Phurnace Blog for Pete Pickerill

Automatically generate XPath Expressions in Java

Pete Pickerill — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Anyone who’s worked with J2EE application servers has more than a passing familiarity with XML. It’s the weapon of choice for configuration in the 3 platforms I’ve spent most of my time working with; JBoss, WebLogic, and WebSphere. When I first started working at Phurnace, I would verify these files by hand using a diff tool that could handle single documents or a directory tree. I would compare a ‘known good’ configuration to the configuration produced by Phurna [...]

Dancing for Dollars

Pete Pickerill — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As you may, but probably don't know, Phurnace got some Phunding. The management team put in countless hours over the last several months and the process was apparently fraught with twists and turns that would give Gordias pause. Thankfully, our fearless leaders didn't share with us each and every bump in the road. Even more thankfully they didn't share with us those moments, of which I'm sure there were a few, when the road disappeared altogether. I'm a lot like Bill Paxt [...]

VMWare Server 2.0 Beta

Pete Pickerill — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Even though it’s been available for a few months, I only recently had time to check out the latest and greatest free virtualization offering from VMWare. I haven’t run it through the wringer completely, but from what I’ve seen there are several new features and improvements that will definitely hasten the upgrade process in our test environment once it clears Beta. Here’s what I like so far:

A vastly better web console. The console obviously came under som [...]

Enough of the tech talk. Who wants BBQ?

Pete Pickerill — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I dream of buying a dilapidated shack in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Texas. All this shack needs is a small kitchen, a BBQ Pit, a sturdy lawn chair, and a butcher’s block. I would spend the wee hours of the morning prepping brisket after brisket, chicken after chicken, coercing a steady fire into life. When the time was right, the meat would hit the pit, I would plant myself in the lawn chair, and wait. The remainder of my workday would be spent checking the heat, tending to my meaty charges, a [...]

Allow me to introduce my STAF

Pete Pickerill — Fri, 02 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In my last post I talked about how virtualization changed test lab creation and management. I’m sure the first thing you did after reading the post was download your very own copy of VMWare Server and replace all your hardware with super flexible virtual machines. You’re now basking in the glow of your long term cost savings, marveling at how easy your lab is to maintain, and using some of that extra time and money to bid on my exclusive line of “VMWare Saved My Marriage” [...]

The Single System Lab

Pete Pickerill — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Why buy the cow? Open Source QA Tools can provide a sturdy test and automation framework.

I’ve spent the bulk of my career in QA at startups so I’m not accustomed to operating with an abundance of resources. As such, I’ve researched a ton of free and open source testing tools in the hopes of automating or streamlining the test process to compensate for a lack of manpower. I’ve decided to use my blog posts to detail some [...]