Testing OpenRules without updating Java

[Ashley Harbison]

Hi, I'm trying to work out if I can execute test cases from an Excel table and output the results to another Excel table with validation without having to update the Java code?

[OpenRules Support]

Yes, as OpenRules decisioning facilities are oriented to business people, they may create test cases along with decision tables without help from developers.See the description in the User Manual http://openrules.com/pdf/OpenRulesUserManual.pdf pp.29-31 and a sample project “DecisionPatientTherapyTest”. You do not need to know or write Java code - you simply create test data in the Excel tables of the type "Data" and put them together in the table "DecisionTableTest" with expected results. When you execute OpenRules-based decision in the test mode, it produces a report with all possible mismatches.

[Ashley Harbison]

Thank you for the response. I have a further question - do I need to use a Java launcher to run the tests or can I just use Excel?

 

[OpenRules Support]

We do not provide an Excel add-on to launch OpenRules from Excel in purpose: the majority of corporate customers do not accept 3rd party add-ons. So, you simply need to double-click on "run.bat" without any knowledge of Java or shell scripts.

[Ade Harrison]

sorry to hijack this thread but how can you run your own tests without Java knowledge? surely you need to specify the xls file, Decision table, pojo properties etc...?

[OpenRules Support]

Here is a typical use of OpenRules. A decision model with all decision tables and a glossary is created completely in Excel by business analysts (not-programmers). They also create test cases in Excel using Datatype and Data tables. To test the decision model against these tests they launch a predefined Java launcher, but they do not need to create Java beans. Only when the decision model is tested, business analysts pass it to developers for integration with the actual IT system. By the way, the upcoming release 6.3.3 contains new facilities that allow developers to automatically generate a Java interface for the tested decision model.