Improving Batch-Process Testing Techniques with a Domain-Specific Language

Improving Batch-Process Testing Techniqueswith a Domain-Specific Language

Alberto Lemos (Dr. Spock)Senior Software Architect

SpockNET

Danival Taffarel CalegariMATERA Systems Architect

Globalcode Instructor

Agenda

• Principles & Proposals

• Why to use a DSL to test?

• 2 Case Studies

Objective

“Show a simple way to improve batch process tests

with a Domain-Specific Language”

Motivation

• Test automation contributes to the project success

• It is hard and time consuming to write and automate tests

• It is more complex and hard to write tests for batch process

Agenda



• 2 Case Studies

Principles for a good Test Automation

• Automated tests must be:

• Easy to write

• Easy to run

• Self-contained

• Run quickly

• Always updated

Challenges to test a Batch Process

• How to test Batch Process?

• How to control when it starts or stops?

• How to prevent concurrent run?

• The preparation and validation steps require lots of complex SQLs

Domain-Specific Language

• Why to use DSL to test?

• A good DSL must be:

• Expressive and natural

• Easy to use and learn

• Hard to misuse

• Extensible

Agenda



• 2 Case Studies

Making test writing easier with DSL

• Define a language specifically to write the tests

• The language must be closer to the business than to the technology

• The easier the DSL, the greater the chance to it will be used

Making test writing easier with DSL

• The DSL implementation strategy in 2 steps:

• 1st step: Use Internal (embedded) DSL

• 2nd step: Use external DSL

Internal (embedded) DSL

• It is easier to write

• It has tool support

• It provides a good fluency for those who know the underlining programming language.

External DSL

• It has less technological limitations

• It adds more valueper line of code

• It can be used by a layman

Steps for DSL Setup

Create a basic infrastructure to run the processes and verify the results.

Create a DSL for each functionalityWrite the test for the functionality

Steps for DSL Setup

Steps for DSL Setup• How can I run a batch in an isolated form?


• How should the test code to run the SQL to verify the results?


• How should the test code to run the SQL to verify the results?

• How to make the DSL open a browser, do login and press buttons?

Steps for DSL Setup

Steps for DSL Setup• Use the builder pattern


• Provide default values or they will be automatically generated



• Provide an abstract base class to be extended



• Provide an abstract base class to be extended

• Reuse similar functionalities

Agenda



• 2 Case Studies

Case studies

• Application of the techniques in two global bank systems with strong batch processing.

• Test automation for an already existing system.

• Test automation for an system built from scratch.

First case study

• A system responsible for receiving buy and sell orders from international clients, processing those orders and sending them to brazilian stock exchange systems.

• It’s a very critical system.

First case studyInternational Clients

WebLogic 8.1

WLI

App

InboundQueue

Oracle DB

SQL Server

MQSeries

First case study

• Challenges

• Run the system tests isolated.

• Post messages into WebLogic JMS queues.

• To determine when a process finishes.

Run the system isolated

WebLogic 8.1

International Clients

WLI

App

InboundQueue

MQSeries

Oracle DB

SQL Server

Fedora 4 VM

Windows VM


WebLogic 8.1

WLI

App

InboundQueue

Oracle DB

SQL Server

MQSeries

Simplifying test setup• A web application was built to run inside

the test server.

• It acts as a “spy” on the server.

• It can access the server database connections

• It can access the server message queues.

Simplifying test setup

WebLogic 8.1

WLI

App

InboundQueue

Fedora 4 VM

Windows VM

Oracle DB

SQL Server

MQSeries


WebLogic 8.1

WLI

App

InboundQueue

Fedora 4 VM

Windows VM

Oracle DB

SQL Server

MQSeriesTest Spy


WebLogic 8.1

WLI

App

Test SpySelenium Server

Selenium RC

Test cases

Test environment

Simplifying test writing

• A DSL has been made using Selenium to access the test application server.

• The completion for each command is checked by issue SQL commands querying control tables until the results appear or a timeout occurs.


Pros & Cons• The test execution is very “visual”.

• Testers with basic programming skills wrote more than 400 test cases.

• It doesn’t leave an open backdoor in the production environment.

• It was very difficult to put in a continuous integration test environment.

Second case study• A system responsible for receiving

allocation commands for contracts in future markets (BM&F).

• It monitors the allocation status and displays alerts in a monitor.

• System failures and delays can cause fines and image damages to the bank.

Second case studyAllocation commands

Tomcat 6

App

Oracle DB

Tables SP

Second case study• Challenges

• Run the system tests isolated.

• To control the execution of the stored procedure.

• How to check in and out parameters for the stored procedure?

Run the system isolatedAllocation commands

Tomcat 6

App

Oracle DB

Tables SP

Ubuntu Server VM


Tomcat 6

AppOracle DB

Tables SPRemoteControl

Ubuntu Server VM

SP control

Tomcat 6

App

Oracle DB

Tables SP*

Tables*RemoteControl


Tomcat 6

App

RemoteControl

Test Spy

Test environment

Spring Remoting

Test cases


• A DSL has been made using Spring Remoting to access the test application server.

• The completion for each command is checked by the remote control put inside the application.

Pros & Cons• It’s faster than Selenium solution.

• The batch execution control is more precise.

• Linux based VM is more portable.

• It demanded such effort to prepare the environment (VM, mock SP, semaphores)

Thank you!

• Alberto Lemos (Dr. Spock)

@drspockbr

http://about.me/drspockbr

• Danival T. Calegari

@danivaltc

[email protected]



mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]