Rational Testing Products
Release Notes
Release 2002.05.20
Copyright © 2002 Rational Software and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
June 2002About These Release Notes
- Trademarks and Copyrights
- Crystal Reports Information
Getting Started
- Installation Information and System Requirements
- Installation Issues
- Installation Directories
- Message About Required Internet Explorer (IE) Upgrade
- Evaluation Artifacts
- SiteCheck Installation Notes
- Installation of Rational Testing Products on Non-English Versions of Operating Systems
- Test Agent Installation
- Installing Linux/Unix Test Agents
- Upgrading from Earlier Rational Testing Products Releases
- Uninstalling the Nutcracker Operating Environment Before Upgrade
- Upgrading Test Datastores
- Upgrading TestFactory from Earlier Releases
- Creating the Rational Test Datastore
- Internationalization
New and Changed Features
- New Testing Tool: RobotJ
- RobotJ and TestManager
- Network Installation of RobotJ
- 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
- BEA WebLogic EJB Session Recording and Script Generation Adapters
- Oracle Support
- NTLM Feature Enhancement
- 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
- API Recording of Internet Explorer
- DCOM Support
- 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
- Double-byte Character Limitations on Datastore Names
- Changing Test Datastore Type
- SQL Anywhere Database Server
- Hardware and Software Requirements for SQL Anywhere Server
- Other Information about SQL Anywhere Server
- Miscellaneous
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
- Incorrect Script Playback on Systems Using Windows XP Default Display Scheme
- Miscellaneous
- 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
This release contains several usability and quality enhancements relative to the previous release, as well as several new features.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.
Crystal Reports Information
As of May 1, 2002, licenses for Rational Products no longer include a copy and/or license of Crystal Reports. Licenses of Rational Products acquired prior to May 1, 2002 that included a copy and/or license of Crystal Reports are not affected.
Any reference to Crystal Reports in the Rational Product documentation applies only to copies and/or licenses of Crystal Reports you have rightfully licensed.
Please contact Crystal Decisions, Inc. for information concerning purchasing Crystal Reports Professional Version 8.0 for use with Rational Products. You can purchase Crystal Reports Professional Version 8.0 from the Crystal Decisions, Inc. web site at www.crystaldecisions.com or by contacting them directly:
Crystal Decisions, Inc.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
www.crystaldecisions.comGetting Started
Installation Information and System Requirements
The Rational Testing Products Installation Guide contains complete installation instructions and system requirements. The 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
Installation Directories
Do not install Rational testing products to the root directory of a drive.
Do not install to a directory path that contains non-ASCII or double-byte characters.
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.
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.
Installation of Rational Testing Products on Non-English Versions of Operating Systems
When installing Rational testing products on non-English versions of operating systems, do not install to a directory path that contains non-ASCII characters. The directory path should contain ASCII characters only.
Test Agent Installation
Rational test products installation no longer uses the agent_install script to install Unix Agents. Instead, to install Unix or Linux Agents, use the following procedure. Information in this document about test Agent installation supersedes the instructions found in the Rational Testing Products Installation Guide.
Installing Linux/Unix Test Agents
To install Agent software on a Linux or Unix computer:
- Logon to the system as a superuser.
- Mount the Test Agent CD using the mount command specific to your system. For example:
- Copy the agent to your machine's temporary directory based on your operating system type. For example:
- Change directory to the temporary directory.
- Unzip the agent tar file using gzip.
- Make a directory where the agent is to reside.
- Change directory to the agent target directory.
- Un-tar the agent into the target directory.
- Set the RATL_RTHOME environment variable to the target directory.
- Add the target directory to the PATH.
- If you are on a Solaris machine only, check the content of the LD_LIBRARY_PATH variable (echo $LD_LIBRARY_PATH) and make sure that /usr/openwin/lib is included. If it is not, then add it using the following sequence:
- Change directory to the bin subdirectory under the target directory.
- Start the agent process.
Upgrading from Earlier Rational Testing Products Releases
Uninstalling the Nutcracker Operating Environment Before Upgrade
If you are upgrading to this release (2002.05) from a previous release of any Rational testing product, you must remove the Nutcracker operating environment and restart your computer before installing the current version.
To remove the Nutcracker executable:
Note: If you are uninstalling a version of Nutcracker installed with a version of Rational Testing products prior to release 2002.05, select Nutcracker, and click Remove.
- Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
- Click Add/Remove Programs.
- Select MKS Platform Components 7.x, and click Remove.
- Click OK.
- Restart your computer before installing the current version of the Rational testing product.
Upgrading Test Datastores
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 the Rational Suite Administrator's Guide for more information on creating and upgrading datastores.
Refer to the 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.
Creating the Rational Test Datastore
After installation, when creating the Rational test datastore 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 datastore 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.
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
New Testing Tool: RobotJ
Rational RobotJ is an object-oriented automated testing tool that enables you to test Java and HTML applications running on the Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Linux platforms. Use RobotJ to:
- Perform full functional testing. Record and play back scripts that navigate through your application and test the state of objects through verification points.
- Create and edit simple and easy to read object-oriented test scripts. In addition to automatically recording test scripts, RobotJ contains wizards for generating code; for example, for automatically creating a verification point. RobotJ's test scripts are implemented as Java programs.
- Perform cross-browser record and play back of Web applications.
Note: Information about RobotJ is in a separate release notes file. The RobotJ release notes contain important information for use of this new product, including information about the installation, the RobotJ documentation, and known technical issues.
- Uses ScriptAssure object recognition technology to provide robust and flexible scripts.
- Creates an object map that lets you update object properties once and propagate the updates to all scripts that use that map.
- Includes integration with Rational ClearCase.
To access the RobotJ Release Notes:
RobotJ and TestManager
When you associate a RobotJ datastore with a Rational project, you can:
- Create and play back scripts, including RobotJ scripts, from Rational TestManager.Use the TestManager Agent to play back scripts on a remote computer.
- View scripts from the Test Scripts window of Rational TestManager.
You can use the Test Log window of TestManager to:
- Open a test log to view a result.
- Filter the data of a test log to view only the information you need.
- Open the test script that generates a log event in the appropriate test script development tool. For example, if you create a RobotJ script and run it from TestManager, when you click on a log event, Rational RobotJ opens and displays the script.
- Analyze the results of a test log using the Verification Point Comparator. If you use Rational RobotJ to record scripts, you can analyze the results in the Verification Point Comparator to determine why a verification point may have failed.
- Submit a defect for a failed test case or for a failed log event. The test log automatically fills in build, configuration, and script information in the Rational ClearQuest defect form.
- Preview or print data displayed in the active test log in the Test Log window.
Network Installation of RobotJ
When installing RobotJ from the network using the Network Install installation type, RobotJ will not work if you install it from the network using the UNC path. Instead, map the network location to a drive letter first and then do the installation from the network.
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:
- Citrix MetaFrame (WIN2K)/Citrix MetaFrame client
- Microsoft Terminal (WIN2K)/Microsoft Terminal Server Client
- Windows 2000 Server
- Windows Terminal Server (Windows NT 4)
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:
- Click View > Toolbars > Customize, or right-click the toolbar and click Customize.
- Click the Commands tab.
- In the File category, drag the Log button to the main toolbar. Make sure you release the mouse button within the toolbar.
- Click OK to close the Customize dialog box.
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.
BEA WebLogic EJB Session Recording and Script Generation Adapters
Robot now includes sample 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.
Please note that these adapters are provided only as samples of session recording and script generation extensibility, and do not provide production-level support for direct testing of WebLogic EJB interfaces.
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.
NTLM Feature Enhancement
Rational Robot HTTP session recording and TestManager VU script execution now supports Microsoft Windows NT Challenge/Response Authentication (NTLM).
When Robot discovers the use of NTLM while recording a session, it automatically scripts NTLMAuth connection tokens in the corresponding http_request emulation commands. The NTLMAuth tokens provide playback with the necessary credentials to satisfy the authentication challenge. Robot asks the user for password credentials during script generation, which are then stored in the RTAuthentication datapool.
The NTLMAuth connection token consists of a semi-colon separated list of credential fields of the form:
NTLMAuth=[Negotiate-Hostname];[Negotiate-Domainname];[Authenticate-Hostname];[Authenticate-Domainname];[Authenticate-Username]
The fields are populated with appropriate values during script generation, which may then be replaced with other valid credentials by the user as desired in the Robot editor. It is not unusual for some fields of the token to be empty.
D192_168_240_128_3 = http_request ["t2_5006"] "192.168.240.128:779" "NTLMAuth=;;MYHOST;MYDOMAIN;tester2" HTTP_CONN_DIRECT,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:
- Rename a Robot script
- Add a Robot script as an interaction object component
- Refresh Robot scripts
- Add a Robot script as a start-up or clean-up script in the Pilot dialog box
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):
- 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.
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:
- 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 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:
- Windows 2000 or Windows NT Version 4.0 with at least Service Pack 4
- VisiBroker (C++ or Java) Version 3.3
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:
- Click Tools > Interfaces.
- From the Interfaces dialog box, click Import.
- From the Select IDL File dialog box, browse to find and choose the IDL file to import.
- Click OK.
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:
- iiop_bind, which describes how to locate an object that supports a certain interface.
- iiop_invoke, which specifies a method invocation, including parameter names and data.
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.
API Recording of Internet Explorer
When performing API recording of Internet Explorer, disable script debugging to avoid abnormal browser behavior that may cause a session to record improperly.
To disable script debugging in Internet Explorer:
- From Microsoft Internet Explorer, click Tools > Internet Options.
- Click the Advanced tab.
- Under Browsing settings, click Disable Script Debugging.
- Click OK.
DCOM Support
- When recording DCOM scripts, avoid using commandID prefix strings with spaces. Scriptgen may have difficulty interpreting the spaces and thus cause Robot to hang.
- 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.
- Client applications and server components written in the following languages are not supported:
- 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 workarounds; 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.
- 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.
- 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
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.
- Change back to the system font size used previously.
- 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 then try to run a Pilot, the Pilot run fails. TestFactory sees the controls that contain the changed text as unmapped controls.
- 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.
- 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. 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 application-under-test 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: Installation Guide: Rational Suite or Installation Guide: 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:
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:
- On the Set Scan Parameters dialog box, click the Settings tab.
- Change the default setting for Number of Connections.
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:
- You use Rational ClearQuest to manage UCM activities, and
- You place a RequisitePro project or a Rational Test datastore under configuration control
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 set mistakenly, you see the error message "Source control could not set activity." To work around this issue:
- Start the Rational Administrator and connect to a Rational project.
- Right-click the UCM project and click Properties
- On the ClearQuest tab, unset the policy.
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.
Double-byte Character Limitations on Datastore Names
There is a known issue when naming datastores in double-byte foreign characters that have backslash (code 5C) in the second byte. The datastore works correctly when renamed so that the second byte of a double-byte character is not code 5C (backslash).
Changing Test Datastore Type
To change a datastore type from Microsoft Access to SQL, always upgrade the project assets first (including the datastore itself), then change the datastore type.
- From the Rational Administrator, click File > Upgrade Project Assets.
- Choose the project to upgrade and click OK.
- The Rational Administrator warns you that the upgrade cannot be reversed and that all data should be backed up. Click OK.
- From the Rational Administrator, connect to the project for which you want to change datastore type. Right-click the project and choose Connect.
- Click on the Rational Test Datastore for the project and click Edit > Properties.
- Click Advanced Database Setup.
- Change the database type from "Use Microsoft Access for database engine" to "Use Sybase SQL Anywhere for database engine."
- Type in the database server name and host name or IP address, and choose the appropriate protocol for the SQL server.
- Click OK.
- Click Close at the Test Datastore Properties dialog box.
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.
- Pentium processor
- 64 MB memory
- 100 MB disk space
- TCP/IP
- Novell NetWare software is no longer supported for network servers.
Other Information about SQL Anywhere Server
- In this release, Rational ClearQuest uses the SQL Anywhere Server. You can also specify SQL Anywhere Server for a Test Datastore.
- 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.
- Windows 2000 users should rename the file iphlpapi.dll in the Rational Test directory to iphlpapi.dlx to avoid problems when connecting to a SQL Anywhere datastore.
Miscellaneous
- Use only Rational testing products, such as Rational Administrator, to modify and manipulate test assets. Do not use, for example, Cleartool, a ClearCase command line utility, to modify test assets, particularly when test asset file names include a space.
Defects/Change Requests
This section describes currently open defects.
Rational SiteCheck
Office XP
Under certain configurations running SiteCheck on a Windows 2000 computer with Office XP installed, the system may hang when SiteCheck goes to scan a site. One possible cause for this may be installing Office XP with 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:
- Right-click on the verification point and click View Baseline.
- Click Reload in the SiteCheck toolbar.
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:
- Start SiteCheck.
- Click the Proxy tab on the Set Scan Parameters dialog box.
- Enter the values manually.
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, create the following registry setting:
- Click Start > Run.
- Type Regedit.
- Double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Rational Software > Rational Test > Robot > PowerBuilder.
- Right-click, and then click New > String Value.
- Type DropDownDWRecordOptions with a value of 7.
- Exit the Registry editor.
- Restart Robot.
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:
- Start Rational Robot.
- Before you start playback, click Tools > GUI Playback Options.
- Click the Diagnostic Tools tab.
- Click Rational Purify.
- Click Use timeout multiplier and type a value three times higher than the default setting.
- Click OK.
Java Support
- When you use Robot to test a Java applet running in Internet Explorer, 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 rtxmj.dll and the rtsys.dll 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:
- 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. Rebooting clears the connection between Explorer and Robot.
- The Java Extensibility API documentation is not expanded by the Java Enabler. A javaapi.exe file is placed in the "<rational_dir>\Rational Test\JavaEnabler" directory. The workaround is to run javaapi.exe to extract all of the files from this zip file into the same directory.
- 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\JavaAlwaysUseBrowserSetApplet- When 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.
- 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, the Browser NewPage can be manually coded to make the test script work as expected.
Visual Basic 4.0 Support
- To test Visual Basic 4.0 (32-bit version only) 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.
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.
- 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.
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.
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.
Incorrect Script Playback on Systems Using Windows XP Default Display Scheme
When using Rational Robot on Windows XP using the default Windows XP display appearance theme, scripts recorded on systems using a Windows Classic theme may not play back correctly. This is because edit boxes, and thus data placement, display differently on the default Windows XP theme and on the Windows Classic theme. To work around this, change the display appearance theme to a Windows Classic setting.
To modify the display appearance scheme:
- Click Start > Settings > Control Panel.
- Double-click Display.
- Click the Appearance tab.
- Choose Windows Classic from the Windows and Buttons list.
- Click OK.
Miscellaneous
- 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."
- 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- In 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=MyLocalVariable- Some 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 now recognizes borderless MDI child windows as context windows. as show in these examples:
- Robot does not support record and playback actions against AVI/VRML objects embedded in HTML via the following tag:
<IMG DYNSRC=>- To correct a playback problem with Object Properties, a code change was made that affected ThunderUserControls. ThunderUserControls recognition strings that were "Name=..." now are "Type=OCX;Name=". Previously recorded scripts may need to be modified to reflect this change.
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:
- For .class files, use Java.
- For .jar files, use Java with the -jar option.
- For .html files, use appletviewer.
- For .bat files, just execute.
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:
- In the autoexec.bat file, enter the following environment variable:
set PURE_VPC_95=1- Restart your computer.
After you test, and before you map the AUT the next time, be sure to do the following:
- Click Tools > Options, and then click the Project tab.
- Under Known provider, click Virtual machine and Sun.
- Click OK.
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.
- The online help section called Filter Operator Types > Operator = Like has incorrect wildcard references (incorrectly referenced as asterisk(*) and question mark(?)). The text for the purpose of the Like operator should read as follows:
- 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:
Note: When you contact Rational Technical Support, please be prepared to supply the following information:
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