Tool Support

Because testing is an iterative effort that is implemented throughout the development lifecycle, tool support provides an essential capability to test early and often. Manual testing is simply not productive enough to test the software sufficiently throughout the lifecycle ”this is especially true for performance or load tests in which workload must be simulated and large amounts of test data gathered.

The Rational Suite of software development tools supports test automation and the Test discipline as follows :

• Rational TestStudio is a suite of tools that support the implementation, execution, and evaluation of tests. The tools in TestStudio enable testers to create and execute GUI-based test scripts focused on the quality dimensions of reliability, function, and performance. TestStudio includes the following tools:

  - Robot supports the test implementation and execution by enabling testers to create and play back GUI test scripts and compare actual results with expected results.

  - LogViewer captures test results and presents reports to evaluate test execution.

  - TestManager supports test planning, design, and evaluation, and provides requirements-based test coverage and test status reports.

• Rational Test Realtime is a cross-platform solution for component testing and runtime analysis. Test RealTime was designed specifically for embedded, real-time, and other types of cross-platform software products.

• Rational XDE Tester , integrated with Rational XDE for Java and Web testing.

• Rational PerformanceStudio implements and executes virtual user (VU) test scripts for performance and limited functional tests.

• Rational PurifyPlus supports the test discipline with the following tools:

  - Rational Purify for locating hard-to-find runtime errors

  - Rational PureCoverage to identify untested code and perform code-coverage analysis

  - Rational Quantify to pinpoint performance bottlenecks

The Rational Unified Process provides tool mentors for many of these tools.