Checking changes automatically using XML Regression Testing: a DeltaXML solution

As more software systems process XML data, the need for effective XML-aware testing is becoming critical. Using conventional text comparison software does not work with XML-encoded data. DeltaXML solves these problems and provides new opportunities for automating regression testing.

Consider some of the features of DeltaXML which make it so good for regression testing:

• DeltaXML can process large files (50Mb+) quickly
• DeltaXML is optimized for comparing files which are the same or have only a few differences, which is typically the case in regression testing
• When differences are found, DeltaXML represents the differences as XML, making it easier to automate handling those differences
• DeltaXML can generate a delta file which shows just the changes, or one which shows the changes in the context of the unchanged data
• The delta file generated from DeltaXML can be converted using XSLT in HTML suitable for viewing in a browser.

Another benefit of DeltaXML is that it can handle orderless XML data, allowing you to automatically drive regression tests where some of the data is expected to appear in a different order in the two files. DeltaXML allows XML elements to be assigned key values that can match up corresponding elements in two files. This means that when there is a difference, DeltaXML identifies exactly where the difference has been found. DeltaXML also makes it possible to apply XSL stylesheets to the input data to filter out data that is expected to differ, to normalize white space and to add details of where nested elements should be treated as orderless.

If you want to use DeltaXML for regression testing, we can provide a simple test framework, the DeltaXML Test Framework (DTF), which is built upon JUnit and allows you to drive regression tests out-of-the-box using DeltaXML with XML script files and Apache Ant.  Our DeltaBlade add-on, which builds upon Apache Jelly, provides a more powerful solution to testing needs. Please contact us for details of these options.

DeltaXML can turn very tedious and error-prone testing processes into ones that are fully automated. Test failures can be viewed in a normal browser to identify where problems have occurred in the XML tree structure.