Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!samsung!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvlx!andreas
From: andreas@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Jim Andreas)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: what's most important to you for R5?
Message-ID: <100920235@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com>
Date: 10 Jul 90 23:56:54 GMT
References: <9006222202.AA17654@expire.lcs.mit.edu>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Lines: 58

> vladimir@prosper (Vladimir G. Ivanovic)   2:32 pm  Jun 25, 1990 writes:
> 
> Every week or so, someone posts a request for a tool which
> will automate the testing of X applications.  Currently, (as
> far as I am aware of) there is no MIT X Consortium support
> for such a tool.
[stuff deleted]
> What I'd like to see is an extensible, customizable, fully though out
> solution.

I would like to second Vladimir's request.  Right now, near as I can
tell, only the HP and the Tek sample server incorporate
the Input Synthesis Extension in the X server, so there is partial
support for such a tool.  Also, a Client Exerciser regression
test record/playback tool is available as part of the XTEST
package on expo, but this has not been widely publicized.

The Input Synthesis Extension and the Client Exerciser would
be a lot more useful if all of the sample servers 
incorporated the extension.  It appears to be pretty simple to
patch into the sample servers (requiring just a test and
function call in the DDX layer's handling of input events, plus
the usual care and feeding of an extension... )

> 
> Some ideas:
> *  Recording of events and correct playback even with timing differences

It's in there

> *  A run-time langauge for talking about or editing of events

The Client Exerciser can convert its machine readable log file
to a human readable file.

> *  Knowledge of windows, even if they are differently sized and have moved

Oops this is not there, and would really be nice to have

> *  Ability to recover from server or client errors

Umm this sounds rather hard.


Bottom line - support for testing of the infinite numbers of
applications that will exist for X shortly seems like a pretty 
high priority to me.

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