Does Automature support the ability to execute external (non-native) test cases/suites?
What happens if the external test suite hangs?
Can Automature execute tasks in parallel?
Does Automature support remote test deployment and execution in a distributed environment?
What kind of Logging is supported?
How are test cases stored?
How is test data stored?
How portable is it?
Can it measure time of execution?
Can Automature email test results?
Can Automature perform basic file operations?
Does Automature allow test sessions to be scheduled?
What kind of licensing schemes does Automature support?

Q. Does Automature support the ability to execute external (non-native) test cases/suites?

Zug is able to execute any external program or batch script in its own process context (within a spawned command prompt window), or in the context of the Zug Process. These programs or scripts are called atoms. In-process atoms are simply functions or methods that are packaged as DLLs (which may contain one or more such functions), but can be accessed through a COM interface.

Atoms can be written in any programming language, or can use any interpreter (e.g. Perl, Ruby, Watir, AutoIT, etc...).
In case atoms are called in their own process context all console output is captured and fed into the common log.
Note that the external testcase has to be wrapped inside a Chur shell, which provides contextual information to Zug for reporting purposes.

Q. What happens if the external test suite hangs?

Zug supports concept of a global default timeout for each atom. This value can also be modified per atom, or the entire test suite. If an external test suite accidentally hangs and does not return any result, then Zug is able to execute targeted cleanup for the failing atom, test case, or the test suite, after the timeout has expired.

Q. Can Automature execute tasks in parallel?

Zug allows taks of various granularity (e.g. test cases, a collection of test steps, or atoms) to execute concurrently. This feature can be used to simulate stress, load, or a multi-user environment.

Q. Does Automature support remote test deployment and execution in a distributed environment?

The Nyon product allows users to deploy the Appication under Test, as well as Test Suites to any number of remote machines, and execute them sequentially or concurrently.

Q. What kind of Logging is supported?

Zug produces its internal logs, as well as custom logs from atom execution. Additionally, it is able to automatically compress and archive both its own logs, as well as application logs and system logs from the test session. These logs are kept in the filesystem, but the archives can be accessed through the test session summaries in Zermatt.

Q. How are test cases stored?

Automature stores of test cases in two ways. Test steps, and verification steps for each test case is stored in the Zermatt database in a free-form textual representation. Automated tests are also stored in a more formal manner using the CHUR language in a spreadsheet. The testcases are automatically uploaded into the Zermatt database during automated execution of the tests.

Q. How is test data stored?

Test data may be stored in different places, depending on its complexity and structure. It may be stored in the test suite spreadsheet inside a worksheet. It may be stored in an XML file. Or, it may be stored in a database table. Zug provides in-built atoms to access data from any of these sources.

Q. How portable is it?

Zermatt is based on Perl, Apache, MySQL. So, it can run on Windows or Linux environments. Zug is implemented in Java, and can therefore run on any platform that supports a JVM. It has only been tested on Windows (XP, Vista, 7, Sever 2003) so far.

Q. Can it measure time of execution?

Zug automatically measures execution times for each test case, and records it for every execution. It is possible to compare execution times for the same test case under different environmental conditions or builds.

Q. Can Automature email test results?

No, Automature believes in reducing spam. Zug stores up-to-the-second results in Zermatt, where it can be browsed through any web browser, so progress can be monitored at will.

Q. Can Automature perform basic file operations?

Q. Does Automature allow test sessions to be scheduled?

The Nyon product will provide support for this feature.

Q. What kind of licensing schemes does Automature support?

The free version comes with an unlimited use license, that must be installed and activated. The enterprise version is both time based, as well as locked to the specific (set of) machine(s) for which the license is obtained.