This page provides an overview of SOAtest's command line interface (soatestcli).

In this section:

About the Command Line Interface

SOAtest’s command line interface (soatestcli) allows you to perform static analysis and execute tests as part of an automated nightly process. Command line mode is available for the Automation Edition of SOAtest and is compatible with Docker deployments. 

soatestcli can send results to the Parasoft Report Center and send focused reports to each team developer and tester working on the SOA project. Reports can be generated in a number of formats. Details such as reporting preferences (who should reports be sent to, how should those reports be labelled, what mail server and domain should be used, and so forth), Report Center settings, email settings, license settings, and so on can be controlled by settings files.

The optimal team configuration is to have one SOAtest (Automation Edition) on the team build machine, SOAtest (Desktop Edition) on every developer/tester workstation and one SOAtest (Architect Edition) on the architect’s machine. 

Engineers use their local installations of SOAtest to develop and run tests, then check their work in to source control. Every night, soatestcli runs on a team machine. Depending on the configuration, it may execute the available tests, monitor policy adherence, and/or perform the specified static analysis tests. After the test completes, engineers can import test result into the SOAtest GUI to facilitate task review and resolution. 

Additionally, SOAtest sends results to the Parasoft Report Center, emails each team member a report that contains only the tasks assigned to him or her, and emails group managers a report that lists all team/project quality tasks and identifies which team member is responsible for each task.

Prerequisites

  • The command line mode requires a command line interface license (available with SOAtest Automation Edition).
  • Before you can run a test from the command line, you need to setup a project, .tst file, and test suites. See Adding Projects, .tst files, and Test Suites for details.
  • We strongly recommend that you configure DTP, reporting, and other Parasoft preferences as described in Configuration before you start testing.

Setting Up the CLI

Parasoft SOAtest has two user modes: interactive desktop usage in the GUI and command line mode via the command line interface (CLI). The CLI interface is a standard feature of the Automation Edition. 

CLI mode is typically used to perform regular or continuous code analysis and test in conjunction with regular/continuous builds or as a part of an automatic regression test infrastructure. As part of the CLI execution, SOAtest can perform one or more of the following:

  • Execution of functional, security, and regression tests
  • Policy enforcement
  • Static analysis
  • Analysis of SCM code repository to identify code changes since the last run and initiate code review sessions on updated code
  • Generation of reports and their distribution to a central report server and/or to individual developers and managers, according to specified reporting configurations

As part of the execution, SOAtest can use your SCM client (if supported) to automatically retrieve file modification information from the SCM system and generate tasks for specific individuals based on results of code analysis and executed tests.

Specific execution options for SOAtest are controlled via Test Configurations and Preferences. 

Test Configurations can be sourced from the built-in set or created using SOAtest interactive mode in the GUI. We suggest using the built-in configurations as starting templates for customer-specific configurations, which are then stored on disk.

Preferences can be configured from the SOAtest GUI. Most of the preference settings can also be supplied with a configuration file that is provided as a parameter to a CLI call. A table of the configuration file preference settings is available in Settings Files - Options. SOAtest preferences set from the GUI are applied by default. These can be overridden on an individual basis by preference values contained in the configuration file used with a given run. This enables you to have a basic set of preferences configured for all CLI runs, and then vary individual settings as necessary by providing an additional configuration file for a specific run with a given Test Configuration. This can be useful, for example, to include different information in reports for different runs, or to change options for email distribution of reports, including report names, email headings, and so on.

Step 1: Configure Preferences

Preferences are accessed through the Parasoft > Preferences menu. Start by configuring the following preferences within the Parasoft group:

  • License: Specify the license or License Sever settings.
  • Source Controls: These settings enable automatic mapping of the tool results to the individuals who last changed the affected code or test artifact. Check your source control system and use the instructions in Connecting to Your Source Control Repository to set the options appropriate for your SCM.
  • Scope and Authorship: Check the appropriate options for your environment as described in Configuring Task Assignment and Code Authorship Settings.
  • Reports: The following options are enabled by default and are a good starting point:
    • Detailed report for developers (includes task breakdown with details).
    • Overview of tasks by authors (summary table).
    • Generate formatted reports in command line mode.
    • Suppressions Details (applies to static analysis only).
  • E-mails: Enter settings that will be used to send emails with reports. This needs to be an existing email account on an email server accessible from the SOAtest test machine.
  • Reports > Email Notifications:
    • If desired, enable Send Reports by Email. Email distribution will use the settings for E-mails above.
    • Manager reports contain a rollup of all test results generated by  SOAtest. Developer/tester reports contain only results for individual developers and testers. Enable options and specify email addresses accordingly.

Step 2: Customize Test Configurations

Create a custom Test Configuration as described in Configuring Test Configurations and Rules for Policies. See SOAtest Test Configuration Settings for details on SOAtest-specific options.

Step 3: Create a Settings File

Create a settings file as described in Settings Files - Options.

Step 4: Activate CLI in the Currently Running Build System (for example, batch script)

For example, a sample command line to be added might be:

  • soatestcli -resource <project name> -config "team://Team Configuration" -publish -settings acme_policy.settings

The reports will be sent after each batch run, and trend reports will be populated with data.

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