Success with TestComplete Test Automation

How to test Silverlight 4 Applications using TestComplete 8

2011-01-25T15:04:00.003+05:30

TestComplete 8 provides greater support to verify Microsoft Silverlight 4 application components by using any functional test methodology such as black-box and white-box test mechanisms. In this version of test complete engine can access Silverlight internal objects, methods, properties and fields in order to automate applications.

In order to track Silverlight components by testcomplete engine, first you require to check following “Extend Silverlight Object Tree” checkbox option by navigating to Tools -> Default Project Properties -> Projects -> Open Application -> Silverlight. Subsequent that, the test complete engine will have access to Silverlight objects and their methods, properties and fields and you can employ those elements in your automated tests. (Pls. refer the following screen cap)

Further, you can notice all Silverlight objects and their available methods and properties in the hierarchy of object tree model subsequent to explore browsers such as IE, Firefox.

Now TestComplete introduce a new SlObject method in order to automate applications with Silverlight components. Using this method, users allow obtaining a Silverlight component by its name, which was stated in the application’s source code.

Moreover, TestComplete also offers a SlApplication scripting object that is a wrapper to a Silverlight application’s main class that sum up application defined functionality and inherit methods and properties of the System.Windows.Application class.

As well as the members of this System.Windows.Application class contains the SlClasses property. This property assist you for scripting interface to namespaces and assemblies classes included in your Silverlight application package in the.xap file.

Now Testcomplete provide great opportunity to access static non visual objects and their public members by using SlClasses property. In addition to functional testing, this special feature allows you to perform unit/web component performance testing by using application’s internal classes and their associates.

Hope that the above mentioned features will facilitate you easily creates more powerful automated tests for your Silverlight applications.

To download TestComplete 8 Trial

How to create your first Test with TestComplete 8

2011-01-12T14:51:00.006+05:30

This article explains how to use testcomplete to record your actions over the application you required to test and replay the reordered actions as your expectation.

Steps:

1. Create New Project Suite by providing project suite name and location.

2. Create new project under above project suite by specifying the name, location and other attribute of a new project and press next button.

3. From this wizard window you allow to specify the type of the application under test. (For this example I opt for web application type).

4. Press Next to move for selecting testing methodology.

5. Now, this wizard window allows you to select the type of your web tests and web application.

6. Test complete allows you to add the tested web pages to your test project if you based on below scripting approach.

7. Now specify scripting language in this wizard window and press Finish button.

8. Now Click “Record New Test” button in order to record test. After this point, every action you perform is being recorded by Testcomplete. E.g. application launch, Every button click, etc.

9. After Recording, you can see all the recorded steps in Test complete workspace – keyword test panel as below “Google search” recording example.

Moreover, now you can notice each action you performed the corresponding screenshot in visualize panel as below.

10. Now, automated test has been created, and you allow running the test by clicking on "Run test" Button.

Now test complete going to drive the system and performed the same sequence of actions that you recorded.

After execution test complete will display test results in test log as follows. This result contains detail information about every action performed during the cause of the run.

To learn quick recording method view below video,

TestComplete Data Driven Automated Testing – Write CSV file data.

2011-01-03T16:31:00.001+05:30

The below function write array of row values to csv file by creating file object.

Sample:

Sub Utill_WriteCSV(FILENAMEW,WriteFileArray)

Dim objStream
Dim objFSO
Dim innerIndexW

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

If not objFSO.FileExists(FILENAMEW) Then

Call Log.Error("The File Path " & FILENAMEW & " cannot be found.", HIGHEST_PRIORITY)

Else
Set objStream = objFSO.OpenTextFile (FILENAMEW,8, True)
Call Log.Message("The File Path " & FILENAMEW & " was Found.")

For innerIndexW = 1 to UBound(WriteFileArray)
objStream.WriteLine(WriteFileArray(innerIndexW))
next

End If

objStream.Close()

End Sub (Note: this code based on VB scripts)

Function Steps:

1. Save file path as constant in main function and pass to above < Utill_WriteCSV(FILENAMEW,WriteFileArray)> function.

2. Create a file object for write Functionality.
E.g. Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

3. Verify file object exist for write Functionality.
e.g.

If not objFSO.FileExists(FILENAMEW) Then
Call Log.Error("The File Path " & FILENAMEW & " cannot be found.", HIGHEST_PRIORITY)

Else

4. Open file object and write file values starting from second line (since first line considered as “Field title” row).

e.g. objStream.WriteLine(WriteFileArray(innerIndexW))

TestComplete Data Driven Automated Testing – Read CSV file data.

2010-12-27T15:26:00.003+05:30

The below function reads data from any csv file and pass array of row values to another splitting function for decomposition.

Sample:

Function Util_Readcsv(StrFilename)

Dim innerIndex

Dim objFSO

Dim objTextFile

Dim strnextLine

Dim fileArray()

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

If not objFSO.FileExists(StrFilename) Then

Call Log.Error("The File Path " & StrFilename & " cannot be found.")

Else

Set objTextFile= objFSO.OpenTextFile(StrFilename, 1)

innerIndex = 0

Call Log.Message("The File Path " & StrFilename & " was Found.")

Do Until objTextFile.AtEndOfStream

Redim Preserve fileArray(innerIndex)

strnextLine = objTextFile.Readline

fileArray(innerIndex)=strnextLine

innerIndex = innerIndex + 1

Loop

Util_Readcsv = fileArray

End If

End Function

(Note: this code based on VB scripts)

Function Steps:

1. Save file path as constant in main function and pass to above < Util_Readcsv(StrFilename)> function.

2. Create a file object for Read Functionality.

E.g. Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

3. Verify file object exist for Read Functionality.

e.g.

If not objFSO.FileExists(StrFilename) Then

Call Log.Error("The File Path " & StrFilename & " cannot be found.")

Else

4. Open file object and read file values starting from second line (since first line considered as “Field title” row) and split in to rows and assign to array.

5. Now, pass all splitted row values to decomposition.

E.g. Util_Readcsv = fileArray

6. All row values can be decomposed to field values by using following code sample.

Sample:

'Call Util_Readcsv function for read values from CSV file

FileArray = Util_Readcsv(FILENAME)

'Read Array Raw Values

For outerIndex = 1 to UBound(FileArray)

Call Util_LogFolderstack(outerIndex)

strnextLine = FileArray(outerIndex)

splitString = Split(strnextLine, ",") 'new line as the delimiter, Split returns an array

'Assigning field values each row in CSV file to array

for innerIndex = 0 to UBound(splitString)

Redim Preserve arrArray(innerIndex)

strText = splitString(innerIndex)

arrArray(innerIndex) = strText

next

Decide What Test Cases to Automate

2010-12-22T16:46:00.001+05:30

It is impossible to automate all test scenarios or test cases in given application testing scope, so it is important to determine what test cases should be automated in order to reduce manual testing effort, cost and improve application quality.

The benefit of automated testing is related to how many times a given test can be repeated. Test scenarios that are only executed a few times are better left for manual testing. Good test cases for automation are ones that are run frequently and require large amounts of data to perform the same action.

We can get the most benefit out of our automated testing efforts by automating:

Repetitive tests that run for multiple builds.
Tests that require multiple data sets. E.g. All Data Driven Test scenarios
Tests that run on several different hardware or software platforms and configurations. E.g. Browser compatibility
Frequently used functionality that introduces high risk conditions.
Tests that is impossible to perform manually.
Tests that tend to cause human error.
Tests that take a lot of effort and time when manual testing.

Success in test automation requires careful planning and design robust framework for given test scope. Therefore, automation team needs to create an automation plan for given project by analyzing application scope and determining all functional test areas that need to be automated with project qa team members.

First, we should define our project testing goal for automated testing and determine which types of tests to automate. Currently we are employing nuemorous types of testing in navantis test practice , and each has its place in the our organization process.

For instance,

 Unit Testing : Is use to test a small part of the intended application.
 Load Testing : Is performe when we need to know how a web service responds under a heavy workload.
 GUI Testing: Is use to test a certain piece of the application’s UI

Hope the above points will help you make a decision whether to use test automation on future Navantis projects. Whether you are beginning to think of exploring test automation or already have an automation suite in place and are considering expansion, it always helps to continue to evaluate how our test automation will help accomplish our testing goals. By choosing carefully those things that we will automate, and building with maintainability in mind, definitly we will obtain the most out of our test automation effort in our future projects.

Configure TestComplete project to access the InfoPath form’s

2009-06-29T14:45:00.004+05:30

The following sections will explain how to configure TestComplete automation project and access the InfoPath form’s fields in TestComplete scripts.
Configuring TestComplete Project
Before scripting & testing our InfoPath forms we have to configure the TestComplete project -
• Launch TestComplete and create a new test project suite and project.
• Right-click the TestComplete project node in the TestComplete Project Explorer panel and select Edit - Properties from the context menu. This will open the TestComplete project editor in the Workspace panel and display the Properties page.
• Select the “Open Applications – MSAA” group on the left of the page. Then TestComplete will display a list of MSAA properties on the right. Note, this list contains windows class names and their properties that will be exposed by the use of TestComplete’s MSAA engine.
• Choose the check box related to the asterisk (*) class name:

This allows TestComplete to use the MSAA engine to expose methods and properties of any existing window.
Subsequent to configure the MSAA engine so that it exposes any window, the form is displayed in the objects tree as the object named “pane”. You can script required InfoPath test scenario by exploring the needed form controls and its properties.

Scheduling TestComplete Runs

2009-06-02T15:03:00.006+05:30

To Scheduling TestComplete runs, we can run TestComplete using any scheduling program and pass the appropriate command-line arguments to it. E.g. we can run TestComplete using the Windows Task Scheduler.

Steps:

• Select Scheduling Tasks in the Control Panel.
• Select “Add Scheduled Task”.
• Select “TestComplete” as the application to be run.

• On the last page of the Wizard, select the Open advanced properties for task check box and press Finish.
• In appeared dialog, open the Tasks tabbed page and specify the following command-line arguments in the Run edit box.

TestComplete_Installation_Path\Bin\TestComplete.exe full_path_to_project_file /r /e

or

TestComplete_Installation_Path\Bin\TestComplete.exe full_path_to_project_suite_file /r /e

E.g.:

"C:\ProgramFiles\AutomatedQA\TestComplete5Bin\TestComplete.exe" "C:\Work\TestComplete Projects\Darshika_Project\MyProject.pjs" /r /e

Integration of Test Complete with visual studio "Team Foundation Server"

2009-05-26T16:41:00.004+05:30

The following illustration shows the process through which Testcomplete test results are generated, published, and eventually moved into the operational data stores and data warehouse of Team Foundation Server.

Following are the prerequisites to publish TC test results,

1. Get permission to TFS Server for Publishing results (In my experiment, I granted permission as Root Admin).
2. Get full access permissions for accessing Build Server and relevant project folder to access relevant builds. E.g. \\testtfs08\\
3. Get TestComplete installed on TFS server.

Steps:

A. Extending Visual Studio Tests with TestComplete Test Projects

Please See the below article
http://darshikaj.blogspot.com/2009/05/intergrate-testcomplete-test-with.html

B. Publish TestComplete Test Results to TFS Server

1. The first thing we will require to do is create a new build agent on the server. To do this you should right click on the ‘Builds’ node for your team project, then click ‘Manage Build Agents’. Once dialog comes up, click the ‘Add’ button which will bring us to the dialog below.

2. Share and grant full access permission to the project build repository defined below. (Minimum of Build Services group membership is required).

Intergrate TestComplete test with Microsoft Visual Studio Team system (Test Edition)

2009-05-26T16:22:00.007+05:30

The following illustration shows the process through which Testcomplete test results are generated, published, and eventually moved into the operational data stores and data warehouse of Team Foundation Server.

A. Extending Visual Studio Tests with TestComplete Test Projects

1. Create a Test Script in TestComplete6.

2. Create a Test Project in Visual Studio 2008.

3. TestComplete includes a Visual Studio Team System integration package that adds a new test type “TestComplete6 test” to Visual Studio.

4. Add the TestComplete Test suite to the VS Test Project.

In this Visual Studio editor, we can specify the TestComplete project suite with the desired tests and select the specific test items to be executed.

5. Now switch to the Test List Editor panel in VS and select the TestComplete test for execution.

6. After Visual Studio finishes running the tests, we can view the results of the TestComplete test execution directly within Visual Studio,

Testing Web Services with TestComplete

2009-05-21T16:55:00.007+05:30

Web Services are specific applications that use XML-based standards and protocols to exchange information. Unlike web server applications, web services do not have the graphical interface because they are not intended for human interaction. Moreover, web service provides definition of the methods and interfaces available for a call. This information is published in a WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) format.

As all we know, Testcomplete provide robust features to perform functional testing of web services. This includes the following steps:

• Analyzing and Planning the test.
• Exploring methods and objects provided by the tested web service in TestComplete.
• Creating script code for calling object methods and verifying the returned values.

Steps :

a) Create or Load your project in TestComplete.

b) Right-click the project’s node in the Project Explorer panel and select Add New Item from the context menu. This will open the Create Project Item dialog.

c) Use this dialog to add the Web Services item to your project. The added item will be displayed in the Project Explorer. To perform TC functional testing of web services, use the Web Services project item. It lets us explore the web service’s methods and objects and call them from scripts.

(Note : This functionality is available only if the Web Services and Web Services Editor plug-ins are installed in TestComplete.)

d) Now, Right-click the Web Services node in the Project Explorer and choose Add New Item from the context menu. After adding the Web Service element to our project, we can specify its properties.

e) This Web Service test editor displays information on methods of a Web Service and on the objects that are used by these methods as parameters. Please see the underneath Project example for comprehending web service and on the objects that are used by these methods as parameters.

To specify web service, whose data will be displayed in the editor, do the following:

• Press Select button. This will call the Select Web Service dialog.
• In the dialog, specify the location of the WSDL document, select the desired web service and the version of the SOAP protocol that will be used for testing.

f) The web service’s methods are displayed under the Methods node in the type and methods tree. Web service methods can use parameters of an object or array types. To call these methods from script, we need to create the appropriate object and assign values to its properties.

g) Sub sequent to create Script suite, we can execute this Web Service verification scripts by calling object methods and verifying the returned values.

Data-Driven Testing With TestComplete V6.0

2009-05-21T11:23:00.003+05:30

Data-driven testing is a very important aspect of test automation. In short, the goal is to run a given test or set of tests multiple times with different sets of input data and expected results.
This means using a single test to verify many different test cases by driving the test with input and expected values from an external data source instead of using the same hard-coded values each time the test runs. This way, we can test how the application handles various inputs without having a numerous similar tests that only have different data sets.
By considering these aspects, Testcomplete includes special program objects that let us easily access data stored in an Excel sheet, CSV file or in a ADO database table. These objects are called drivers. They are typically needed to perform data-driven tests, however, we can also use them to retrieve data from the mentioned storages.
The DDT object is used to create drivers for ADO database tables, Excel sheets and files holding comma-separated data (CSV file). Its methods return special “driver” objects that have access to values stored in the mentioned data storages.

CSV Driver – Is used to read text file such as comma delimited (default) or tab delimited (using a
Schema.ini file).
[Note] By default the first row is the header information (or column names) for the driver.
Excel Driver – Is used to read an Excel spreadsheet. The first row of the sheet is the header
information for the driver.
ADO Driver – Is a generic driver for a database table or record set that can be accessed via Microsoft's ADO DB.

In the example below creates a DDT driver for an ADO DB, runs through records of the driver’s table and retrieve & write values stored in record data source to the Notepad.

Dim MyDriver

Sub Main

'Global Variables

Dim SQLStatement
Dim ConnectionString

' Start Notepad
TestedApps.Notepad.Run

'Assign SQL Statement to Variable
SQLStatement = "SELECT TL_Id, TL_Name From Personnel"

'Set Connection String
ConnectionString = "Provider=SQLOLEDB.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;" & _
"Persist Security Info=False;" & _
"Initial Catalog=Darshika_TestDB1;Data Source=.\SQLExpress"

'Create Driver
Set MyDriver = DDT.ADODriver(ConnectionString,SQLStatement)

'Call Method
MyDriver.DriveMethod("Main.DDTest1")

End Sub

Sub DDTest1

'Global Variables
Dim p1
Dim w1
Dim w2
Dim KeyStr

'Start & Open Notepad
Set p1 = Sys.Process("Notepad")
Set w1 = p1.Window("Notepad", "*")
Set w2 = w1.Window("Edit")
w2.VScroll.Pos = 0

' Create String with Customer Information
KeyStr = MyDriver.Value("TL_Id")& "," & _
MyDriver.Value("TL_Name")& "," & "[Enter]"
Call w2.Keys( KeyStr)
End Sub

Manual testing Vs Test automation

2009-05-18T10:18:00.002+05:30

First it is very important to notice that Manual testing is not just random clicks on the user interface of a software application. For efficient testing of the software product you should have test plan and strongly defined test cases. Manual testing is the process of executing trough these test cases manually.

Test automation is a software code that is executing the same test cases or test scenarios but automatically using some kind of test automation tools or frameworks.
The development time of test automation can take a lot of time. Usually is a huge investment of time and resources. Some software companies prefer to use offshore outsourcing companies for doing their test automation, which cuts the costs.
It is common believe that once the test automation is created it is working forever. That is completely wrong. You can expect some expenses for fixing the test automation. But at the end test automation is much faster than the manual testing and is the only way you can do a fast regression testing. Test automation is recommended especially for very big software products.
My personal advice on whether you should use manual testing or test automation for your project is: Always have a small set of the most important tests automated, so when a bug fix is introduced at late stage of the project you will be able to run very quickly the most important test and after the bug fix is applied you will be able to do a full test pass.