Upcoming Events

Cloud Connect
Santa Clara
Feb 13-16, 2012

Cloud Connect brings together the entire cloud eco-system to better understand the transformation we're experiencing and promises to be the defining event of the cloud computing industry. Learn about the latest cloud technologies and platforms from thought leaders in Cloud Connect’s comprehensive conference.

Register Now!

F E A T U R E

Testing -1, -2, -3

October 21, 2002
By David Joachim

>> continued from previous page

On-the-Fly Testing

	Issue TOC
	Print full article
	Print this page
	Download as PDF
	E-Mail this URL
	Flame the author

	In this article
	Introduction
	On-the-Fly Testing

Mercury's WinRunner is used to perform regression testing, which ensures that an upgrade to one piece of software, such as a Web server, doesn't break an application built to run on that server. WinRunner also automates the testing of common routines. Now, while Life Time's developers are writing software code, they also write test scripts using WinRunner. "We know what the program is supposed to be doing, so we can develop the test as we develop the code," Petersen says.

When they hand over an application to the testers, the scripts are preset to test the code. The scripts can even run at night, when no one is in the office. Thus routine testing is off-loaded to WinRunner, and the testers have time to focus on usability and root out bugs caused by exceptions. They can fiddle with the application as if they are typical users to see how different usage patterns affect it, Zempel says.

For example, they can spend more time on negative testing, where users take actions that are out of the ordinary and see how the application responds. Zempel uses the example of a Web form that takes only numbers. Testers punch in letters to make sure the application handles the error correctly and provides constructive feedback to the user.

Using the new approach for MMS 6.0, developing and testing the code took about five weeks; previously these jobs would have taken twice as much time. And Bertch is betting he can get that process down to one or two weeks. Life Time is now backtracking to test the older code in MMS. Next up are Life Time's contract-management and child-care systems.

Web Links

"Testing Tools Are Key To Web Services' Success" (InformationWeek, Sept. 2, 2002)
"Briefing Book: Web Testing And Monitoring" (InternetWeek, Aug. 6, 2002)

It also now takes just about a week to test application software for bugs introduced by upgrades to the two Web server environments that Life Time uses, Apache and IBM's WebLogic. Such tests used to take as long as six weeks.

Petersen points out another reason integrating the development and testing of the code works so well: "It's valuable to see a bug two days after I wrote the code instead of two weeks, because it's still fresh in my mind," he says.

Once the test scripts are written, they can be reused systemwide whenever code is altered or a platform is upgraded, Bertch says.

More Love, Less Hate

The integrated process has also brought the two teams closer together. There's usually a love-hate relationship between the development and testing teams, Zempel says: "They love to hate each other." But because each team now has more insight into what the other team is doing, there are fewer conflicts, Vargo says. "We don't just throw the application over the wall and walk away," he says.

Missed Our Life Time On Location Package?

Go to "And Now for the Heavy Lifting," or catch up on the latest developments at the Life Time blog.

Life Time uses two other Mercury products to test code: LoadRunner, for performance and stress testing, and TestDirector, for defect tracking. Together, the three applications were a "six-figure investment," Zempel says, but because they were a capital expense the purchase wasn't hindered by the freeze on the operating budget.

Zempel is confident that the new approach to software development will help Life Time meet the demands that come with trying to diversify its revenue model with health-product sales and drive this period of hypergrowth, in which the $200 million company wants to grow 50 percent per year for the next five years.

"This is all about our ability to stay nimble," he says. Not to mention lean.

David Joachim is Network Computing's editor/business technology. Write to him at djoachim@nwc.com.