System, method, and computer program for automated exploratory testing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9727447-B1
Application number	US-201514599299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 16, 2015
Priority date	Jan 16, 2015
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for automated exploratory testing. In use, a plurality of actions to be performed as a test flow in an exploratory test associated with at least one testing project are identified. Additionally, a plurality of additional options are identified for each performed action of the plurality of actions of the test flow that are capable of being performed instead of one or more of the plurality of actions in the test flow. Further, a graph is generated showing all combinations of the plurality of first actions and the plurality of additional options as a possible scope of the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project. In addition, the graph is modified based on received input, the received input identifying one or more test flows to execute as the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project. Still yet, the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project is automatically executed in accordance with the modified graph based on the received input. Moreover, a status of the automatic execution of the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project is reported utilizing the graph.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
computer code for receiving, from a user by a system, a plurality of actions to be performed as a main test flow in an exploratory test associated with at least one testing project, wherein at least one particular action of the plurality of the actions is received by:
receiving from the user, through a user interface of the system, an indication of a type of action the user is about to perform,
after receiving the indication from the user, generating, by the system, an automation script for the action as the user performs the action;

for one or more of the plurality of actions, computer code for receiving, from the user by the system, a corresponding plurality of additional options each containing one or more additional actions, including for the at least one particular action:
receiving from the user, through a user interface of the system, an indication of additional options the user could perform for the type of action but is not performing;

computer code for automatically generating, by the system, a graph showing the main test flow as the plurality of actions, and, at each of the plurality of actions in the main test flow, showing each combination of the corresponding plurality of additional options as a separate branched test flow to the main test flow, wherein a portion of the branched test flows are invalid for the exploratory test;
computer code for displaying, through the user interface of the system, the graph;
computer code for receiving, from the user through the user interface of the system displaying the graph, an indication of one or more of the branched test flows shown on the graph that are valid and that are to be executed from the main test flow when performing the exploratory test;
computer code for modifying, by the system, the graph to include only the main test flow and the indicated one or more branched test flows, such that the graph is a tree structure having only the main test flow and the one or more of the branched test flows that are valid for the exploratory test;
computer code for automatically executing, by the system, the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project in accordance with the modified graph; and
computer code for reporting, by the system through the modified graph shown in the user interface of the system, a status of the automatic execution of the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project, including:
displaying, in the user interface of the system, the modified graph during execution of the exploratory test, and
indicating in the displayed modified graph, throughout execution of the exploratory test, a current status of each of the plurality of actions in the main test flow and of each of the additional options in the branched test flows included in the modified graph.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that the graph includes a directed acyclic graph (DAG).

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that executing the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project in accordance with the modified graph includes a full tree execution of the modified graph.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that executing the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project in accordance with the modified graph includes a limited random execution of the modified graph.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that executing the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project in accordance with the modified graph includes a limited priority execution of the modified graph.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the computer program product is operable such that executing the exploratory test associated with the at least one testing project in accordance with the modified graph includes a single path execution of the modified graph.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the current status of each of the plurality of actions in the main test flow and of each of the additional options in the branched test flows included in the modified graph is selected from a plurality of predefined statuses, the predefined statuses including:
a successful execution,
an initiated execution that failed,
a blocked execution resulting from a failed earlier execution of one of the plurality of actions in the main test flow or the additional options, and
a pending execution.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the predefined statuses include different ones of: text, icons, or colors.

9. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the one or more of the branched test flows shown on the graph that are valid and that are to be executed from the main test flow when performing the exploratory test is received responsive to a selection by the user through the user interface of the one or more of the branched test flows.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the one or more of the branched test flows shown on the graph that are valid and that are to be executed from the main test flow when performing the exploratory test is received responsive to a deletion by the user through the user interface of remaining ones of the branched test flows that are invalid for the exploratory test.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the one or more of the branched test flows shown on the graph that are valid and that are to be executed from the main test flow when performing the exploratory test is a rule defined by the user through the user interface, the rule stating that two particular additional options of the plurality of additional options cannot both be included in one of the branched test flows.

12. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a user by a system, a plurality of actions to be performed as a main test flow in an exploratory test associated with at least one testing project, wherein at least one particular action of the plurality of the actions is received by:
receiving from the user, through a user interface of the system, an indication of a type of action the user is about to perform,

after receiving the indication from the user, generating, by the system, an automation script for the action as the user performs the action;
for one or more of the plurality of actions, receiving, from the user by the system, a corresponding plurality of additional options each containing one or more additional actions, including for the at least one particular action:
receiving from the user, through a user interface of the system, an indication of additional options the user could perform for the type of action but is not performing;

automatically generating, by the system, a graph showing the main test flow as the plurality of actions, and, at each of the plurality of actions in the main test flow, showing each combination of the corresponding plurality of additional options as a separate branched test flow to the main test flow, wherein a portion of the branched test flows are invalid for the exploratory test;
displaying, through the user interface of the system, the graph;
receiving, from the user through the user interface of the system displaying the graph, an indication of one or more of the branched test flows shown on the graph that are valid and that are to be executed from t

Assignees

• Amdocs Software Systems Ltd
• Amdocs Dev Ltd

Inventors

• Elgarat Sharon

Classifications

• G06F11/3672 Primary

  Test management · CPC title

• G06F11/3688

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

• G06Q10/0633

  Workflow analysis · CPC title