SilkTest
Segue Software

Segue Software’s SilkTest 6.0 is a complete end-to-end software testing solution that allows you to automate functional testing for Web, Java or standard GUI applications. The included 4Test language is simple, clean and fully object-oriented: Using it and the associated macro recorder, you can fully drive an application and note its responses. With Segue Agent technology, you can deploy your tests across a network to test performance under load. SilkTest supports multiple browsers and allows ODBC access to more than 35 different databases. The Recovery System supports completely unattended testing, and the IDE uses an AutoComplete feature to deliver member methods and related information during test creation.

—Dana Cline

WebQA
WatchFire

Did you ever want to guarantee that a piece of content, like an outdated phone number, was not in your website? Watchfire’s WebQA 2.0 does just that kind of checking, as well as the usual “find and replace” across all Web pages. Complex QA requests such as “find all occurrences of a specific image and modify the ALT text to a new value” are another example of the tool’s sophistication. Arbitrary compliance rules may be specified, including handicapped accessibility checks and scripts written to automate the checking of these rules or user interface behavior. Scripts may also be constructed by a simple “record keystroke and play back” paradigm. As final examples of this product’s good sense, the resulting scripts are kept in an easily edited text form, and parameters for the scripts are stored in tables to facilitate quick generalization of other websites.

—Roland Racko

JProbe
Quest Software (formerly Sitraka)

JProbe is a comprehensive performance solution for tuning and optimizing Java code. The suite contains a coverage analyst, thread analyst, debugger and profiler. The speedy Profiler includes Call Graph, a visual representation of the call tree and timings. The Memory Debugger monitors garbage collection and detects memory leaks from loitering objects, and the Threadalyzer detects thread problems, predicts deadlocks and reveals the precise problem location in the code. Finally, Coverage pinpoints the areas of code that haven’t been tested. To tie it all together, the included Launch Pad provides a central location to manage all these tweaks and twiddles. JProbe supports Windows (NT, 2000, XP) as well as Linux and several versions of Unix. 2001 Jolt Award winner.

—Dana Cline