Extraction of problem diagnostic knowledge from test cases

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016011960-A1
Application number	US-201414327983-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 10, 2014
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention enable users to extract knowledge from testing scenarios performed during application development, and later employ that knowledge to interpret application usage scenarios to enhance serviceability of applications by expediting identification and solving of problems. In an exemplary embodiment, log data generated during simulation of test cases is analyzed to create one or more rules based on patterns in which one or more log entries appear in the log data. Later, log data may be analyzed to look for a pattern of log entries that matches a pattern-based rule, thereby facilitating faster identification and resolution of the problem.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by one or more computer processors, a first set of log data generated during execution of application code in a first scenario; processing, by one or more computer processors, the first set of log data to identify one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data; creating, by one or more computer processors, a rule based on a pattern of the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data; associating, by one or more computer processors, the rule with information describing the first scenario; and storing the rule and the information describing the first scenario in a database.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by one or more computer processors, a second set of log data generated during execution of application code in a second scenario; processing, by one or more computer processors, the second set of log data to identify one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data; determining, by one or more computer processors, whether the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule; and responsive to determining that the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule, providing to a user, by one or more computer processors, the information describing the first scenario.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, by one or more computer processors, information describing the second scenario; associating, by one or more computer processors, the information describing the second scenario with the rule and the information describing the first scenario; and storing the information describing the second scenario in the database.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first scenario is an application development testing scenario, and the second scenario is an end-user application usage scenario.

5 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of processing, by one or more computer processors, the first set of log data to identify one or more log entries comprises:
processing, by one or more computer processors, the first set of log data to identify a message identifier for each of the one or more log entries in the first set of log data.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of creating, by one or more computer processors, a rule based on the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data comprises:
creating, by one or more computer processors, a rule based on content of at least two message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data, and a chronological order in which the at least two message identifiers appear in the first set of log data.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of determining, by one or more computer processors, whether the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule comprises:
determining, by one or more computer processors, whether message identifiers appearing in the second set of log data match content and a chronological order of the at least two message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data.

8 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
updating, by one or more computer processors, one or more lines of the application code such that upon execution of the application code, a third set of log data is generated; and creating, by one or more computer processors, a rule based on a pattern of one or more log entries appearing in the third set of log data.

9 . A computer program product comprising:
one or more computer readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media, the program instructions comprising:
program instructions to receive a first set of log data generated during execution of application code in a first scenario;
program instructions to process the first set of log data to identify one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data;
program instructions to create a rule based on a pattern of the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data;
program instructions to associate the rule with information describing the first scenario; and
program instructions to store the rule and the information describing the first scenario in a database.

10 . The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media further comprise:
program instructions to receive a second set of log data generated during execution of application code in a second scenario; program instructions to process the second set of log data to identify one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data; program instructions to determine whether the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule; and program instructions to, responsive to determining that the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule, provide to a user the information describing the first scenario.

11 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media further comprise:
program instructions to receive information describing the second scenario; program instructions to associate the information describing the second scenario with the rule and the information describing the first scenario; and program instructions to store the information describing the second scenario in the database.

12 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the first scenario is an application development testing scenario, and the second scenario is an end-user application usage scenario.

13 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions to process the first set of log data to identify one or more log entries comprise:
program instructions to process the first set of log data to identify a message identifier for each of the one or more log entries in the first set of log data.

14 . The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions to create a rule based on the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data comprise:
program instructions to create a rule based on content of at least two message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data, and a chronological order in which the at least two message identifiers appear in the first set of log data.

15 . The computer program product of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions to determine whether the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the rule comprise:
program instructions to determine whether message identifiers appearing in the second set of log data match content and a chronological order of the at least two message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data.

16 . The computer program product of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media further comprise:
program instructions to update one or more lines of the application code such that upon execution of the application code, a third set of log data is generated; and program instructions to create a rule based on a pattern of one or more log entries appearing in the third set of log data.

17 . A computer system comprising:
one or more computer processors; one

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Krishna Hariharan
• Ramakrishnan Arun
• Shetty Rohit

Classifications

• G06F11/3688 Primary

  for test execution, e.g. scheduling of test suites · CPC title

• G06F11/3698 Primary

  Environments for analysis, debugging or testing of software · CPC title

• G06F8/70

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title

• G06N5/025

  Extracting rules from data · CPC title

• G06F11/3676

  for coverage analysis · CPC title