Preparation and Setup Agents 279 The agent begins the main body of the commands by opening the com- mands file. dbfile = open( target ) The default open command opens a file for read access. The agent then duplicates the command constants originally defined in Prepare_Setup_Agent. The agent loops through each record in the com- mand.db file and processes each command. While the post_message() function does not actually send a request to a Web-enabled application, it does print the reply message with the correct indentation to the screen. The agent then creates variables used during command processing, including a counter for the number of commands processed, an identifier for the next new message, and an integer value to track the indentation of the next reply message in the tree of reply messages. Setup_agent processes each command in the commands file. The for command loops through every line in the commands file. for line in dbfile.readlines(): The agent creates a list variable called commands by reading a line from the commands file and splitting it into a list of individual values by delimiting each value by a comma character using the split function. commands = line.split(",") The commands variable is a list so commands[0] refers to the first value found in the current line of the commands file. In the discussion system example, the first time through this loop commands[0] contains a new_thread command. The agent handles commands and takes action accordingly. When han- dling a new_thread command, the agent indicates the command has been handled, bumps up the number of handled commands, posts the message using the post_message() function, pushes the indentation value onto the stack using the push() function, then bumps up the number of messages and the indentation value. if int( command ) == new_thread: handled=1 tick += 1 node=post_message(next_message,indent, \ PH069-Cohen.book Page 279 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 280 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing "top-message",commands[1],commands[2]) push( indent ) next_message += 1 indent += 1 The handled variable is a simple flag that the agent uses to make sure every command is recognized and executed. If handled is still 0 at the end of the next block of code, then an error is thrown. if handled==0: print "Unknown command!" print line Prepare_Setup_Agent automatically runs Setup_agent using the exec- file command. When execfile is used, Setup_agent exits back to Prepare _Setup_Agent then execution continues after the execfile command. Using Databases to Configure Tests Earlier in this chapter we learned how the preparation stage of a test formats configuration instructions into a command file. The configuration instruc- tions may be manually coded into a preparation test agent retrieved from a file or database. This section shows how an intelligent test agent that was built in TestMaker interacts with relational database systems. TestMaker provides a rich environment for building intelligent test agents, but at its heart TestMaker is just another application written in Java. The Java language provides database connectivity through the JDBC API. JDBC driv- ers are available for most commercial and open source databases, including Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and PostgreSQL. Following is a test agent that demonstrates how to use JDBC functions from within a test agent environment. # DB_meister.a # Created on: July 3, 2002 # Author: fcohen@pushtotest.com print "Agent running: DB_meister.a" print "Description:" print " Shows how an agent may use a relational " print " database to receive or record data." print PH069-Cohen.book Page 280 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Using Databases to Configure Tests 281 print " NOTE: THIS AGENT DOES NOT ACTUALLY RUN since " print " there is no relational database source" print " available and this agent print depends on " print " a JDBC driver that you must supply." print # Please configure this agent and then remove the # sys.exit command print print "Stopping agent: Please configure this agent to your" print "own JDBC driver and relational database source." print sys.exit # Import tells TestMaker where to find TOOL, JDBC objects import sys from java.sql import DriverManager # JDBC Driver information # Note: You must provide these parameters to # use your provided JDBC driver. You must also add the JDBC # driver code to the TestMaker classpath. Set the classpath # by changing the testmaker/testmaker/bin/ide.cfg file. JDBCDriverClassName = "com.ashna.jturbo.driver.Driver" jdbcURL = "jdbc:JTurbo://myrelationaldatabase:1410:MSSQL" jdbcUserID = "myuserid" jdbcPassword = "thepassword" # Load the JDBC driver try: java.lang.Class.forName( JDBCDriverClassName ) myConn = DriverManager.getConnection( jdbcURL, jdbcUse- rID, jdbcPassword ) except: print print "Could not load JDBC driver: ", \ JDBCDriverClassName sys.exit PH069-Cohen.book Page 281 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 282 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing # Show example of reading from a relational database print print "===================================================" print "Information from the Customers table:" # Customer count query1 = "select count(*) from Customers" try: statement = myConn.createStatement() results = statement.executeQuery( query1 ) results.next() except Exception, ex: print "Exception while counting customers: ",ex sys.exit print print " Customer count: ", results.int # Customer list query2 = "select customer_number, last_name, " query2 += "salutation, city, year" query2 += " from table" query2 += " order by last_name" try: statement2 = myConn.createStatement() r2 = statement.executeQuery( query2 ) except Exception, ex: print "Exception while getting customer list: ",ex sys.exit print print " Complete customer list (sorted by last name):" while results2.next(): print " ",r2.getString,r2.getString,r2.getString, \ r2.getString(4),r2.getString(5) # PH069-Cohen.book Page 282 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Using Databases to Configure Tests 283 # Inserting data into a table insert1 = "insert into customers files (id, name," insert1 += "manager, phone) " insert1 += "VALUES (1001, 'Simpson', 'Mr.', " insert1 += "'Springfield', 2001)" try: i1 = myConn.createStatement(); ir1 = s2.executeQuery( insert1 ); except Exception, ex: print "Exception while inserting a record: ",ex print print "Agent ended." Let us look at the agent script’s individual sections to learn what the script does to communicate with a relational database. Unlike most of the other test agents presented in this book, the DB_meister agent does not actually run since at the time of writing this book there was no publicly available relational database source for the agent to connect to. Check the http://examples.push- totest.com Web site to see if an example database source is now available. sys.exit By default this agent starts and then exits. To run this agent, please config- ure the agent to connect to an available database and then remove the sys.exit command. The Import command tells TestMaker where to find the standard Java libraries that implement an interface to the JDBC driver. from java.sql import DriverManager A JDBC driver implements all the code needed to communicate with a specific type of database and an interface that conforms to the JDBC specifi- cation published by Sun for the Java platform. Database providers and third- party driver manufacturers provide JDBC drivers. A driver is packaged as a JAR file. Adding the driver JAR file to the TestMaker classpath is required to give test agents access to the driver’s functions. For instructions on adding resources to the classpath, see the TestMaker documentation. PH069-Cohen.book Page 283 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 284 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing The test agent sets four basic parameters to tell the JDBC driver where and how to connect to the database. JDBCDriverClassName points to the driver object in a Java namespace defined by the driver manufacturer. The jdbcURL parameter describes which JDBC driver to use (JTurbo), the URL to the database, and the database name ( ORCL.) JDBCDriverClassName = "com.ashna.jturbo.driver.Driver" jdbcURL = "jdbc:JTurbo://myrelationaldatabase:1527:ORCL" Driver and database manufacturers define the format to the JDBCDriver- ClassName and jdbcURL parameters. Here is a short list of common JDBC drivers and their parameters: For IBM DB2 (http://www.ibm.com), the agents use: JDBCDriverClassName = "COM.ibm.db2.jdbc.net.DB2Driver" jdbcURL = "jdbc:db2://myrelationaldatabase.com/test" For Oracle (http://www.oracle.com), agents use: JDBCDriverClassName = "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" jdbcURL = "jdbc:oracle:thin:@myrelationaldata- base.com:1527:ORCL JTurbo is a JDBC driver for MS SQL server (http://www.newatlanta.com/ index.jsp): JDBCDriverClassName = "com.ashna.jturbo.driver.Driver" jdbcURL = "jdbc:JTurbo://myrelationaldatabase.com:1433/ \ dbhost/sql70=true" JDBC drivers use Java’s class loader functions to find and access a driver’s functions. Note that the agent code uses the try/except format so as to trap an error that may happen when the driver loads. Possible errors include Java not finding the driver, the driver not being able to connect to the database, or the wrong configuration information. try: java.lang.Class.forName( JDBCDriverClassName ) myConn = DriverManager.getConnection( jdbcURL, \ jdbcUserID, jdbcPassword ) except: print print "Could not load driver: ", JDBCDriverClassName sys.exit PH069-Cohen.book Page 284 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Using Databases to Configure Tests 285 Now that the driver is loaded, the agent shows a few SQL functions to retrieve data from the Customers table in the database. The Customers table has these fields and descriptions: • customer_number long • last_name char(50) • salutation char(10) • city char(50) • year char(10) The first query counts the number of customers in the Customers table using a SQL select statement. query1 = "select count(*) from Customers" Executing the query requires a connection object and statement object. The agent uses the try/except format to catch errors that happen while processing the database function. try: statement = myConn.createStatement() results = statement.executeQuery( query1 ) results.next() except Exception, ex: print "Exception while counting customers: ",ex sys.exit The query result is returned in the results object. Using the next() method retrieves the first row of the database results. In this case there is only a single row, which is formatted and printed to the TestMaker output window. print " Customer count: ", results.int The second query demonstrates a more complex database command that returns more than one row of results. The query2 += "" format builds the query statement from multiple parts. query2 = "select customer_number, last_name, " query2 += "salutation, city, year" query2 += " from table" query2 += " order by last_name" PH069-Cohen.book Page 285 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 286 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing The agent makes a connection to the database and returns the results2 object that holds the response from the database. The while command loops through all the rows in the response. while results2.next(): print " ",r2.getString,r2.getString,r2.getString, \ r2.getString(4),r2.getString(5) The third example shows how the agent inserts new rows into the Custom- ers table. The setup for the database command is the same as the previous two queries. insert1 = "insert into customers files (id, name, " insert1 += "manager, phone) " insert1 += "VALUES (1001, 'Simpson', 'Mr.', " insert1 += "'Springfield', 2001)" To make the query, the agent builds a new connection object and uses the executeQuery command to process the Insert command. try: i1 = myConn.createStatement(); ir1 = s2.executeQuery( insert1 ); except Exception, ex: print "Exception while inserting a record: ",ex The TestMaker script language provides access to all of JDBC’s many methods. Consult your driver documentation for examples of additional JDBC functions. Using Lingo to Make Test Content Close to Real In the discussion system example presented earlier in this chapter, the Setup_agent creates a new discussion group by posting messages and reply messages. Experience shows us that when the message content is uniform, the underlying systems (Web-enabled application servers, database servers, net- work routers, and load balancers) try to use optimization technology to enhance the performance of the system. Rarely, if ever, in the real world would we find a discussion where every message contained the same content. There- PH069-Cohen.book Page 286 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. Using Lingo to Make Test Content Close to Real 287 fore, TestMaker includes a handy Lingo utility to automatically generate pseudo-English-like content for message subject lines and message bodies. For example, suppose the test agent needed to create a new message. The Lingo utility object creates this paragraph: Lipsem it quantos surbatton ditchek surbatton deplorem ventes so surbatton quantos infreteres ipsem aqua sit ventes. Campus ad surbatton ad infreteres ad novus surbatton deplorem it delorum novus. Campus quantos ditchek quantos. Via surbatton novus surbatton. Novato quantos ditchek deplo- rem novus ditchek ventes. The important thing is that Lingo creates a different paragraph each time it is called, which defeats the system’s attempt to optimize performance while running tests where the message content is always the same. Following is a test agent in its entirety that demonstrates Lingo’s many uses. An explanation of the Lingo functions follows the agent. # Lingo_meister.a # Author: fcohen@pushtotest.com # Import tells TestMaker where to find TOOL objects from com.pushtotest.tool.util import Lingo print print "===================================================" print "Technique 1: A simple message example" myLingo = Lingo() print "Subject:",myLingo.getSubject( 4 ) print "Message:" print myLingo.getMessage() print "-end of message-" print print "===================================================" print "Technique 2: URL encoded message example" print print "If we needed to include a message in an HTTP POST" print "command the message would need to be URL encoded." print "Here is a Lingo message that is URL encoded:" print PH069-Cohen.book Page 287 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 288 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing print myLingo.getMessageEncoded( 100 ) print print "===================================================" print "Technique 3: A complete Lingo letter" print print "Here is an example business memo using several" print "Lingo methods." print print "Dear Mr.",myLingo.getSingleCap(),":" print print "We have found the manuscript you were searching" print "for and it includes the following excerpt:" print # Next we use a special version of getMessage # to include a starting capital letter, ending period # and encoding. The format is: # getMessage(int size, boolean startCap, # boolean endPeriod, boolean encoded) print myLingo.getMessage(15, 1, 1, 0) print print "As you can see we are not certain what dialect the" print "text is written in. Please do your best to let us" print "know what it means." print print "Sincerely," print print myLingo.getSingleCap() print print "===================================================" print "Technique 4: Making your own Lingo language" print print "Here is the same example business memo from" print "technique 3 but using French words to form the" print "Lingo gibberish." print caps = [ "Francois", "Sanjournais", "Berjerack", "Mon", \ "La", "Le", "Incroyable! " ] tokens = [ "devrait","ouvrir","le","cortËge,","entourÈ", \ PH069-Cohen.book Page 288 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. [...]... WSDL description .NET benefits IT managers, software developers, and QA analysts: • • With the emphasis on XML, configuration and management files become more open and more standardized Third-party system management solutions such as HP’s OpenView and IBM Tivoli should more easily and rapidly support Microsoft servers QA analysts will find testing NET applications easier than prior Microsoft-built applications... Microsoft’s adoption of XML and delivery of a single run-time engine enables increased productivity and efficiency as developers, IT managers, and QA analysts deliver products built with Microsoft development tools Of course, like all new technologies, the NET products come with problems and issues that need to be understood and tested Interoperability and Integration The good news for Java developers working... understand and validate SOAP headers is an important part of testing and monitoring Web services WSDL NET Style Chapter 7 described WSDL as an XML-based document format that describes the services a Web service provides so tools can access and use them The WSDL for a service describes the location of the service; the names of the available services; their method names, parameters, and types; and return... function that takes the DOM element and appends a new child element This is just a convenience function to make the subsequent addElement() commands more legible soap = ProtocolHandler.getProtocol("soap") body = ProtocolHandler.getBody("soap") The TOOL in TestMaker provides a SOAPProtocol handler object and SOAPBody object We use these to construct the request document and to communicate with the host... a skeleton, and paper-thin An expanded agent makes multiple requests of various sizes and delays, operates multiple concurrent threads of the request script to increase the load on the server, runs multiple copies of the multithreaded agent on multiple machines, and adds simple logging functions to the agents so we may determine TPS and SPI val- Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to... eyebrows between Java and NET developers These are not really interoperability issues as much as they are the systems integration issues that we typically have to deal with everyday Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark PH069-Cohen.book Page 297 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM How Is NET Different? NET’s support of XML and SOAP offers a solution to problems 1 and 2 By... using an Import command to identify the Lingo object to the Jython script language from com.pushtotest.tool.util import Lingo The Lingo object is instantiated and then used by accessing its many methods myLingo = Lingo() Please purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark 289 PH069-Cohen.book Page 290 Monday, March 15, 2004 9:00 AM 290 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing The getSubject()... development tools to offer standardized configuration, description, and deployment definitions For example, while Microsoft BizTalk Server, SQL Server, and Exchange Server still use the Windows Registry, they also now use XML for configuration and management features Microsoft product strategies build XML into all its technology by coding configuration information in XML formats stored in files and databases XML also... services published on XMethods.net This list cleaves in two: SOAP RPC Web services are written in Java and document-style Web services are written in NET One last thing to consider in both RPC and document-style SOAP calls is that the SOAP standard does not cover more complicated data elements than arrays and structures In the previous example we would find that Microsoft has its own encoding for Hashmaps... implementations tested have serious limitations and flaws As new and better implementations become available, a scalability and performance test of the new SOAP stacks is needed to understand how the performance characteristics change SOAP Headers in NET In the formative time of Web services, Microsoft was the first to strongly support XML Schema, WSDL, and SOAP headers Other Web service platforms were . loop commands[0] contains a new_thread command. The agent handles commands and takes action accordingly. When han- dling a new_thread command, the agent. purchase PDF Split-Merge on www.verypdf.com to remove this watermark. 280 Chapter 8 State, Design, and Testing "top-message",commands[1],commands[2])