 Long time Symbian OS testing player TestQuest has recently updated its product line with more comprehensive Symbian OS support in its Test Verb Technology. We look at the developments at TestQuest and in the testing market.
TestQuest's testing technology has supported multiple platforms from PCs and servers through smartphones to consumer electronics for some time. This wide support gave mobile developers a single tool to test applications across multiple platforms, but creating the tests was a laborious exercise. Multiple scripts had to be written for the same action on different devices and platforms.
Test Verb Technology (TVT) is TestQuest's solution to this challenge. TVT provides an abstraction away from how a particular function is undertaken on a device, providing simple verbs that perform those functions. "If I want to add a name to a contact database with TVT I would essentially say 'add Richard Bloor to contacts,'" explains Steve Gimnicher, TestQuest's Vice President of Business Development. "So with TVT the tester can express what they want to do and don't have to concern themselves with how to do it on a particular platform."
// Script: SymbianS60_test.csl
// Creator: TestQuest
// Creation Date:
// Function Template Set: 1
#include
DECLARE_TEST_CASE( "TVT", "SymbianS60_test.csl", "Test Script", "Tests")
int main()
{
TEST_CASE_START()
{
NAVIGATE_TO("Contacts");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Options");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Select");
ENTER_TEXT_IN_FIELD("First name", "Ryon");
ENTER_TEXT_IN_FIELD("Last name", "Boen");
ENTER_TEXT_IN_FIELD("Job title", "Product Mgr");
HIGHLIGHT_TEXT_FIELD("Telephone");
ENTER_NUMBER("952-555-xxxx");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Done");
NAVIGATE_TO("Contacts");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Options");
SELECT_MENU_ITEM("Delete");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Yes");
PRESS_SOFTKEY("Exit");
}
TEST_CASE_CLEANUP()
{
}
TEST_CASE_CLEANUP_END()
}
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A typical TVT test case.
For examples of verification verbs see this update.
TVT is abstract, driven by database information describing how to perform a particular task. The database can be maintained by utilities provided in TVT so new verbs can be created. While this offers significant opportunities for reuse it did mean that TestQuest users had to provide all the verb implementations themselves. This is where the latest version of TestQuest's tools for Symbian OS has improved. TestQuest now supplies many Symbian test verbs, which Steve claims dramatically improves the efficiency of test development tasks.
With a defined set of verbs TVT also abstracts the testing away from the tools programming language. "You don't necessarily want to require testers to learn the intricacies of how TestQuest's tools interact with a device," says Ryon Boen, Director of Product Management. "TVT allows a test analyst to work in their natural environment, the application's user interface, not the low level scripting tool."
However TestQuest are also expanding beyond simply working in the user interface. "In the past our strategy has been focused on connecting to as many devices as possible," says Ryon. "Since we have significant device coverage we are moving to take advantage of the power of platforms such as Symbian OS to improve testing." Through an abstract interface, TestQuest's testing tools can now perform such tasks as manipulating device memory, both RAM and program memory, to facilitate low memory conditions. It can also directly launch an application or move and delete files. "So now testers can not only run their tests through the interface but directly perform set-up or clean-up without having to do it laboriously through the user interface," says Ryon.
While TestQuest were one of the early players in handheld and smartphone testing, the market is attracting interest from many other companies. Mercury, for example, are leveraging their desktop testing tools into the mobile market. How is that affecting TestQuest?
"Many of the new testing products are point solutions," says Ryon. "I believe TestQuest has, and can maintain, a significant advantage over these solutions because of our connectivity to virtually any operating system. We provide coverage for Palm, Windows Mobile, Windows on a PC and many closed OS devices. The key is that our one tool can test an application end-to-end, spanning multiple environments." A typical testing requirement for a synchronization application is to know that when a contact is updated on the server it is replicated on a handheld or smartphone. Using TestQuest's multimode capability a laptop running Microsoft Outlook, connected to over TCP'IP, a Series 60 device over Bluetooth and a Pocket PC device over Infrared, can all be driven as part of the test. These devices may be communicating together via an external network, such as GPRS. Now a TestQuest script could add a contact to Outlook on the PC and then check it is replicated to the other devices.
"In a mobile environment no device is isolated," say Ryon. "And if you look at companies, such as those creating infrastructure solutions, they need to deliver their solution for most if not all the mobile platforms to make the development worthwhile."
Technically TestQuest can support 8 or more devices but Ryon believes that "if you get much beyond 4 managing the test gets complex and I would certainly suggest that the tester asks whether they are using the right test."
TestQuest's current marketing strategy is focused on device manufacturers as well as larger ISV's and corporates, essentially the developers and deployers of enterprise solutions. "ISVs are an expansion market for us and we are targeting the larger companies in this space. These companies are starting to do serious work in the mobile space but activity is still limited. We are also moving towards the larger market and looking at new product lines and pricing plans which will be attractive to the smaller developer," says Steve.
TestQuest originally built its solution on hardware interfaces, but while software based interfaces has become a significant portion of customer configurations, the hardware interfaces are still important. Software interfaces have limitations in game and multimedia video applications where it is not possible to capture every frame. "While a games developer may have a limited interest in automated testing, after all they can release a beta and get a game tested by hundreds if not thousands for free, we will start to see mission critical applications which require automated testing of video," says Ryon.
As a result TestQuest are continuing to upgrade its hardware solution. "We are committed to supporting testing across all application genres," says Ryon. "There is a need to deal with larger display and faster frame rates. As a result we have recently doubled the hardware solutions data throughput to 4.5Mbit and expect to achieve 9 Mbits shortly. We then have a USB 2.0 interface on the roadmap which will allow us to support full VGA displaying video or animations at 30 frames per second." The latest version of TestQuest's tools for Symbian OS provide support for Series 60 Developer Platform, UIQ and the Nokia 7710 widescreen multimedia smartphone. Series 80 Developer Platform support is currently not provided.
More information on TestQuest is available from its web site: www.testquest.com.
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