Testing the Guiding Edge

Pround to announce Prism 2 Ships

2009-02-18T20:03:00Z

Microsoft patterns & practices is excited to announce the release of:

Composite Application Guidance for WPF and Silverlight v2.0 (PRISM)

What’s PRISM?

The Composite Client Application Guidance is designed to help you more easily build modular Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight client line of business applications.

These types of applications typically feature multiple screens, rich, flexible user interaction and data visualization, and role-determined behavior. They are built to last and built for change. This means that the application's expected lifetime is measured in years and that it will change in response to new, unforeseen requirements. This application may start small and over time evolve into a composite client—composite applications use loosely coupled, independently evolvable pieces that work together in the overall application.

Included in this release:

· Composite Application Library

· Reference Implementation (Stock Traders application in WPF and Silverlight)

· Quick starts (9)

· How-Tos (26) and

· Lots of documentation for everything you want to know about UI patterns and client architectures

Click here to download this release.

Quick Links

http://www.microsoft.com/compositewpf

http://www.codeplex.com/prism

Download here

I was the test lead for this project.

Feedback

All feedback on Prism is welcome. Really! We need feedback from the community to ensure we build the stuff you need!

If you are using Prism and you don’t like it (or parts of it), let us know, so we can address those issues in future versions.
If you are experiencing difficulties, let us know! Post a question on the forums on Codeplex (http://www.codeplex.com/CompositeWPF/Thread/List.aspx, or send me a message through my blog). We will be actively monitoring the forums and if we can, we will help!
Hopefully, you are using Prism and you like it. If so, we also love to know! What kind of application are you using Prism for? And of course, Let us know the features you really liked, so we don’t cut your favorite feature in a future version!

Hope you like Prism V2 as much as we enjoyed building it.

test blogging

2008-05-17T00:23:00Z

I'm not much of a blogger - although for various reasions I'll give it try over the several month.

Why I don't care for it - is that it's my nature to review and validate. Perhaps this is why I'm working in Test for MS at the moment. Blogging seems to me an art and as such some of good, while others finger paint.

At present I'm test lead on P&P Composite UI WPF client, that can be fold over at http://www.codeplex.com/prism, Prism was the name given the project.

On the test side, how I approach testing can be pretty encompassing. I have done military aircraft for several years, while very cool. Testing application has another set of challenges. Especially as you get into emerging Grid and Mesh computing. Hopefully I'll get to some posting on testing those type of architectures.

For the Composite UI, one of my learnings has been usingthe UIAutomation framework that comes with WPF. It's very powerful. In order to help our learning curve the team is using White from Thoughtworks to write up UIAutmation Test. To learn more go to http://www.codeplex.com/white.

The Composite UI StockTrader RI is actually shipped with both automated Unit and Acceptance Test. Take a look at them to get a basic understanding of how to implement the test.

A good start point is here : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa348551.aspx

The Test areas that are being covered are:

White/Black Box Testing

Automated BVTs : Postive test cases

Automated Accetpance Test : Postive, Negative test cases

Security

Performance/Stress

Document Review

1st drop of Prism has shipped!

2008-03-13T02:50:00Z

I'm the test lead for a WPF projec called Prism, it's a WPF Composite Application. It can be found on codeplex : http://www.codeplex.com/prism

For the next several weeks I'm going to blog on testing a WPF application. We are plublishing all our automated test cases.

Presently we are using the Thoughtworks White to help write our automated UI test cases for WPF. The reason for using this instead of going directly to the UI Automation layer is that White has simpliefied some of the complexity of UI Automation. This allowed us to get up to speed in writing our acceptance ui test.

Still, as the complexity of our test cases increase and our understanding of the UI Automation grows. We will probably levage UI Automation layer directly.

Testing Humans

2006-02-21T03:30:00Z

Talk about bottom up testing!

Predators 'drove human evolution'

By Paul Rincon
BBC News science reporter, St Louis

The alternative view that man was the one hunted was suggested

The popular view of our ancient ancestors as hunters who conquered all in their way is wrong, researchers have told a major US science conference.

Instead, they argue, early humans were on the menu for predatory beasts.

[I have seen that same look in monday morning standups :) ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4729050.stm

Testing Monday

2006-02-21T01:41:00Z

Not much to report on - primarily am working the process.

Did enjoy reading this article about mathematical proofs becoming to complex, its here at the new sciencetist: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8743&feedId=online-news_rss20

Personally - i don't think we have hit the gas pedal enough with mathematics. I was going through the predicate logic used by Gödel in his Incompleteness paper -and my teenager thought it was no big deal in terms of understanding and loved the symbols. It's just what people are taught to in terms in how they are learning.

At one time it was said that only 10 people on the planet understood Einstein Relativity - now you can find an explanation in my kids Anime. I dare not say the word - cartoon.

So - back to that article. The logic problems we deal with in creating software may grow in exponential complexity - but compared what we do today to 100 years ago can be thought of exponential rise.

But then my thought on theory is what good is it - if you can't use it for building something.

Testing & Agile

2006-02-16T23:41:00Z

I'm suppose to blog about this before we do the web cast! But that's ok it will be available for down load tomorrow. I'll post the link when I get it.

Today's webcast was about Test & the Agile process. I interviewed Alan Ridlehoover, who's a Test Architect at Microsoft with a great deal of expereince and knowledge of the Agile process.

Alan has a blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/aridle

Alan did a great job..