MSys Develops Flex Custom Component Automation for MTAS

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. - Dec. 9, 2013 - PRLog -- CHENNAI, INDIA, (December 10, 2013)—MSys has ventured into new territories by developing test automation functionality for custom components in highly complex Flex applications, such as the ones created by MicroStrategy. Recently, a leading, US-based telecom service provider approached MSys with the intricate task of test automation for custom Flex applications. Previously, the company worked with several automation providers and their products, but remained unsuccessful in achieving expected results—high automation coverage and ROI.

Challenges With Custom Components

Many web-based applications that congregate and organize complex data, say financial information or business development data, use Flex. MicroStrategy’s business intelligence applications contain many custom components in general. Custom components differ significantly from existing, normal Flex components and are developed to incorporate some new functionality in the application.

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In our research, we weren’t able to find any tools that successfully were able to record and play back MicroStrategy Flex components. Additionally, we also thought it would be helpful to access the data behind the charts and graphs presented. After a significant amount of focused research and brainstorming, we were able to achieve full automation for MicroStrategy components as well as access to the underlying data.

-          Chris Jackson, Delivery Manager, MSys Technologies

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Automation of custom components on Flex applications, mainly from MicroStrategy, proved to be a challenge with several test automation vendors as they lacked the capability owing to multiple challenges in the field, such as:

·         A new delegate class has to be written for each custom component.

·         Source code of custom components is unavailable.

·         Unavailability of technical know-how in this field hinders development of custom component automation capability.

In deciding the return on investment (ROI) of a test automation tool, the presence of custom components plays an important role. It reduces the automation coverage, the extent of automation the tool can handle. Lower automation coverage translates to higher manual effort.

Innovative New Way to Automate Custom Components

Among today’s test automation tools, there is no shortage of capabilities; still, custom component automation has remained a challenge with many Flex automation suites. In order to automate a custom component, the source code of the component is necessary for generating delegate classes, which are essential for the task. This has also been the Achilles’ heel for the so-called prominent automation suites.

Developing a tool that neither requires the source code nor any other information is a big challenge. MSys, being the innovator it is, took up the challenge to develop this innovative new capability that augments its nimble test automation solution, MTAS. On the top of that, MTAS is more than just another test automation tool; it is a complete, end-to-end automation solution that covers a range of software applications.

By completing the project, MSys has shaken its competition by advancing its capabilities. For quite some time, MSys has been automating MicroStrategy Flex applications with custom components.

About MSys

MSys is an innovator in offering IT services and domain specific automation software. MSys together with its unparalleled focus and in-depth technical expertise delivers unprecedented value at an affordable cost in the areas of storage, servers, DR/BC, and virtualization. For more information, please visit http://www.msys-tech.com.