Before releasing a new version we go through an exhaustive test procedure. Whereas most companies test their products we feel that this is a bit nice. Our aim is to kill ImageGlue using any method possible. We try to break it so that you won't.

We run all our tests on a variety of operating systems on both single and multi-processor machines.

First we run over seventy different scripts, each of which is designed to test a particular feature of ImageGlue. Every script produces a set of output images which can be compared against reference copies.

Secondly we stress test using standard browsers running on a number of different machines running against a client server. The method we use (auto-refresh) places a high load on the web server while allowing us to keep track of what a client visiting the pages might see.

Thirdly we stress test using the Microsoft Web Application Stress Tool. This allows us to place a vast load on the web server testing a variety of different aspects of ImageGlue and see how the system performs. We leave this test running for 24 hours monitoring memory and processor use.

Only if all these tests have been passed we release the candidate as a beta. We install it on our live web server and place it on our web site as a beta download. Because of the advanced error handling methods we use, any errors that occur will automatically be saved in our web server's Application Event Log.

If after a defined period of time no errors have been reported by beta testers or recorded on our web server then we release the beta. If the candidate fails at any point it's back to the start.