The Software Testing Automation Framework (STAF) is an open source project that enables users to create cross-platform, distributed software test environments

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The project is licensed using the Common Public License (CPL). STAF includes a number of services that provide specific functionality. The most prominent of these is the test execution engine called STAX. Other services provide cron, file system, inter-process communication, e-mail, and HTML support, among others.

STAF was originally developed for internal use by IBM in the 1990's. IBM supports users of STAF through extensive online documentation and user forums.

Keyword-driven Testing:

Keyword driven testing is a software testing technique that separates much of the programming work of test automation from the actual test design. This allows tests to be developed earlier and makes the tests easier to maintain. Some key concepts in keyword driven testing include:

• Keywords, which are typically base level and describe generalized UI operations such as "click", "enter", "select"
• Business templates which are typically high level such as "login", "enter transaction"
• Action Words, or short "Actions", which can be both base level and high level and in their most general form allow earlier defined key words to be used to define higher level action words

Keyword driven testing is a very powerful tool helping organizations to do more automated testing earlier in the testing process and making it easier to maintain tests over time. As with any complex undertaking, there are "success factors" that can determine whether or not a testing effort will be successful. This paper will outline key success factors for keyword driven testing including base requirements, the vision for automation, success factors for automation, and how to measure success.

Data-driven Testing:

Data-driven testing means that scripts read data from an external storage site, for example, from a file or database, rather than use values hard-coded in the script.

Such a separation makes tests logically simpler. A script containing several sets of hard-coded values can be rather difficult to modify. For instance, if you need more input data, you will have to modify the script code.

Normally, the storages hold both input and verifying data. A data-driven test includes the following operations performed in a loop:

1. Retrieving input data from storage.
2. Entering data in an application form.
3. Verifying the results.
4. Continuing with the next set of input data.

TestComplete includes a number of features to perform these steps. You can select the functionality that best suits your needs.

Edited by Mithi25 - 26Jul2009 at 11:57pm