http://test-techtools.blogspot.com/2007/05/silktest-and-winrunner-feature.html - - Silktest And WinRunner Feature Descriptions
FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS
For
the sake of consistency alphabetical ordering was selected to describe
SilkTest features first,followed by WinRunner features in each of the
following sections.
Startup Initialization and Configuration
•
SilkTest derives its initial startup configuration settings from its
partner.ini file. Thisthough is not important because SilkTest can be
reconfigured at any point in the session byeither changing any setting
in the Options menu or loading an Option Set.An Option Set file (*.opt)
permits customized configuration settings to be established foreach
test project. The project specific Option Set is then be loaded [either
interactively, orunder program control] prior to the execution of the
project’s testcases.The Options menu or an Option Set can also be used
to load an include file (*.inc)containing the project’s GUI
Declarations along with any number of other include files containing
library functions, methods, and variables sharedby all testcases.
•
WinRunner derives its initial startup configuration from a wrun.ini
file of settings.During startup the user is normally polled [this can
be disabled] for the type of addins theywant to use during the session
.The default wrun.ini file is used when starting WinRunner directly,
while project specificinitializations can be established by creating
desktop shortcuts which reference a projectspecific wrun.ini file. The
use of customized wrun.ini files is important because once WinRunner is
started with a selected set of addins you must terminate WinRunner and
restart it to use a different set of addins.The startup implementation
supports the notion of a startup test which can be executedduring
WinRunner initialization. This allows project-specific compiled modules
[memoryresident libraries] and GUI Maps to be loaded. The functions and
variables contained in these modules can then be used by all tests that
are run during that WinRunner session.Both tools allow most of the
configuration setup established in these files to be over-ridden
withruntime code in library functions or the test scripts.
Test Termination
• SilkTest tests terminate on exceptions which are not explicitly trapped in the testcase.
For
example if a window fails to appear during the setup phase of testing
[i.e. the phase drivingthe application to a verification point], a test
would terminate on the first object or windowtimeout exception that is
thrown after the errant window fails to appear.
•
WinRunner tests run to termination [in unattended Batch mode] unless an
explicit action is taken to terminate the test early. Therefore tests
which ignore this termination model will continue running for long
periods of time after a fatal error is encountered. For example if
awindow fails to appear during the setup phase of testing, subsequent
context sensitive statements [i.e. clicking on a button, performing a
menu pick, etc.] will fail—but this failure occurs after a multi-second
object/window “is not present” timeout expires for each missingwindow
and object. [When executing tests in non-Batch mode, that is in Debug,
Verify, orUpdate modes, WinRunner normally presents an interactive
dialog box when implicit errorssuch as missing objects and windows are
encountered].
Addins and
ExtensionsOut of the box, under Windows, both tools can interrogate and
work with objects and windowscreated with the standard Microsoft
Foundation Class (MFC) library. Objects and windows created using a
non-MFC technology [or non-standard class naming conventions] are
treated ascustom objects. But objects and windows created for web
applications [i.e. applications which run in a browser],Java
applications, Visual Basic applications, and PowerBuilder applications
are dealt with in aspecial manner:
•
SilkTest enables support for these technologies using optional
extensions. Selectedextensions are enabled/disabled in the current
Option Set [or the configuration established bythe default partner.ini
option settings].
• WinRunner
enables support for these technologies using optional addins. Selected
addins are enabled/disabled using either the Addin Manager at WinRunner
startup, or by editing the appropriate wrun.ini file prior to startup.
Note
that (1) some combinations of addins [WinRunner] and extensions
[SilkTest] are mutuallyexclusive, (2) some of these addins/extensions
may no longer be supported in the newest releasesof the tool, (3) some
of these addins/extensions may only support the last one or two
releases ofthe technology [for example version 5 and 6 of Visual Basic]
and (4) some of these addins andextensions may have to be purchased at
an addition cost.
Visual Recorders
SilkTest provides visual recorders and wizards for the following activities:
•
Creating a test frame with GUI declarations for a full application and
adding/deleting selective objects and windows in and existing GUI
declarations frame file.
•
Capturing user actions with the application into a test case, using
either context sensitive[object relative] or analog [X:Y screen
coordinate relative] recording techniques.
• Inspecting identifiers, locations and physical tags of windows and objects.
• Checking window and object bitmaps [or parts thereof].
•
Creating a verification statement [validating one or more object
properties].WinRunner provides visual recorders and wizards for the
following activities:
•
Creating an entire GUI Map for a full application and adding/deleting
selective objects andwindows in an existing GUI Map. It is also
possible to implicitly create GUI Map entries bycapturing user actions
[using the recorder described next].
•
Capturing user actions with the application into a test case, using
either context sensitive[object relative] or analog [X:Y screen
coordinate relative] recording techniques.
•
Inspecting logical names, locations and physical descriptions of
windows and objects.• Checking window and object bitmaps [or parts
thereof].
• Creating a GUI checkpoint [validating one or more object properties].
• Creating a database checkpoint [validating information in a database].
• Creating a database query [extracting information from a database].
• Locating at runtime a missing object referenced in a testcase [and then adding that object tothe GUI Map].
• Teaching WinRunner to recognize a virtual object [a bitmap graphic with functionality].
•
Creating Data Tables [used to drive a test from data stored in an
Excel-like spreadsheet].• Checking text on a non-text object [using a
built-in character recognition capability].
• Creating a synchronization point in a testcase.
•
Defining an exception handler.Some of these recorders and wizards do
not work completely for either tool against allapplications, under all
conditions. For example neither tool’s recorder to create a full GUI
Map[WinRunner] or test frame [SilkTest] works against large
applications, or any web application.Evaluate the recorders and wizards
of interest carefully against your applications if these utilitiesare
important to your automated testing efforts.
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