SpecTool2.0

At Smidig2007 I invited to an open space session called "SpecTool2.0". The purpose was to look at what the next specification (I prefer that to test) tool would be like. The specifications should of course be executable. It was quite a lot of people that came around to the open space.

According to the people attending the requirements for spec tool would be:

• Abstraction - the need for rather high level specifications that can be defined in more detail another place.
• Readability - make sure that most people with different background can read the specifications.
• Representations - support different kinds of data representations:
  • Table - data intensive specifications (data driven tests)
  • Text - plain text. This is the power of Concordion.
  • Graphics - support other types of graphical presentations.
• Domain language - make it possible to support the domain language that is used in the application.
• Tags - possible to find specifications based on tags. It is really handy when you got a lot of specifications. It also got to do with having places to put and group things. This could also aid in the execution of the specifications. You might want to only execute tests that are tagged with "database".

Pattern support was another interesting point in the discussion. The tool should display examples and guidelines to aid the user in creating good specifications.

You might ask yourself what my mind has been spinning around after this open space. Well I guess it is possible to do some things in this area. I've got few ideas. I'll come back to them. If you want to do this with me please don't hesitate to contact me.