SeqZap Introduction
SeqZap® from Sequanto is a general automation tool primarily for system testing. Besides handling the formal test, SeqZap is also a very pragmatic tool usable throughout development of software and/or hardware. SeqZap can be used to automate complex, long or trivial stimulation, verification and measurement scenarios and is therefore also the perfect automation tool in certification tests.
SeqZap is primarily developed for testing embedded systems. But because SeqZap is a very structured and general test and automation environment, it can be used for testing:
- Embedded systems
- Web-sites/applications
- Desktop-applications (Windows®, .NET, Java, …)
- Web-services
- Other systems with a software-, hardware-, or user-interface.
Embedded systems are increasing in complexity, and many systems provides both graphical user interfaces, networking and an internal web-server for access over the Internet. Since SeqZap supports testing the target system through all its interfaces it, SeqZap is the single solution needed for testing.
What is SeqZap?
SeqZap is a system running on Microsoft Windows through the .NET Framework. The main application is SeqZap Studio, which is the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) used for development and execution of test/automation scripts.
One of the main goals for SeqZap is to be a very easy-to-use and user-friendly system that also scales to very big test setups.
When needed, SeqZap can be customised to interface with any target through extensions created by Sequanto or by the user. The SeqZap system contains many standard extensions that can be used directly or they can be used as a base for custom extensions.
Extensions can be developed using the Microsoft Visual Studio environment, both the professional and the express editions, or any other development environment for .NET.
Keyword: Overview
SeqZap has several ways to help getting both a good static overview during development, maintenance and administration and a dynamic overview while executing scripts/tests.
The Script Explorer is used to get an overview of all the different file elements in a test project.
The Progress Overview shows the list of test cases and their state and
results before, during and after execution.
The auto-generated log-file contains the details of the sequence of
actions and events from a test / script execution.
The Log View continuously shows the log, enabling the user to inspect the execution at runtime. One great feature is the clickable links that makes it possible to jump to the stated script-elements with only a single mouse click.
A customisable test report is also automatically generated when a test case or test suite has been executed, usable both for mailing, printing and other more permanent storage.
Many embedded devices are created in different variants during the
development phase. Some devices also have several configuration
parameters. When having several test cases for one product, each of
them can only be executed when the specific preconditions are right.
In SeqZap the configuration parameters and preconditions can be setup,
helping the user to get an overview of which test cases and test
suites it is possible to execute with the present setup. It is
therefore also possible to go the opposite way; see how the setup
should be for one single test case.
Some simple history and statistics are shown in the Progress Overview. When more data is needed it is possible to log results to any data base or test management system via extensions.
Keyword: Structured
As with many other things it is important to be able to work with test in a structured manner. SeqZap assists the user in doing that in several ways.
SeqZap is project-oriented, a logical project ties all the related files together, having one single project file for a test project.
SeqZap has a procedural scripting environment. The procedures can have parameters and can be called from other procedures, making it easy to create reusable and nicely structured scripts.
In SeqZap a test case is a procedure tagged as a test case and test suites are collections of test case references. This makes it easy to create several test suites for testing different categories of test cases.
In all test scripts it is necessary to have some error handling. The error handling in SeqZap is done by having default behaviour for all test procedures, and letting the user override this behaviour in each individual procedure/step with a few mouse clicks.
Keyword: Reuse
In order to save time when developing test scripts it is important to reuse as much work as possible. SeqZap enforces and encourages reuse in many different ways:
- By being structured, test code can be reused across scripts and projects.
- By being a general automation tool the user can reuse and gain experience for solving different tasks using the same tool.
- By using abstract tools and instruments they can be used for different low-level architectures and hardware.
- SeqZap ships with many tools for standard protocols and interfaces. Some or the included tools are: serial port, ModBus, Windows mouse- and keyboard-simulation, web-page control and more. The toolbox is constantly growing.
Keyword: Cooperation
One of the major goals for SeqZap is to target the developers, testers and technicians with one single test environment. By being both very pragmatic and easy to use, SeqZap is a versatile automation framework that does not require any software development skills to use. Users covering different subject areas can cooperate and reuse the same scripts and tools for their specific needs, helping them to keep focus on the task at hand.
Instead of having to write detailed descriptions to a colleague by hand, it is much more useful to exchange a generated report and a script that simply provokes and recreates the issue/error. The script can then afterwards be added to the project to make sure that the issue/error is never re-introduced.
You can find more info on the on introduction page or you can contact Sequanto with any further questions.