Carpenter Systems

Not as easy as one would think really, and yet its one of the most valuable services we rely on as programmers.  When you can get a good testing team to help you pound on a feature before release and give you first class feedback it helps immensely.   Testers with an attention to detail that help your project along are your best friends.

When you release an update and fix a few bugs or add new features and do your limited testing only to find out that it broke something else from your test group; its disheartening.  With all their hard work they feel like two steps forward and one backwards and it challenges you the programmer even more.

One way to improve on this I have found is to use a good set of test scripts. Even with regular testers doing things manually, a good set of scripts I have learned is very important.  While working with RSmart Group on the Sakai project, the set of test scripts they had from their use cases, was a perfect step by step to make sure all items and fields were tested.

In a small programming shop where time is very valuable, is it worth the time to build an automated testing system?  I believe so when I consider the iterative use of the scripts once committed to a working test application.  Thanks to Microsoft’s Windows Automation Interface that is exactly what I focused on this week while polishing off my latest project.

I knew of the Accessibility and Automation library for some time.  However aside from a few lightly used projects such as White, or articles on Code Project, its not covered heavily outside of Microsoft.  White looks very promising, but the documentation is limited and the framework deep.  This would be excellent, and perhaps I am taking the road less travelled working on a custom version for our app, however White will sit in a directory near by for some time at least as a reference work.

Some of the better works I have seen as for introducing the technology are from MSDN Magazine and Dr. James McCaffery.  His first article was in February 2008 introducing the Automation UI, and the second more recently in March 2009 is really more of a follow up.  He covers a few new details about collections, but really it amounts to a rewrite of the first.

In my own experience, taking his example and developing my own proof of concept was the fastest introduction to the code.  With my primary daily time spent in C++ I don’t find C# difficult but switching back and forth is less optimal for me in efficiency.   However with the limit of example code available, what I found was more prevalent in C# then C++.

In closing for this note, if you have testing you will need to do consistently over time, then the time spent developing your own automation may well be worth the investment.  Other packages I saw on the market might help with a small percentage of the overall requirements, but in the end seem to lean back to coding of some sort with or without screen recorders.  If anyone has a preference, or experience on any of those packages, I would love to hear about actual experience.

I used to love digging through Linux, playing in the command line, etc.  I still do when I have time.  However this last month this has not been it. 

Missing an update can be a terrible thing in this world today.  I remember watching my honeypot grab thousands of attacks an hour at times.  All for what?  nothing, not a single thing besides this blog or that of a family member.

Well the seasons almost over, the code is almost written and soon I will have more time for here (at least I might actually see what a weekend is).  Till then I press on – and this place is empty.

For those that link here for Pain Management Tracker, it will return by December 15th at the latest.  I would love to restore the backup now, but time is just something I don’t have much of at this moment.

KBC