SetUp Scripts for current and future dates

I'd be really interested in this also:
I run a REST request to update a db column to now()+30days, then a second REST query to get the row back - I'd like to set an assertion
returned value (in xml) = date_value (to within a minute or so)

I assume the assertion would need to be a groovy script.

the within a minute or so is because column on db is datetime, and there's naturally some lag between updating and re-checking.

David

Ok, I did this. Probably much nicer ways to do it, but ...

//Parse table row returned
def dbNewDbu = context.expand( '${check DBU really changed#ResponseAsXml#//root[1]/data[1]/reset[1]}' )

dateFormat = new java.text.SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
Date dbValAsDate = dateFormat.parse(dbNewDbu);

// Set up a pair of calendar object for date manipulation
def a = Calendar.getInstance();
def b = Calendar.getInstance();
// set them now + 30 days +/- 5 minutes in case of time sync differences
a.add(Calendar.DATE,30);
b.add(Calendar.DATE,30);
a.add(Calendar.MINUTE,-5);
b.add(Calendar.MINUTE,5);

// get 2 date objects from Calendar objects, so we can do assertion with before and after methods
Date aDate = a.getTime();
Date bDate = b.getTime();

s1= dateFormat.format(aDate);
s2= dateFormat.format(dbValAsDate);
s3= dateFormat.format(bDate);

assert (dbValAsDate.after(aDate) && dbValAsDate.before(bDate));

so, for smartTest's problem above, use the Calendar object to do the manipulation, and then convert to date object with Calendar.getTime()

Hope this helps.

David

Hi,
you can put it directly in the xml. it is more readable.

Example :

<!-- text within dateEffectiveFrom tag is replaced with a date 1 day from today in yyyy-MM-dd format -->
 <dateStart>${=  String.format('%tF', new Date() + 1) }</dateStart>

Omar EL Mandour

Thanks the the updates - i've been using the following now as a way of adding times in case anyone else is interested:

def long oneDay = (long) 1000.0 * 60 * 60 * 24;
def long oneWeek = (long) 1000.0 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7;
def long twoWeek = (long) 1000.0 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 14;
testRunner.testCase.setPropertyValue("TODAY", new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()+oneDay).format("yyyy-MM-dd"));
testRunner.testCase.setPropertyValue("DepDateTime", new Date(System.currentTimeMillis()+twoWeek).format("yyyy-MM-dd'T'00:00:00"));

This has been working well and allows me to use a property transfer to get a particular date added into a request message.

Does anyone know how to handle making these specific dates? i.e. If I wanted the date to always be the next Sunday in the calendar. As I said before, really new to scripting so any help is good help!

Your question is irrelevant here and i will explain why .

Grooy is compatible with java. In other words, you can add plain old java code in your groovy script.
IN other other words, the question of the next sunday is a java question.

According to google, this is a suitable response http://www.coderanch.com/t/411465/java/java/date-next-sunday

For more complicated date manipulation i would strongly recommand the Joda Time libray.
Any jars can be use if the it is present in th ext directory of soapui.

Omar EL Mandour

Omar, firstly many thanks for your reply.

However, as I mentioned, I am not a programmer and am therefore unable to code in Groovy or Java, I am simply a QA looking for ways to make tests repeatable in an agile environment. Unfortunately, the request messages I have to use are fixed and require only updates to attributes to gain the required response from an external (and very old) db.

In case anyone else is interested later, I now have a very simple piece of code which sets a property value containing the date for the next coming Sunday:

def nextDay = new Date()
for (i=1;i<8;i++)
{              
nextDay =  nextDay + 1
if (nextDay.format("E")=="Sun") break
}
log.info "Next Sunday is " + nextDay.toString()
testRunner.testCase.setPropertyValue("NextSunday", nextDay.format("yyyy-MM-dd") );

By changing the "Sun" element to another day (i.e. Mon) you can automatically grab the required date. As I am testing a booking system I needed a way of auto-updating request and booking dates as required during CI testing.

Hope I've helped someone else with this..........