QA/Firefox3/TestPlan/Content Handling - Web Protocol and Application

Feature Content Handling: Web Protocol/Web Application Support Test Plan

IN DRAFT -- Please send comments to ctalbert at mozilla dot com

Overview

This feature enables Firefox to hand off content to both web applications (like Google Calendar) and to local applications that have been registered to handle this type of data (like Mozilla Sunbird).

There is a large number of such data types and web/local application types. For our testing, we will try to cover all of the most likely types and popular applications.

The list of popular data formats and protocols that this feature aims to handle: (TODO: link these to sites and determine completeness)

• hCalendar
• hCard
• microformats
• audio feeds
• video feeds
• RSS
• text/calendar file type
• Image file type
• Application file type
• text/vcard file type
• webcal: protocol
• callto: protocol

Scope of planned testing

It is not possible to test every version of every application on every OS for every type of feed/format combination. Doing so would result in a gigantic test matrix. We have instead taken the view to test the most prominent applications for each of these items on each platform. We will also run some automated tests against the code to verify that extension authors have the required abilities to create their own protocol handlers and that users can associate other applications to handle specific types of content.

Also, it is expected that Firefox will automatically detect the proper local applications that are registered to handle this type of content. So, in addition to the "popular" applications, we should also test linking in other applications via the OS and ensure that they are properly detected and handled in Firefox.

However, if the user uses Firefox to set up a linkage for a particular type of data, it is not currently expected that Firefox will write that information out to the OS. This could change post alpha 5.

Platform and Configurations

We will want to test with the most popular web and platform specific applications for each high-priority type of format we want to support.

TODO: Is there a need to test cross platform products on more than one platform? Because at some point, you end up testing that product and not the content handler integration.

Protocol/File Type	Windows Apps	Linux Apps	MacOSX Apps	Web Applications
hCalendar, text/calendar, webcal:	Outlook 2007 Outlook 2003 Windows Calendar (Vista Only) Mozilla Lightning or Sunbird	KOrganizer suite Evolution Mozilla Lightning or Sunbird	iCAL.app Microsoft Entourage Mozilla Lightning or Sunbird	Google Calendar Yahoo Calendar WebCalendar (TODO): Is there a windows calendar for hotmail? TODO: Others?
hCard and text/vcard	Outlook 2007 Outlook 2003 Thunderbird	KOrganizer suite Evolution Eudora Thunderbird	Addressbook.app Thunderbird Entourage	TODO: What is available for web-based contact management software? LDAP Directories?
Geo Links (type of microformat)	TODO: ??	TODO: ??	TODO: ??	Google Earth Google Maps Mapquest
Audio Feeds	Windows Media Player iTunes Real-Player TODO: Others?	TODO:?? Real-Player?	iTunes Real-Player QuickTime?	TODO: Web Jukebox?
Video Feeds	Windows Media Player iTunes (maybe) Democracy Player Real-Player?	Democracy Player TODO: Others?	Quick Time Democracy Player Real-Player?	TODO: Can you send a feed to an online based site like UTube?
RSS	Thunderbird Vista sidebar reader...TODO: what is the name of that thing Others?	Thunderbird TODO: Others?	Thunderbird Mac Dashboard widgets? TODO: Others?	Firefox LiveMarks (possibly covered by other testing) Bloglines Google Reader My Yahoo
Image Files	Paint	Gimp	Preview	TODO: Online image viewers? Flickr? TODO: Show in browser?
callto:	Skype Gizmo	Skype Gizmo	Skype Gizmo	TODO: Pure online calling software?

Major Test Areas

Major test areas are to test the applications in the table above with the proper type of content. We must ensure that the content types are handled appropriately in the handoff between Firefox and the third party application. We will probably use Litmus to test this.

We also must test the back-end architecture of this, to ensure the extensibility of the design. We should do this using a test extension code that can be run on an automated basis and will use all the available APIs so that we have complete coverage even if not all of the current implementations of these content type handlers currently make use of those APIs today.

Schedule/milestones

Given the the current state of the UI design (in deep design) at the moment, I do not think that creating detailed Litmus test cases will be possible. A general structure and base testcases for each type can be completed before the UI is totally finalized though.

Before the UI lands, we can work on the test extension/automated piece of this process so that we can test registering new content handlers. This part can coincide with the alpha 5 release.

TODO: Provide more details on schedule.

References

• General information regarding this feature

TODO: Include litmus groups, locations for automated test cases