Synchronizing Script Executions

Occasionally we receive inquiries from Eggplant Functional users who wish to have their scripts run in a parallel fashion, where one script execution waits for an event to occur in a second script execution before proceeding. Eggplant Functional is able to achieve a similar functionality by switching the active system under test (SUT) connection with a Connect command. However, this approach can only automate the SUTs in serial and not truly in parallel.

As separate script executions are handled by separate Eggplant processes, and there is not a mechanism out of the box that allows the processes to be aware of each other, but through some clever scripting, it is possible to allow script executions to communicate and be synchronized to varying degrees.

Note: Parallel script executions require one Eggplant Functional license for each script executed in parallel.

The easiest way to facilitate communication between the scripts is through a simple, shared external data file, such as a text file, that they can each access independently. Next, one can override the code for commonly used commands, such as "Click" and "WaitFor", so that each time the commands are called, communication with the shared data file is executed, enabling the script executions to remain synchronized.

For a very simple example of how to synchronize running the same script against two different SUTs in parallel, see the example scripts:

DrivingScript contains the actual commands that automate the SUTs and perform the test.

FirstSUT contains the code that acts to create a shared data file when a command is executed on the first SUT.

SecondSUT contains the code that checks whether the data file exists before executing the parallel command on the second SUT.

FirstSUT and SecondSUT leverage handlers with the same names as standard commands to override, or to what is sometimes called overload, the functionality of those commands in DrivingScript. DrivingScript will be called twice in succession, once for each SUT. The execution using the OverrideScript=FirstSUT parameter must be passed first, as FirstSUT is the script that controls the initial creation of the shared data file. The two executions of DrivingScript will take turns creating and deleting the shared data file, while simultaneously taking turns executing each command.

 

This topic was last updated on August 19, 2021, at 03:30:51 PM.

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