T-Plan Robot Documents > T-Plan Robot Enterprise v2 Tutorial

Image based testing with T-Plan Robot

In the previous topic we've established that T-Plan Robot is an image based testing tool. Let's have a quick glance at its architecture.

T-Plan Robot architecture
The tool works with desktop image retrieved through remote desktop technologies or any other technology which produces images. Though it currently supports just static image testing as well as the RFB protocol (better known as Virtual Network Computing, VNC), its architecture is open and other protocols are expected to be supported in the future, such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP,  employed by Windows Terminal Services) and local graphic drivers.

Remote desktop technologies typically operate in the client-server scenario, usually over TCP/IP. They allow to access a remote desktop (server) through a viewer (client). The client sends local input events (mouse, stylus, keyboard, clipboard changes) to the server and receives desktop outputs, such as desktop image updates, server clipboard changes or even sounds played on the server.

T-Plan Robot can be from this point of view defined as a "scriptable remote desktop viewer". It drives remote desktop either through user interaction (working as a normal viewer) or following instructions from a test script. To make the automation possible it provides a set of features, such as scripting language (with a support of Java), image comparison methods, reporting capabilities and smart GUI which makes writing and debugging of test scripts easy.

In static image testing scenarios the tool may be defined as a "scriptable image viewer" allowing to verify and/or analyze a static image using the same language and features applied to live desktops.

TIP: A more detailed T-Plan Robot architecture chart is available at the Java API home page.