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QAT Wizard 4.6 Automates Pattern Testing
by Rollie Stephens

The 4.5 release of QAT Wizard was the biggest release in the products history. It focused on the automation, tools and documentation required for customers to author their own standard patterns and corresponding Wizard Interviews without QAT services. The 4.6 release adds another element of automation that greatly simplifies one of the more challenging stages of pattern development… Testing. We've been developing pattern models for over ten years now and testing the patterns has always been a particular challenge. The challenge comes from the fact that each pattern offers many optional features in the form of “Wizard Features”. Since each pattern offers a variety of optional Wizard Features, the testing requires a technique to turn each Wizard Feature on and off between tests to make sure that each Wizard Feature works properly in combination with the others. In release 4.6, we set our sites on the automation of this testing with release 4.6 and I'm very please with the results.

Since the Wizard Interview is responsible for enabling these Wizard Features as the user progresses through the interview, it makes sense that the same Wizard Interview should be used to determine the features that are currently enabled as the patterns are being tested. In other words, we wanted to use the Wizard Interview to simulated the results of the Wizard by allowing the tester to choose the answers to all of the options (questions) presented by the Wizard Interview. To do this, a new automated test menu was developed into the starter pattern model that integrates directly to the Wizard Interview in a special mode that allows the tester to make the same choices they will be presented with during the Wizard Interview. These choices cause various Wizard Features to be enabled and disabled.

Of course, the next step was to enable the patterns to retrieve these current settings (i.e. Enabled Wizard Features) so the test can execute as if those features were selected during the Wizard Interview. This requires a bit of logic at various points within the pattern procedures and action blocks to retrieve the Enabled Features that should be executed for the test. We designed that logic and built it into the procedures and action blocks in our starter pattern. However, since the customers are developing their own patterns, this logic is a nuisance to build into each procedure and action block. In order to automate the logic so the pattern developer doesn't have to worry about that, we created a plug-in that generates this specialized Wizard Feature action diagram logic into the pattern procedures and action blocks automatically.

Between the new automated test menu and the new plug-in to generate the Wizard Feature logic, we've greatly simplified the task of developing and testing patterns for QAT Wizard. The new pattern test menu and code generator can now be launched directly from the QAT Wizard control panel.

For more information, please visit http://www.qat.com/qat_wizard.asp.