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LISA 2.5 Preview
LISA 2.5 is scheduled to be released this month (May 2004). And
with it comes a host of new features, most of which seem to be
enhancements to the visual interface. The features that caught
my attention the most included:
- Powerful graphing (real-time?)
- JMX support allows for monitoring via JMX
- Numerous usability enhancements include significant UI updates
- New wizards for performing tasks and enhanced Web recorder
Having tested both versions, I found that 2.5 really did offer
significant usability improvements, not just cooler icons or
splash pages, but task simplifications and overall it was easier
to understand how to use LISA. I look forward to this release.
Figure 2 shows a screen shot of the 2.5 interface.
Conclusion
All-in-all, I think that LISA is a great tool, for a
reasonable price. I have to admit that I will consider using it
on future J2EE projects of worthwhile scope. The fact that it
can be used for all steps of testing, from unit to functional
and regression to load is very appealing--one tool for all
tests. Add in the fact that it doesn't require considerable
additional effort on behalf of the tester, AND users can possibly
include other non-developers in the testing process. Yeah,
that's appealing. I will have to say that while I think this is
a great tool for both developers and Q/A analysts, I'm not so
certain that a lot of managers will be diving in head first. It
still is pretty scary to look at, and takes a little technical
understanding to use, though the upcoming 2.5 looks to at least
begin to solve these issues. My recommendation: take it for a
test spin. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure.
Drew Falkman is
the author of the JRun Web Application Construction Kit and co-
author (with Ben Forta) of Reality ColdFusion: J2EE Integration,
both published by Macromedia Press. Over the past 6 years, Drew
has developed over 150 Web applications in all sizes using
ColdFusion and Java. Currently Drew consults, speaks at events,
writes for numerous publications, and teaches courses at
Portland State University. His latest project through his
consulting company, Veraison LLC, was a real-time cattle auction
using Flash Remoting and Flash Communication Server. In
addition, Drew is a member of Team Macromedia, a certified
ColdFusion Developer and a certified Macromedia instructor.
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