wxWidgets

Downloaded and installed wxWidgets, will get to implementing them in eclipse tomorrow I hope. Also downloaded and installed the ODBC driver for MySQL.

wxDB instead of API

I've been looking closely at the API functionality for various database that I intend on supporting for Test Bed. API is faster, there is no doubt about that as it is the best supported method of database access from the vendor, however the code that would need to be written for this method is arduous and time comsuming.

Within the first release of Test Bed, likely to only support MySQL or Firebird it would take me at least 2-3 weeks just to develop a wrapper around the API. There are existing wrappers for this API but they are not consistant and I'm not convinced that I can get an open source one that will work effectively.

I have decided that the tests I'm going to run are going to include wxDB. wxWidgets are a set of open source C++ classes for various things, in this case ODBC database access. They are cross platform and widely supported and recommended. ODBC means that I will likely sacrifice speed and efficiency for development time, I believe this is the best course to take.

CDT

I've been using CDT for Eclipse at work and I figured it would be the perfect development environment to use for Test Bed. I've installed it into my copy of Eclipse so I can test out the MySQL source to connect to the database.

MySQL Installed

I've just installed MYSQL after some initial difficulty. It appears to be running fine. The administrator is simple and the interface is intuative. I'm going to try to integrate a test database into a C++ application as a test scenario for whether or not to use MySQL for Test Bed. I'm only using tools from the MySQL site at this stage but I should start using a generic SQL browser rather than limit myself to whatever MySQL provides.

Segue Test Central
-------------------

I was unable to access a demonstration of the product as they requested too much personal information from me before allowing me to even view their "restricted" area. From their screenshots and website information I was able to guage a good understanding of the product and its features.

Good Points
o Validation conditions are useful to determine the level of success of a test.
o Good distribution model
o The ability to attach files to a test case.

Bad Points
o Central database problems.
o High cost and if you wish to have your own database there is another cost associated there.
o Web interface only available
o Non extendable design

Conclusion
This product is probably the best one I have evaluated even though I could not get a demonstration model to use. However there are still many drawbacks to the application, particularly in cost and database problems.

Mercury Quality Center
------------------------

Overview
This test was a demonstration of the product, they do not have a trail version of the software to download. In fact the demonstration also failed multiple times and did not run through from start to fi nish. What I was able to use of the test demonstration did not give me any overview of the application itself at all, this was unfortunate because I was unable to evaluate the software at all further than what I already had.

I've decided to replace the text based diary I was keeping with a web blog for this project. This is the first web post I've made so far.

I'll start by giving an overview of the project:

Project Name: Test Bed
Project Owner: Daniel O'Connor
Project Description: Test bed is a project to develop a peice of test management software. The aim of the project is to make the current test environment in development workshops much more simple to maintain and assist in making testing more comprehensive.

Testing Pass Mark Test Log
----------------------------

Overview
Passmark is a very small footprint of an application with a quick download. It employs a simple tree view navigation and is able to record large amounts of data.

Good Points
o Memo fields dispalying on seperate windows for large amounts of data. This could be useful for a windows interface, but not so much for a web interface.
o External links to applications and websites to launch as part of the test. This would be very useful to launch the application being tested or for semi automated tests.
o Expected duration of test fields. Useful for determining expected duration of the total test scenario.
o Excellent report wizard for producing custom report graphs.
o Differentiation between developer users and testers.

Bad Points
o No central repository
o Single back end option, no chance to use different database options.
o Cannot run tests, only record and report test scripts. It can record resluts but it is a clumsy system.
o Windows systems only, Win32 application.

Conclusion
The product is cheap and has a very small footprint, but because it has no repository and cannot run tests I would never recommend it. The most useful information gained from the evaluation is the way the application appears to handle all entities the same way.

Testing IBM Manual Tester
----------------------------

General Comments
The test went well, the application installas easily but is quite difficult to get a handle on. There are plenty of help files but to use this I imagine the user would have to have experience or training. It is however quite a useful testing application once you get a handle on it.

Good features
o The ability to mark test cases with type definitions. These type definitions allocate them as reporting stages, validation stages or just steps. Test bed could allocate type definitions and then allocate custom fields to type definitions.
o Configurable result fields for each test step ( A very good idea )

Bad Features
o File saving, all the tests appear to be done in files and have no central repository.
o Links that go n o where
o Not user friendly interface.

Conclusion
I would not recommend this software if I were evaluating it for use due to the bad features. However some of the good features will be very useful in Test Bed.