Professional IronPython™

Chapter 18. Using IronPython for Application Testing

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Considering IronPython for testing

• Defining the test environment requirements

• Performing tests on DLLs

• Performing tests on applications

• Testing applications at the command line

One of the things about IronPython that's exciting a lot of application developers is the ability to use it to write application tests quickly and easily. Now, you might wonder why you'd need yet another application testing tool, but IronPython has some significant advantages over other test tools, and these advantages will be discussed in this chapter.

Before you begin testing anything, you have to consider the kind of testing you want to do and the environment in which testing takes place. In short, you need to define the test environment. IronPython has unique capabilities that you should consider while devising the test environment. Because IronPython operates outside of the application, you can create a test harness, a set of routines that could possibly work on multiple applications in a particular way. Using the test harness approach means that you place the test on the application, perform the test, and then take the harness off for production-level testing.

This chapter looks at three main kinds of application testing: DLLs, desktop applications, and ad hoc testing at the command line. You can use IronPython for any sort of testing, but these three application types demonstrate a range of IronPython testing uses. The demonstrations ...