Test harness

<h2 id="example">Example</h2>
<p>When attempting to build an application that needs to interface with an application on a mainframe computer, but no mainframe is available during development, a test harness may be built to use as a substitute this can mean that normally complex operations can be handled with a small amount of resources by providing pre-defined data and responses so the calculations performed by the mainframe are not needed.
</p><p>A test harness may be part of a project deliverable. It may be kept separate from the application source code and may be reused on multiple projects. A test harness simulates application functionality; it has no knowledge of test suites, test cases or test reports. Those things are provided by a testing framework and associated automated testing tools.
</p><p>A part of its job is to set up suitable <a href="/facts/Test_fixture/cK6KfUVn">test fixtures</a>.
</p><p>The test harness will generally be specific to a development environment such as <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>. However, <a href="/facts/Interoperability/7WgqUbXU">interoperability</a> test harnesses have been developed for use in more complex systems.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
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<h2 id="further-reading">Further reading</h2>
<ul><li>Pekka Abrahamsson, Michele Marchesi, Frank Maurer, <i>Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming</i>, Springer, 1 January 2009</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Test Harness". ISTQB Glossary. Retrieved 10 September 2023. <a href="https://glossary.istqb.org/en_US/term/test-harness-3-2" target="_blank">https://glossary.istqb.org/en_US/term/test-harness-3-2</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Rocha, Camila Ribeiro; Martins, Eliane (2008). "A Method for Model Based Test Harness Generation for Component Testing". Journal of the Brazilian Computer Society. 14: 8. doi:10.1007/BF03192549. Retrieved 10 September 2023. <a href="https://rdcu.be/dlLqi" target="_blank">https://rdcu.be/dlLqi</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>ISTQB Exam Certification - "What is Test harness/ Unit test framework tools in software testing?", accessed 19 October 2015 <a href="http://istqbexamcertification.com/what-is-test-harness-unit-test-framework-tools-in-software-testing/" target="_blank">http://istqbexamcertification.com/what-is-test-harness-unit-test-framework-tools-in-software-testing/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Ricardo Jardim-Gonçalves, Jörg Müller, Kai Mertins, Martin Zelm, editors, Enterprise Interoperability II: New Challenges and Approaches, Springer, 2007, p. 674, accessed 19 October 2015 <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JZRDvNC78ZcC&q=%5B3%5D&pg=PA650" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=JZRDvNC78ZcC&q=%5B3%5D&pg=PA650</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Test harness open-in-new

Test harness