May 19, 2010 - The FDT Group has released its latest test and certification tool the frameINSPECTOR. Beside the certification of DTMs with the dtmINSPECTOR it is now possible to certify FDT frame applications. The first certificate has already been issued. frameINSPECTOR closes the circle of FDT quality assurance which embraces DTMs, DTM style guide and FDT frame applications and assures the interoperability of different FDT components from various vendors.
Beside the frameINSPECTOR, the process to validate interface implementations in host applications – the FDT frame certification process – was released.The frame inspection process covers all aspects of a frame’s behavior in handling different types of DTMs. frameINSPECTOR, which validates application behavior, used in the inspection process helps host system vendors to further improve their software applications and increase the level of conformity of software interfaces in respect to the FDT specification. This test tool utilizes a carefully crafter DTM, loaded inside a given frame application, as a proxy to run tests on said interfaces. This gives the tool the ability to validate the frame’s behavior from the inside out with an extensive number of specially designed test cases.
The proper verification of the behavior of an FDT frame application ultimately ensures a high level of software-architectural integrity and, in turn, delivers a future prove and stable control system environment to facility administrators, operators and engineers. To run additional test, new frameINSPECTOR test scripts can be added. The additional test scripts will not be part of the official certification process but support developers and testers in their daily work and help to assure software quality beside FDT interface implementations.With the certification of frame application along with the DTM style guide and the DTM certification process all aspects of the FDT specification are covered.
Comprehensive testing of all software components and interfaces described by the FDT specification has created an environment for developers to produce quality software components and for end-users to experience the highest level of stability, interoperability and safety on their FDT compliant system of choice. dtmINSPECTOR and frameINSPECTOR are exclusively distributed by M&M Software. The structure of frameINSPECTOR. The frameINSPECTOR DTMs are proxies for real DTMs and controlled by test scripts.