Place a configuration into Test status

Each Mobile Integration Server web service app can control only one active configuration at a time. Placing a configuration into test status registers that configuration with the mobile server and provides you with a device URL that you can use to access your configuration for small-scale testing purposes.

Procedure

  1. Expand the configuration that you want to test and click Publication.
  2. In the Settings area, enter a Display Name for this configuration.
    This is the name that will appear in the list of available institutions on the mobile device. You will have a chance to change it later, when you publish the configuration.
    Note: Mobile users will not see a list of available institutions, and so will not see this display name, if you have disabled the "allow switch school" option using Ellucian Mobile Platform Edition.
  3. In the Status and Actions area, click Test.
    The cloud configuration system displays test URLs for both iOS and Android devices.
  4. Optional: If you want to prevent people who test this version of the configuration from accessing future test versions, you can add a passcode to the URL. To do this, enter some characters in the passcode field and then click Save.
    The configuration tool refreshes the page and adds the passcode to the test URL.
  5. Right-click on the iOS Test URL and copy the link, and then paste the test URL link into a message that you can send to your testers.
    With Ellucian Mobile 4.5 and later, this URL will work for both iOS and Android devices, which allows you to give all testers the same URL.
    Note: If this is a custom app that you developed using Ellucian Mobile Platform Edition, you will need to modify the iOS and Android test URLs as described in the Ellucian Mobile Platform Edition Developer's Guide.
  6. Right-click on the Android Test URL and copy the link, and then paste the test URL link into the message for your testers.
    Note: This step is unnecessary if you are using the iOS Test URL for both iOS and Android users as described above.
  7. Update the message with any other information that your testers need, such as login credentials or specific testing instructions. Then send the message to the testers.
  8. The testers open the message on their devices and tap the appropriate link. Ellucian GO opens on their device and loads the configuration.

Results

To improve performance, devices store some basic configuration information locally, including the home screen image and a list of modules. If you launch the app again using this test URL, it will start over and fetch that data again; otherwise, the device checks for new versions of this information and applies any changes every 20 minutes, and only after the user interacts with the configuration by tapping a module on the menu.

The impact on testing is that if you add new modules or change the colors or home screen image, those changes will not be visible until the conditions mentioned above have occurred. Any changes that you make to existing modules while the configuration is in Test status are available to the testers the next time they access Ellucian GO. The test URLs remain active indefinitely — even after the configuration is published. If you want to disable the link, you can add or change the passcode as described in step 4.