Whereas most of this chapter described subtasks you perform as part of a
test or specific interface elements of the Integrated Test Environment
perspective, this section describes the workflow you typically follow to
perform a test. It incorporates most of the subtasks and involves most
of the interface elements. It recommends the most efficient and
effective techniques in situations where there are multiple ways of
accomplishing a subtask. Do the following to test an interface using
Integrated Test Environment:
- Although you can deploy components to an InterChange Server Express
instance by using Integrated Test Environment, it is recommended that you
perform all deployment activities beforehand for the following reasons:
- You avoid having to compile maps and collaboration templates as part of
the testing process.
- You can start the components prior to the testing stage as well;
components must be deployed before they can be started. When you deploy
connectors you must restart the server to start them, and almost any interface
involves a connector, so it is typically not efficient to deploy the
components for an interface as part of the testing process.
- If you have to test several interfaces you can do a single deployment
prior to testing, rather than having to make sure you oversee the proper
deployment for each interface during testing.
For information on deploying components using System Manager, see Deploying components to a server.
For information on deploying components using repos_copy, see Using repos_copy.
For information on deploying components by using Integrated Test
Environment (which is not recommended), reference one of the following
sections:
- Ensure that all of the components required to test the interface are in an
active state.
To start components, use one of the following interfaces:
- Register the InterChange Server Express you want to test with as a
"Local Test Server", as described in Registering an InterChange Server Express instance.
- Start the Integrated Test Environment perspective as described in Starting Integrated Test Environment.
- Select the server you want to test with as described in Selecting a server configuration.
If the server instance you want to use is not listed in the dialog, try
deleting it from the Server Instances view and re-registering it.
- Configure RMI settings for your environment as described in Configuring RMI settings. If you do not do this properly, you will not be able
to test interfaces using Integrated Test Environment.
- Create a test project to contain the test
unit. For more information, see Creating a test project.
- Create a test unit for the interface you want to test. For more
information, see Creating a test unit within Integrated Test Environment.
- If you plan to deploy the components in the interface you are testing
using Integrated Test Environment, do the following:
- Make sure the IBM Java Object Request Broker is started. For more
information, see the System Installation Guide for Windows or Unix.
- Use the Task Manager view to start the server, bind the Integrated Test
Environment agent to it, and connect the Integrated Test Environment to it as
described in Using the Task Manager view.
- Enable the Server Context Overlay as described in Enabling and disabling the Server Context Overlay.
- Show Client Simulator views for the clients in the interface.
It is recommended that you organize the Client Simulator views in a way
that makes sense to you. For instance, you might find it easiest to
have the view for the source connector in position 1 in the perspective
(shared with the Integrated Test Environment Navigator view), and to have the
view for the destination connector in position 4 in the perspective (shared
with the Properties view).
You can do one of the following to show and organize Client Simulator views
for the interface:
- Connect the Client Simulator views to the server as described in Connecting a Client Simulator view to the server.
Confirm that the clients connect to the server successfully as described in
Confirming that a client has connected to the server.
After you have confirmed that the clients connected to the server
successfully, configure the Client Simulator view for the source connector to
use the Input Pane as described in Using the Input Pane and configure the Client Simulator view for the destination
connector to use the Result Pane as described in Using the Result Pane.
- If you want to use business object tracing, start it at this point so that
the data is captured when you begin to send business objects in the next
steps. For more information on starting the business object tracing
task, see Table 23.
- Use the Outline view to confirm that the interface is ready for testing,
as described in Verifying test readiness using the Outline view.
- Do the following to create and send a business object
request from the source connector:
- Create a business object instance to send as a request as described in Creating request business objects.
- Set values for the attributes of the business object instance as described
in Setting values for business object attributes.
- Save the business object instance to a file to be used in subsequent tests
as described in Saving business objects.
- Send the business object instance as a request as described in Sending request business objects asynchronously or Sending business object requests synchronously as appropriate.
- Use the InterChange Server Express Console view to observe the processing
of the business object as described in Using the Integrated Test Environment Console and InterChange Server Express Console views.
- Do the following to examine the business object as different components
finish processing it:
- Edit the response business object in the Result Pane of the destination
Client Simulator view as described in Editing response business objects.
- Send the business object response as a reply as
described in Sending response business objects.
- Repeat steps 17 through 21 to test the interface again, or repeat
steps 7 through 21 to test another interface.