What are Tools?¶

In the test automation different software tools are used for the test environment in HiL, MiL, SiL and in the vehicle. ecu.test offers interfaces for many of those software tools and facilitates the creation of complex generic test cases in one program. The software tools are briefly called Tools and have to be:

installed on the computer where ecu.test is installed for a local connection
installed on a computer where the Tool Server is installed and running for a remote connection

ecu.test can only access the tools, if they are configured. This can be done in the test bench configuration. All available, which means correctly installed and supported, tools are displayed there for a host.

Many test steps are generic and the tool that is finally used for execution is irrelevant on test creation time. This is possible because of the mapping layer and the usage of different test bench configurations that enable the easy change of tools and test quantities. The test case itself has not to be changed.

But there are also tool specific test steps that are only available if the tool is loaded via test bench configuration. The so called tool and port jobs can be found in the Jobs tab. They often call methods that are provided by the API of the tool.

Info

If a job test step is used in the test case and the needed tool is not available, the row will be marked with a red cross and the test step will be evaluated to ERROR on execution.

Tools can be started automatically by ecu.test.