What is Hammer call master?

It is an automation testing tool developed Empirix systems. It is a test system which

has hardware and software systems. It’s the most effective automation tool which
can bridge between the call flow diagrams developed using the UI and the test
execution using the hammer visual basic scripts(HVB scripts in short).

Hammer call master is a tool which covers the testing phase from the call flow
analysis, test execution using the generated scripts from the call flow diagram,
report generation based on the test execution till the monitoring of the call flow and
the testing efficiency.

What are the parameters achieved by using hammer tool?

Since the scripts are generated automatically from the call flow diagram, skill set
required for script development is reduced. Test quality is increased since the test
execution is carried out graphically based on the call flow diagram and manual
errors are minimised. The HVB scripts generated can be tweeted to meet our
requirements instead of writing the script from the scratch. This would in turn
reduce the time frame required for testing.

How is quality improved by using hammer tool?

The call flow diagram designed can be re-used across multiple projects which would
result in effective testing time. Individual features can be tested effectively and
interaction between the features results in the earlier detection of faults which
would result in lesser fault penetration into the live environment.
Explain about the hammer call master tool workflow.

Automatic Test generation system in Hammer Call Master

Automatic test execution in Hammer Call Master

Hammer in SUT (IVR Testing)

Call flows are drawn by dragging and dropping the icons from the icon palette in the
call editor. Users can either draw the call flows using the standard icons or using the
super icons or develop customized icons by using custom HVB code.

The data required for the call flow diagram can be specified in the data table either
by writing the data in the data table or by importing the data from the database. We
have icons supporting this database connection .E.g.: open SQL, close SQL.

Once the call flow diagram is generated, the hammer call master has highly
efficient algorithm to decide the optimized test paths through the call flow
diagrams. The generated test scripts cover all the icons in the call flow diagram and
cover all data at least once.

Call flows can be viewed in application view as well as test view.

What is Application View?

Application view is to look into the application as a designer to see the working of
the application.

In simple words, this view is looking into the application from the SUT perspective.
For example, Send digit in tester view will be receive digit in the application view.

What is test view?

A test view is used by the test engineer to think about how the application is to be
tested.

In simple words, this view is looking at the application from the tester who is the
user here. For example, Play prompt in application view will be hear prompt in
tester view.

In dynamic speech mode, recognize dynamic will be in tester view.

What are the various ways to enter data into the data table?

The values can be directly entered manually, imported from a file or importing from
a database.

How do you generate tests?

Once whole or part of the call flow diagram is entered, the hammer call master
generates a “hammer ready code”. A test generation algorithm is used to generate
test scripts that cover all the objects and all the data table data at least once.

Is debugging possible in Hammer tool?

We can see the number of times the objects are hit and the number of times of
traversal of connections. A textual description is also produced for review,
documentation and also manual test execution purposes.

Can we do any feature specific testing using hammer and generate results?

Yes. We can direct hammer to produce test scripts for some parts of the call flow
diagram and then results are generated based on that. This is very useful when any
new features are tested and those areas can be focussed more to ensure effective
testing.

What re the output formats provided by hammer?

 There are two formats to see the output.

1) Suite View

2) Script view

What is Suite view?

It is to see the scripts generated by hammer in a sequential manner through the call
flow diagram. It marks the icons in the path that is currently been used by the
respective script at that instance.

What is Script view?

It is to see the scripts along with the sequence and the timing of each event on
each channel.

What are the various testing that can be done using hammer?

We can do load testing, feature testing and feature regression testing.

Can we generate reports of the test results?

Yes. We can generate reports at the end of the test execution. The reports are
crystal reports and it can be customized to suit our needs.

What is the benefit of hammer tool in SDLC and STLC?

SDLC

System
Define Design Implement QA
test
Automatic test generation reduces time in
testing features and the paths in the call flows.
Regression tests are easily generated to see
that no old features are affected.

Automation TLC

Design Code Execute

Automatically generate tests, maintains

and debug tests at call flow level than at
HVB script level. Regenerate tests for any
change in the call flow quickly. Generates
reports for the tests executes.
What is dynamic speech recognition?

Empirix integrated the nuance speech recognition software with hammer call
master to enable the elimination of pause or wait time in the speech. By integrating
the Nuance speech recognition software, Hammer call master can identify the
natural speech.

What is the discrete speech recognition and dynamic speech recognition in

hammer?

Earlier versions of hammer call master were able to identify only the discrete
speech. Hence the speech input to hammer need to have a pause for a few ms or
so. Now, after the dynamic speech recognition is integrated, the speech input need
not be having any pause and it can be a natural speech.

The icons supporting the dynamic speech recognition are placed in the dynamic
speech palette.

How does dynamic speech recognition work?

Once the speech comes as input to hammer call master, it sends it to the nuance
speech recognition software which checks it with the grammar files and comes out
with a confidence score. If the confidence score is above the threshold value, that
particular entry in the grammar file will be chosen as the best and the text output
will be sent to hammer. This is how does the hammer call master recognize speech
dynamically.

What is grammar?

It is a set of phrases and a text file. The phrases are nothing but the input that the
user needs to give as a response to a prompt. The grammar writer has to predict
and come out the various possible phrases and write them in the grammar file.

Thumb rule: If the prompt being played as an input to hammer is modified, do

modify the grammar file also accordingly to avoid exceptions or any deviated
results.
What are the components of grammar writing?

Dialog writing, Prompts, Slots.

What is a Dialog?

It is a set of statements written based on the type and amount of information that
need to be collected.

What are Prompts?

The prompts are written for dialogs. The prompts have to be made ready before
writing the grammar since the prompts can widely affect the grammar style.

What are slots?

Slots are identifiers to identify the prompts.

What are the portions of a grammar?

Core and filler.

What is core?

It is the important meaning bearing words. For example: cities, date, time.

What is filler?

It is the additional expressions that get fitted into the grammar file’s responses. For
example: uh, please.

What is the grammar file structure?

Every grammar file will be inside a package. Each grammar file has a top level
grammar and each top level grammar will have sub grammar and then in turn each
sub grammar has the dictionary for the respective sub grammars.

What are the types of expressions in writing a grammar file?

For eg: c is a variable. CITY is a sub grammar.

1) CITY:c :- c will be holding the value returned by the sub grammar.

2) CITY $c :- will be holding the reference to the value returned by sub grammar
CITY.
 3) <origin $c> or <origin :c> :- Here origin is a slot. The slot will be filled by the
value held by c.

What are the characters allowed in a grammar name while defining the grammar
name?

1) Upper case and lower case letters

2) Digits

3) Special characters:

a. – (dash)

b. _ (underscore)

c. ‘ (single quote)

d. @ ( at the rate sign)

e. . (period)

Other characters are not allowed.