Evaluating documentation coverage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017308379-A1
Application number	US-201415515699-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 30, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 26, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Evaluating documentation coverage can include identifying, from a testing tool having exercised an application, interface elements of the application's user interface. The identified interface elements are filtered to identify documentable interface objects. For each identified documentable interface object, it is determined if documentation exists for that documentable interface object. A value, indicative of the determined existence or non-existence of documentation, is assigned to each documentable interface object. Documentation coverage data is reported for the application interface. The coverage data is reflective of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An automated method for evaluating documentation coverage, comprising:
from a testing tool having exercised an application, identifying interface elements of the application's user interface; filtering the identified interface elements to identify documentable interface objects; for each identified documentable interface object, determining if documentation exists for that documentable interface object and assigning a value to that documentable interface object that is indicative of the determined existence or non-existence of documentation; and reporting documentation coverage data for the application interface, the data being reflective of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects.

2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
assembling a hierarchical representation of the interface elements, the representation including parent and child interface elements; and reporting comprises reporting documentation coverage data for each parent interface element that is reflective of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects that are children of that parent interface element.

3 . The method of claim 3 , wherein:
each parent interface element is an interface element that is indicative of a particular segment of the user interface; and each child interface element of a given parent interface element is an interface element that corresponds to the segment of the user interface indicated by the parent interface element.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining comprises:
ascertaining whether the existence of documentation existence can be determined from user interface data that at least partially defines the application's user interface as a collection of interface elements; if so, processing the user interface data to identify associations between the documentable interface objects and those of the interface elements that are indicative of documentation; and if not, mimicking a number of documentation access requests and processing responses to determine the existence of documentation for the documentable interface objects.

5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising identifying a technology type for the applications and wherein determining comprises, for each identified documentable interface object, determining if documentation exists for that documentable interface object utilizing a technique from a plurality of techniques selected based on the identified technology type.

6 . A memory resource storing instructions that when executed cause a processing resource to implement a system for evaluating documentation coverage for an application, the instructions comprising:
an interface module executable to extract, from user interface data of the application, element data identifying interface elements; a filter module executable to identify object data from the extracted element data, the object data identifying documentable interface objects; a documentation module executable to process the element data and the object data to ascertain associations between the documentable interface objects and those of the identified interface elements that are indicative of documentation; a communication module executable to report coverage data representative of the ascertained associations.

7 . The memory resource of claim 6 , wherein the interface module is configured to identify a technology type for the application and extract, from the interface data, interface elements utilizing a technique selected from a plurality of techniques based on the identified technology type.

8 . The memory resource of claim 6 , wherein:
the documentation module is executable to distinguish those of the documentable interface objects that are associated with an identified interface element indicative of documentation; and the communication module is executable to report by:
assigning a value to each of the documentable interface objects each value reflecting whether that documentable interface object has been distinguished; and
reporting coverage data that is indicative of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects.

9 . The memory resource of claim 8 , wherein:
the interface module is executable to extract element data that includes a hierarchical representation of the interface elements, the representation including parent and child interface elements; and the communication module is executable to report coverage data for each parent interface element that is reflective of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects that are children of that parent interface element.

10 . The memory resource of claim 6 , wherein the documentation module is executable to process the element data and the object data to ascertain, for each of the documentable interface objects, if that documentable interface object is associated with an identified interface element that is a tooltip.

11 . A system for evaluating documentation coverage, the system comprising:
a filter engine configured to process a configurable rule set to identify documentable interface objects from element data, the element data identifying interface elements of an application's user interface; a documentation engine configured to process the element data to ascertain associations between the documentable interface objects and interface elements that are indicative of documentation; a communication engine configured to report coverage data representative of the ascertained associations.

12 . The system of claim 11 , comprising an interface engine configured to identify a technology type of the application and to utilize a one of a plurality of techniques, selected according to the identified technology type, to extract the element data, wherein:
a first of the plurality of techniques includes extracting the element data from user interface data of the application; and a second of the plurality of techniques includes mimicking a document access request and processing a response.

13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein:
the documentation engine is configured to distinguish those of the documentable interface objects that are associated with an identified interface element indicative of documentation; and the communication engine is configured to report by:
assigning a value to each of the documentable interface objects each value reflecting whether that documentable interface object has been distinguished; and
reporting coverage data that is indicative of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein:
the element data includes a hierarchical representation of the interface elements, the representation including parent and child interface elements; and the communication engine is configured to report coverage data for each parent interface element that is reflective of the values assigned to the documentable interface objects that are children of that parent interface element.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the documentation engine is executable to process the element data to ascertain, for each of the documentable interface objects, if that documentable interface object is associated with an interface element that is a tooltip.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Entpr Dev Lp

Inventors

• Busi Eliraz
• Gurfinkel Oren
• Levi Doron

Classifications

• G06F8/73 Primary

  Program documentation · CPC title

• G06F8/77

  Software metrics · CPC title