[news.eclipse.tools.hyades] Notes of meeting of January 29 2003

[popescu@xxxxxxxxxx (Valentina Popescu)]

Participants:

Will Goddin
Sam Guckenheimer 
Dominique Guilbaud
Serge Lucio
Marcelo Paternostro
Valentina Popescu
Neil Sanderson
Dave Scott


Actions:

Serge: 1st draft Use Case Survey and Extension Point Needs by 2/10
Valentina: Organize meeting on extension points 2/10 or 2/11
Valentina: ?Plan for a plan?  2/12



Project Organization, Scope & Delivery:

Valentina leads

Harm?s goals
Avoid multiple maintenance streams for trace ? get trace out into Hyades
quickly (April)
However, get component test right
April target drop is Trace, Test Model, Maybe not Component Test UI

Running docs needed
Use case survey
Extension points defined
Eclipse requirements
EMF requirements
Model requirements
Data collection/framework requirements
Use Cases

Policy on perspectives and views

Any view available in any perspective
Hyperlinking / right clicking / other user gesture should never force
perspective to change.  (May create Eclipse reqt wrt editors)
Examples: Open source editor in profiling perspective; run test from Java
editing perspective
Keep simple test and profile perspectives, but with other views loadable

Primary use case: Test as I develop
Developer generates a JUnit test from the current perspective (e.g. Java
editing or debug)

Simple flow
Select class(es) and right-click ?Run test?

Expanded flows
1. Create a test (by generating, writing, or recording)
2. Configure the test (optional)
3. Run test
4. Analyze results (in interactive views)
5. Report and publish
Note: There is NO preparation step.

Different ways to create a test:

Generate
Expect different generation tools as plug-ins.  This implies extension
points for generators.

Record
There are many types of recording tools with their own views.  This
implies extension points for different recorders to be available.

Write
Also need different types of editors here, from simple Java/Junit to
complex multi-pane with alternate views embedded.  Editor choice automated
based on object type.  

Configure a Test

Navigation

Rerun (with same or default options)

Go to source

Trace to test


Scheduling / Suite Composition

Regression Test 
Test execution from either development (edit/debug) or test perspectives
In test perspective, all tests are available to run, regardless where/how
created

Data collection settings groups as preferences
These collections of settings get named as instrumentation ?profiles? and
are selectable / defaulted by name.  These need to be available when
tracing ad hoc or when running a test.
Includes launch options, etc.

Data collection while testing
User can select a data collection profile (collection of settings) to use
while running a test

Test planning
Starts with spreadsheet, text doc, defect database, etc.
Need to link to external sources in a fine-grained way (e.g. spreadsheet
row)
Can use markers for docs

Unattended batch automation 
Essential for test execution in build integration and for reporting etc
Use ANT automation or CLI
Need to be able to launch outside workspace (May turn into Eclipse
requirement)


Extension Points

General desire for fine-grained extensibility
Imagine that that user starts with Hyades tooling by itself, and then one
month later installs product from vendor A, and then two months later
installs product from vendor B.  The user should see progressively more
functionality, but NOT be confronted with questions / choices about ?Which
do I use??  Vendor products should extend, not modify user experience.

Examples 
Adding to a table: new columns, new hyperlinks/gestures, new objects (e.g.
charts) in cells  
Flipping trace viewer from view only to edit 
What views does Eclipse have that could be extended?
Debug Process and Console views (Eclipse 2.1)
Issue with Eclipse ?Roles?
These address filtering / data reduction.  Our main problem is extension
for MORE data

Probable Eclipse Requirements

Mix & match editors and views

Launch options ? see CDT for examples.
  
Include launching outside of workspace

Access to pre & post build phases

Output paths/ pre-compile options
(Issue is how we handle stub generation
Currently, this requires a test project, because Eclipse does not allow
control of input and output paths in compilation)
(Project-level preferences I.e. not just on workspace)

Persist and offer UI hook


Model issues raised
Distinguish target and actual configurations
Test motivators