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, 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.
-
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 WebSphere InterChange Server: 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 29.
- 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 16 through 20 to test the interface again,
or repeat steps 6 through 20 to test another interface.