Mercury TestDirector Prototyping:

Test Director

Server is J2EE, communicates with clients over HTTP. However, this protocol is closed.

Clients have an ActiveX (COM) control used to communicate with the server. This control has a published COM API with examples.

Steps

 Java/COM bridging is possible with JACOB, but this easiest when you have a stable target to aim for. .NET can do this very easily, and producing and consuming web services is ludicrously simple compared with playing with things like Axis. Aim for Java in long-term, but prototype in short term.

 Step 1: Do a quick prototype of a SOAP interface for TD in C#, since this binds to both COM components and creates SOAP Web Services very easily.

Thoughts: SOAP API needs to only be complete enough to perform this integration. One idea is that if it looked generic (or even, the same as the JIRA SOAP API), then connecting together arbitary issue repositories would be easy!

Step 2: Create a quick (C#) client that calls said SOAP interface, demonstrating issues being created in TD.

Step 3: Extend client to call JIRA, demonstrating issues being created in JIRA

Step 4: Extend client to show a forwards / backwards synchronisation by using the 2 APIs

Step 5: Automatic triggering - is it possible to get this process to be triggered, or will it have to poll each system (answer is probably 'yes' - email at worst case - JIRA is likely to be easier than TD)

Step 6: convert 'client' program to Java / Jelly / JIRA plugin - what is the right option?

Step 7: Convert C# SOAP/COM bridge to Java (probably JACOB, Axis). Could/should this be hosted in the same server as JIRA (only if it is a windows box!)

Step 8: Enjoy!

 Unknowns

• Is TD interface "sufficent", or will we need to access it's database directly at some time?
• How easy to synchronise status changes (e.g. can set Resolved in JIRA and Closed in TD and sync correctly? may need to store timestamps of changes)

 Thoughts

•  Is there (should there be) a 'generic' API / XML format for "issues" ? Or is it just re-create a subset of the JIRA interface..