Debugging Test Problems
There are a number of reasons that tests can fail to execute properly. This chapter provides some approaches for dealing with these failures. Please note that most of these suggestions are only relevant when running the test harness in GUI mode.
6.1 Overview
The goal of a test run is for all tests in the test suite that are not filtered out to have passing results. If the root test suite folder contains tests with errors or failing results, you must troubleshoot and correct the cause to satisfactorily complete the test run.
Errors — Tests with errors could not be executed by the JavaTest harness. These errors usually occur because the test environment is not properly configured.
Failures — Tests that fail were executed but had failing results.
The Test Manager GUI provides you with a number of tools for effectively troubleshooting a test run. See the JavaTest User's Guide and JavaTest online help for detailed descriptions of the tools described in this chapter.
6.2 Test Tree
Use the test tree in the JavaTest GUI to identify specific folders and tests that had errors or failing results. Color codes are used to indicate status as follows:
Green — Passed
Blue — Test Error
Red — Failed to pass test
White — Test not run
Gray — Test filtered out (not run)
6.3 Folder Information
Click a folder in the test tree in the JavaTest GUI to display its tabbed pane.
Choose the Error and the Failed panes to view the lists of all tests in and under a folder that were not successfully run. You can double-click a test in the lists to view its test information.
6.4 Test Information
To display information about a test in the JavaTest GUI, click its icon in the test tree or double-click its name in a folder status pane. The tabbed pane contains detailed information about the test run and, at the bottom of the pane, a brief status message identifying the type of failure or error. This message may be sufficient for you to identify the cause of the error or failure.
If you need more information to identify the cause of the error or failure, use the following panes listed in order of importance:
Test Run Messages contains a Message list and a Message pane that display the messages produced during the test run.
Test Run Details contains a two column table of name/value pairs recorded when the test was run.
Configuration contains a two column table of the test environment name/value pairs derived from the configuration data actually used to run the test.
Note - You can set harness.log.traceflag=true in <TS_HOME>/bin/ts.jte to get more debugging information.
6.5 Report Files
Report files are another good source of troubleshooting information. You may view the individual test results of a batch run in the JavaTest Summary window, but there are also a wide range of HTML report files that you can view in the JavaTest ReportBrowser or in the external browser or your choice following a test run. See Section 5.3 “Test Reports” for more information.
6.6 Configuration Failures
Configuration failures are easily recognized because many tests fail the same way. When all your tests begin to fail, you may want to stop the run immediately and start viewing individual test output. However, in the case of full-scale launching problems where no tests are actually processed, report files are usually not created (though sometimes a small harness.trace file in the report directory is written).