Test Execution Engine

A test execution engine is a type of software used to test software, hardware or complete systems.

A test execution engine may appear in two forms:
1) Module of a test software suite (test bench) or an integrated development environment
2) Stand-alone application software

The test specification is software. Test specification is sometimes referred to as test sequence, which consists of test steps.

The test specification should be stored in the test repository in a text format (such as source code). Test data is sometimes generated by some test data generator tool. Test data can be stored in binary or text files. Test data should also be stored in the test repository together with the test specification.

Test specification is selected, loaded and executed by the test execution engine similarly, as application software is selected, loaded and executed by operation systems. The test execution engine should not operate on the tested object directly, but though plug-in modules similarly as an application software accesses devices through drivers which are installed on the operation system.

The difference between the concept of test execution engine and operation system is that the test execution engine monitors, presents and stores the status, results, time stamp, length and other information for every Test Step of a Test Sequence, but typically an operation system does not perform such profiling of a software execution.

Advantages of using a test execution engine:
1) Test results are stored and can be viewed in a uniform way, independent of the type of the test
2) Easier to keep track of the changes
3) Easier to reuse components developed for testing