Testing Your Model

At any time during the development process, you can test what you have modeled by invoking Test Application from the Tools menu. For example, with only the “authors write books” relationship entered, English Query can answer questions such as “Who wrote the most books?”, “Who wrote Net Etiquette?”, and “What books did Anne Ringer write?”

To test your application

1. On the Tools menu, click Test Application….
2. In the Test Application dialog box, in the Question box, enter your query as an English sentence, and then click Submit.
3. If you select Execute SQL, English Query submits the query to SQL Server and displays the answer.
4. If you think the question is useful as a sample, then click Add to Question File.

Another Tools menu item called Regression Test executes all queries in the question file and generates an output file. If you copy the output file to a reference file, then Regression Test allows you to compare the results of the most recent output against the reference file. This ensures that English Query can handle all questions as you continue to enhance your English Query domain. The question file questions also can be used as a set of sample questions that can be displayed on a Web page to give users an idea of the available information.