TIBCO's GITAK (General Interface Test Automation Kit) has now been open sourced by the company. This gives developers a free tool for building automatic quality assurance testing routines for enterprise applications components.

Not any or all of them, sadly, but asynchronous communications, JavaScript, AJAX and RIA (Rich Internet Applications) components is a reasonable start.

Based on the Selenium Web applications test tool, GITAK runs in a browser alongside target JavaScript and AJAX applications – both of which have a reputation for being difficult to debug - and provides the tools needed that allow companies to create automated test cases and run scenarios. These can be used to validate that an application is performing as it should.

The idea is that users build a library of test cases to suit their particular needs. This library is then run against the applications, which provides an environment in which both new and changed applications can be tested automatically, effectively with the push of a button. TIBCO also contends that it has the additional advantage of testing the entire application rather than just the application components as independent units. This, it suggests, allows GITAK to detect errors that may not be exposed until runtime.

GITAK is now general available for download here. ®