Other Documentation

See the XML Reference, User's Guide and API Docs for more detailed information.

What is Latka?

Latka is a functional (end-to-end) testing tool. It is implemented in Java, and uses an XML syntax to define a series of HTTP (or HTTPS) requests and a set of validations used to verify that the request was processed correctly.

Note: Although Latka currently supports only HTTP and HTTPS request/response validations, it may be expanded to perform other sorts of functional testing as warranted.

A simple example of a Latka XML test suite is shown in our sample Latka test suite. When processed, this example would verify that the Jakarta Commons homepage is present and that all the Commons Components have online documenation.

Installing Latka

Requirements

  • JDK 1.3 or better

  • (for optional web application) Tomcat 4.0 B7 or better - does not work in Tomcat 3.2, untested in other containers

  • (for optional SSL support) Sun JSSE library

General installation

  1. Download and uncompress the Latka distribution.

  2. If you wish to perform Latka test over SSL, you need to configure your JVM with the Sun JSSE library.

Optional web application installation

  1. Copy the "webapp/latka-webapp.war" file from the distribution to the "webapp" directory of Tomcat.

  2. If you have already configured log4j for Tomcat, you should remove log4j.jar from the /WEB-INF/lib directory of the Latka webapp.

Using Latka

Running the sample tests

Note:Command-line interface

  1. Open a command prompt inside the "bin" directory of the distribution.

  2. Run the Latka batch script on one of the sample XML test suites (e.g. "latka file:../tests/samples/TestCommonsWebsite.xml ").

Note:Web application

  1. Go to the index page of the Latka web application.

  2. Select "Run a test from the server"

  3. In the test directory dialog box, enter the directory: <latka distrubution directory>/tests/samples

  4. Click on one of the tests to execute it.

Creating your own tests

(More to come...) Examine the Latka DTD in the conf directory for a list of all available elements. See the samples for typical syntax.

Running tests

Note:Command-line interface

  1. Open a command prompt inside the "bin" directory of the distribution.

  2. Run the Latka script with no arguments for information on usage.

Note:Web application

  1. Go to the index page of the Latka web application.

  2. Select "Run a test from the server"

  3. In the test directory dialog box, enter the directory where your tests are located.

  4. Click on one of the tests to execute it.

Creating your custom validations

Note:(More to come...)