receiving an indication of a second action of the set of actions at the action broker, the action broker performing the following acts in response to receiving the indication of the second action: choosing a second automation implementation to execute the second action; sending a request to the second automation implementation to execute the second action through a second action execution path that is different from the first action execution path by communicating with software being tested, the execution of the second action by the second automation implementation through the second action execution path comprising using the second action execution path to request that the software being tested perform the second action, the second action being different from the first action, and the second automation implementation being different from the first automation implementation; and transmitting the result from the execution of the first action to the second automation implementation for use in executing the second action by communicating with the software being tested through the second action execution path, the result from the execution of the first action through the first action execution path being transmitted to the second automaton implementation in a second format that is specific to the second action execution path.