Patent Application
20080295076
Graphical user interfaces may contain hundreds or even thousands of content items, for example, functionality buttons and controls, icons, command bars, toolbars, menus, dialog boxes, and scores of configurable properties, including user interface component size, location, color, and the like. Testing user interface (UI) content is a daunting task for UI developers and testers. Often testing is done through a manual process where each possible combination of UI content for a given software application UI is manually reviewed for functional errors and aesthetic quality. In the past, it has been very difficult for testers to test and do quality reviews of UI content in non-manual ways, such as automated review of application code change lists, because data associated with instances of a given UI may be closely related to data associated with other instances of the given UI, and thus, a single code change directed to one instance of the UI may affect many other instances of the UI.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Embodiments of the present invention solve the above and other problems by providing improved graphical user interface testing methods and systems. According to an embodiment of the invention, user interface (UI) build data and data associated with all UI content for a given user interface are passed to a UI parser where text and data files associated with the given user interface are transformed into a data format, for example, the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format that makes testing of UI data more efficient. For example, XML data may be generated for properties and components of the associated user interface, such as UI paths, accelerator key paths, label paths, tool tips, commands, UI component state information, icon file data, UI component location, UI component properties, and the like.
The transformed UI data may be stored to a backend server where stored procedures and functions may be used to analyze the UI component data against build differencing procedures, command mapping procedures, comparison to previous or subsequent user interface builds, etc. Additional stored procedures may allow UI testers to query data, create test suites and record testing information for a given UI.
A front end testing module may provide a testing user interface for allowing testers to query the backend database for information on various UI components and to review test results for tests conducted on UI data. The front end testing module may also provide an interface to the backend server for allowing testers to generate and execute new tests for a given user interface based on other testing results and/or based on additional modifications to the user interface.
These and other features and advantages will be apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and a review of the associated drawings. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention as claimed.
As briefly described above, embodiments of the present invention are directed to providing graphical user interface testing methods and systems. The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the following description to refer to the same or similar elements. While embodiments of the invention may be described, modifications, adaptations, and other implementations are possible. For example, substitutions, additions, or modifications may be made to the elements illustrated in the drawings, and the methods described herein may be modified by substituting, reordering, or adding stages to the disclosed methods. Accordingly, the following detailed description does not limit the invention, but instead, the proper scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.
During a transformation process at the parser module 130, all UI text files may be converted to more readable XML-based files and may be stored a build target folder for later consumption by a primary parser within the parser module 130. Upon completion and release of build data for an associated UI to a local file share storage medium, a secondary parser within the UI parser module 135 may open each XML data file and may convert the UI build data and associated text file data into a test-consumable format. The parser module 135 is operative to pass the XML data for the UI text files and build data to a backend server 125 for further processing.
The backend server 125 and associated database 120 and stored procedures 115 process the data received from the parser module 130 with stored procedures 115 and Automated Integrated Services in a scheduled fashion. According to one embodiment, the server 125 may be in the form of a SQL Server manufactured by MICROSOFT CORPORATON. The server 125 may run indexing services, build differencing procedures, and command mapping procedures to compare older UI builds to newer UI builds. Some stored procedures may enable testers to query the UI data, create test suites, and record test suite and build differencing runs. These stored procedures also provide aggregate data for metrics and test status analysis.
The front end testing application 105 is operative to allow UI testers 102 to query a given UI build based on defined parameters, to review returned test results, to generate new test suites based on current controls in a software application owning the tested UI, to review changes in the UI build that impact particular UI controls of interest to a given UI tester, and to log all results for all testing for future analysis and review. According to one embodiment the front end testing application 105 may be in the form of a C#-based application.
Advantageously, with use of the graphical user interface testing system 100, a UI tester no longer is required to create and maintain granular lists of all the controls and related data in the user interfaces of a tested application. The testing system 100, illustrated in
This graphical user interface testing system 100 may be extensible to other UI issues, for example, auto generation of steps for help files, auto generation of specific test cases based on known UI types, control ownership tracking, bug tracking for particular UI controls, localization (translation and internationalization) comparisons to make sure controls are localized properly, locating and eliminating duplicate accelerator keys, and locating and reporting controls that break with UI design and implementation guidelines that could not be caught any other way (e.g., verification that no ellipses are on menu labels).
According to an embodiment, the testing system 100 also may be operative to link UI usage data with UI control data. Such data linkage allows testers to know how to prioritize their UI control testing as they can leverage UI control usage data percentages as the prioritization model.
The simplified block diagram shown in
The user interface text data 215 includes a number of example text files including a tool bar button text file identified as “TBBTN.TXT,” a toolbar bar text file identified as “TBBAR.TXT,” and a menu list text file identified as “MENULIST.TXT.” Each of these text files may be representative of text strings that will be provided on associated functionality controls in the example user interface. For example, the toolbar button text file may be representative of a text string displayed on a toolbar, for example, “file,” “edit,” “tools,” etc. Similarly, the menu list text file may be representative of text strings displayed in one or more menus, for example, a drop-down menu, for allowing a user to select associated functionality provided via the menu.
The user interface build files 220 may include files containing data associated with the construction and operation of associated user interface components. For example, the toolbar button build file designated as “TBBTN.PL” is illustrative of a PERL-based data transform utility for an associated UI build file that contains data associated with construction, rendering and display of an associated toolbar user interface component.
As should be appreciated, the text files and build files 215, 220 illustrated in
As described above, the UI parser module 130 is operative to convert each of the UI text files 215 and the UI build files 220 for a given user interface into a format which subsequently may be easily and efficiently stored, searched, and acted on. According to one embodiment, the format into which the parser 130 transforms the user interface text data and user interface build data is the Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. As is well known to those skilled in the art, XML is comprised of a self-defining markup language with which each of the UI text data items 215 and each of the UI build file data items 220 may be tagged according to a defined XML tag which allows subsequent location and processing of individual data items to be highly efficient. An example of the XML transformation process is illustrated in
As illustrated in
Having described a system architecture for embodiments of the present invention above with respect to
Referring then to
At operation 420, the XML-formatted text data items and build files are stored by the parser module 130 to the user interface database 120. As described above with reference to
At operation 425, a tester utilizes the front end testing application 105 to run one or more tests, to conduct one or more searches, or to review one or more UI data items or UI build files as desired, as described by examples below. At operation 430, any tests performed on one or more data items stored in the database 120 may be reviewed by the tester via the front end user interface application 105. At operation 435, any post-processing required in response to the testing, searching, or analysis of one or more data items or build files associated with the user interface may be performed.
For an example of the above-described user interface testing method, consider that a program manager, developer or tester is concerned that a text string, for example, “edit” has been applied to various user interface buttons or controls or has been included in one or more user interface menus, and that the text string “edit” has been applied with a font scheme that is inappropriate for the user interface when it will be utilized in a different country where the utilized font scheme is not applicable to the language used by users therein. According to embodiments of the present invention, each user interface text item and/or user interface build file containing the text string “edit” will be converted to a corresponding XML-based data item and will be stored in the user interface database 120 during the data parsing process described above.
In order to find each instance of the text string “edit” according to embodiments of the present invention, the program manager, developer or tester may launch the UI testing application 105, illustrated in
For another example, if a developer utilized a friendly name for a particular user interface control and cannot remember the location of the control, the developer may use the testing application 105 to quickly locate the friendly name in the user interface owing to the ability to parse the XML-formatted data stored in the user interface database 120 to locate the desired friendly name.
For another example, if it is determined that a particular drop-down menu on a present build of a given user interface does not deploy correctly, but it is known that a similar drop-down menu deployed correctly in a previous build of the subject user interface, a tester may run a test suite that parses the XML-formatted data in the user interface database 120 for UI build data on the drop-down menu for the current build to compare the current build data to UI build data for the corresponding drop-down menu in the previous build of the subject user interface. By comparing the XML-formatted build data for the two drop-down menus, the tester may quickly and efficiently determine the build differences between the two drop-down menu builds for determining problems with the new build and for making any necessary repairs to the new build so that the subject drop-down menu will deploy properly.
Referring now to
Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, and other types of structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced with other computer system configurations, including hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.
Referring now to
The mass storage device 514 is connected to the CPU 508 through a mass storage controller (not shown) connected to the bus 510. The mass storage device 514 and its associated computer-readable media provide non-volatile storage for the computer 500. Although the description of computer-readable media contained herein refers to a mass storage device, such as a hard disk or CD-ROM drive, it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed or utilized by the computer 500.
By way of example, and not limitation, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (“DVD”), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer 500.
According to various embodiments of the invention, the computer 500 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to remote computers through a network 504, such as a local network, the Internet, etc. for example. The computer 502 may connect to the network 504 through a network interface unit 516 connected to the bus 510. It should be appreciated that the network interface unit 516 may also be utilized to connect to other types of networks and remote computing systems. The computer 500 may also include an input/output controller 522 for receiving and processing input from a number of other devices, including a keyboard, mouse, etc. (not shown). Similarly, an input/output controller 522 may provide output to a display screen, a printer, or other type of output device.
As mentioned briefly above, a number of program modules and data files may be stored in the mass storage device 514 and RAM 518 of the computer 500, including an operating system 532 suitable for controlling the operation of a networked personal computer, such as the WINDOWS® operating systems from MICROSOFT CORPORATION of Redmond, Wash. The mass storage device 514 and RAM 518 may also store one or more program modules. In particular, the mass storage device 514 and the RAM 518 may store application programs, such as a software application 524, for example, a word processing application, a spreadsheet application, a slide presentation application, a database application, etc.
According to embodiments of the present invention, a graphical user interface testing system 100 is illustrated with which a user interface may be tested as described herein. According one embodiment, all components of the system 100 may be operated as an integrated system stored and operated from a single computing device 500. Alternatively, one or more components of the system 100 may be stored and operated at different computing devices 500 that communicate with each other via a distributed computing environment. Software applications 502 are illustrative of software applications having user interfaces that may require testing and analysis by the graphical user interface testing system 100, described herein. Examples of software applications 502 include, but are not limited to, word processing applications, slide presentation applications, spreadsheet applications, desktop publishing applications, and any other application providing one or more user interface components that may require testing and analysis.
It should be appreciated that various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented acts or program modules running on a computing system and/or (2) as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuit modules within the computing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performance requirements of the computing system implementing the invention. Accordingly, logical operations including related algorithms can be referred to variously as operations, structural devices, acts or modules. It will be recognized by one skilled in the art that these operations, structural devices, acts and modules may be implemented in software, firmware, special purpose digital logic, and any combination thereof without deviating from the spirit and scope of the present invention as recited within the claims set forth herein. Although the invention has been described in connection with various embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that many modifications may be made thereto within the scope of the claims that follow. Accordingly, it is not intended that the scope of the invention in any way be limited by the above description, but instead be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
