Software Component Testing Methodology For Legacy System

In financial system, software integration test usually involves interaction among multiple legacy systems, and the business logic each single system will not be frequent changed. How to test financial legacy system automatically surround with black-box or gray box environment is an unresolved problem. Existing researches on test automation which mainly focus on implementation from technology perspective, can not properly answer this question.This article optimizes existing component-based testing methodology and proposes a new testing method for legacy system. Based on existing software component model, a new stereotype named as 'Test Component' is created which is dedicated to software testing. This article also discusses design concept of test components, component management, testing processes and organizational structure of test automation project.We have implemented an automated testing framework for software component testing. This framework defines a keyword-driven based scripting language and implements mechanism for component dynamic loading, also provides robust error handling and test reporting functionalities. The proposed component-based test method has been applied into 7 actual projects. Statistic data of these projects proves the value of using this method in legacy systems integration testing.The innovation of this paper is that introducing the concept of "component-based software" into the software test automation and proposes a software component testing method which oriented to legacy system. This article present comprehensive automated testing solutions from the component model, project processes and technology aspects which can greatly improve reusability of test assets and reduce cost of projects.