Posted on December 19th, 2007 in Mocks, Tool, Agile by siddharta || No Comment
A new release! SilverMock is a python mock object library that was developed for internal use at Silver Stripe Software. It is now being released under the MIT License. If you are looking for a simple, lightweight mock object library for Python, then check out SilverMock.
I first did a demo of SilverMock during the 2nd Chennai Agile User Group meet earlier this month to demonstrate writing unit tests with mock objects. In the discussion, we though it might be useful to create a screencast of the demo. While preparing the screencast, I though why not release SilverMock under an open source license? So thats where we are now.
If you go to the SilverMock page, you’ll find the first part of the screencast showing how you can use mock objects during unit tests. Since the screencast uses SilverMock, it doubles up as a bit of documentation as well 
The idea behind SilverMock is to make mock objects as simple as possible. The whole library is under 200 lines of python code (under 400 is you include the unit tests), so it’s very lightweight. The API is as straighforward and readable as it gets. IMHO, you read a line like ShouldBeCalled(”count”).with_args((”abcd”,)).and_return(4) and you immediately know what is expected to happen. If you find all this intriguing, then head over to the SilverMock page, where you can download SilverMock, check out the screencast and see an example of a typical unit test that uses SilverMock. Hope you find it useful!
Posted on September 6th, 2007 in Tool, Catalyst by siddharta || 1 Comment
A new version of Silver Catalyst has been released. The latest version is now v1.3. Get the latest release from the download page. A free 3 team member version is available from the download page, while paid members can upgrade their installation of Silver Catalyst to this version for free.
The main feature addition is this version is support for CSV import and export. Most popular spreadsheet programs allow you to save and load data in this format, so the new feature allows you to import your spreadsheet data into Silver Catalyst, or export project data into the spreadsheet. This feature is especially useful if you are currently using a spreadsheet to manage your agile project and you want to move the data over to Silver Catalyst.
To import data from Microsoft Excel, create a spreadsheet with a column containing task descriptions, and optionally, the priority, person assigned to, estimate, status and notes. Save this file in the Unicode Text format and upload the saved file through the CSV Import/Export plugin (Click the Excel icon next to the project name). If you use OpenOffice Calc you will need to save the data in Text CSV format.
Version 1.3 also contains a number of UI enhancements. The status update area has been made more prominent and there is more feedback when submitting forms and editing tasks.
Check it out. Download Silver Catalyst v1.3 and see how you like the new enhancements.
Posted on July 31st, 2007 in Tool, Catalyst, Agile by siddharta || No Comment
I’ve said before that more than practices or techniques, agile is often about a mindset. It is about understanding the values and principles behind the practices that really enable you to be ‘agile’.
I often discuss Silver Catalyst with managers who are interested in an agile tool, and often there are some feature requests. Some feature requests are holes in the functionality of the tool and these are carefully noted down and scheduled for a future release. Some features, however, stem from bringing in a traditional mindset to an agile project.
Continue reading ‘Getting into the agile mindset’ »
Posted on July 3rd, 2007 in Tool, Catalyst by siddharta || No Comment
If you visited the Silver Catalyst download page in the last day you would have noticed that a new version of Silver Catalyst is now available. Silver Catalyst v1.2 has been released. As posted earlier, this version introduces wiki integration (Not sure what a wiki is? Click here). What this means is that if you have an existing wiki, you can integrate Silver Catalyst with it. If you don’t use a wiki already, choose from one of the various wikis available and set it up. See here and here for a list of available wiki software and a comparison between them.
Why integrate with a wiki? Many agile teams use a wiki to manage information and documentation about the project. It is common practice to create a wiki page for each feature and put any documentation about the project, acceptance test cases and other files relating to that feature on that wiki page. Apart from that, you would also put project documentation, design documentation, screenshots, diagrams on the wiki. A wiki is an easily editable, lightweight information management system that is popular with agile teams.
That’s why it is important that the project management tool integrates with a wiki. By clicking a task, you should be able to go straight to the wiki page for that task and view the requirements, tests and other documentation. That is exactly what this new version of Silver Catalyst allows you to do.
Continue reading ‘Silver Catalyst v1.2 Released’ »
Posted on July 1st, 2007 in Tool, Catalyst by siddharta || 1 Comment
Silver Catalyst v1.2 is coming up. This version brings an all new feature — wiki integration. If you have an existing wiki installed (many agile teams do), then you can automatically link up each feature in Silver Catalyst with its own page on the wiki.
Unlike other project management tools, I’ve decided to integrate with an existing external wiki rather than provide an inbuilt wiki. Why? Here are some reasons
Continue reading ‘Coming up: Wiki integration’ »
