Re: [boost] Google SOC 2007, Boost.Test Frontend

From: Stefan Seefeld (seefeld_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-03-23 01:21:49

Younes M wrote:
> On 3/21/07, Stefan Seefeld <seefeld_at_[hidden]> wrote:
>> Actually, I don't think the issue here is GUI vs. CLI. Instead, it's
>> about how robust and scalable the testing harness is. Think of it as
>> a multi-tier design, where the UI is just a simple 'frontend' layer.
>> Some layer underneath proides an API that lets you query about what
>> tests exist (matching some suitable criteria, such as name pattern matching,
>> or filtering per annotations), together with metadata.
>>
>> That, together with other queries such as 'give me all platforms this
>> test is expected to fail on' would be very valuable for the release
>> process.
>> (All this querying doesn't involve actually running any tests.)
>>
> 
> Ah, I think I understand what you mean by introspection. What you're
> suggesting is for the frontend to parse the test suite source files
> and build a picture of the test suite that way, such that the
> developer can see the tests and associated info (e.g. type of test,
> which case it's located in, source file, etc), view/sort/group them by
> criteria, operate on them (e.g. enable/disable/etc), and then be able
> to run the test suite and have a seperate view for the resulting
> report(s).

Exactly. Only, I don't think this functionality belongs into the frontend,
but the main testing harness. Its usefulness is most apparent through
the frontend, as it allows users to search for any kind of metadata associated
with the tests (or test suites), and triage on that (for example).

Regards,
                Stefan

-- 
      ...ich hab' noch einen Koffer in Berlin...