Verification Services

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Types of Verification Points


The verification point framework provides for three types of verification points:

The following table summarizes the differences between verification point types:

Verification Point Type Expected Data Object Actual Data Object
Static Captured when script is first run Captured at subsequent script runs
Dynamic Test script passes to verification point Captured at script runtime
Manual Test script passes to verification point Test script passes to verification point


Static Verification Points

With static verification points, the first execution of the test script captures the expected data object saves it in the datastore as the baseline for subsequent executions of the test script. The expected data remains persistent unless and until new expected data is explicitly replaces it. (To insert new expected data, click File > Replace Baseline with Actual in the Grid Comparator.)

Each subsequent time the test script is run, it captures an actual data object from the component-under-test. The script retrieves the expected data object from the datastore and compares it with the actual data captured in the current test run. The results are logged automatically.

Static verification points are regression-style tests -- in other words, the successful behavior of the component-under-test is implicitly defined by the component's behavior during the earlier running of the test script, when the captured data was known to be correct.


Dynamic Verification Points

With dynamic verification points, at test runtime, the expected data object is passed to the verification point. The expected data object is not retrieved from the datastore after having been captured in an earlier execution of the test script, nor is it managed in any way by the verification point framework, as is the case with static verification points.

How the expected data is passed to a verification point is up to you as the author of the test script. For example, you might hard-code the data into the script, supply the data through a datapool, or read the data from any file.

When executing a dynamic verification point, the expected data object is passed as a parameter to the verification point's PerformTest method. The verification point then captures the actual data object from the component-under-test, compares the expected and actual data objects, and automatically logs the results.

Dynamic verification points differ from static verification points in that, with dynamic verification points, you, the test script author, explicitly define the successful operation of the component-under-test, rather than a previous behavior of the component-under-test explicitly defining it.


Manual Verification Points

With manual verification points, both the expected and actual data objects are passed to the verification point's PerformTest method at test runtime. The verification point framework does not provide expected and actual data objects. In contrast, with with static verification points, the framework provides both the expected and actual data objects) and, with dynamic verification points, the framework provides actual data objects only.

In other words, with manual verification points, you as the test designer are responsible for providing both the expected and the actual data objects. This frees you from relying on the framework's IVerificationPointDataProvider interface to construct objects, allowing you to construct your own objects. The framework simply compares the data objects you provide and logs the results.

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