Platform test environment and unit test framework for a telecommunications gateway

1. A system, comprising:

a platform test environment which includes

one or more clients that simulate functions of a service provider application,

one or more simulators that simulate functions of a telecommunications network component, and

wherein each client comprises one or more modules, wherein each module includes a stateless module that executes an operation, and a stateful module that initiates a process that continues to execute until the process is terminated, and wherein each module performs a particular operation from an interface used by the service provider application;

a gateway that processes request traffic between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators, wherein the gateway includes at least one exposure service that translates invocations between a protocol of the service provider application and a different protocol of the telecommunications network component;

wherein the platform test environment is used to execute a series of testing operations on the gateway by transmitting request traffic between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators via said gateway; and

a unit testing framework that generates a unit test for the platform test environment, wherein the unit test is used to automatically input data into the platform test environment, retrieve a set of results, and compare said results to expected values.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the platform test environment is used to test a new extension exposure service for the gateway.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more clients further include at least one of the following:

a messaging client, a call control client, a mobility client, a subscriber profile client, a session manager client, a partner relationship management client and a custom client.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more simulators further include a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) simulator, an MM7 protocol simulator, a mobile location protocol (MLP) simulator, a push access protocol (PAP) simulator and an OSA simulator.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the platform test environment further includes a service provider interface (SPI) used to create new custom modules for simulators or clients for testing one or more extensions.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the platform test environment further includes an interface for accessing data of the results of the series of testing operations.

7. A method for testing functionality in a telecommunications environment, said method comprising:

providing one or more clients that simulate functions of a service provider application, wherein each client comprises one or more modules, wherein each module includes a stateless module that executes an operation, and a stateful module that initiates a process that continues to execute until the process is terminated, and wherein each module performs a particular operation from an interface used by the service provider application;

providing one or more simulators that simulate functions of a telecommunications network component;

maintaining a gateway that processes request traffic between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators, wherein the gateway includes at least one exposure service that translates invocations between a protocol of the service provider application and a different protocol of the telecommunications network component;

executing a series of testing operations on said gateway by transmitting one or more requests between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators via said gateway; and

providing a unit testing framework that generates a unit test for the platform test environment, wherein the unit test is used to automatically input data into the platform test environment, retrieve a set of results, and compare said results to expected values.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

testing a new exposure service of the gateway by invoking the client and the simulator.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the client further includes at least one of the following:

a messaging client, a call control client, a mobility client, a subscriber profile client, a session manager client, a partner relationship management client and a custom client.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the simulator further includes at least one of: a short message peer-to-peer (SMPP) simulator, an MM7 protocol simulator, a mobile location protocol (MLP) simulator, a push access protocol (PAP) simulator and an OSA simulator.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the platform test environment further includes a service provider interface (SPI) used to create new custom modules for the simulator or the client in order to testing one or more extensions.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for testing functionality in a telecommunications environment, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

providing one or more clients that simulate functions of a service provider application, wherein each client comprises one or more modules, wherein each module includes a stateless module that executes an operation, and a stateful module that initiates a process that continues to execute until the process is terminated, and wherein each module performs a particular operation from an interface used by the service provider application;

providing one or more simulators that simulate functions of a telecommunications network component;

maintaining a gateway that processes request traffic between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators, wherein the gateway includes at least one exposure service that translates invocations between a protocol of the service provider application and a different protocol of the telecommunications network component;

executing a series of testing operations on said gateway by transmitting one or more requests between the one or more clients and the one or more simulators via said gateway; and

providing a unit testing framework that generates a unit test for the platform test environment, wherein the unit test is used to automatically input data into the platform test environment, retrieve a set of results, and compare said results to expected values.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein results of the series of testing operations is displayed in a HTML format and includes information about any failures and successes of the series of testing operations.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the unit test is performed by implementing a test class based on an abstract class provided by the unit test framework.

15. The method of claim 7 , further comprising displaying the results of the series of testing operations is in a HTML format that includes information about any failures and successes of the series of testing operations.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the unit test is performed by implementing a test class based on an abstract class provided by the unit test framework.