[rules-users] Existing Test Harnesses for Drools?

[Ansgar Konermann]

On 12.04.2011 14:46, John Peterson wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone out there is aware of any Test Harnesses
> that could be used for regression testing Drools applications out there? 
>  
> We found this spreadsheet tester from Michael Neale:
> _https://github.com/michaelneale/rule-spreadsheet-tester/#readme_
>  
> Are there any others?

Hi John, hi all,

we used a similar approach (Excel) for some time, but dropped it well
over a year ago because it's very hard to maintain. We're now using
plain Java tests to load *.drl files and run a plethora of tiny unit
tests against individual rules. A few larger tests load most of our
rules and execute integration test scenarios.

Regarding maintainability: we're using a pojo based fact model to
represent our knowledge which needs to be changed from time to time,
driven by new features. This is easier if tests are in Java than if they
were Excel. Excel cannot be diffed or merged easily, as it is a binary
format. Besides, you normally cannot use the search function(s) provided
by modern IDEs to search inside Excel files. Plus you have code
completion to code your test setup and the assertions if using
Java-based tests.

We do have our own (internal) test harness, which is basically a set of
reusable test superclasses and helpers. I heard rumors from our legal
dept. that it would be okay to open-source it one day, but due to lack
of time nobody ever really did.

If you want to follow this road, let me know. Maybe I can provide some
more insights and/or code examples.

That said, I think Excel-based tests might be okay in scenarios where
the underlying fact model does not change frequently. For us, they have
proven too heavy to maintain.

Best regards

Ansgar

>  
> Thanks!
>  
>
>
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