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WINDSOR, Conn., Aug. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- SS&C Technologies Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SSNC) today announced that SS&C Blue Prism has been recognized as a Leader for the fifth consecutive year in the 2023 Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

"We're delighted SS&C Blue Prism has been recognized as a Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation for the fifth time in a row," said Bill Stone, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, SS&C Technologies. "With SS&C Blue Prism at the leading edge of the RPA market, we are well positioned to help our customers optimize their processes and transform their organizations."

SS&C Blue Prism provides intelligent automation (IA) across 2,800 companies. The SS&C Blue Prism Intelligent Automation platform delivers visibility, orchestration and control mechanisms to help enterprises manage the workforce and end-to-end processes.

For a deeper dive into 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation, obtain a complimentary copy of the report here.

SS&C Blue Prism digitizes operations across financial services, insurance, health and pharma, banking and more. Speak to an expert about SS&C Blue Prism's intelligent automation offering.

About the Magic Quadrant
Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation, Saikat Ray, Arthur Villa, Melanie Alexander, Andy Wang, Mukul Saha, Sachin Joshi, 2 August 2023.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

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GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

About SS&C Technologies

SS&C is a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Founded in 1986, SS&C is headquartered in Windsor, Connecticut, and has offices around the world. Some 20,000 financial services and healthcare organizations, from the world's largest companies to small and mid-market firms, rely on SS&C for expertise, scale and technology.

SOURCE: SS&C

Additional information about SS&C (Nasdaq: SSNC) is available at www.ssctech.com.

Follow SS&C on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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SOURCE SS&C

Blue Prism invented the term Robotic Process Automation. Its software platform enables business operations to be agile and cost-effective through rapid automation of manual, rules-based, back-office administrative processes, reducing cost and improving accuracy by creating a “virtual workforce”.
The virtual workforce is built by the operational teams or accredited Blue Prism partners using the company's robotic process automation technology to rapidly build and deploy automation through leveraging the presentation layer of existing enterprise applications. The automation schemes are configured and managed within an IT governed framework and operating model that has been iteratively developed through numerous large scale and complex deployments.

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Unit testing application code in embedded applications is a fundamental need that embedded developers often overlook. At first, glance, getting a unit test harness up and running can seem complicated. However, developers can get a unit test harness environment up and running relatively quickly. This post will explore Cpputest and how developers can leverage existing resources to get an environment up and running quickly.

Introduction to Cpputest

Cpputest is a C/C++-based testing framework that is used for unit testing and test-driving code. In general, Cpputest is used for testing C and C++ applications. The framework provides developers with a test harness that can execute test cases. Cpputest also offers a set of assertions that can be used to test assumptions. If the result is not correct, then the test case is marked as having failed the test.

Cpputest provides a free, open-source framework for embedded developers to build unit tests to prove out application code. With a bit of extra work, developers can even run the tests on target if they so desire. In general, I use Cpputest to test my application code that exists above the hardware abstraction layer.

Installing Cpputest

Several different installation methods can be used to set up Cpputest that can be found on the Cpputest website. The first is to install pre-packaged installed on Linux or MacOS. (If you want to install on Windows, you'll need to use Cygwin or a similar tool). Alternatively, a developer can clone the Cpputest git repository.

If you are looking to get started quickly and experiment a bit, I recommend a different approach. James Grenning has put together a Cpputest starter project that has everything a developer needs to get started. The start project includes a docker file that can be loaded and a simple command to install and configure the environment. If you want to follow along, clone the Cpputest starter project to a suitable location on your computer. Once you've done that, you can follow James' instructions in the README.md or follow along with the rest of this section.

Before getting too far, it's essential to make sure that you install docker on your machine. Mac users can find instructions here. Windows users can find the instructions here. For Linux users, as always, nothing is easy. The installation process varies by Linux flavor, so you'll have to search a bit to find the method that works for you.

Once docker is installed and running, a developer can use their terminal application to navigate to the root directory of the Cpputest starter project directory and then run the command:

docker-compose run cpputest make all

The first time you run the above command, it will take several minutes for it to run. After that, the command will obtain docker images, clone and install Cpputest and build the starter project. At this point, you would see something like the following in your terminal:

As you can see above, there was a test case failure in tests/MyFirstTest.cpp on line 23 along with an ERROR: 2 message. This means that Cpputest and James' starter project is installed and working correctly.

Leveraging the Docker Container

The docker-compose run command causes docker to load the cpputest container and then make all. Once the command has been executed, it will leave the docker container. In the previous figure, that is the reason why we get the ERROR: 2. It's returning the error code for the exit status of the docker container.

It isn't necessary to constantly use the "docker-compose run cpputest make all" command. A developer can also enter docker container and stay there by using the following command:

docker-compose run --rm --entrypoint /bin/bash cpputest

By doing this, a developer can then simply use the command "make" or "make all". The advantage of this is that it streamlines the process a bit and removes the ERROR message returned when exiting the docker image from the original command. So, for example, if I run the docker command and make, the output from the test harness now looks like the following:

To exit the docker container, all I need to do is type exit. I prefer to stay in the docker container, though, to streamline the process.

Test Driving Cpputest

Now that we have set up the Cpputest starter project, it's easy to go in and start using the test harness. We should remove the initial failing test case before we add any tests of our own. This test case is in /tests/MyFirstTest.cpp. The file can be opened using your favorite text editor. You'll notice from the previous figure that the test failure occurs at line 23. The line contains the following:

   FAIL("Your test is running! Now delete this line and watch your test pass.");

FAIL is an assertion that is built into Cpputest. So the first thing to try is commenting out the line and then running the "make" or "make all" command. If you do that, you will see that the test harness now successfully runs without any failed test cases, as shown below:

Now you can start building out your unit test cases using the assertions found in the Cpputest manual. The developer may decide to remove MyFirstTest.cpp and add their testing modules or start implementing their test cases. It's entirely up to what your end purpose is.  

Conclusions

We've briefly discussed how to get up and running with Cpputest quickly. Working with Cpputest is straightforward, and the results can be compelling. Developers can leverage their test harnesses and assertions to check that code is working as expected. If something is amiss, running the test harness will point the developer to the failing test case and provide the line number for the failed test. Test harnesses can help developers perform automated regression testing and quickly identify bugs in their code.

Developers don't necessarily have to use Cpputest. There are many unit test harnesses available. However, embedded developers need to be using some type of test harness, and Cpputest is easy to get up and running and integrated into nearly any build process.

Jacob Beningo is an embedded software consultant who works with clients in more than a dozen countries to dramatically transform their businesses by improving product quality, cost and time to market. He has published more than 200 articles on embedded software development techniques, is a sought-after speaker and technical trainer, and holds three degrees, including a Master of Engineering from the University of Michigan. Feel free to contact him at [email protected], at his website www.beningo.com, and sign-up for his monthly Embedded Bytes Newsletter.

Apple needs third-party apps for Vision Pro when it launches next year, but most developers don't have the headset yet. That would seem at first glance to be a conundrum, but on Monday, Apple opened up three different ways app developers can start testing their apps on Vision Pro hardware well before the product launches to the public.

It has been possible to get at least some serious work done since Apple made a beta release of Xcode available with support for visionOS. That version of Xcode (Apple's IDE for Macs that is required to build apps for the company's various platforms like iOS) includes a visionOS Simulator that presents work-in-progress visionOS apps in a virtual 3D space navigable with keyboard and mouse or trackpad controls.

In theory, what works in the visionOS Simulator will often work fine on real hardware, but there are, of course, additional complexities, especially with something like Vision Pro. That's where these three newly launched programs come in.

Apple Vision Pro developer kits

First off, developers can apply to be sent Vision Pro developer kits. They'll be sent real Vision Pro hardware on loan, and they'll be offered help getting it set up, regular check-ins with "Apple experts for UI design and development guidance," and two code-level support requests.

It seems unlikely that everyone who wants a developer kit for any reason will get one, though. Apple is holding the keys and (as is its custom) isn't being all that specific about what will get some developers access over others. Here's what the company writes about it on its developer website:

You’ll need to be an Account Holder in the Apple Developer Program, provide details about your team’s development skills and existing apps, and agree to the terms and conditions. Applications will be reviewed and priority will be given to applicants creating an app that takes advantage of visionOS features and capabilities.

We're not sure yet whether these kits will be free. Apple's developer kit program for the first Apple Silicon Macs required developers to pay a fee for access, even though the device in question still had to be returned after a period of time.

Update: I've now learned that the Vision Pro dev kit loaners are free for developers.

Apple Vision Pro compatibility evaluations

Alternatively, developers can simply send their apps to Apple so Apple employees or contractors can test the apps on their behalf.

Once developers have gone through a checklist of pretty obvious basics, like making sure the app actually launches, they can submit the app to Apple to test on real hardware. Developers will get a list of issues back (if there are any) along with relevant screenshots and logs.

Apple's testing group will deliver an evaluation "within a few weeks," and requests will be handled on a first-come, first-serve basis.