Method and system for testing a software application interfacing with multiple external software applications in a simulated test environment

A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code comprising an algorithm adapted to implement a method for testing a software application in accordance with a test suite, said method comprising:

• inserting into a test database a description of the test suite for testing the software application being tested (ABT), said ABT programmed to invoke multiple external software applications during execution of at least one test script of the test suite, each external application being replaced by a corresponding simulator such that the ABT invokes at least one of said corresponding simulators during execution of each test script;
• inserting into the test database output data to be returned to the ABT by each simulator for each execution of each simulator in each test script, and
• after said inserting the description of the test suite and the output data into the test database, executing each test script of the test suite, said executing comprising:
• sending a request, by the ABT to each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, for requested data;
• and
• receiving, by the ABT, said requested data from each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, wherein the received requested data comprises the output data that had been inserted into the test database prior to said executing.

A computer system comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing instructions that when executed by the processor implement a method for testing a software application in accordance with a test suite, said method comprising:

• inserting into a test database a description of the test suite for testing the software application being tested (ABT), said ABT programmed to invoke multiple external software applications during execution of at least one test script of the test suite, each external application being replaced by a corresponding simulator such that the ABT invokes at least one of said corresponding simulators during execution of each test script;
• inserting into the test database output data to be returned to the ABT by each simulator for each execution of each simulator in each test script, and
• after said inserting the description of the test suite and the output data into the test database, executing each test script of the test suite, said executing comprising:
• sending a request, by the ABT to each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, for requested data;
• and
• receiving, by the ABT, said requested data from each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, wherein the received requested data comprises the output data that had been inserted into the test database prior to said executing.

A process for deploying computing infrastructure, said process comprising integrating computer-readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method, said method comprising:

• inserting into a test database a description of the test suite for testing the software application being tested (ABT), said ABT programmed to invoke multiple external software applications during execution of at least one test script of the test suite, each external application being replaced by a corresponding simulator such that the ABT invokes at least one of said corresponding simulators during execution of each test script;
• inserting into the test database output data to be returned to the ABT by each simulator for each execution of each simulator in each test script, and
• after said inserting the description of the test suite and the output data into the test database, executing each test script of the test suite, said executing comprising:
• sending a request, by the ABT to each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, for requested data;
• and
• receiving, by the ABT, said requested data from each simulator invoked in each test script of the test suite, wherein the received requested data comprises the output data that had been inserted into the test database prior to said executing.