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Adobe Systems
Getting the bugs out
Adobe's family of communication-oriented software products is
known the world over, and one of its most popular applications is
Adobe Illustrator — bringing a first-rate vector drawing tool
within the reach of any computer user. It's an easy product to use
-- but it was complex to engineer. 'Many thousands of bugs can be
reported during the life cycle of a product as large as
Illustrator,' comments Chris Scott, Illustrator's Quality Assurance
Manager. So in 1997, Chris designed a specialized FileMaker Pro
bug-tracking database especially for Illustrator. 'We needed a
versatile, speedy and reliable database to track our software's
progress,” Chris says. "FileMaker Pro is a great improvement over
our previous database software in that it provides a level of speed
that just was not possible before.'
The 'Illustrator BugBase' that Chris developed tackles the problem
of tracking both design and performance bugs. "It's comprised of
six related database files,' he explains. 'The main data file,
where information about software bugs is stored, has over 15,000
records. Another file, which stores information about performance
related problems, has some 700 records.'
FileMaker's easy scripting interface, requiring no knowledge of
SQL, meant a fast and painless implementation, says Chris -- and
FileMaker's flexibility ensures that it's an easy system to
maintain.
'By administering FileMaker Pro myself,' he adds, 'it gave our
group the unprecedented ability to modify layouts, add scripts, and
define fields without having to wait for a slow, centralized
database bureaucracy to make our requested changes.' The system
runs at Adobe on a wide range of platforms, including the latest
Macintosh operating system OSX, and as well as earlier versions of
the Mac OS and several flavors of Windows.
Users also find that it's comfortable to work in the Illustrator
BugBase environment. 'The advantage we have with FileMaker Pro and
our beta sites,' explains Chris, 'is an XML interface that allows
these special customers to log problems they see in pre-release
versions of Illustrator to a web page. This web page is then parsed
and the data entered directly into our Illustrator bug database.
This saves us time from having to read emails and retype data into
the bug database.' This interface, devised by FSA Developer Julian
Nadel of Beezwax, allows beta testers to supplement to the work
done by Adobe's own Quality Engineers, who also verify all of the
bugs submitted via the web interface.
Saving time, saving effort -- and helping to get the bugs out of a
complex, popular software product. Challenge assigned -- and
challenge met -- by FileMaker Pro.
Contact information
Contact Info for Customer:Chris Scott
Illustrator QA Manager
Adobe Systems Inc.
408-536-3847
cscott@adobe.com
Julian Nadel
FSA Developer
Beezwax
510-835-4483
julian@beezwax.net
Filemaker Contact:
Kevin Mallon
Public Relations Manager
FileMaker Inc.
408-987-7227
kevin_mallon@filemaker.com
http://www.filemaker.com
- Before any software product can be put on the market, it must be thoroughly tested to ensure that it's as bug-free as possible; Adobe(R) Illustrator(R) is no exception. When Chris Scott, QA Manager for Adobe Illustrator, needed a speedy and reliable system to track bugs during development, he created his own solution using FileMaker Pro.
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