You are here: MyURC.org > TR > test-concept1.0-20090714 > Draft
URC Test Concept 1.0 (DRAFT)
This version: http://myurc.org/TR/test-concept1.0-20090714/
Latest version: http://myurc.org/TR/test-concept1.0/
Previous draft version: (none)
Latest approved version: (none)
Editor: Gottfried Zimmermann
Copyright © 2009, Universal Remote Console Consortium (URCC)
Abstract
This document describes the test concept for user interface resources (in a broader meaning) in the URC ecosystem. Such resources encompass user interface socket descriptions, target descriptions, resource sheets, resource directories, target adapters (TDMs & TAs), user interface protocol modules (UIPMs), and any other components as defined in ISO/IEC 24752, and/or available on the resource server.
Status of this Document
This is a public Draft Technical Report, developed by the editor, hereby made available for review by URCC members and the public.
Comments on this document should be sent to the editor.
Publication as a Draft Technical Report does not imply endorsement by the URCC membership. This is a draft document and may be updated, replaced or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to cite this document as other than work in progress.
Open Issues / To Dos [to be removed before release]
- How to detect malicious code in components
Change Log [to be removed before final release]
NOTE: The change log is in reverse chronological order.
2009-07-14 Gottfried Zimmermann:
- Initial version
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
For an ecosystem to work properly, the individual components need to comply to interoperability standards. Testing for compliance can be done by either the provider of a component under test (called "self test"), or by a 3rd party ("3rd party test"). In the case of 3rd party test, certification may be involved.
In the URC ecosystem, components subject to test are:
- Devices subject to compliance, as defined by ISO/IEC 24752:
- Targets
- URCs
- Individual components or subcomponents of ISO/IEC 24752:
- Target description
- User interface socket description
- Resource sheet
- Resource directory
- Individual components or subcomponents of the broader URC ecosystem,
such as:
- UCH implementation
- Target adapter (TDM & TA)
- User interface protocol module (UIPM)
2. Test Model
The test model covers the following aspects: development phase, automatic/manual, purpose.
2.1. Development Phase
For each component, support for evaluation may be provided for one or more of the following development phases:
- Authoring. Checking of partial results during the authoring process. Examples: Written step-by-step instructions such as tutorials, checklists, specifications, or automated authoring support.
- Evaluation. Checking of end results after the authoring process. This is needed for automatic checking when a component is deployed to the resource server (manual checking is not scalable enough to be used for resource deployment).
2.2. Manual vs. Automatic Inspection
- Manual inspection requires experts to inspect code or XML documents.
- Automatic inspection allows to automatically run a checker against the code or XML document.
- Semi-automatic inspection is system-driven, but requires expert interaction from time to time.
2.3. Purpose
Tests differ in the following purposes:
- Conformance to a specification
- Prevention of malicious code
3. Test Tools
The following table contains test tools that are currently available or planned for the future (priority levels 1-3).
| Test tool | Component(s) addressed | Development phase | Manual/automatic | Purpose | Notes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| International standard: URC framework [ISO/IEC 24752-1:2008] | Target, URC | Authoring | Manual by experts
Experts have to check all conformance requirements as specified by the standard. |
Conformance | Complete test for compliance to the ISO/IEC standard. | Available |
| International standard: user interface socket description [ISO/IEC 24752-2:2008] | User interface socket description | Authoring | Manual by experts | Conformance | Complete test for compliance to the ISO/IEC standard. | Available |
| XML Schema 1.0 for user interface socket description, http://myurc.org/ns/uisocketdesc/ | User interface socket description | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic (via common XML editors, e.g. XML Spy, Oxygen) | Partial conformance | Can only check for simple syntax errors. |
Available |
| Schematron rules for user interface socket description, http://myurc.org/ns/uisocketdesc/uisocketdesc.sch | User interface socket description | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic via Schematron engine (included in Oxygen).
Note: In Oxygen, the Schematron file can be referenced from the XML Schema file, and both steps can thus be executed in one. |
Partial conformance | Finds some semantic errors, mostly based on cross-checking of XML content. New XSD 1.1 will contain rules similar to Schematron. |
Available |
| User interface socket builder, automatically checking for UISD errors (syntax and semantic) | User interface socket description | Authoring | Automatic | Conformance | Prio 2 | |
| User interface socket description checker available as online service | User interface socket description | Evaluation | Automatic | Conformance | Needs to be integrated in resource server. | Prio 1 |
| International standard: presentation template [ISO/IEC 24752-3:2008] | Presentation template | Authoring | Manual by experts | Conformance | Complete test for compliance to the ISO/IEC standard. | Available |
| XML Schema 1.0 for presentation template, http://myurc.org/ns/pret/ | Presentation template | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic (via common XML editors, e.g. XML Spy, Oxygen) | Partial conformance | Can only check for simple syntax errors. |
Available |
| International standard: target description [ISO/IEC 24752-4:2008] | Target description | Authoring | Manual by experts | Conformance | Complete test for compliance to the ISO/IEC standard. | Available |
| XML Schema 1.0 for target description, http://myurc.org/ns/targetdesc/ | Target description | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic (via common XML editors, e.g. XML Spy, Oxygen) | Partial conformance | Can only check for simple syntax errors. |
Available |
| Schematron rules for target description | Target description | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic via Schematron engine (included in Oxygen).
Note: In Oxygen, the Schematron file can be referenced from the XML Schema file, and both steps can thus be executed in one. |
Partial conformance | Finds some semantic errors, mostly based on cross-checking of XML content. New XSD 1.1 will contain rules similar to Schematron. |
Prio 2 |
| International standard: resource description [ISO/IEC 24752-5:2008] | Resource sheet, resource directory | Authoring | Manual by experts | Conformance | Complete test for compliance to the ISO/IEC standard. | Available |
| RDF Schema for resource directories and resource sheets, http://myurc.org/ns/res | Resource sheet, resource directory | Authoring | Support for manual authoring | Conformance | Since RDF allows extension via external schemas, support is restricted to authoring suggestions, and no rigid syntax checking is available. | Available |
| XML Schema 1.0 for resource sheets and resource directories | Resource sheet, resource directory | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic (via common XML editors, e.g. XML Spy, Oxygen) | Partial conformance | Can only check for simple syntax errors. Hasn't been done because RDF is not typically checked with XSD. |
Prio 3 |
| APIs for UCH and UCH components (in Java, C/C++, and C#) [UCH] | UCH, TDM, TA, UIPM | Authoring, evaluation | Automatic (via common IDE) | Partial conformance | Static checking according to implementation language | Available |
In summary, authoring is currently supported for most components. However, there is a need for evaluation tools to run on the resource server, upon upload of components.
Malicious code is not addressed at all, currently. To address this purpose, we would have to parse code (programming language specific), and possibly use a virus checker tool.
4. Certification
Certification is useful to indicate successful evaluation, in particular when resources are deployed via the resource server.
A certified resource should be attributed with corresponding certification properties. Property names may be taken from the EARL language.
5. References
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
- [UCH]
- URC Consortium: Universal Control Hub. Latest specification: http://myurc.org/TR/uch/
- [URC-TECH-PRIMER]
- URC Consortium: URC Technical Primer. Latest specification: http://myurc.org/TR/urc-tech-primer1.0/
- [ISO/IEC 24752-1:2008]
- ISO/IEC 24752-1:2008. Universal Remote Console - Part 1: Framework. Available from ISO Store for purchase: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=42309
- [ISO/IEC 24752-2:2008]
- ISO/IEC 24752-2:2008. Universal Remote Console - Part 2: User Interface Socket Description. Available from ISO Store for purchase: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=42310
- [ISO/IEC 24752-3:2008]
- ISO/IEC 24752-3:2008. Universal Remote Console - Part 3: Presentation Template. Available from ISO Store for purchase: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=42311
- [ISO/IEC 24752-4:2008]
- ISO/IEC 24752-4:2008. Universal Remote Console - Part 4: Target Description. Available from ISO Store for purchase: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=42312
- [ISO/IEC 24752-5:2008]
- ISO/IEC 24752-5:2008. Universal Remote Console - Part 5: Resource Description. Available from ISO Store for purchase: http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=42313