A Python Object Oriented & Data Driven Testing Infrastructure for an Environmental Information Management System
Software systems such as TEIMS, the Taurus Environmental Information Management System evolve in size and complexity making manual testing no longer sufficient or feasible, becoming a performance and quality risk. TEIMS is a system of systems comprised of dynamic, data-driven web-based applications that support planning, operational monitoring, data collection, sample management, reporting and, scientific findings for LLNL’s Environmental Restoration Department (ERD). Selenium’s Integrated Development Environment (IDE) was previously used to support TEIMS testing. An approach with limited flexibility for future software development. As a student intern I was assigned the task to develop an object oriented testing infrastructure for TEIMS. A critical resource in this approach is the development of a catalogue of page elements. To accomplish this I created a comma separated value file, which is comprised of key identifiers based on page elements. Using the Python language and the Selenium Web driver I then developed the object mapping structure, which serves as a wrapper for exposure of each element allowing interaction with the tests and test suites. A master driver “Module” allowed the web driver to be shared among the objects and tests. I then developed a web-based graphical user interface (GUI) for test history, metrics and searching. This data driven approach provides flexibility and extensibility, allowing changes to the structure to be performed in a single place. The result is an object oriented/data driven infrastructure that allows tests to be simpler, flexible, and maintainable, with searchable results.