Rational Testing Products
Release Notes
Release 2001A.04.00
Copyright © 2001 Rational Software and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
May 2001About These Release Notes
Scope--Product Definition
Getting Started
- Installation Information and System Requirements
- Installation Issues
- Installing on German Windows 98
- Before you Install
- Evaluation Artifacts
- TeamTest and EnterpriseStudio Installation
- SiteCheck Installation Notes
- Upgrading TestFactory from Earlier Releases
- Upgrading from Rational Test 6.x to 7.x
- Internationalization
New and Changed Features
- Rational TestManager
- Rational Robot
- Rational SiteCheck
Late Changes to Documentation
- Rational TestFactory
- Installing Rational Testing Products
- SQABasic Language Reference
- Robot Copyright Notices
- TextBridge
- GNU C Library
Guidelines and Restrictions on Using Rational Test Products
- Rational Robot
- Playback Under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage
- Displaying the Euro Symbol
- Session Recording and Test Script Generation
- COM Session Recording
- COM and ActiveX Controls in Internet Applications
- Windows Millennium Edition
- Rational TestFactory
- Changing the System Font Size between Mapping Sessions
- Moving a TestFactory Project for a Visual Basic Application to a Different Operating System
- Recommended Java Virtual Machine
- Mapping and Testing Java Applications Developed Using the Java Development Kit 1.1.8 or an Earlier JDK Release
- Installing the Rational Test Java Enabler before Mapping a Java Application
- Inprise Delphi Not Supported
- Rational SiteCheck
- ActiveScan View
- Charset
- Customizing Files Added by Rational SiteCheck
- External Links
- Previously-Saved Site Maps
- Scanning Large Sites
- Scanning Subdirectories
- Preferences
- Simultaneous Connections
- Site Comparison
- Windows 95 and Internet Explorer
- Rational Administrator
- Unified Change Management (UCM)
- SQL Anywhere Database Server
- Hardware and Software Requirements for SQL Anywhere Server
- Other Information about SQL Anywhere Server
Defects/Change Requests
- Rational SiteCheck
- ActiveX Controls
- Assertions
- Comparisons
- File Counts and Sizes
- Frames
- External Links
- Microsoft Word Files
- Rational Robot
- Renaming Files
- Scanning Anomalies
- Smart Rescan
- Site Monitor Issues
- Rational Robot
- General and Miscellaneous
- PowerBuilder and Japanese Operating Systems
- Timeout Problem with Windows 2000
- Java Support
- HTML Support
- Visual Basic 4.0 Support
- DCOM Support
- Oracle Forms Support
- PowerBuilder Support
- Object Data Verification Points
- Rational TestFactory
- Working with Third-Party Controls
- Running Test Scripts Generated for a Java AUT from Robot without Running TestFactory
- Testing a Java Application that Runs on the Sun Java Virtual Machine
- SQABasic
Contacting Rational Technical Support
About These Release Notes
These Release Notes provide information that is not available in the printed documentation or the Help for Rational Robot, SiteCheck, TeamTest, and TestFactory.
Scope--Product Definition
This release contains several usability and quality enhancements relative to the previous release, as well as several new features.
Getting Started
Installation Information and System Requirements
You will find complete installation instructions and system requirements in the Installing Rational Testing Products manual, which is available as a printed book and electronically as a PDF file on the Rational Solutions for Windows Online Documentation CD, which also includes a version of the Acrobat Reader.
Installation Issues
Installing on German Windows 98
If you install Rational Suite Enterprise on German Windows 98, you may see the following error message prior to rebooting:
A system error occurred while copying <CD-ROM Drive>:\coverage98\win98\testfactory.mkr to <Destination Drive>:\coverage98\testfactory.mkr: Zugriff wurde verweigert.
You can ignore this message since the file in question, testfactory.mkr, is not needed to run Rational applications and does not corrupt the install.
Before you Install
Before you install the current Rational testing product(s), you must uninstall any earlier versions of the following products:
Note: Rational LoadTest functionality is now included within Rational TestManager. Previous versions of Rational LoadTest will not work in conjunction with any testing products from the current release and must be uninstalled before installing this release.
Evaluation Artifacts
Evaluation artifacts are not included as a part of this installation procedure. As a result, when you select the Evaluator option on the Software Use page of the Rational Software Setup program, sample data will not be installed.
To obtain the sample data, download the Rational Suite Tutorial from http://www.rational.com/documentation.
TeamTest and EnterpriseStudio Installation
Certain DLL stubs are not being updated correctly in the installation procedure for Rational TeamTest and Rational EnterpriseStudio. This affects generation of VU test scripts from sessions in Rational Robot. To update the DLL files, run the rtfxdlx utility:
From a DOS prompt, move to the Rational Test install directory. The default location is C:\Program Files\Rational\Rational Test.
SiteCheck Installation Notes
SiteCheck requires that Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 or later be installed before you install SiteCheck. The installation program may need to upgrade system files, depending on which version of Internet Explorer you have.
For Windows 95 systems using Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.x, the installation program installs DCOM95 (Windows 95 support for Microsoft's distributed component object model architecture). You must restart your computer and restart the SiteCheck installation program to complete the installation.
For systems using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.x, the installation program will update the COMCTL32.DLL file if it is out of date. If it's updated, you must restart your computer before you can run SiteCheck; otherwise, you will get a runtime error.
For systems using Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or later, you can run SiteCheck as soon as the installation program terminates.
Upgrading TestFactory from Earlier Releases
There is no automatic upgrade path from Rational TestFactory version 2000 to Rational TestFactory version 2001 or 2001A. To upgrade, you must remap and reinstrument your application.
Upgrading from Rational Test 6.x to 7.x
To upgrade from Rational Test 6.x to Rational Test 7.x, you must install the Rational Test 6.x to 7.x Repository Upgrade Kit. Be sure that the machine you run the upgrade on contains no Rational software newer than 7.x. Installation of Rational Suite 2000 or newer on that machine will cause the Repository Upgrade Kit to no longer function.
Internationalization
The Web Site verification points in Robot do not support Kanji or any other Asian character sets at higher than Rational Internationalization Level 1 - that is, software that can be installed and used on U.S. English and all specified international operating systems. All displays, menus, controls, wizards, reports and user documentation are in U.S. English. You must enter all data using U.S. English.
OCR in the Image verification points in Robot does not support Kanji as a character set or Japanese as a language. It also does not support the other Asian character sets, including Katakana, Hiragana, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.
New and Changed Features
Rational TestManager
For last minute information regarding TestManager, see the Rational TestManager Release Notes.
Rational Robot
You can now run a script completely from the command line without having to enter user input into Robot. The command line has the following form:
Rtrobo <script name> /user <user> /password <password> /project <full path to project> /play /log <log name> /build <build name> /logfolder <log folder name>The Start Browser dialog box now has a drop-down list box from which you can pick recently used URLs. These URLs are added to the list by entering them either from the edit box of the combo box or through the browse dialog box accessible through the browse button. The maximum number of items in the list is 5. When items are picked from the list, they are placed at the top of the list. When the list is already full and another item is added through the edit box or browse as stated above, the last entry in the list is rotated off the list.
You can now add filters to the registry. These filters effect the
File > Open > SQABasic file command. If the filter is present in the registry, then it does not use the filter string located in the string table. The new registry setting is "SQABasic Filter". This new registry setting is located under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Rational Software\Rational Test\8\Robot\Robot. It has to be manually added by the user.This release includes record and playback support for Internet Explorer 5.5
Rational SiteCheck
Late Changes to Documentation
Rational TestFactory
The TestFactory documentation refers to a standalone source code instrumentor for VB apps called sqa7sci. This is now called rtsci.
Installing Rational Testing Products
The Installing Rational Testing Products manual refers to the installation types as Typical, Custom/Full, Compact/Laptop, and Minimal. In this release Minimal installation is now referred to as Network installation.
SQABasic Language Reference
The SQABasic Language Reference indicates that you can have an array of elements within a user-defined type. This is incorrect. You can have arrays of user-defined types. However, you cannot have an array of an element within a user-defined type.
The reference information for the JavaTree command lists JavaRow as one of the valid values for the parameters argument. This is incorrect. JavaRow is not a valid value for the parameters argument.
Robot Copyright Notices
Robot contains portions of the GNU C Library as well as TextBridge OCR software from ScanSoft, Incorporated. Copyright notices for this software were not included in the printed documentation for Rational Robot due to production deadlines. Instead, they are provided in these release notes.
TextBridge
TextBridge® OCR© 1994-99 ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved.
GNU C Library
Copyright notices for the GNU C Library are as follows:
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of the GNU C Library.
Contributed by Ulrich Drepper, <drepper@gnu.org>.
Copyright (c) 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of the GNU C Library.
Contributed by Ulrich Drepper, <drepper@gnu.ai.mit.edu>.
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of the GNU C Library.
Copyright (c) 1989, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
The GNU C Library and its use are covered under the terms of the GNU Library General Public License, a copy of which may be found in <INSTALLDIR>\Rational\Rational Test\opensrc\GNU_LGPL.txt.
See the README.wri file in the same directory for additional information.
Robot includes a copy of rtcpp.exe, an executable program based on GNU cpp.
Portions of this executable are copyrighted as follows:
Copyright (C) 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1990 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1996, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1988,89,90,91,92,93,94,96,97 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Copyright (C) 1986, 87, 89, 92-96, 1997 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Written by Paul Rubin, June 1986
Adapted to ANSI C, Richard Stallman, Jan 1987
rtcpp.exe and its use is covered under the terms of the GNU General Public License, a copy of which may be found in <INSTALLDIR>\Rational\Rational Test\opensrc\GNU_GPL.txt.
See the README.wri file in the same directory for additional information, including disclaimer of warranty.
Guidelines and Restrictions on Using Rational Test Products
Rational Robot
Playback Under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage
Keep the following in mind during Robot playback under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage (PQC):
The PQC data file is not produced until the application-under-test terminates.
PQC takes a small amount of time (seconds or less) for the PQC data file to become available after the application-under-test is terminated. Therefore, when displaying PQC informational messages in the test log, it is possible that the PQC data file (.pfy, .cfy, or .qfy files) may not be available immediately.
Displaying the Euro Symbol
By default, the FixedSys font used by Robot does not display the Euro symbol. To fix this, change the font to Courier or another font that supports the Euro symbol.
Session Recording and Test Script Generation
Session recording and generation of VU and VB test scripts is not supported for Windows Me, Windows 98, and Windows 95.
COM Session Recording
The COM session recorder works only with COM applications that use either OLE32.dll or OLEAUT32.dll. For example, J-Integra applications may use neither OLE32.dll nor OLEAUT32.dll, in which case no traffic is recorded and no test scripts are generated for the session
COM and ActiveX Controls in Internet Applications
If COM and ActiveX controls are not created properly, during recording and playback a browser will display a security message. To create COM and ActiveX objects for Internet applications, two guids are required from Microsoft's include file objsafe.h:
CATID_SafeForScripting, which has a guid of {7DD95801-9882-11CF-9FA9-00AA006C42C4} and
CATID_SafeForInitializing, which has a guid of {7DD95802-9882-11CF-9FA9-00AA006C42C4}.
When added, the two security guids will appear under the CLSID of the COM object in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\<COM Object CLSID> where <COM Object CLSID> is the COM object's class ID.
For information on creating Safe and Scriptable ActiveX controls, search MSDN CD for "Safe and ActiveX."
Windows Millennium Edition
The following are known limitations found when running under Windows Millennium Edition:
When you open a manual test script using the Grid Editor in the manual test editor, part of the text disappears, word wrap does not work, and the backspace and delete buttons do not work. To restore the missing text, you must click another step or verification point and the text will display correctly.
When you create an Object Data verification point on a grid or a data window using Rational Robot, the Object Data verification point window does not display row numbers or column names for the grid.
Rational TestFactory
Changing the System Font Size between Mapping Sessions
If you change the size of the system font between mapping sessions, you also change the size of dialog boxes and the placement of controls within those dialog boxes. TestFactory recognizes previously mapped dialog box controls as new controls and maps them as such.
Work-around:
Delete all objects (except the StartAUT object) in the application map, and then map the application-under-test from scratch.
If you change the size of the system font after you map the AUT, and you then try to run a Pilot, the Pilot run fails. TestFactory sees the controls that contain the changed text as unmapped controls.
Work-around:
Change the system font size to the size used when you mapped the AUT.
Delete all objects (except the StartAUT object) in the application map, map the AUT from scratch, and then proceed with testing.
Moving a TestFactory Project for a Visual Basic Application to a Different Operating System
If you map a Visual Basic application on the Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating system, and you then move the project to Windows NT or Windows 2000 and remap the application, any message box mapped previously is remapped as a duplicate window. This also occurs if you map the Visual Basic application first on either Windows NT or Windows 2000, and then remap the application on Windows 95 or Windows 98. This mapping inconsistency occurs because the size of button controls on a message box is not consistent between operating systems.
Work-around:
Do not switch to a different operating system after mapping the Visual Basic application-under-test.
If you must move the project to a computer with a different operating system, delete the message box object in the original application map, and then remap the area of the AUT that contains the message box.
Recommended Java Virtual Machine
This release of TestFactory supports the running of Java applications on the following virtual machines:
Mapping and Testing Java Applications Developed Using the Java Development Kit 1.1.8 or an Earlier JDK Release
If the application-under-test was developed using the Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.1.8 or an earlier release, you cannot use the Java virtual machine included with that JDK to run the application during mapping and testing from TestFactory. Instead, you must use Jview or the Java virtual machine included with the JDK 1.2 or later release.
Installing the Rational Test Java Enabler before Mapping a Java Application
If you map a Java AUT without first installing the Rational Test Java Enabler, the resulting application map contains only a top-level window object and an exit transition object. To correct the problem, install the Rational Test Java Enabler, delete the top-level window and exit transition objects, and then remap the Java application.
You can install the Rational Test Java Enabler from the Rational Software Setup program. For information about how to run the Rational Test Enablers, see the following manuals: Installing Rational Suite or Installing Rational Testing Products.
To install the Rational Test Java Enabler, click Start > Programs > Rational Product Name > Rational Test > Java Enabler, and then follow the instructions provided on the install wizard.
Inprise Delphi Not Supported
TestFactory does not support Inprise Delphi applications.
Rational SiteCheck
ActiveScan View
ActiveScan View requires that Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later is installed. ActiveScan View does not work with Netscape Navigator because this browser cannot be embedded into an application at this time. You can use any Web browser in the Browser View.
Charset
SiteCheck does not support the 'charset' attribute of the 'Content-Type' META tag - e.g., <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-2022-jp">.
Customizing Files Added by Rational SiteCheck
In Rational SiteCheck, you can add an HTML file to your site by choosing Edit > Create a New HTML File. To customize the file that is added by this command, just modify or replace the template file rtnew.htm located in the Rational SiteCheck Template subdirectory.
Similarly, to customize the message page that LinkWizard generates for moved or deleted pages, modify the template files rtmoved.htm and rtdel.htm. However, in the rtmoved.htm template, do not change any reference to %new_URL%. LinkWizard replaces this text with the URL for the moved file.
External Links
All external links that do not refer to a specific HTML file are displayed in Page View and List View using the default page name for the file name (from the Open Site dialog box). For example, an external link to http://www.rational.com is displayed as http://www.rational.com/index.html. This does not affect any functionality. The actual HTTP requests for this link do not include the default page name.
(See also External Links under "Defects and Limitations" later in these notes.)
Previously-Saved Site Maps
Site maps are closely associated with the original site. So, when a site map for a local site is reopened and edited, the changes are made to the actual local site.
Scanning Large Sites
The table below displays recommended system configurations for different sized sites:
Scanning large sites might require more memory than the minimums documented. A guideline for the memory requirement is 1.5 MB of available free memory for every 1,000 links. Therefore, a site with 10,000 links will require approximately 15 MB of available virtual memory.
We recommend using Rational SiteMonitor for scanning large (or busy) sites. In SiteMonitor, create an Analyze Site event and then schedule it to be run when the server is not busy (such as at 1:00 a.m.). For more information, see the Rational SiteMonitor Help.
Scanning Subdirectories
We recommend that you use a multiserver entry on HTTP sites where the server redirects the browser to a subdirectory of the site. Click the Servers button on the General dialog box of the Site Settings wizard to define the servers in your multiserver Web site.
Preferences
The settings in the Preferences dialog establish the baseline values used when scanning new sites. Changes made in the Preferences dialog do not affect the settings for sites which already have been scanned. Site specific settings are made in the Open Site Settings dialog.
Simultaneous Connections
If you are running SiteCheck on a workstation that is, relatively speaking, much faster than the Web server, reduce the simultaneous connections to 1.
The default setting is 4. By reducing the value to 1, you reduce the effects of the scan on other users of the Web site. Alternatively, you can set simultaneous connections for individual site scans on the first page of the Site Settings wizard.
Site Comparison
When SiteCheck performs a Web Site Comparison, it only examines the internal structure of two Web sites. Links to external pages are not checked. This may cause conflicting results if the baseline or comparison site is a previously saved site map file that checked external links.
Windows 95 and Internet Explorer
Installing SiteCheck on a Windows 95 machine without Internet Explorer will fail due to the absence of wininet.dll.
If you have Internet Explorer 4.01 on a Windows 95 machine, you must install SP 1 before installing any of the testing products or test suites.
If you have Internet Explorer 3.x on a Windows 95 machine, you need to run the DCOM95.EXE patch located in the "patches" folder of the install media.
Rational Administrator
Unified Change Management (UCM)
If you use Unified Change Management (UCM) with Rational Suite under these conditions:
then make sure that you do not set the UCM policy, "Check Assignment Before Work On". (The default is for the policy not to be set.)
When you set the policy, you cannot work on an activity unless you are the owner of that activity. But in the current implementation of UCM for RequisitePro and Rational Test, an entire team of workers share the same activity. Therefore, if the policy is set, only one person, not the entire team, can work in a RequisitePro project or in a Rational Test datastore.
If the policy is mistakenly set, you will see the error message "Source control could not set activity." To work around this error:
For further details, see the Using Rational Administrator manual.
SQL Anywhere Database Server
Hardware and Software Requirements for SQL Anywhere Server
Your network server must be an Intel-based PC, a Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Server, or a Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 Workstation.
Note: If you plan on making more than ten connections to a Rational Project, we recommend that you use a Window NT Server as your database server. A Windows NT Workstation allows only ten network connections.
Other Information about SQL Anywhere Server
In this release, only Rational ClearQuest uses the SQL Anywhere Server.
During the installation of a SQL Anywhere Server, select Replace these files with English equivalents independent of the language environment in which you are working. Microsoft recommends this because selected files must be replaced with their English equivalents.
SQL Anywhere database treats the \ (backslash) character as an escape character. This causes a translation of the backslash character and the subsequent character as they are added to the database. For example '\\' becomes '\', and '\n' becomes an unprintable character, etc.
Defects/Change Requests
Rational SiteCheck
ActiveX Controls
Files with the .ocx file extension are not currently recognized in List View as ActiveX controls and do not appear in the report when your click List View > Files and Links > ActiveX Controls.
Assertions
It is possible to have both an assertion that tests for the absence of an HTML object and an assertion that tests for the presence of the very same HTML object. SiteCheck does not notify you of this conflict.
The Global Assertion feature and the Smart Rescan feature can cause some confusion in some cases. Smart Rescan scans only pages that were changed since the last scan. If you add or modify a global assertion between the original scan and the rescan, the assertion will be applied only to the rescanned pages, not the entire site. If you add or modify a global assertion, consider rescanning the entire site.
Comparisons
When SiteCheck performs a Web Site Comparison, it only examines the internal structure of two Web sites. Links to external pages are not checked. This may cause conflicting results if the baseline or comparison site is a previously saved site map file that checked external links.
When comparing sites, we recommend you do not use the Scan Interrupt Recover feature if you are also using the Smart Rescan feature.
File Counts and Sizes
Currently the count of inbound and outbound anchors in List View is not always accurate.
If you delete files in File View while Site Properties View is open, the file count in Site Properties View does not change. You must press F5 or click View®Refresh Site Properties to refresh the view.
Site Properties View is suppose to refresh at the end of a scan but occasionally does not. Press F5 or click View®Refresh Site Properties to refresh the view.
The file size given for an HTML page in List View is less than the actual size if the page contains images, such as banner ads, supplied by an external source. The same low-size calculation can occur if you use the Exclude feature to ignore image files (as in exclude *.gif).
Frames
In cases where links are included between the <NOFRAMES> and </NOFRAMES> tags, the links do not appear in Page View. They are visible in other views, such as Source View and List View.
External Links
After you change the source of an HTML file (in Source View), a page reference to an external link that does not terminate with a slash (such as, http://www.asite.com/something), reverts to an unchecked state. If the link is properly terminated with a slash (such as, http://www.asite.com/something/), this problem does not occur. A simple workaround is to manually recheck the links.
If you stop a scan before it completes, some link anchors may appear as broken (they should appear as unchecked). Either recheck the links manually or run the scan again to completion.
Typically, when an HTML page includes the <BASE HREF > tag, the page uses relative URLs in its <A HREF > tags. These relative links will be incorrectly shown as broken links.
Some links that are associated with FrontPage extensions (for example, /_vti_bin/shtml.exe/...) may incorrectly be shown as broken links.
In Source View, when you pause the cursor over a JavaScript link with an anchor, the tip does not always include the anchor in the location information.
Microsoft Word Files
SiteCheck can parse and verify links embedded in Word files. Currently, if you attempt to parse a password-protected Word file, you are prompted to enter the password.
If you use Recheck on a broken link to a Word file (.doc), it is reported as a good link whether it is good or not.
Rational Robot
The baseline site for a Web Site Scan verification point is not correctly loaded when it is opened from the verification point frame of a Robot test script. To correctly open baseline site:
We recommended that you do not define a Wait State when recording a Web Site Scan or a Web Site Compare verification point. SiteCheck does not consider these settings during a site scan.
If your network has a Proxy Server and you have not configured the Proxy Server settings in SiteCheck, Robot test scripts that include Web Site Scan or Web Site Compare verification points will not play back properly.
To configure the Proxy Server settings:
To change the Proxy Server settings for the current scan:
Renaming Files
If you have a Word document or Excel spreadsheet displayed in the Browser View, you cannot rename it in File View. Switch to another view first. Renaming is available on local sites only.
Scanning Anomalies
Sometimes the interface appears to freeze. If you scan a large site with active content, and right-click in Browser View to view the context menu during the scan, the problem could show up when the default ActiveScan message box appears. If this happens, press the ESC key one or more times.
If you open a site map that was created on another desktop and click Reload, the default page name may display incorrectly. This error has no negative effect on the scan results.
Smart Rescan
When Smart Rescan locates a Web server that does not return a last modified date (LMD), it treats all pages as new pages and rescans the entire site. In this case, the scan actually takes longer than if Smart Rescan was not selected because each page is checked for an LMD value as well as being scanned. If Smart Rescan locates pages without an LMD value on a server that otherwise returns the LMD value, those pages are treated as changed and rescanned.
(See also "Assertions" and "Comparisons" in these notes.)
Site Monitor Issues
A Check Server Response event may fail on certain types of Web servers if the server does not identify itself as an HTTP server. To fix this, change the type of event to an Analyze Site event and only scan one level of the site.
Because of the heavy memory requirements of scans, we recommend you do not scan two or more large sites (greater than 50,000 links) simultaneously. Even with small sites, limit simultaneous scans to a maximum of three. These limits especially apply when the event is comparing two sites. Instead of simultaneous events, schedule the scans as sequential cascading events; for example, the second scan starts when the first scan ends.
When comparing sites, we recommend you do not use the Scan Interrupt Recover feature if you are also using the Smart Rescan feature.
Rational Robot
General and Miscellaneous
Robot records the Property Name for a radio button as case-sensitive. Previous versions of Robot allowed you to manually code test scripts using the SQASetProperty function to be case insensitive. If you manually coded test scripts with the SQASetProperty function, and the Property Name was case independent, you must update the code to be case-sensitive or the object will not be recognized.
The Start menu on Windows systems is a graphical object. Depending on the OS version and whether or not Active Desktop is installed, the Start menu can be implemented in the underlying software either as an owner-drawn menu whose text is not available via standard Windows mechanisms or as a Toolbar. Because of this, we strongly recommend that you do not record against the Start menu. Instead, add a SQAShellExecute or StartApplication command to the test script.
If you play back a test script immediately after you record a verification point, the verification point can fail. If this happens, Robot displays the following message: "Unable to read the verification point data file." This failure is due to the operating system not flushing the file cache. The verification point will succeed upon subsequent playbacks.
Individual text values returned by the Object Properties verification point or by SQAGetProperty are limited to 1,000 characters in length.
For certain controls, the Object Properties verification point always shows an empty value for the Text property. These controls may appear to have visible text on the screen, but do not make the property available. The HotKey common control is an example of this behavior.
When you record an Object Properties verification point and check Automatically close dialog box after selection in the Select Object dialog box, the Object List dialog box sometimes remains open. To continue recording, you must manually close the Object List dialog box.
In previous releases of Robot, the Toolbar Alignment property was recorded with a value of Bottom regardless of its location in the application-under-test. Robot now records the correct value. If you encounter a failure for this property in a previously-recorded Object Properties verification point, copy the actual data to the baseline.
Some development environments, such as PowerBuilder, allow the creation of dynamic TreeViews. The Object Data verification point might not initially capture all tree levels for dynamically created TreeViews until each level has been selected. Once selected, these levels will appear in the Object Data verification point dialog box, by selecting it and using the Edit > Copy to Baseline menu command.
The Alphanumeric verification point does not recognize "soft controls" such as Visual Basic labels. To test or capture the text of such controls, use the Object Properties verification point or a custom Object Data verification point, or the OCR feature of the Image verification points.
The UserDefinedVP test function is no longer supported in Robot. For example, if you attempt to perform an Insert > Alphanumeric verification point and you choose Apply a User-Defined DLL test function, you will not be prompted for the name of the DLL and the function name. Instead, you will see the error message "Unable to write library and function name."
We recommend that you declare your DLL in a Header file (*.SBH) as you would any other DLL. When you call the function later in your test script, log the result using SQALogMessage. For example:
'$Include "YourHeader.sbh" Sub Main Dim Result As integer Result = MyFunction(Parm1, Parm2) SQALogMessage Result, "MyFunction" , "Additional information about MyFunction" End SubIn some cases, passing a user-defined data type variable to a subprocedure causes Robot to crash. To avoid this problem:
Declare a local variable as the same user-defined data type as the global variable.
Pass the local variable to the subprocedure, where it is modified.
Assign the local variable to the global variable. For example:
Dim MyGlobalVariable as UDT Dim MyLocalVariable as UDT Call MyProc(MyLocalVariable) MyGlobalVariable=MyLocalVariableSome applications might change the state of certain menu items (such as Cut, Copy, Paste) based on items in the Clipboard, or on the current position of the cursor when moving from one window of the application to another. This can cause some Menu verification points and some Menus data tests that rely on the state of these menu choices to fail. If testing the state of a menu is not necessary, simply clear the Test Menu States option in the Menu verification point dialog box when capturing your data. You can also deselect those menu choices from any Menu verification points that consistently fail.
Robot drops ampersands (&) from the recognition strings in a test script. This may cause problems on playback of actions on certain types of controls. The commands "ListView [Dbl]Click ..." and "TreeView [Dbl]Click ..." with the ampersand dropped from the "ItemText=..." line are the cases where playback problems usually occur. For example, if you record a click on a file called "a&b" in the ListView in Windows Explorer, you may get the following recognition string:
ListView Click, "ObjectIndex=1;ItemText=ab", "Coords=25,14"
Instead of the correct recognition string:
ListView Click, "ObjectIndex=1;ItemText=a&b", "Coords=25,14"Since the missing ampersand does not always cause playback problems, we recommend that you manually add the ampersand to a command in the test script only if Robot cannot play back the command properly.
The MenuIDSelect command does not validate the menu ID or check that the menu item is enabled. This can cause the application-under-test to crash during playback.
The installation of the ATIPLAY software that comes with many ATI video boards may cause Robot to fail in certain circumstances. This occurs because of incompatibility with a third-party component (LeadTools) installed by both Robot and the ATIPLAY software. The incompatibility manifests itself as a failure when recording and playing back Robot's "StartBrowser" command for Internet Explorer.
To resolve this problem, copy the LeadTools DLLs from the "Rational\common" directory into the "Rational\Rational Test" directory to ensure that Robot loads only those DLLs which are redistributed. The files you must copy are:
ltkrn62n.dll
lfcmp62n.dll
lfwmf62n.dll
ltfil62n.dll
ltimg62n.dll
lfbmp62n.dll
During printing, lines that are too long for the margin settings will be truncated. To fix this, adjust the margin setting or switch to a smaller font size.
To enable Robot to capture data correctly from a data control in Visual Basic, set the data control's RecordSetType property value to Dynaset. Using Table as the RecordSetType property might give unexpected results.
The toolbar Count property value includes toolbar buttons that are used as spaces or separators between other buttons. As a result, the count value may reflect a higher number than the number of visible toolbar buttons.
Robot uses a fixed-size table to store information about object classes. If you exceed the size of the table, you will see the message "Object information (GUIOBJ.DAT) too large." In the unlikely event that this should occur, edit the GUIOBJ.DAT file found in your project and remove classname entries that are not necessary in your test environment.
Robot does not reliably record or play back mouse actions on a FarPoint Button Maker OCX.
If you close applications with the ALT-F4 key sequence, you might notice a delay on the InputKeys statement during test script playback. Workarounds include using the mouse to close the window or modifying the test script by replacing the InputKeys statement with Window CloseWin, "", "".
During recording, if you click the "What's This?" question mark in a dialog box and then click a control (so that a popup appears), your system will freeze for a few seconds if you click anywhere else without closing the popup. Either click the popup to close it before clicking anywhere else, or wait a few seconds until your system unfreezes.
The WindowVP function silently accepts invalid values for the STATUS parameter.
Failed Comparator files brought forward from SQA Robot version 6.x to Robot version 2000 cannot be viewed by the version 2001 Comparators.
In the Object Properties Comparator, when you replace a baseline file with an actual file, and then view the Verification Point Properties, the file path names are not fully displayed.
Robot has a known limitation when recording the action of holding down the primary mouse button on any of the arrow buttons in a scroll bar. Only one scroll line command will be recorded in this instance. To create a reliable test script for playback against a scroll bar, click the scroll bar arrow button the appropriate number of times for the desired scroll bar position. Robot will record a scroll line command for each click that is performed.
Robot does not support record and playback actions against AVI/VRML objects embedded in HTML via the following tag:
<IMG DYNSRC=>PowerBuilder and Japanese Operating Systems
Certain configurations of PowerBuilder DropDownDataWindows will not record and play back correctly on Japanese operating system. When recording item selection on a DropDownDataWindow in PowerBuilder, Robot does not record or play back properly. It does not click on the drop down portion of the DropDownDataWindow correctly.
To fix this problem, make the following registry setting:
Double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Rational Software > Rational Test > Robot > PowerBuilder.
Robot records and plays back correctly using the row number of the item selected in the DropDownDataWindow.
Timeout Problem with Windows 2000
You may get a time out error when playing back a test script under Purify when running Windows 2000. To fix this problem, we recommend that you set the timeout multiplier option for the GUI Playback Options three times higher than the default setting.
To set the timeout multiplier option:
Before you start playback, click Tools > GUI Playback Options.
Click Use timeout multiplier and type a value three times higher than the default setting.
Java Support
When you use Robot to test a Java applet running in Internet Explorer 4, the Java extension does not unload. The problem is that the Microsoft JVM is not releasing Robot's Java extension DLL due to "native" references in Java support classes. All objects of this class have been released, but the DLL is still not released. The total overhead is actually quite minimal as just the MSJ and SYS DLLs are held in memory, both of which have very small footprints. Note, however, that when running with Active Desktop, you must reboot (or restart the desktop) to free up the loaded DLLs. The DLLs must be freed only when you are updating the Java support (i.e., running the Rational Test Enabler for Java).
The Rational Test Enabler for Java will not work if you do a network install of Rational Suite. Installation of the Java Enabler customizes your computer and updates files that were installed on your computer. When you do a minimal install, the files that need to be updated are on your CD as read-only files and cannot be updated.
When you run the Rational Test Enablers and select the Rational Test Enabler for Java, the Enabler will not run under certain conditions. (It silently exits the installation.) This occurs under the following conditions:
As long as the installation is run from a CD, or a Robot installation has been done (required for proper operation of the Rational Test Enabler for Java), the Enabler will run properly.
If you run the Rational Test Enabler for Java under Windows 95 and you receive the message "Cannot Copy," it is probably because the project you are connected to contains Java proxies that need to be installed.
Under certain circumstances, the Next button appears to be grayed out when you click Rational Test > Java Enabler. Despite the appearance, you can still click on the Next button.
When you use Robot on a system with Active Desktop, you may need to reboot the system before running the Rational Test Enabler for Java. The Test Enabler updates several files that Explorer may not have released yet. Explorer is connected to these files when Robot is used with Java applets running in Internet Explorer 4. Rebooting clears the connection between Explorer and Robot.
The Java Extensibility API documentation is not expanded by the Java Enabler. A javaapi.zip file is placed in the "<rational_dir>\Rational Test\JavaEnabler" directory; however, none of the contained files are extracted as expected. The workaround is to extract all of the files from this zip file into the same directory. Also, be sure to maintain the directory hierarchy specified in the zip file.
When you double-click a Java AWT ComboListBox, the HWND disappears before the selected item can be properly recorded. Coordinates are improperly recorded and are not played back correctly. The workaround to this problem is to single-click instead of double-click the ComboListBox. The effect of single- vs. double-clicking is the same for AWT ComboListBoxes.
Playback of Java commands does not always wait until the object is idle before performing the requested action. In particular, Java table actions may be performed before the table has been fully updated, which may affect the outcome of the operation. The suggested workaround is to insert appropriate delays into the test script at state transition points in the application-under-test.
Object highlighting from the object browser may appear erratic. This occurs because objects are repainted by the Java process independent of the highlighting that Robot performs.
When you view the object properties of a Java ComboBox, the highlighted rectangle for the ComboBox includes the rectangle for the ComboListBox, even though it is not displayed. This is a cosmetic idiosyncrasy; Robot is not popping up an empty list.
When running under the Netscape or Sun JVMs, when you record against Java objects of the java.awt.choice class, mouse actions will be recorded instead of scroll actions when you are manipulating the scrollbar on the object's popup window. The mouse action is recorded in the ComboListBox command along with appropriate coordinate information necessary to correctly play back the command. Due to the popup relative coordinates, this recording is less resilient than if a scroll action were recorded. Playback of scroll actions against objects of this class is not supported.
Robot currently records scroll actions on the Java AWT list box control as coordinate-based clicks rather than as scroll actions. (This problem does not arise for non-AWT list box controls.) This behavior is due to what Java/AWT provides.
Playback of commands against Java applications occasionally fails due to the Java command not waiting for the JVM to be completely ready before attempting to replay. This typically occurs on the first command against a particular Java window. The result is normally a command failure, but may cause the JVM (and the browser if in an applet) to hang or fail. The workaround for this problem is to insert a Browser NewPage command if in an applet, or an appropriate DelayFor command if in an application. Note that querying for the "showing" or other property does not help, because the applet state has already been updated, even if the applet has not been completely rendered.
Recognition methods for Java applications can be very long. When you attempt to use wildcards with JavaCaption prefixes, the wildcard needs to be applied to each command instead of to a higher level abstraction. When recording inside a browser, this problem is resolved by generating a Browser SetApplet command to contain the applet context. Until the Java application context issue can be resolved, it is possible to trigger generation of the Browser SetApplet for Java applications. This can be done by setting the following registry value:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Rational Software\ Rational Test\8\Robot\JavaAlwaysUseBrowserSetAppletWhen you run a Java application in debug mode, Robot is not able to communicate with the JVM. Therefore, Robot cannot record or play back against a Java application that is running in debug mode.
When recording against Java applets in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options > Advanced > Java VM > Java JIT Compiler Enabled Switch. This option should be checked in order to ensure correct Java object recognition.
If you are using the Java Try It! sample applet with Netscape Navigator versions 4.06 or 4.5, there may be times when either you will not be able to capture data correctly or you get incorrect object recognition messages. If either problem occurs, do the following:
HTML Support
When recording a test script with Internet Explorer, Robot does not record the action of pressing the Alt+key. (For example, Alt+F opens the File menu in many Windows applications.) Instead, it records the result of this action. The reason it records it as a popup menu is that the menu bar in Internet Explorer is actually a tool bar. So during playback Robot can not determine what popup menu to use. To fix this problem you can do either of the following:
When you play back a test script using Internet Explorer 5.01, Robot does not identify a link if the anchor tag wraps to the next line.
Due to a bug in Internet Explorer 4.x, Internet Explorer may crash when you are attempting to record against an HTML page that contains a test script that deletes some of the page's contents.
There is a bug in Netscape Navigator that causes Navigator to occasionally hang during a Window Closewin,"" command. This may cause subsequent StartBrowsers to fail.
Robot does not support Netscape record and playback over https.
When you use the Robot Netscape extension (for playback under Netscape of Robot test scripts recorded under Internet Explorer), be sure that URLMON.DLL is installed. This component, which includes the Microsoft HTML parser, is installed as part of Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.0 and higher.
Robot test scripts recorded against HTML pages in Internet Explorer may not play back reliably in a later version of Internet Explorer. We recommend that you always record in the latest version of Internet Explorer.
When using Robot to record against an HTML page, you should allow the page to become fully loaded by the browser before performing/recording mouse and/or keyboard actions.
When Robot is playing back commands containing coordinates, Robot can select the wrong object if the browser window used during recording has a different layout (font, size, etc.) from the browser window used during playback. To minimize this problem, be sure to configure the browser the same way before you attempt to play back the test script.
After recording a test script with Robot under Internet Explorer, be sure to completely release the right mouse button when selecting File > Close. Failing to do so causes a Toolbar_Left_Drag to be recorded, and the test script will not play back as expected.
Attempts to capture properties on HTML objects will fail after Robot plays back a test script that contains a Browser StopLoading command. You should reload the document by pressing the Browser Back button and then the Browser Forward button.
The HTML tag "Input Type=File" is not supported in this version of Robot.
A Browser NewPage is not inserted during recording if the object selected for verification point capture is Window. The workaround is to first record an innocuous click on the page, and then capture the property that you want. This will insert a Browser NewPage and perform the synchronization. Or, of course, the Browser NewPage may be manually coded to make the test script work as expected.
Visual Basic 4.0 Support
To test Visual Basic 4.0 applications, including ActiveX controls, you or someone on your development team must add the Rational ActiveX Test Control to each form in the VB application-under-test. The Rational Test Enabler can be used to help you with this process. For instructions, see the Robot Help.
The Rational Test Enabler is not needed for testing Visual Basic 5.0 and later applications.
DCOM Support
If the application being recorded uses late-bound COM objects, and you notice that some expected method calls are not present in the generated test script, then make sure the recorded application calls IDispatch > GetIDSsOfNames before calling IDispatch > Invoke.
If you run into memory problems when playing back large VB test scripts, we suggest that you create smaller test scripts during session recording. For information on splitting test scripts while recording sessions, see the Using Rational Robot manual.
Oracle Forms Support
If you have an invalid TMP setting in your Autoexec.bat file (e.g., Set Tmp=C:\Temp), and the Temp directory does not exist, the Oracle Forms Enabler will not be able to add the Rational Test Object Testing Library to your Oracle Form file. You might receive the error "Internal error occurred. Oracle Form file unchanged." If you encounter this issue, correct the 'Set' statement in your Autoexec.bat file and reboot your system.
Robot cannot record Oracle object names while a modal dialog box (such as a message box or LOV) is displayed over your Oracle Forms application. Instead, Robot records standard object recognition information. Once you close the modal dialog box, full Oracle support for object names is reactivated.
During an Object Data capture of an Oracle LOV, Oracle might display the message "Error getting group cell." This can occur when there is an incorrect column definition for the LOV in the corresponding .SQA file. For example, the column definition in the .SQA file is specified as type 'CHAR', but in the Oracle RecordGroup object for the LOV, the column type is 'NUMBER'. This error might also occur if you are trying to capture data from an LOV that does not contain any data.
When using the Object Data verification point against an Oracle application, set focus to the block that you are going to test before you insert the verification point into your test script. If you do not do this, Robot displays the error message "Unable to capture data from this object."
You cannot use an Object Data verification point if there are any pending database changes. You will get Oracle Forms error messages if you attempt this. You must commit your changes before you use the Object Data verification point.
Robot detects only the first record for multiple record items (such as Text items, Display items, and Check Boxes). Therefore, when you insert a verification point against an object containing more than one record, place the Object Finder tool over the first row or record within the object.
Recording a Menu verification point against an Oracle application using Robot's recording toolbar may result in incorrect capture of the menu contents. The workaround is to record the Menu verification point using the Insert > Verification Point > Menu command.
A Menu verification point or a MenuSelect statement can fail on playback if the application has not initialized its menu. The generated actual file may only capture the leftmost portion of the menu. If this occurs, you can fix your test script by inserting a recording of a mouse click on the caption of the window that contains the menu. Insert the mouse click immediately before the Menu verification point or MenuSelect statement. In rare cases, you might also need to insert a DelayFor statement between the mouse click and the Menu verification point or MenuSelect statement.
On occasion, Robot might not fully capture the menus from an Oracle window. If this occurs while you are inserting a Menu verification point into your test script, click Recapture in the Menu Verification Point dialog box and reselect the Oracle menu to be tested.
Oracle applications that require a working directory other than the directory where the Oracle runtime executable file is located will not start through the SQABasic command StartApplication. Instead, use the SQABasic command SQAShellExecute. For example, to start the Rational Oracle sample applet provided with Robot, use the following command. This assumes that Oracle is installed under C:\ORAWIN95:
SQAShellExecute"C:\ORAWIN95\BIN\F50RUN32.EXE","C:\Windows\Rational\ RationalTest\SampleApplications\Oracle tryit","MODULE=ORAAPP32.FMX USERID=Rational/Rational@ODBC:RationalTest"When you use an Object Properties verification point on the console window of an Oracle application, one of the properties returned by Robot is LastDisplayedText. Oracle applications that offer ToolTips Help when the pointer is placed over certain controls can cause the console text to change frequently. Object Property verification points may fail for LastDisplayedText because during playback, Robot uses object-oriented methods that may not reproduce the exact mouse movements that were recorded. If this occurs, remove the LastDisplayedText property from the Object Properties baseline file using the Edit > Edit Property List or the Edit > Remove Property menu commands.
Robot's object properties handle recognizes all items in a canvas including items on other tab pages. To avoid problems, use the Shift key when you move the hand over the object and click when you read the correct item name.
The object data for the items on a tabpage are not always captured the first time that you populate the data. As a workaround, populate the data for the field you want to capture, and then click on another tabpage. Populate the fields on the second tabpage, and then go back to the first tabpage and perform the object data test case.
PowerBuilder Support
In PowerBuilder versions 5.0 and later, ActiveX controls embedded within DataWindows are treated as Generic.
The Robot Alphanumeric verification point cannot capture the text of a PowerBuilder RichEdit control. To test the text in a PowerBuilder RichEdit control, use the Object Properties verification point and test the "Text" property.
To capture information in a PowerBuilder grid, you must select the grid before you create a verification point.
If you develop PowerBuilder application(s) which use ODBC to connect to Microsoft data sources (such as SQL Server 7 or Microsoft Access), read the following information before installing Rational Suite TestStudio, Rational Robot, or Rational TeamTest:
The Rational Suite install may update shared components on your system with updated components provided by Microsoft. One of these shared components is MDAC (Microsoft Data Access Controls), which Rational will update to version 2.1. There is a known incompatibility between MDAC v2.1 and PowerBuilder's ODBC connectivity to Microsoft data sources. After MDAC 2.1 is installed on a system, any PowerBuilder 5.0, 6.0, or 6.5 applications on that system which use ODBC to connect to a Microsoft Access or Microsoft SQL Server 7 database will be unable to retrieve data from those databases. Sybase is aware of this incompatibility, and the latest patch kits for the aforementioned PowerBuilder versions resolve these problems. If Rational is the first product you have installed that updates your system to MDAC 2.1, and if you are a PowerBuilder developer, you may need to install one or more of these Sybase patches to fix this incompatibility after you have installed one of the Rational products. Please contact Sybase support (http://support.sybase.com) for further information.
Object Data Verification Points
If you record the selection of a range by dragging the mouse, you might find that the action does not play back reliably, especially if the grid auto-scrolls while you drag. We recommend that you record the actions as a sequence of mouse clicks. For example, click the top-left cell you want to select; then hold down the SHIFT key and click on the bottom-right cell.
If you want to use the Object Data verification point to capture all of the data associated with an Apex Data Bound Grid OCX (that is, DBGrid), do the following:
During the selection process, drag the pointer hand over the window that contains the grid, release the mouse button, and then press Browse to open the Object List dialog box.
From the object list, you can select any hidden data control object associated with the grid. You can then select a test definition of All Data.
Rational TestFactory
Working with Third-Party Controls
TestFactory does not support the mapping and testing of certain third-party controls. If the AUT contains a third-party control that TestFactory does not recognize, you can create a region object to represent the control and assign an interaction method to use on the control during mapping and testing. However, there is no guarantee that Pilots will test it correctly.
Running Test Scripts Generated for a Java AUT from Robot without Running TestFactory
If a Pilot generates a test script to test a Java AUT, and you play back the test script in Robot without running TestFactory at the same time, Robot may not be able to start the AUT. This is because Robot cannot determine the Java virtual machine that you specified in TestFactory to run the AUT. Without TestFactory running simultaneously, Robot also cannot determine what options, if any, that you specified in TestFactory to run the AUT.
To play back a Pilot-generated test script in Robot to test a Java application without running TestFactory, you must use the following:
Testing a Java Application that Runs on the Sun Java Virtual Machine
If you want to run a .jar or .class file on a computer running Windows 95 or Windows 98 using the LaunchAUT button on the TestFactory toolbar, do the following:
After you test, and before you map the AUT the next time, be sure to do the following:
SQABasic
One of the Trap options allows you to call your own error handling function written in SQABasic. Do not use a dialog box or message box (MsgBox) command from an error handling function, as this can cause the system to hang. Instead, have your function write to a file. For more information, see the SQABasic Language Reference Help.
In SQABasic, trapable error 53 (File '<filename>' not found) is used when a BasicLib module is not found during playback. (See the Declare statement in the SQABasic Language Reference Help.) If an SQABasic file has not been compiled, you will get this error when you play back a test script that tries to call a function or sub in this module.
Contacting Rational Technical Support
If you have questions about installing, using, or maintaining this product, contact Rational Technical Support as follows:
Note: When you contact Rational Technical Support, please be prepared to supply the following information:
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