Rational Testing Products
Release Notes


Release 2002.05.00

Copyright © 2001 Rational Software and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
November 2001

About These Release Notes

Trademarks and Copyrights

Scope-Product Definition

Getting Started

Installation Information and System Requirements
Installation Issues
Creating the Rational Test Data Store
Message about required Internet Explorer (IE) upgrade
Upgrading from the previous release of TestManager
Evaluation Artifacts
SiteCheck Installation Notes
Upgrading from Earlier Rational Testing Products Releases
Upgrading TestFactory from Earlier Releases
Internationalization

New and Changed Features

Rational TestManager
Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing Enhancements
Windows XP Support
Internet Explorer 6.0 Support
Terminal Server Support
Logging Control
Delphi Object Tree Display Enhanced
Rational Robot: Performance Testing Enhancements
Session Recording and Script Generation Extensibility
Beta Support for the BEA WebLogic EJB Environment
Oracle support
Rational TestFactory
Robot Script Folder

Late Changes to Documentation

Rational TestFactory

Guidelines and Restrictions on Using Rational Test Products

Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing
Playback Under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage
Submitting defects in Test Log
Displaying the Euro Symbol
COM and ActiveX Controls in Internet Applications
Windows Millennium Edition
Rational Robot: Performance Testing
Unsupported Platforms for VU and VB Test Scripts
Oracle Recording
About PeopleSoft Certificates
Testing CORBA Applications
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
Browser
Charset
Customizing Files Added by Rational SiteCheck
External Links
Previously-Saved Site Maps
Scanning Large Sites
Scanning Subdirectories
Preferences
Simultaneous Connections
Rational Administrator
Unified Change Management (UCM)
UCM on Windows NT with ClearCase 5.0
SQL Anywhere Database Server
Hardware and Software Requirements for SQL Anywhere Server
Other Information about SQL Anywhere Server

Defects/Change Requests

Rational SiteCheck
Office XP
ActiveX Controls
Comparisons
File Counts and Sizes
Frames
External Links
Rational Robot
Site Monitor Issues
Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing
PowerBuilder and Japanese Operating Systems
Timeout Problem with Windows 2000
Java Support
HTML Support
Visual Basic 4.0 Support
Oracle Forms Support
PowerBuilder Support
Object Data Verification Points
Miscellaneous
Rational Robot: Performance Testing
DCOM Support
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
VU Language Reference

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.

Trademarks and Copyrights

A complete online trademark and copyright information page for all Rational products resides in the /doc subfolder of your installation folder. The file is called copyright.html, and its default location is C:/Program Files/Rational/doc.

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 Rational Testing Products Installation Guide. This manual 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

Creating the Rational Test Data Store

After installation, when creating the Rational test data store from Rational Administrator, do not specify a path containing non-ASCII characters. Also, do not use non-ASCII characters when naming any projects or log folders. If your test data store path contains non-ASCII characters, you will experience problems of varying severity, including abnormal test script termination, datapool access anomalies, and problems with verification points.

This is a particular issue when installing and using Rational products in non-English environments. This problem will be fixed in a patch.

Message about required Internet Explorer (IE) upgrade

You may see a message that indicates that you must upgrade to IE 5.0 Service Pack 2 before you can install the Rational testing products. This message is incorrect. The testing products support IE versions 5.0 and 4.0. Click on Ignore, and you will not be prevented from installing.

Upgrading from the previous release of TestManager

If you are upgrading to this release (2002.05) from the previous release of TestManager, you must remove the Nutcracker executable and restart your computer before installing the current version.

To remove the Nutcracker executable:

  1. Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
  2. Click Add/Remove Programs.
  3. Select Nutcracker, and click Remove.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Restart your computer before installing the current version.

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.

SiteCheck Installation Notes

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 is 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 from Earlier Rational Testing Products Releases

Datastores created in Rational Test Releases 2001A.04 or 2001.03 are not compatible with the latest version, 2002.05. Before TestManager or Robot Versions 2002.5 can connect to and operate against the test assets contained in the datastores, you must first use Rational Administrator to upgrade them as follows:

In the Administrator, select File > Upgrade Project Assets.

Select the .RSP file to upgrade the datastores associated with the project.

The program displays a progress dialog. When the process is complete, you can view the log generated during the upgrade.

After the datastore has been upgraded, it cannot be used with earlier versions of TestManager or Robot.

Refer to Rational Suite Administrator's Guide for more information on creating and upgrading datastores.

Refer to Rational TestManager User's Guide for more information on new features associated with the upgrade.

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.

Internationalization

New and Changed Features

Rational TestManager

For last-minute information regarding TestManager, see the Rational TestManager Release Notes (tm_readme.html in the doc folder of your installation directory).

Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing Enhancements

Windows XP Support

Robot supports Windows XP running on computers with a 32-bit architecture. Robot also supports Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, and Windows 98. Windows 95 is no longer supported. Robot session recording is supported only on Windows 2000, Window NT, and Windows XP Professional.

Internet Explorer 6.0 Support

Robot now supports recording and playing back scripts on Internet Explorer 6.0.

Terminal Server Support

For functional testing, Rational Robot supports the following Terminal Server environments:

Both the application under test and Robot are installed on the server. From within the client session you can launch both the application under test and Rational Robot to run on the server. TestManager Log Viewer edition can be run from the server or from within the client session.

Robot requires floating licenses for terminal servers.

Note: Make sure that the screen resolution for the client matches the screen resolution on the server.

Logging Control

The main toolbar now has a Log button to turn logging results on and off. It appears automatically in Release 2002.05. If you are upgrading from an earlier release, you can add the button to the main toolbar as follows:

Delphi Object Tree Display Enhanced

The search algorithm used for Delphi objects has been enhanced to fix many problems with Delphi object recognition. As a result of this change, the Delphi Object Tree now lists the correct parent-child relationships for all objects, and consequently the record strings may have changed. Scripts recorded in previous versions may not play back under version 2002.05. If you upgrade to this version, you may have to rerecord your scripts.

Rational Robot: Performance Testing Enhancements

For performance testing playback enhancements, see "Performance Testing Enhancements" in the TestManager release notes (tm_readme.html).

Session Recording and Script Generation Extensibility

Robot now supports customer-written recording and script generation adapters. This new framework is explained in the Session Recording and Script Generation Extensibility Reference.

Beta Support for the BEA WebLogic EJB Environment

Robot now includes Beta-level adapters that record BEA WebLogic EJB sessions in XML session files and generate Java test scripts that can be played back from Rational TestManager. The new adapters are described in Chapter 1 of the Session Recording and Script Generation Extensibility Reference. Chapter 6 of the Rational Robot User's Guide explains how to select these adapters to record WebLogic sessions.

To obtain support for this innovative WebLogic EJB performance testing technology, you must join the WebLogic EJB Beta program. Information on joining this program can be found at the following URL: ftp://exchange.rational.com/exchange/outgoing/Robot/EJB_Beta_invitation.doc

Oracle support

Rational Robot session recording now supports recording of applications that use two additional Oracle 8 datatypes (CLOB and BLOB), as well as Oracle sessions. An Oracle 8 session defines a user's roles and privileges (also known as the user's security domain), and the operational context in which SQL calls execute. Client applications that use sessions may thread several sessions over a single connection to the database.

Rational TestFactory

Robot Script Folder

With the Robot Script folder you can view and run scripts that were created in Robot from TestFactory. This new feature enables you to:

Refer to TestFactory online Help for more information.

Late Changes to Documentation

Rational TestFactory

Rational TestFactory User's Guide refers to a standalone source instrumentor for Visual Basic applications called sqa7sci. The correct name is rtsci.

Guidelines and Restrictions on Using Rational Test Products

Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing

Playback Under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage

Keep the following in mind during Robot playback under Purify, Quantify, or PureCoverage (PQC):

Submitting defects in Test Log

If after submitting a defect in the Test Log Window, you want to log into a different datastore or project, or log in as a different user, TestManager may not display the login dialog after restart. In this case you must either log off the operating system and log back in (if you are running on Windows NT or later), or bring up Task Manager, and terminate the CQINTSRV11.EXE process. You can then log in to another datastore or project, or log in as a different user.

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.

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:

Rational Robot: Performance Testing

Unsupported Platforms for VU and VB Test Scripts

Session recording and generation of VU language and DCOM test scripts are not supported for Windows Me and Windows 98.

Oracle Recording

The Network recording method is not supported with Oracle 8 or with Oracle arrays. The API recording method is supported with Oracle 8 and Oracle arrays.

About PeopleSoft Certificates

When Robot creates test scripts that contain PeopleSoft traffic (Tuxedo or Jolt), TestManager automatically correlates any PeopleSoft certificate information required for proper client authentication during playback. The correlations take the form of string variables, declared with the prefix psft_cert, and various operations on them. The following code shows a typical example of certificate correlation in a PeopleSoft/Jolt test script:

 1  sock_send
2    jolt_request(0, jolt_sessionid_1, jolt_handlerid_1, 3,
3      jolt_dataxfer(jolt_sessionid_1, JOLT_CALL_RQST,
4        jolt_setatt_name("GetCertificate") +
5        jolt_setatt_version(1) +
6        jolt_setatt_flags(4) +
7        jolt_setatt_data(
8          jolt_setpar_carray(1,
9 "`000000480102030400000000000002bcffffffff0000001f0004`SCTX"
10 "`0a`JavaClient`02`PS`02`PS`00000000000000150008`SCertReq`0"
11            "2`PS`02`PS`00`"))));
12
13  sock_nrecv ["suzy027h"] jolt_response_header();
14  sock_nrecv ["suzy027b"] jolt_response_body();
15  { string psft_cert_1; }
16  psft_cert_1 = "`" + substr(mixed2hexstring(jolt_getpar_carray(1)), 
72, 32) +
17      "`";
18  set Think_avg = 230;
19
20  sock_send
21    jolt_request(0, jolt_sessionid_1, jolt_handlerid_1, 4,
22      jolt_dataxfer(jolt_sessionid_1, JOLT_GETDEF_RQST,
22        jolt_setatt_repname("SVC`2f`StmGetTimeOut")));
23
24  sock_nrecv ["suzy028h"] jolt_response_header();
25  sock_nrecv ["suzy028b"] jolt_response_body();
26  set Think_avg = 240;
27
28  sock_send
29    jolt_request(0, jolt_sessionid_1, jolt_handlerid_1, 5,
30      jolt_dataxfer(jolt_sessionid_1, JOLT_CALL_RQST,
31        jolt_setatt_name("StmGetTimeOut") +
32        jolt_setatt_version(1) +
33        jolt_setatt_flags(4) +
34        jolt_setatt_data(
35          jolt_setpar_carray(1,
36 "`0000005a0102030400000000000002bcffffffff0000002f0004`SCTX"
37 "`0a`JavaClient`02`PS`02`PS`10`"+ psft_cert_1 +
38 "`00000000000017000e`SGetTimeOutReq`02`PS"))));\

In lines 15 and 16 a certificate correlation variable, psft_cert_1, is declared and assigned a value based on the contents of a previous Jolt response message. The variable is then properly applied to the contents of a subsequent Jolt request message in line 37.

Because this feature is necessary for proper playback of PeopleSoft test scripts, do not change the contents of the certification correlation variables or change the variable's position within the context of the surrounding message data. Doing so improperly may cause corrupt messages to be sent to the application-under-test, leading to unpredictable results. Should correlation variable manipulation be necessary, however, all automatically scripted variables represent 16 bytes of certificate data, in hexstring form, delimited by single backquotes ("`"), for a total of 34 text characters (16 * 2 + 2). For example, "`664d689999999999c99a9ac9c9c9c9c9`".

Testing CORBA Applications

To test CORBA applications with Robot, you must have the following software installed:

CORBA IDL

IDL (Interface Definition Language) defines an application's interfaces, including method names, parameters, data types, and exceptions. You can use IDL to map to many languages for implementation. To record test scripts in Robot and play back test scripts in TestManager with methods, parameter names, and data described in a meaningful way, you must import the application's IDL into TestManager before test script generation.

To import IDL into TestManager:

The information imported is stored in the project for use by TestManager at test script generation and play back. You will not be able to play back test scripts until the IDL has been imported into TestManager.

TestManager stores the IDL information within the project based on the interface name.

If you do not load all the IDL prior to test script generation, some methods may script opaquely. That is, method parameter names will not be listed. Instead, only a single parameter with the name "*" is listed, and all data is asciified hexadecimal.

IDL files sometimes include other IDL files. If include path information is not relative, you may have to specify an IDL include path. You may specify such a path using the IDLINCLUDE environment variable. For example, IDLINCLUDE=d:\myidl;d:\otheridl.

CORBA Recording

Recording of CORBA applications is similar to recording of other environments. Both Network and API recording methods are supported.

Before recording, you must select IIOP in the Generator Filtering tab of the Session Record Options dialog box in Rational Robot. IIOP traffic between client and server is used to produce VU test scripts.

CORBA/IIOP Test Script Generation

After recording, a VU test script is produced that describes the interactions between client and server. There are two common IIOP VU emulation commands:

You can limit the scripting of client traffic to a particular computer using the LT7_IIOPCLIENTIP environment variable. For example, LT7_IIOPCLIENTIP=137.162.195.135.

By default, IDL sequences are scripted with a limit of ten members. You can increase this number using the LT7_DEFAULT_SEQUENCE_SIZE environment variable. For example, LT7_DEFAULT_SEQUENCE_SIZE=20.

In each case, the variable is set in the Environment tab of the System Properties dialog box under the Control Panel.

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:

If you change the size of the system font after you map the AUT and then try to run a Pilot, the Pilot run fails. TestFactory sees the controls that contain the changed text as unmapped controls.

Work-around:

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:

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. You must use either 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

Browser

The integrated Browser and ActiveScan View require Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 4.0 or later. ActiveScan View does not work with Netscape Navigator or other browsers that cannot be embedded into an application.

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. 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:

# Files on Site
Recommended Memory
Recommended OS
Up to 1,000
64 MB
Windows 98, Me, 2000, or NT
1,001 to 5,000
96 MB
Windows 98, Me, 2000, or NT
5,001 to 20,000
128 MB
Windows 98, Me, 2000, or NT
20,001 to 50,000
256 MB
NT, 2000
50,000 and over
512 MB
NT, 2000

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 tab on the Set Scan Parameters dialog box 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 Set Scan Parameters dialog box.

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 as follows:

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.

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.

UCM on Windows NT with ClearCase 5.0

A possible problem has been identified on Windows NT 4.0 when ClearCase 5.0 is installed. After performing a UCM datastore operation from the Rational Administrator (such as create a datastore, check-in all, add to or remove from source control), we suggest you shut down and restart Rational Administrator before attempting another such operation.

SQL Anywhere Database Server

Hardware and Software Requirements for SQL Anywhere Server

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

Defects/Change Requests

This section describes currently open defects.

Rational SiteCheck

Office XP

Under certain configurations of running SiteCheck on a Windows 2000 mcomputer with Office XP installed, you may see a hang when SiteCheck goest to scan a site. One possible cause for this hang may be due to installing Office XP with the option to install only certain Office components on demand or on an as needed basis.

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.

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.

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

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.

If you use Microsoft products, such as Word, to save files in HTML format, some links in the file may appear as broken, for example:

<link rel=File-List href="./filelist.xml">
<link rel=Edit-Time-Data href="./editdata.mso">
<link rel =File-List href="./oledata.mso">

These are references to files that do not exist. (This problem is known to Microsoft and may disappear in later versions.) Use Source View to remove them, or use the Exclude feature to ignore them.

Rational Robot

Opening from the Verification Point Frame

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.

Proxy Server Configuration

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 change the Proxy Server settings for the current scan:

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.

Rational Robot: General and Functional Testing

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:

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:

Java Support

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 this StringValue is set to 1, Browser SetApplet commands are generated whenever needed and not just when rendered inside a browser.

HTML Support

Visual Basic 4.0 Support

Oracle Forms Support

PowerBuilder Support

Object Data Verification Points

Miscellaneous

You can 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 Sub
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.
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

Rational Robot: Performance Testing

DCOM Support

  1. The customer must have Visual Basic 6 installed on the local computers (also referred to as the "master computer") where DCOM session recording and/or script execution is to be performed. Visual Basic 6 is the language of DCOM scripts created by Robot session recording.
  2. Client applications and server components written in the following languages are not supported:
    • Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)
    • Visual Basic 5
    • Visual J++
Server components written in C/C++ that cannot be called by a Visual Basic 6 application are not supported.
  1. Only passing of OLE Automation data types between client and server are supported. Passing of other data types is not supported in the Visual Basic scripting language, which is the scripting language used by Robot session recording for DCOM scripts. Visual Basic client applications can only use non-OLE Automation data types via rarely-used work-arounds; therefore, clients written in Visual Basic typically will not be affected by this restriction. Applications written in C/C++ or Java may use non-OLE Automation data types in client-server communication. Any use of non-OLE Automation data types by the application under test will not be reflected in the test script, and will most likely result in scripts that do not execute properly. Should Robot session recording detect non-OLE Automation data types, it will provide a message during script generation.
  2. The DCOM session recorder works only with DCOM applications that use either OLE32.dll or OLEAUT32.dll for DCOM communications. For example, applications based on J-Integra may use DCOM communications that go through neither OLE32.dll nor OLEAUT32.dll, in which case no traffic is recorded and no test scripts are generated for the session.
  3. The type libraries for all server components accessed by the client application must be available on the computer where DCOM session recording is performed. For server components written in Visual Basic, the type libraries will always be embedded in the respective DLLs, and will thus be readily available. For non-Visual Basic server components, type libraries must be installed and registered on the local computer via the installation of the COM+ application proxy (.msi file, for server components hosted Windows 2000 and later) or Microsoft Transaction Server package (.pak, for server components hosted on Windows NT).
Alternative component registration methods are not supported for server components not written in Visual Basic.

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 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

Allows the use of wildcard characters in the Value field to include items that have any alphanumeric text character(s) in particular character positions. The wildcard characters are percentage (%) for a string of characters and underscore(_) for a single character position. The Like operator works only with alphanumeric text data fields and is case-sensitive.

VU Language Reference

In the printed manual (VU Language Reference), the documentation for DATAPOOL_CONFIG states that DP_SHARED is the default share option flag for datapools. In fact, the default access flag is DP_PRIVATE. In the online help, DATAPOOL_CONFIG is correctly documented.

Contacting Rational Technical Support

If you have questions about installing, using, or maintaining this product, contact Rational Technical Support as follows:

Your Location
Telephone
Facsimile
E-mail
North America
(800) 433-5444
(toll free)
(408) 863-4000
Cupertino, CA
(781) 676-2460
Lexington, MA
support@rational.com
Europe, Middle East, Africa
+31 (0) 20-4546-200
Netherlands
+31 (0) 20-4545-201
Netherlands
support@europe.rational.com
Asia Pacific
+61-2-9419-0111
Australia
+61-2-9419-0123
Australia
support@apac.rational.com

Note: When you contact Rational Technical Support, please be prepared to supply the following information:



Rational Software Corporation
http://www.rational.com
sales@rational.com
info@rational.com