Testing Harness Proposal

["Lynda VanVleet" <lyndavv@earthlink.net>]

To XSLT/XPath Conformance Committee members:

The following is an overview of the capabilities of IQTest and some
suggestions on how it could be used for the conformance testing.  I have
included some information about IQTest below and additional information is
available on our web site http://www.classiq.com/.

IQTest Capabilities

IQTest is a configurable testing harness that is designed to support
multiple technologies.  In order to support a new technology you simply
write an adapter that provides IQTest the technology specific information.
This information includes how the test cases should be organized, what
structure the data should be in, and how to execute the test.  Once these
functions are written you have access to all of the standard IQTest
capabilities listed below.

IQTest Usage Proposal

What Class IQ will provide to the XSLT/XPath Conformance Committee?

The IQTest testing harness adapter for XSLT can be configured in several
ways and we will let the committee decide which would be of benefit if any.
We will provide any member of the committee IQTest software to use for
committee work and we will work with committee members to develop the
adapter to our harness that would be useful.

Our software runs on Windows NT or Unix (XWindows) and supports most
relational databases.

Some of the possible configurations include:
1.	An adapter that will browse through the XSLT Specification and allow the
user to choose a section to test.  The test case(s) associated with that
section will be sent to the XSLT processor provided by the user.  The
results returned can be compared to expected results stored in the software.
2.	An adapter that will browse a set of test cases and allow the user to
choose a test case from the suite.  The test case is sent to the XSLT
processor being tested.  The results are returned and compared to the
expected results.
3.	Both of these
4.	Another idea the committee finds more useful

The areas that would need to be addressed by the adapter include:
1.  A way to specify the processor you want to use.
2.  A canonical view comparison
3.  The details of how to display and organize the tests.


The following explains some of the highlights of our testing software and
briefly explains how part of our EAI/B2B solution works to test applications
that send XML over HTTP.

Enterprise Component Testing Environment

IQTest is an enterprise-testing environment designed to eliminate manual or
inefficient tasks performed by developers and testers.  There are two major
types of needs IQTest supports:
Component Development – Support for automated Unit Testing of code.
Component Integration (EAI & B2B) – Support for the communication protocols
applications use to communicate with each other.

IQTest Environment

In order to support the needs of component integration and development
efforts, IQTest provides a common testing interface for all the technologies
it supports. This interface allows you to quickly adapt to testing new
technologies.
This fully featured enterprise-testing environment includes the following
capabilities for all supported technologies:
Test Harness - The test harness allows you to browse your code or interfaces
and select the calls you want to test.  From the test Harness you can create
new tests or open existing test cases.
Test Case - The test case allows you to enter the input data for a test,
monitor the test output and set expected results for a given test.  This
capability is fully automated; all you need to do is supply the data (No
test code needs to be written!).
Test Case Repository - All test data and cases you define are stored in an
ODBC based test case repository.  The tests optionally can also be sent to a
version control system.
Data Generation - In order to ensure the testing process is as efficient as
possible, IQTest allows you to load data from files, generate data values,
or use data from previous test cases.
Setup Conditions - Setup Conditions allow you to setup the applications
environment before a test is executed or validate the effects of a test on
the environment.   For example, a validation can insure that the proper data
is added to the database.  This allows IQTest to seamlessly support custom
frameworks.
Test Suites - Test suites allow you to organize your tests to be used for
regular regression testing.  You can also run these suites unattended in
batch mode on a regular bases to ensure errors are identified as soon as
possible.
Security - This feature allows you to organize your tests and control access
to modifying them.
Coverage Reporting - IQTest supplies reports to monitor the progress of your
testing.

IQTest for XML

Forte Fusion applications are enabled to process XML documents sent over
HTTP, either natively or using an adapter.  In IQTest, the user can define
the XML document and the application's URL.  IQTest messages the document to
the URL and shows a comparison of the HTTP response with the expected
response.  IQTest compares the elements and attributes of the XML response
with the expected values.

The client PC file structure is displayed in the Project List window.  The
user selects a XML document file by browsing through the file structure.
The XML document is parsed/processed using the Expat parser built into Forte
Fusion.  The element and attribute nodes are displayed in the New Test
Window.

The URL_Name of the application is provided by the user.  When IQTest is
run, the XML document is sent over HTTP to the URL to be processed and the
result is loaded into the Request_Result field and compared to the expected
results.

As you know, I will be in Holland but I will be checking my email so feel
free to send me any questions.

Lynda

========================================
Lynda VanVleet           |  "Before one can
Testing Engineer         |   understand
Class I.Q.               |   recursion, one
lvanvleet@classiq.com    |   must understand
www.classiq.com          |   recursion."
                          V.Orehck III
                          (fictitious)