Three Ways Call Generators Help Kill Bugs

Script Every Bug Report to Build a Complete Regression Test Suite

Developers will find it handy to use their call generator to reproduce bugs reported by customers. For easy-to-reproduce bugs (i.e. those you can reproduce by hand), this may seem like overkill. However, when you write a script you benefit in several ways:

Writing a test script to trigger the error helps build a regression test suite.
You know when you’ve fixed the bug because the script passes.
The script is precise documentation of the actions that caused the error.

Force Timing Bugs Out into the Open

When bugs are difficult to reproduce because of timing a test script can be a life saver.

When you test by hand, you have accuracy of maybe half a second. The call generator can force timing to an accuracy of tens of milliseconds.

With a script that makes repeated calls and varies the timing by 50 ms on each call, you can find the exact timing that causes the error. Just having the ability to force the error on every call saves valuable debugging time. Knowing the timing may also allow you to review your design or source code for places that use this timing.

Be the Squeaky Wheel

If you are an Installer or interop tester (e.g. IOT labs), you may be able to get faster response times. Try providing a script that precisely reproduces the next bug you report.

When faced with the choice of fixing an obvious bug or chasing down a hard-to-reproduce issue, developers and their managers are usually going to pick the obvious bug. (Developers can spend weeks trying to solve problems like this without anything to show for their efforts. I speak from experience!) If you can provide the obvious bug report, you can jump to the front of the line.