Test Data Generator - TurboData

TurboData was primarily designed as a test data generator, it also includes an SQL Builder, a Data Editor and more. TurboData is a relational database utility for system development.

What are the differences between the TurboData levelsets?

Please view the comparison chart: Levelset Comparison Chart

Is TurboData easy to use?

Very. For the basic creation of test data, almost no typing is required. You only have to select a table and click on 2 buttons, and data is generated and loaded directly to your database.

How can automatically generated test data look realistic?

Any column value can be overidden by the user. Generic values can be used to pick a random realistic value for each row of data generated. For example, a ‘Customer Name’ column could pick a random name from the following list; Smith, Johnston, Turner, Samuels, McDonald.

How can automatically generated test data have correct referential integrity?

TurboData knows if a column is a foreign key, and it knows which table and column it is a foreign key for. Using this information, it is very easy for the user to generate test data for parent and children entities. For example, minimal effort is required to create a Customer with 500 Orders, each with 100 Order Lines, and each Order Line related to a Product.

Which databases does the generated SQL run on?

TurboData currently generates standard ANSI SQL statements for the following databases:

DB2
Jet (Microsoft Access)
MS SQL Server
NonStop SQL
Oracle
Sybase
Informix
SQL Anywhere
SQL92
Teradata
Visual FoxPro
MySQL

Further databases can be added, depending on customer requirements. Canam Software Labs, Inc. would like to take this opportunity to thank the current customers for their help in supplying technical information to enable us to support the above databases.

Can TurboData generate the data to create a delimited text file?

Yes, we know that this is a much faster method of loading high volumes of data to a table. TurboData will also create a template load card to help you execute the job to load the data, with the columns listed in the correct order.

Is TurboData an end user tool?

No, TurboData is a system development tool. TurboData generates Insert SQL statements containing test data for use by developers or testing teams.

Can TurboData be used for real production data?

Yes! TurboData may be used to populate lookup tables with values read from a text file, spreadsheet or from another database table. TurboData can also be used in data conversion projects to convert file dumps to populate production databases.

How does TurboData work?

TurboData reads in a database schema via ODBC or OLE DB connections. It uses the table and column information to create very realistic, and syntactically correct insert SQL statements. The generated data is loaded directly to your target database.

Can I create data for databases not accessible from my workstation?

Yes, you can create files of insert SQL statements or delimited text files of data. These files can be transferred to Unix servers, IBM mainframes etc. to load remote databases. The generated data files may also be shared amongst system developers and system testers using identical database schemas on their personal workstations.

What platforms can TurboData run on?

TurboData runs on the developer's workstation on 32 bit Microsoft Windows platforms.

What about database changes after my test data is generated?

TurboData comes with a version control facility. This function enables changes in the database schema without losing user overides, or realistic test scenarios that have been saved within TurboData.

What documentation is provided with the tool?

TurboData comes with a comprehensive online help system which gives over 100 pages of detailed information and easy to follow tutorials. All of this information is also available on the internet, please see online help and tutorials.

Can TurboData be run from a LAN?

TurboData is licensed on a workstation basis. It may be run from a LAN, as long as you guarantee, with software metering, that the maximum number of concurrent users does not exceed your number of licensees.

Does TurboData support Double Byte Character Sets (DBCS)?

Yes. TurboData treats them as normal character fields within the Insert SQL statements that are used to populate the DBCS columns on the database.

What is Data Composer?

Data Composer by Canam Software Labs, Inc. is a TurboData add on component specifically for Advantage Gen projects by Computer Associates. Data Composer provides the interface between TurboData and Advantage Gen, Report Composer and Test Composer.

Are there any address fields provided for the US besides street names, cities in TX? I need something that contains the street number as well. For example 1131 Broook Street, as opposed to just Brook Street. Other cities would be nice too.

We don't have any other cities in the US. The ones provided are partly for example to show how the generic values can be used to create realistic test data. If you have a list of cities you would like to use in a text file, Excel spreadsheet or on a database table, TurboData can read the cities from those sources.

You can use TurboData to create your own input text files to be used as a source when generating data for your database.

Here are the steps to create a text file in the format "9999 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" where 9999 is a street number and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is a street name.

- Go to the menu item Database/Manually create a new database schema.

- Create a database called "My formats"

- In Edit Database schema add a table called "street address"

- Add 2 columns;

- number (integer numeric precision 4)
- street (character length 30)

- Create a new insert data scenario "streets"

- Drag the street table to the tree on the right side.

- set column "number" range from 1 to 9999 (random)

- set column "street" to generic value "Streets, Roads, Lanes etc." (random)

- Drag and drop columns vertically up and down to make sure they are in the correct order

- Go to the menu item Tools/Options

- Press the tab "Output Files and set the delimiter to " " (space character)

- Generate the scenario, and create a Delimited text file

The delimited text file you created should contain random street numbers and random street names seperated by a space character.

Use this file as a source when generating data for your database.

Are there any phone numbers provided?

You can easily create lists of phone numbers, similar to the way your create any other data field.

We do not provide sample list, because there are lots of different formats for phone numbers, especially when you take into account international differences, eg (905) 111-1234 or 905.111.1234 etc. You would have to create your own file in a similar manner to that described in the article on address fields