TAEF is developed by a team within the Windows org specifically dedicated to improving and standardizing test writing and execution within Windows. While developed by the Windows org, TAEF is also gaining popularity in a lot of different teams across Microsoft.

At this point you may be wondering, why write another testing framework? There are already a number of popular frameworks such as NUnit, MSTest, Boost’s Unit Test Library, etc.

In my opinion, the biggest reason is the flexibility TAEF gives you. TAEF was designed from the ground up to provide consistent programming, execution and features for tests writing in .Net, C++ and scripts. Additionally, it provides a simple interface for building Unit Tests while providing additional capabilities useful in writing end to end tests.

Anyway, I’m starting to post again for a reason. Recently Microsoft released one of the best testing frameworks there is (TAEF) as part of the Windows 8 DDK Preview. This is the testing framework used by my team and many others at Microsoft. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that they’ve released any documentation yet. I’ll be creating a series of blog posts showing the power and uses of this framework for building both native and managed tests.

While I find this annoying, I can see how some people might find it useful. However, I recently encountered a similar issue which was totally baffling. I installed Daemon Tools to mount an ISO. It asked me if I wanted to set the Daemon Tools homepage as my default web browser’s home page.

Who in their right mind would actually want to do this? Do they actually think people love their product so much they want to visit their website every single time they go online?

Software tester’s have something of a bad reputation in most of the industry. In many companies they are seen as the guys who couldn’t cut it as developers. They’re often second class citizens.  They aren’t consulted on design, they are far outnumbered and they are seen as an added expense that constantly delays the release of a product.

The SDET role at Microsoft is nothing like that.

Surprisingly, it hasn’t been tiring or stressful. I’ve been working on some interesting code which has required me to do a lot of experimentation and research. This is the kind of stuff I do for fun on my own time. To be able to do this and get paid for it is even better.

The upshot is I’ll be resuming work on MTG Player shortly.

I’m happy to say that my fears were almost entirely unfounded.  There’s certainly more bureaucratic overhead than I’m used to. However, Microsoft really tries to minimize the impact it has on their employees. All the common things like direct deposit, benefit enrollment, vacation requests, etc are handled through automated web sites.  They even have a utility to help you file your TPS reports on time.

The best part is the people. They’re all intelligent, motivated people who seem to truly enjoy working with each other.

The only real thing I disliked about the week was the unavoidable ramp-up time. After 3 weeks off I’m getting restive to do some actual work. Unfortunately, I’ve spent the entire week reading documentation, specifications and training. This is all necessary and highly valuable, but I’m itching to start coding.

Of course, I thoroughly expect to be completely bored by the end of the week.

As stated previously, I’m actively looking for assistance with the development.

There are still tons of features I intend to add. Unfortunately, the project has gotten large enough that I can’t handle it alone anymore. To keep progress moving even when I have a new game to play, I’m going to open source everything. My hope is that by doing this I’ll be able to find some talented developers to help out. I expect to have this available within the week. I’ll make a posting here when it’s live.

If there are any talented developers who want to get involved, please contact me at andrew@andrewfaust.com. Currently everything is written in C# using .Net 3.5. The UI is entirely built in WPF and the network communications are WCF.

The features that I want to add and could use  help with are:

• A Game Lobby – Provide a dedicated server for people to find other players and launch games.
• Multi-Game Matches – Allow stuff like “Best 2 out of 3” matches. Will need to have some way to uniquely identify decks so there can’t be any illegal swapping between games.
• Sideboard Support – Needed for the Multi-Game matches and tournaments.
• Booster draft matches
• Deck legality validation – Ensure decks comply with rules for the various formats (Vintage, Extended, Standard, etc.)
• Enhanced searching capabilities in MTG Manager
• Support for all common deck formats – Apprentice, MWS, etc.
• UI Enhancements to both Manager and Player
  • Draw lines between cards to show target
  • Visibly marking cards
  • Configuring custom colors
  • Keyboard shortcuts
  • Etc.

I guess I should be glad they make phone systems instead of fire alarms.