Extraction of problem diagnostic knowledge from test cases

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9417995-B2
Application number	US-201615071252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 16, 2016
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Aug 16, 2016
Grant date	Aug 16, 2016

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:
processing, by one or more computer processors, a first set of log data generated during execution of application code in a first scenario to identify one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data, wherein:
the first set of log data includes the one or more log entries and a set of run-time data, and
the one or more log entries are information pertaining to the application code in the first scenario;

creating, by one or more computer processors, a first rule based on a first pattern of the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data, wherein the first pattern includes a content of a plurality of message identifiers that appear in the first set of log data and a chronological order in which the plurality of message identifiers appear; and
associating, by one or more computer processors, the first rule with information describing the first scenario.

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 first rule; and
responsive to determining that the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the first 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 first rule and the information describing the first scenario; and
storing, by one or more computer processors, the information describing the second scenario in a 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 , 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;
receiving, by one or more computer processors, the third set of log data generated during execution of application code in a third scenario; and
creating, by one or more computer processors, a second rule based on a second pattern of one or more log entries appearing in the third set of log data.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the step of processing, by one or more computer processors, the first set of log data to identify the 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.

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 first 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 plurality of message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data.

8. 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 process a first set of log data generated during execution of application code in a first scenario to identify one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data, wherein:
the first set of log data includes the one or more log entries and a set of run-time data, and
the one or more log entries are information pertaining to the application code in the first scenario;

program instructions to create a first rule based on a first pattern of the identified one or more log entries appearing in the first set of log data, wherein the first pattern includes a content of a plurality of message identifiers that appear in the first set of log data and a chronological order in which the plurality of message identifiers appear; and
program instructions to associate the first rule with information describing the first scenario.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , 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 first 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 first rule, provide to a user the information describing the first scenario.

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 information describing the second scenario;
program instructions to associate the information describing the second scenario with the first rule and the information describing the first scenario; and
program instructions to store the information describing the second scenario in a database.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the first scenario is an application development testing scenario, and the second scenario is an end-user application usage scenario.

12. 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 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;
program instructions to receive the third set of log data generated during execution of application code in a third scenario; and
program instructions to create a second rule based on a second pattern of one or more log entries appearing in the third set of log data.

13. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions to process the first set of log data to identify the 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 determine whether the identified one or more log entries appearing in the second set of log data satisfy the first 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 plurality of message identifiers appearing in the first set of log data.

15. A computer system comprising:
one or more computer processors;
one or more computer readable storage media;
program instructions

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

• G06F11/3692

  for test results analysis · CPC title

• G06F11/368

  for test version control, e.g. updating test cases to a new software version · CPC title

• G06F11/3612

  by runtime analysis (performance monitoring G06F11/3466) · CPC title