Alces

Latest release: Alces 0.9.9.1 Alces 0.9.9

Alces is a tool for testing JDF software. Alces plays the role of a Controller/Manager and is used for testing the JDF compliance of a Worker, such as a RIP, a printing press, or a binding machine. Alces is a Java program and comes in two flavors, one for interactive/manual testing, and one for automated testing. Below is a screenshot of the interactive version of Alces testing the Elk reference Worker/Device.

News

• 2007-10-08 Alces 0.9.9.1 released. Fixed bug that prevented CheckJDF-based test from running. Release notes. Download Alces 0.9.9.1
• 2007-10-07 Alces 0.9.9 released. Improvements include MIME package submission and validation, and rendering of the CheckJDF test report. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9.9
• 2007-07-10 Alces 0.9.8 released. Improvements include the possibilty to configure the CheckJDF command-line arguments and dispalying test results at the top level of the test session tree. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9.8
• 2007-05-30 Alces 0.9.7.5 released. This release contains bug fixes and various small improvements. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9.7.5
• 2007-05-08 Alces 0.9.7.4 has been released! New features include improved support for Resource, Status and other queue handling messages, scripting Automated Alces with JavaScript, and API improvements for programmatic testing. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9.7.4
• 2007-05-08 Alces FAQ added to CIP4's public Wiki
• 2007-03-29 Alces 0.9.5 has been released! New features include HTTP proxy support, test for message return code 0, and URL resolving in JDF files. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9.5
• 2006-08-02 Alces 0.9 has been released! New features include an improved user interface, validation of JDF files referenced by SubmitQueueEntry/ReturnQueueEntry messages, and the possibility to send prepackged MIME files. For a complete list of changes view the release notes. Download Alces 0.9
• 2006-05-09 A new release of Alces is available for download. Highlights include much improved validation and a double-clickable Mac OS X application for running Interactive Alces. Download Alces release 20060509
• 2005-12-22 Our issue tracking system has moved to CIP4's server: http://www.cip4.org/jira/
• 2005-12-21 A new release of Alces is available for download. Major improvements are improved performance and the ability to send/receive any type of file. [Readme] [Download]
• 2005-11-29 A new release of Alces is available for download. A lot of new features have been added to Interactive Alces, including a queue view. [Readme] [Download]
• 2005-10-21 A new release of Alces is available for download. A new feature is that Automated Alces now supports sending JMF MIME packages (.mjm). A known limitation that has not been fixed in this release is that Alces's CheckJDF validation does not work properly when Alces is run from a path containing spaces (' ') or hyphens ('-'). [Readme] [Download]
• 2005-08-05 A new release of Alces is available for download. A major improvement is that validation is now performed using CheckJDF. [Readme] [Download]
• 2005-08-05 Alces now has an issue tracking database where you can report bugs and suggest new features: http://elk.itn.liu.se/jira/browse/ALCES
• 2005-06-27 New version with some minor bug fixes. [Readme] [Download]
• 2005-06-03 Alces web site premiere
• 2005-06-02 New version of Alces released. [Readme] [Download]

Downloads

• Alces 0.9.9.1: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source | Javadoc
• Alces 0.9.9: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source | Javadoc
• Alces 0.9.8: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• Alces 0.9.7.5: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• Alces 0.9.7.4: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• Alces 0.9.5: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• Alces 0.9: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• Alces 20060509: Release Notes | Binary (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix) | Source
• elk-alces-20051221.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk-alces-20051129.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk-alces-20051126.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk_alces_20051021.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk-alces-20050805.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk-alces-20050627.zip (binaries and source code)
• elk-alces-20050602.zip (binaries and source code)
• Alces presentation

Interactive Testing

Interactive Alces has a graphical user interface and is suitable for manual testing of Workers. It allows you to connect to a Worker, submit JDF jobs to it, send JMF messages to it, and subscribe to Signals from it. Features:

• Graphical user interface
• Submit JDF job tickets
• Automatic discovery of supported JMF messages
• Send automatically generated Query and Command messages
• Send any manually created JMF message
• Receive Signal messages (subscriptions)
• Receive Acknowledge messages (asynchronous Responses)
• Automatic CheckJDF-validation of all JMF messages sent and received
• View all messages sent and received
• Pluggable custom test cases

Automated Testing

Automated Alces is run from the command line and is suitable for regression testing of Workers. It automatically sends all JMF messages in a specified directory. All messages sent and received are validated with CheckJDF and a test report in XML-format is generated that contains information about what JMF messages were sent and received, and if they passed validation. Features:

• Command line interface
• Sends all JMF messages in a specified directory
• Receives Signal messages (subscriptions)
• Receives Acknowledge messages (asynchronous Responses)
• CheckJDF-validation of all JMF messages sent and received
• Generates a test report in XML-format (including style sheet for viewing in XSLT-capable web browser)
• Configurable delay between messages sent
• Configurable test session duration
• Pluggable custom test cases

License

Alces is licensed under the CIP4 Software License.

The Alces project was initiated at ITN, Linköpng University and is developed in cooperation with CIP4. For more information, contact Claes Buckwalter.