Re: [staf-devel] SAFS N STAF

[Charles R. <ra...@us...>]

sta...@li... said:

> Although most might not recall, several months ago there was an exchange
on the
> STAF list concerning the use of STAF on the SAFSDEV opensource project:
> http://safsdev.sourceforge.net
> This project provides tool-independent GUI functional test automation
> "scripting" using Action Based Testing techniques (a.k.a. keyword-driven
test
> automation). For a quick, basic overview of SAFS records for Action Based

> Testing:
> http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=17266&group_id=56751
> We are in high gear integrating several services provided by STAF.  But
we are
> also implementing new STAF services that provide general-purpose
functionality
> that may be beneficial for the STAF community at large.

That sounds great.  Were you planning on keeping them hosted in the SAFSDEV
project?  We can just link to the SAFS website or service binaries from our
website.

> SAFSAppMapService      handles pseudo-INI file format data, values by
SECTION
> and ITEM

Sounds useful.  A lot of projects/tools still use INI files.

> SAFSVariableService    handles STAF variables for a SAFS environment

This sounds pretty SAFS specific.

> SAFSFileReader         basic text file reading service (line-at-a-time)
> SAFSTextFileReader     full-featured reader with mark, reset, start over,
etc..

These sound really useful.  Our STAF V3.0 plan has a line item for basic
file open/read/write/close support (as part of the internal FS service).
But, STAF V3.0 won't be out for a while.  Plus, your TextFileReader seems
to be at a higher level than what we plan to provide (our plans seem closer
to the basic FileReader).  I'll be looking at these services very closely
to see how they line up with our initial plans.

> SAFSAppMapService and SAFSVariableService can work with each other trying
to
> resolve value requests.
> I would like to offer these services up for review and critique (do we
really
> know what we think we know?).

I'll be looking at them later this week and will send out any comments I
have.  Let me know if you would like them directly, otherwise, I'll post
them back to this mailing list.

> While these are still "in-development", there should be sufficient
javadoc and
> HELP to use and evaluate these services.  They function as specified, we
just
> need to add more features prior to an official SAFS release.
> These services are implemented in Java using the JSTAF library.

While we haven't officially released it, you might want to look at the STAF
Service Developer's Guide
(http://cvs.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/staf/src/staf/docs/serviceguide/stafsdg.html).
  It contains information on how to create a Java service packaged as a Jar
file, which makes them much easier to deploy.

> Our SourceForge CVSROOT is "safsdev".  The services themselves are in:
> source/common/org.safs/org.safs.staf.service  (Branch "MAIN")

For others reading this, if you go through SourceForge's "Browse CVS" link
(from the SAFSDEV project), these files are in the "Attic" directory under
source/common/org.safs/org.safs.staf.service (as they currently exist only
on a branch).

> I can forward the files for review by other means, too.
> Regards,
> Carl Nagle

--
Charles Rankin
I do not speak for IBM