http://ibd.ar.com/Catalogs/Mercury_Interactive/X-WinRunner.html (World Wide Web Directory, 06/1995)

XRunner

MERCURY INTERACTIVE: XRUNNER AND WINRUNNER

Automation for Testing Quality

Mercury Interactive automates testing across leading environments:

XRunner for UNIX/X Windows
WinRunner for MS Windows, Windows NT, OS/2 and Macintosh

These two fully compatible systems automate any user operation -- GUI objects, mouse tracks, keystrokes, display output, or underlying application activity. Tests are recorded as fully programmable test scripts; played back, they run as though a human user were at the controls. You get reliable unattended verification with fast, accurate, repeatable results.

Mercury lets you compress weeks of manual testing into a single overnight run. Used throughout software development and quality assurance, Mercury delivers higher quality software with less work and in less time. Our customers report a 50% reduction in testing time, along with a 70% drop in total testing cost. With Mercury, testing becomes a truly productive route to superior software quality.

Object-Oriented Record & Replay

Mercury's object-oriented record & replay represents test operations using straight-forward, object-oriented syntax. Pull down a menu and pick an item, and it instantly records the following script:

menu_select_item ("File; Open");
button_press ("OK");

It's that simple. Mercury's tests are Context Sensitive: they work with GUI objects in context. By mapping test commands to objects, Mercury adapts to changes in application behavior and appearance automatically. You can just as easily perform Analog Testing: bitmapped operations, like mouse tracks in a CAD program, are performed with pinpoint accuracy.

Test Programming

Tests are rendered in Mercury's Test Script Language (TSL), a simple, C-like language with object-oriented representation of GUI operations. You can easily write tests from scratch, to begin work on testing well before the application is ready.

TSL's interactive development environment lets you mix programming and recording in the same script; the same object-oriented syntax serves both. Combine programming and recording in a single script, and you can embed any logic into your tests.

Reliable, Unattended Execution

True user emulation is the key to test reliability. Mercury performs both Context Sensitive and Analog operations just like a human user. Output Synchronization handles variations in application response time, waiting with each input until the right output appears. Text Recognition reads and operates on any on-screen text, checking it against user-defined acceptance criteria.

Automatic Verification and Reports

As tests run, Mercury verifies your application, automatically checking output against expected results, and generating detailed reports. Mercury verifies output four ways:

validates GUI objects and operations
reads displayed text as data values
compares bitmapped graphics for consistency
compares files and disk data.

Events and failures are logged in detail along with captured images of mismatches. You get all the data you need to put test results to work in improving software quality.

Built-in Test Maintenance

As your application evolves, tests must keep up with the changes. Mercury's object-oriented testing keep up to date with built-in tracking of GUI structure. Even if you move buttons, change widgets or add menu items in a new release, tests adapt automatically.

Cross-Platform Testing

Once you develop tests for any supported environment, you can reuse those tests across all other platforms. Mercury is designed to handle GUI style guide differences, foreign languages or even custom widgets. Ready test reuse lets you maximize the return on your testing investment.

Testing Beyond the GUI

Today's application architecture demands testing that goes beyond exercise of user operations alone. Mercury gives you access to any level of the application for full control, so you can:

call system utilities from within the test
run validation utilities together with GUI testing
interface directly with application modules.

Mercury's open systems architecture lets you test for flaws not visible through the UI. By combining user operations with access deep inside the application, Mercury tests software quality with unprecedented thoroughness.

Key Features

Object-Oriented Record & Replay

Automatically records & replays GUI objects and operations, keystrokes, mouse movements and graphics using programmable test scripts. Test Script Language (TSL)

Full-featured C-like programming with object-oriented GUI representation.
Record and program freely in the same script, or write scripts from scratch.
Modular test scripts create a robust and manageable testing environment.

Output Synchronization

Automated replay controlled by actual visual output cues.
Ensures reliable unattended test execution despite variations in application response time.

Automatic Verification

Automatically compares screen bitmap, test and output files.
Verifies GUI objects at a logical level.
Customizeable execution reports detail all test events and failures.

Text Recognition

Reads and operates on any text: menus, lists and/or free-running text.
Tests automatically decide which operations to perform next based on text displayed by application.

Inside Testing

Tests internal application modules.
Calls internal validation routines.
Interacts with other processes, utilities and programs.

GUI Test Builder

Automated utility maps between GUI objects and test commands.
Built-in portability handles GUI changes from release to release.

Cross-Platform Testing

Tests developed on one platform can be replayed on another.
Automates test maintenance using the GUI Test Builder.

Batch Execution

Runs large suites of tests overnight and unattended.
Generates full reports automatically, detailing all test events and failures.
Reduces weeks of manual testing to a single overnight run.

Supported Environments

XRunner tests any X Window application, no matter what programming language, toolkit, or window manager you use.
WinRunner is available for MS Windows, Windows NT, OS/2 and Macintosh.

Supported Platforms

XRunner is available on all major X Window hardware platforms.
WinRunner requires a PC-compatible with minimum 386 and 8 MB RAM.

ABOUT MERCURY

Mercury Interactive is the acknowledged world leader in Automated Software Quality (ASQ). Founded in 1989, Mercury introduced its first product in 1991.

Today, thirteen regional sales offices on three continents support our worldwide installed base. Mercury's R&D organization, numbering over 60 engineers, is dedicated exclusively to finding new ASQ solutions to meet new challenges in automated testing.

Mercury has rapidly attained the status of global market standard. Over half of our customers rank in the Fortune 1000. Repeat orders account for almost half our business. Our fast-growing installed base numbers thousands of users, distributed across a range of market sectors. AT&T, British Telecom, Bellcore, J.P. Morgan, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Schlumberger, Xerox and leading development organizations across a broad range of industries have made Mercury a keystone of their software quality programs.

As an ASQ pioneer, Mercury originated a series of innovations that made software test automation both practical and powerful: Output Synchronization, for reliable unattended execution; Text Recognition, which reads on-screen text just like a human user; TSL, fast becoming an industry standard test language; Object-Oriented Record & Replay, to automate testing as GUI builders automate interface design; and many others. With a constant stream of innovative testing products and technologies, Mercury sets the pace of test automation.

Mercury is committed to providing broad-based testing solutions which address software quality throughout your organization, at every phase of development. By maximizing the return on your testing investment, Mercury delivers software quality where it counts: at the bottom line.


For further information, contact:
CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS
Mercury Interactive Corporation
3333 Octavius Drive
Santa Clara, CA  95054
USA
Tel  408-987-0100
Fax  408-982-0149



REGIONAL OFFICES
EAST COAST  Millersville, MD
Tel  410-987-7725
Fax  410-987-7724
NORTHEAST  Lincoln, MA
Tel  617-259-9797
Fax  617-259-9088
MIDWEST  Chicago, IL
Tel  708-955-3730
Fax  708-955-3735
TEXAS  Plano, TX
Tel  214-578-5490
Fax  214-578-5460
SOUTHWEST  Woodland Hills, CA
Tel  818-596-2121
Fax  818-715-7061
CANADA  Toronto, ON
Tel  416-360-2345
Fax  416-360-2346

EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
FRANCE  Jouy-en-Josas
Mercury Interactive France
98, Rue Albert Calmette

78350 Jouy-en-Josas
FRANCE
Tel  33-1-34 65 72 40
Fax  33-1-34 65 95 36
GERMANY  Munich
Tel  49-8024-48081
Fax  49-8024-48186
GREAT BRITAIN  Kent
Tel  44 634 26 25 25
Fax  44 634 26 28 28
ISRAEL  Or Yehuda
Tel  972-3-533-1605
Fax  972-3-533-1617