JPH07261987A - Method for verifying function of application software - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To confirm a function with difference by the difference of versions before actually operating an application software by comparing and verifying the function information of the new and old versions of the application software. CONSTITUTION:This device is constituted of a general computer 2 provided with a CPU and a memory, etc., an external storage device 4 for storing all kinds of information such as the function specification data of the respective versions and function specification difference information between the respective versions, etc., and an OCR 6 for inputting a function manual made into a document or the like. In this case, this function verifying method realized by a software or the like is loaded in the memory inside the computer 2 and executed in the CPU. Then, by storing the function information in the new version of the application software, comparing the function information in the new and old versions of the application software and comparing and verifying the difference of the function information, the function with the difference by the difference of the versions is discovered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for verifying the function of application software, and more particularly, to efficiently evaluate the difference in function between versions of software products (hereinafter referred to as application software) of a third vendor in a multi-vendor environment constructed by a computer. The present invention relates to a function verification method for application software that reduces the load of system design and test using the application software.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Many types of application software running on a computer are provided by a so-called third vendor, which is developed not only by the manufacturer of the computer but also by other software related companies. These application softwares are usually upgraded for the purpose of not only eliminating bugs but improving their functions. When using the upgraded application software for business, etc., especially when it is the application software developed by a third vendor, before actually using it for business, including the function confirmation and the prevention of malfunction. In addition, it is desirable to clearly understand the difference in function due to the difference in version in advance. Therefore, conventionally, the functions of the new version have been tested and confirmed before actually executing the application software on a computer. Hereinafter, the second version of the application software, which is newer than the first version, will be referred to as the new version, and the first version will be referred to as the old version.

[0006] FIG. 4 confirms the difference in function between the old version and the new version of the application software provided by a wide variety of third-party vendors for operating conventional, commonly used market-dependent computers before actually operating them. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of a method for doing so.

Conventionally, the function comparison is performed by visually comparing first with a document level such as a help file and a document file incorporated in the application software or a function manual attached to the application software (step 401). By this work, it is possible to find out the different functions. Here, when it is determined that there is no difference in function, the test program created in the past is actually executed on the new version and the test result is retained (step 402), and the old version already retained is retained. The functional identity can be confirmed by comparing and verifying the executed test results. The comparison result is stored in the database (step 403).

On the other hand, when it is found that the difference in function is clear, a new test program is created and the test environment is set (step 404). The created test program is actually executed on the new version (step 405), it is confirmed whether there is an error in the description of the manual, and the test result is retained for future use (step 406).

As described above, by performing the test by the test program, the difference in the function between the old version and the new version of the application software is confirmed before the actual operation. Various methods for executing the test program to clarify the difference in function are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-6630 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-212837.

[0007]

However, as described above, conventionally, the difference in function between the old version and the new version of the application software is premised on confirming by actually executing the test program. Therefore, there is a problem that it takes a lot of time not only to verify a difference in function but also to check a function having a difference. Therefore, as the application software becomes open / multi-platform, the number of application software products that can be executed on computers in the market is increasing, the variety is increasing, and the new version release interval is shortened. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to shorten the construction period of the system construction.

Further, the method of verifying the function that is different due to the difference in version is not automated so that the visual comparison is performed before the execution of this test program, and the operator is burdened with a great load. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to automate and confirm functions that differ due to differences in the versions of application software, and to verify the differences in versions. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for verifying the function of application software, which can more easily verify the difference in function due to.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 stores a step of storing the function information in the new version of the application software and a step of storing the function information in the old and new versions of the application software. And a step of comparing, and by comparing and verifying the difference in the function information, a function having a difference due to a difference in version is found.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the function verification method for application software according to claim 1, there is a step of setting a test item of only a different function due to a difference in version.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the function verification method for application software according to the second aspect, a step of performing a test in a new version based on the set test items and a step of storing the result of the test execution. And, and is characterized by verifying the difference in function due to the difference in version.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the function verification method for application software according to the first aspect, a step of extracting a test item of a function other than a function that differs depending on a version difference, and a new test item based on the extracted test item. There is a step of performing a test in the version, a step of comparing the test result in the new version obtained as a result of the test with the test result in the old version stored in advance, and It is characterized by verifying functional differences.

[0014]

Therefore, according to the first aspect of the present invention, by comparing and verifying the function information of the old and new versions of various kinds of application software executed on the computers existing in the market, the functions having different functions due to the difference in version can be obtained. Can be checked before actually operating the application software.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, different functions have been confirmed by the above method. Therefore, by newly setting test items related to the functions, the difference in functions due to the difference in version can be efficiently eliminated. Can be grasped.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the function of the new version can be verified by performing the test on the set test item in the new version, and the difference in the function due to the difference in version can be obtained. Can be easily grasped.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, test items of functions other than the different functions extracted by the above method are extracted, and only the test items extracted in the new version are extracted. Since this test result is compared with the test result stored in the previous version and the difference in function is confirmed, it is possible to efficiently grasp the difference in function due to the difference in version.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an apparatus configuration for realizing a function verification method for application software in this embodiment. This device is documented as a general computer 2 having a CPU, a memory, etc., and an external storage device 4 for storing all information such as functional specification data for each version and functional specification difference information between versions, which will be described later. And an OCR 6 for inputting a function description and the like. A function verification method and the like, which will be described later, realized by software are loaded into a memory inside the computer 2 and executed by the CPU. In addition, application software developed by a third vendor etc.
Executed by the CPU.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the processing of the function verification method in the present embodiment, and is a diagram in which a data flow is further added with a broken line, and FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the processing of the embodiment shown in FIG. It is the flowchart which showed the process which clarifies the function which is different by the difference of the version which is the characteristic of the example.

The characteristic feature of this embodiment is that by automatically comparing document-level data such as function manuals, the functions that differ due to the difference in version can be clarified without executing a test program or the like. That is.
The processing will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In step 201 in FIG. 2, the function information including the function specifications described at the document level of the new version is converted into text so that it can be compared using the computer 2. The data handled here are help files built into the application software,
A document file or a document file relating to function information such as a function manual attached to application software. Paying particular attention to the fact that the description formats of the chapters, sections, and terms of instructions, etc., in the same application software are almost the same, and the documents that have been made into texts for each terms are automatically compared using the computer 2. If you let
You can see the increase / decrease in the description content for each comparison unit. It is possible to find a different function from the comparison result. Therefore,
If the document file is a help file, it is converted to text and stored as new version data (hereinafter referred to as new version data) in the external storage device 4 (step 201).
a). The text document file is stored as it is in the external storage device 4 as new edition data (step 201b). Further, the function manual is taken into the computer 2 by the OCR 6, and then converted into text and stored in the external storage device 4 as new edition data (step 201c). The data format to be stored is summarized as follows. For example, combine the same chapters / sections / sections into one page. The figures in the data consist of titles only, and in the case of tables, rows are organized cell by cell from the upper left to the lower right.

Next, in step 202, the text version of the old version data (hereinafter referred to as the old version data) already stored in the external storage device 4 is compared and verified with the new version data, and the change / addition / The deleted part is automatically identified. As a result of comparison, if there is a difference in the description of the document file, it is considered that there is a difference in the function described in that part. Details of this processing will be described with reference to FIG.

In step 301, the old edition data and the new edition data are compared page by page to grasp the increase / decrease of chapters / sections / sections. In the comparison processing at this time, only the titles of the respective chapters / sections / sections are compared. In that case, the page number may be moved to a different page, so ignore the chapter numbers etc. attached to each page, first compare all the new version data based on the old version data and all old version data based on the new version data. Both comparisons are made. In this way, the increase or decrease in the function is grasped by first comparing only the titles. If there is a table of contents, it is effective to compare the contents.

Here, if there is a change in the contents of chapters / sections / sections, the page numbers of the old and new versions, the chapter / section / section numbers,
The increased / decreased page contents are collectively stored as difference data (step 302).

As a result of comparing the titles, if there is no increase or decrease in the description, then the old and new versions of the contents of each chapter / section / item are compared line by line (step 303).
In that case, since the description position may be moved to a different row, first, both the new edition data are compared based on the old edition data and all the old edition data are compared based on the new edition data. In this way, carefully select different description contents, and if there is an increase or decrease in the description content of the chapter / section / section, collect it in the old and new version page number, chapter / section / section number, title name, increase / decrease page content etc. The difference data is stored (step 302).

In step 304, the stored difference data is checked for a typographical error / missing character / "tenihaha". This can be determined, for example, by paying attention to the number of character strings having a very small difference in the difference data. Of course, it may be checked visually to improve accuracy. With this, it is checked whether or not the functional specifications are truly different. If it is determined that the functional specifications do not differ, the stored difference data is discarded (step 305).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, by comparing and verifying the text-formatted document files relating to the function information, the function can be changed depending on the version difference before the new version application software is actually executed. It is possible to find out the difference by automating as much as possible.

Next, in the present embodiment, a test is executed by actually executing a test program for a function that has a difference due to the difference in the version clarified as described above, and the function due to the difference in the version is detected. It is characterized by grasping the differences. Hereinafter, this process will be described with reference to FIG.

When the different functions are clarified, the difference between the functions of the old version and the new version and the changed platform (model / OS) dependency information are used based on the difference data created as described above. The database is updated (step 203). Then, necessary test items and test environment data for each version and platform are set and stored from the difference data (step 20).
4). This storage format is standardized in the present embodiment, and is stored in the same format in all versions so that comparison of versions can be easily performed.
This makes it possible to efficiently grasp the functional specifications of application software and extract test items under multi-vendor / multi-platform.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the functional specifications of the old version and the difference between the functions of the old version and the new version, and the test items necessary for each version are sorted and stored to store the application. It is possible to efficiently grasp the difference in the functional specifications of software and reduce the load of system design and test design using the application software.

As described above, in this embodiment, the functions that differ due to the difference in version are extracted from the document file, and the test items are set for the extracted functions. Furthermore, the present embodiment is characterized in that the test program is executed to verify the function of the new version regardless of whether there is a difference in function due to a difference in version. Hereinafter, this process will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a part that is not clearly described in the description of the document file or a part that has the same function in each version will be described.

In step 211, a test program created for each platform (model / OS) to verify the functions of the above parts is extracted from the database and data. This exam program has already been created for previous versions of the exam.

In step 212, the tests are performed on each platform in the new version using the extracted test program.

In step 213, the test result of this test and the test result of the old version that should have been executed in the past are automatically compared and verified. If there is a difference in the test results as a result of the comparison, it is determined that there is a difference in function due to a difference in version, and the difference is stored in the database.

On the other hand, the case of confirming the function of the new version in which the difference is clear will be described.

In step 205, the above step 2
A test program is created for each platform based on the test items and test environment set in 04. Step 20
In 6, the test is performed on the corresponding platform using the test program created for each platform. In step 207, the test result of step 206 is stored in the database as the functional specification in the new version. This data can be used to confirm the functional difference when a new version is used in the next version upgrade.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the function of the new version can be verified by executing the test program on the new version, and the difference in the function from the old version can be clearly understood. be able to.

Further, by efficiently accumulating the functional differences, the test results, etc., the functional differences can be grasped efficiently.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, by comparing and verifying the function information of the old and new versions of the application software, it is possible to perform the function having the difference due to the difference between the versions before actually operating the application software. It becomes possible to confirm.

By setting test items relating to functions that differ due to version differences, and organizing and storing them, it is possible to improve the efficiency of grasping the differences in functions due to version differences. Becomes

Further, regarding the above-mentioned test items, by carrying out a test in a new version, it is possible to verify the function of the new version and to clearly understand the difference in function from the first version. .

Further, only for functions for which a difference is not clarified or functions that are considered to be common, the same test items are tested in the old and new versions, and the test results are compared, so that the functions due to the difference in the versions can be efficiently It is possible to grasp the difference between.

Therefore, since the difference in function due to the difference in version can be grasped by automating as much as possible before actually executing the application software, the construction period for grasping the functional specification of the application software can be shortened. Is possible.

Further, since the new version of the application software can be immediately applied, it is possible to reduce the load of system design and test using the application software.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus that implements a function verification method for application software according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a process of a function verification method of application software according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a process of clarifying a different function due to a difference in version in the function verification method for application software according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a conventional function verification method for application software.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 computer 4 external storage device 6 OCR

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A step of storing function information in a second version (hereinafter referred to as a new version) newer than a first version of the application software (hereinafter referred to as an old version), and function information in new and old versions of the application software. The method for verifying the function of the application software, comprising the step of: comparing the difference in the function information to find a different function due to the difference in version. 2. The application software function verification method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting test items of only different functions due to different versions. 3. The application software function verification method according to claim 2, further comprising a step of performing a test in a new version based on the set test item, and a step of storing the result of the test. A method for verifying the function of application software, which is characterized by verifying the difference in function due to the difference in version. 4. The method of verifying the function of application software according to claim 1, wherein a step of extracting a test item of a function other than a different function due to a difference in version, and a test of a new version based on the extracted test item The step and the step of comparing the test result in the new version obtained as a result of the test with the test result in the old version stored in advance are included, and the difference in the function due to the difference in the version is verified. A method for verifying the function of application software, which is characterized in that