Research On Software Interface Test Based On XML Description

In modern software engineering, layered architecture is mostly used, in which the lower layer provides application programming interfaces(API) to the one upon it. In this architecture, interface is separated from it's implement and served as a contact between the interface user and interface author. The problems in layered software are mostly caused by semantic disagreement between different layers. These problems are usually occurred when the system is integrated and are very complex to detected. Thus, it is of practical value and academic significance to research the method of software interface test and to explore automatic test method.The biggest character of software interface test is that the input and expected output are presented in normal data, thus the key to implement automatic interface test is to find a formalized language to describe these data. Extensible Markup Language (XML) is characteristic of strong ability in data presentation, self-description, flexibility and platform independence, which make XML very suitable to describe the test cases of software interface.Based on the research on software interface test and XML language, a new method of software interface test is put forward in this paper. Test cases are described and organized in XML, read by test driven program which drives the interface under test to run and compare the result automatically. The software interface can be tested automatically and efficiently in this method. In addition, test data can be separated from test driven program, which is propitious to the maintenance and reuse of the test cases.This method has achieved a good effect in practical application.