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Many of today's server-based applications are developed to utilize the sophisticated graphical capabilities of PC's or workstations for user input and display. This was not always the case, and traditionally, most NonStop Server-based (aka Tandem) applications made use of the Tandem 6530 Terminal or IBM 3270 Terminal as the primary user interface device.

Many of these legacy systems, designed with block-mode interfaces, are still in use and, because of budget and resource pressures, no migration to more modern technology is planned. Many "message switching" type applications also have control and management screens which are screen-based and some organizations believe that "dumb terminals" are better than GUI interfaces for mass data entry type applications. Whatever the reason, 6530 & 3270 terminal based applications still abound and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

Testing these applications is generally a case of manually entering many screen-based transactions and verifying the responses as they are received. The testing staff spends hours laboriously keying in tests, checking results and then re-keying tests which need to be repeated. VersaTest's 6530 Terminal Simulator automates this expensive, time consuming and error prone process. Unlike some PC based packages that provide similar functionality, VersaTest™ understands all the subtleties of the Tandem 6530 and IBM 3270 terminals..

The VTERM Terminal Simulator is an extension module for VersaTest™, the most sophisticated automated testing environment available on the HP NonStop platform. The addition of this module to the VersaTest product enhances the user's ability to capture, modify and replay data to automatically test transaction input and response for block-mode terminal-based applications.

Product Description

The VersaTest Block-mode Terminal Simulator uses the core VersaTest product to provide message handling and script execution capabilities. Two enhancement modules, VSCREEN and VPTERMB, provide the features specific to block-mode terminal application testing. Using these two modules, creating and executing a test script is a simple process, as described below.

CAPTURE

Standard VersaTest facilities are used to insert a VPRO process between a 6530 or 3270 terminal and the program driving it (this is typically a Pathway Terminal Control Process (TCP), although this does not have to be the case for VersaTest to function properly). The user then performs the data entry actions at the terminal that he wishes to reproduce in an automated test to be performed later. For example, the application could start with the display of a user-logon screen containing prompts for user name and password, and then accept a function key input to initiate collection of the user entered data. In this case, the capture file will contain the information sent to the terminal to build the screen display, the user name and password entered at the prompts and subsequent key depression indicating the users acceptance of the keyed data.

BUILDING A SCRIPT

When data capture is complete, the VSCREEN module is executed to read the data saved during the capture session and create a VTALK script. VTALK is the high-level scripting language used within VersaTest to define processing actions to be preformed under specific conditions. VSCREEN automatically produces a script that duplicates the activities recorded during the data capture session. The VTERM Terminal Simulator uses the standard VTALK constructs in its scripts and these may be modified or enhanced to alter the actions included in the script or to change user input values without having to re-enter the data from a terminal. Also, the substitution, in the script, of user-defined variables for literal values captured from a screen provides the ability to dynamically change the values sent into the system during a test. This capability allows the script to be used for simulation of multiple users or automated generation of screen input data. Single user tests can be scaled up to allow the performance of your system to be examined under real-life, or even beyond real-life volumes.

Example

A sample script for the data entry session described above is shown here. It is easy to understand and can easily be modified by the QA staff: ACTION logon PERFORM term_wait_keyboard_unlock PERFORM term_enter_at_label("User:", "FRED") PERFORM term_enter_at_label("Password:", "secret") PERFORM term_enter_at_label("Function:", "apls") PERFORM term_enter_at_label("SubFunction:", "paye") PERFORM term_select_key_F1

EXECUTING A TEST

The VPTERMB module of the VTERM Terminal Simulation product executes scripts to simulate 6530 or 3270 terminal sessions. These scripts may be those generated directly from a data captured session, or modified or enhanced versions created from them, or indeed may be scripts created manually from scratch.

The VPTERMB module builds a virtual terminal in memory for each terminal being simulated. This virtual terminal behaves exactly as a real device, accepting the driving application's screen and message displays, and responding to requests for data input using the actions defined in the VTALK script. Messages from the application can be examined automatically while the test is running to determine if the expected responses are being returned from the application. If the results are not as expected, specific actions can be executed automatically, for example stopping a test or displaying an operator message. Test results can be viewed on-line using VersaTest's standard facilities or can be logged for later examination.

PERFORMANCE REPORTING

Response time measurements can be collected through the use of timers specified within the VTALK script. The user can specify precisely at what stage and for which messages timers are to be started and stopped. This results in the collection of response times that are meaningful for the application. Response times, transaction rates and distributions can be produced by Versatest's VPERF module.

INTELLIGENT AUTOMATED SCREEN COMPARISON

VersaTest provides many standard facilities for automated test validation. The VersaTest VTERM Terminal Simulator adds to these by providing screen-oriented comparison tools to check 6530 test results. The VSCREEN program can create 'snapshots' of the screen images contained in a capture session. These images can be stored in a file for use as a baseline in automated results checking. In subsequent test runs, each screen can be compared against the corresponding baseline image and any differences found will be reported. A powerful set of masking facilities are provided to exclude fields that are expected to be different, such as timestamps and sequence numbers. If mismatches are found, VTALK actions, such as reporting an error or stopping a test, can be initiated automatically.

SAVING TIME AND MONEY

VersaTest's VTERM Terminal Simulator reduces the cost of application testing by automating the time-consuming and error prone job of manually testing screen-based applications. Automated regression testing means that you can quickly run full regression tests whenever significant changes occur in your application, rather than just the most important functions. It also allows your development and testing staff to devote their time to more important, productive and interesting tasks. Quality assurance will save your organization money in the long term.

System Requirements

The VersaTest VTERM Terminal Simulator is immediately available for HP NonStop server platforms. For availablity on other platforms, please contact us.

To request further information on this product, please click here.