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How-To Guides

This guide provides instructions for performing common tasks in Tangram Pro Verifier. Please use the sidebar to navigate to the topics you're looking for.

Prepare Your Component for Verifier​

See What You'll Need in the Verifier reference guide.

To use Verifier, you'll need to create or edit a component in a Tangram Pro project while in Design mode.

  1. Define the messages that your component will need to send and receive
    • Tangram Pro may already have a Flex package with the messages you need
    • To use a new set of messages, you'll need to create a new Flex package
  2. Define a component in a Flex package
    • If you created a new Flex package for your messages, you can define your component in the same package
    • If you're using an existing Flex package for messages, you should create a new package for your component & protocols
  3. Create the transport that messages will travel over

Create Local Protocols​

You'll most likely want to define your local protocols in the same Flex package that you defined your component in.

  1. Open the Flex Lang from the top menu bar, or from within a project select Flex > Open Flex Editor from the top right project menu
  2. Open the Package Manager from the top left of the FlexLang window
  3. Open an existing Flex package, or create a new one with the + New button
  4. Open or create a new file (called a module in Flex) to define your component and protocols in (we commonly call it protocols.flex)

Add Local Protocols

To learn more about protocols, see the Flex protocols documentation.

Run Verifier Tests​

When you start a test, Tangram Pro will iterate through all message sequences the component should be able to handle, analyzing whether or not the component behaves as expected. Tangram Pro will listen when the component should be sending a message, and will generate a message per the sequence criteria when the component expects to receive a message from the system.

Setup A New Test​

Each time you start a test you have the option of changing the setup. Your previous setup is remembered so you don't have to set it everytime.

Setup New Test

To start a test​

  1. Click the Setup New Test button
  2. Specify the container image that contains your component software
  3. Enter Test Runs Total: The number of times you want to test your sequences (e.g. 2 means your sequences will be tested twice)
  4. Enter Max Path Retries: The number of retries to attempt if a sequence is unsatisfied (e.g. 5 means a sequence path will be attempted up to 5 times until it is satisfied. If it is satisified on the 2nd attempt it will not retry again.)
  5. Enter Message Timeout: The time in milliseconds to wait for the next expected message in the sequence
  6. Choose sequences to Skip by disabling them
  7. Click Begin Verifier Test

Tangram Pro will run the component in isolation, with the test environment emulating the rest of the system, to test the component's interface and see how the it reacts to its environment.

Rerun Test​

You can rerun any completed test with the click of a button. This will execute the test again with the same setup and input parameters.

  1. Go to View Tests
  2. Open a completed test
  3. Click the Run Test Again button in the top right

Add Field Constraints to a Message​

  1. Locate a message in a sequence and click the Constraints link beside it
  2. Type in constraints YAML, apply a message template, or both!

If you do both, apply a message template and type in constraints, the typed-in constraints will override any constraints from the template if the field names match.

Constraints

View Tests​

When a test is running, Tangram Pro provides live reporting as it processes and analyzes each sequence, including the contents of the messages being sent. When complete, the test summary is saved for you to view all of those details later.

Interpreting Results​

Tangram Pro reports a sequence as "Satisfied" if both of these conditions are met:

  • The messages were sent and received in the order specified by sequences
  • The message contents met all specified constraints

A sequence will be "Unsatisfied" if either of the above conditions are not met. It is important to note, a sequence may be "Unsatisfied" if the wait time between subsequent messages exceeds the "Message Timeout" and if the number of retries reaches the "Max Path Retries".

Tangram Pro also provides two real-time log streams.

  • Component Logs: These are the logs output by your software component
  • Debug Logs: These are the logs output by Tangram Pro's test environment

In the event that a test results in "Error", the logs may be helpful in determining the cause.

Viewing Prior Tests​

  1. Go to View Tests
  2. Click on a test to view its results in more detail

Export Test Results​

Completed test results can be exported in either PDF, DOCX, or JSON format.

  1. Go to View Tests and open a completed test
  2. Click the Export Results button on the top right
  3. Wait for the process to complete (this may take a few seconds)
  4. Then click the Download Results button and choose the desired format