This section describes the
test execution phase of functional testing.
Restoring the test environment before playback
The state of both the environment
and the application-under-test can affect script playback. If the
recorded environment and the playback environment are different, playback
problems can occur.
Running a script from Functional Tester When you run a script
from Functional Tester, it plays back all of your recorded actions, such as starting an application,
the actions you take in the application, verification points, and stopping the
application.
Configuring how to handle unexpected windows during playback
Problems can occur during script playback if unexpected
windows are displayed. Unexpected windows such as security and warning
message dialog boxes or custom dialog boxes can cause playback failure
with exceptions such as object not found or window
not activated. You can configure how unexpected windows can
be handled so that scripts can be played back smoothly without interruption.
Enabling the dynamic find feature
The test object map lists in a hierarchy the test objects
in the application under test. Changes to the application-under-test
might result in changes in the object hierarchy. During playback, Rational® Functional Tester is
then unable to find an object whose hierarchical position has changed,
and this causes playback failure. With the dynamic find feature you
can prevent playback failure that results from hierarchy changes in
the application under test. The dynamic find feature performs searches
for objects whose hierarchy has changed, when a search that is based
on object recognition scoring (ScriptAssure) fails to find such objects.
Debugging scripts
You can use the same process
to debug a Functional Tester script as you would to debug other Visual
Basic or Java™ applications. If you prefer,
in Rational Functional Tester,
Eclipse Integration, you can debug your script in the Functional Tester
Debug Perspective which makes it easier to start the debugger that
comes with the Java Development Toolkit.
Running scripts When you play back a script, Functional
Tester replays your recorded actions, which automates the software
testing cycle.
Test development phase
In the Test Development Phase, you play back scripts to
verify that they work as intended, using the same version of the application-under-test
that you used to record. This phase validates the expected behavior
of the application.
Regression testing phase
When you have a baseline of expected behavior for your
application-under-test, you can automate regression testing for subsequent
builds.
Playback Monitor
During playback you can view the script name, the number of the
line that is executing, status icons, and a description of the action in progress
from the Playback Monitor.
Using ScriptAssure
Using ScriptAssure, you can play back
scripts successfully even when the application-under-test has been updated.
Ambiguous object recognition in functional testing
Ambiguous recognition occurs when Functional Tester can not uniquely
identify an object in the system-under-test. This commonly happens when Functional
Tester cannot differentiate between an instance of the application-under-test
started by a script playback and an instance of the same application inadvertently
left open previous to script playback. This also applies to identical windows
from one application and identical HTML documents. Ambiguous recognition will
cause script playback failure unless the duplicate application is closed.
Screen snapshot on playback failure of functional tests
If playback of a script causes a RFT exception to be thrown,
Functional Tester takes a screen snapshot at the time of the failure.
The screen snapshot is accessible through the log.