Getting started with test complete 7

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Introducing Automated Testing and TestComplete
The PDF version of this file is available at http://www.automatedqa.com/downloads/tc.asp.
* Windows and the Windows logo are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.
www.automatedqa.com TestComplete by AutomatedQA Corporation
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCING AUTOMATED TESTING AND TESTCOMPLETE....................................................4
CREATING YOUR FIRST TEST..............................................................................................................10
WHERE TO GO NEXT...............................................................................................................................31
INDEX...........................................................................................................................................................33
© 2009 AutomatedQA Corp. www.automatedqa.com/support
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Creating Your First Test
Automated Testing
Software testing is the process of investigating an application and finding errors in it. The difference
between testing and simply exploring is that testing involves comparing the application’s output to an
expected standard and determining whether the application functions as expected. In other words, the tester
may need not only to ensure that the application displays a list of values, but also to verify that the list
contains the appropriate values.
So, the basic test sequence includes --
• Defining the expected output.
• Performing test actions (feeding the appropriate input).
• Gathering the application output and comparing it to expected result (baseline data).
• Notifying developers or managers if the comparison fails.
Automated testing is the automatic execution of software testing by a special program with little or no
human interaction. Automated execution guarantees that no test action will be skipped; it relieves testers of
having to repeat the same boring steps over and over.
TestComplete provides special features for automating test actions, defining baseline data, running tests and
logging test results. It also includes special dialogs and wizards that help you automate comparison
commands (or checkpoints) in your tests.
Test Types
TestComplete supports various testing types and methodologies: unit testing, functional and GUI testing,
regression testing, distributed testing and others (see Different Ways of Testing in TestComplete Help). In
this tutorial, we will create a functional test – the kind that is used most often. Functional tests check the
interface between the application on one side and the rest of the system and users on the other side. They
verify that the application functions as expected.
A typical functional test consists of test commands that perform various actions such as simulating clicks and
keystrokes, running test commands in a loop and verifying objects’ contents.
In TestComplete, functional tests can be created in the form of keyword tests and scripts. Tests of both
kinds can be recorded or created from scratch with built-in editors. Creating keyword tests is visual, easy
and does not require a programming background. Scripting requires understanding script commands, but
gives you the ability to create more powerful and flexible tests. TestComplete supports scripting in VBScript,
JScript, DelphiScript, C++Script and C#Script, so you can create scripts in the language you know best.
In this tutorial, we will use the keyword testing feature.
4

Automated Testing
TestComplete Projects and Project Items
TestComplete operates with test projects and project suites. A project is a starting point for creating tests. It
contains your tests, baseline data for checkpoints, information about tested applications and other items
needed to perform testing. The project also defines the execution sequence of multiple tests and contains a
cumulative log of all test runs since the start of the project.
One project could contain all the tests for your application. For complex applications, you may choose to
devote a project to just one part of the application, and other projects to other parts (normally, modules).
Related projects can be united into a project suite that contains one or more projects. TestComplete
automatically generates a project suite when you create a new project. You can also create empty project
suites and then use TestComplete’s dialogs to fill the suite with the desired project files.
Project items are project elements that perform or assist in performing various testing operations.
You can view and manage projects, project suites and project items in TestComplete’s Project Explorer
panel:
For complete information on project items available in TestComplete, see About Project Items in
TestComplete Help.
5

TestComplete User Interface
Here is a sample image of TestComplete’s main window:
As you can see, TestComplete’s user interface is organized into a number of panels. The Project Explorer
panel (on the left of the window) displays the contents of projects and the project suite. It also provides links
to the test log nodes.
The Workspace panel is your working desktop: it displays the project’s and project items’ editors, where
you create and modify tests and view test results. For instance, on the image above you can see the Keyword
Test editor opened in the Workspace.
Besides the Project Explorer and Workspace, TestComplete contains other panels. For example, the Watch
List, Locals, Breakpoints and Call Stack panels are used for test debugging. The To Do panel manages a list
of tasks to be done and the Code Explorer panel provides a convenient way to explore script contents and
navigate through script units.
The Object Browser panel holds one major TestComplete function that does not belong to a specific project:
it shows the list of all processes and windows that exist on the machine. For each process and window it
shows methods and properties accessible externally through TestComplete facilities. In other words, the
Object Browser tells you which objects, methods and properties are available for testing, and how to get to
them. See Exploring Application Properties in TestComplete Help.
To learn about a panel, click within this panel and then press F1. This will open the panel’s description.
6

Automated Testing
You use menus and toolbars to command TestComplete to perform certain actions. Its menu subsystem is
similar to the menus and toolbars of Microsoft Visual Studio and other popular Windows applications. You
can change the toolbars location, move items from one menu or toolbar to another, hide items, add hidden
items back and perform other tasks. For more information, see Toolbars Customization in TestComplete
Help.
TestComplete Test Object Model
The object structure is shown in the Object Browser panel:
TestComplete uses a tree-like model for test objects. The root nodes are Sys for desktop applications and
windows and PDA for programs running on Windows Mobile devices connected to your computer.
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Process objects correspond to applications running in the operating system. We use the term process rather
than application because it corresponds to the concept of processes in Windows documentation.
A process object’s name includes the name of the process executable and its index (the index is used only if
several application instances are running):
The processes have child objects – windows – that correspond to top-level windows. These objects in their
turn have other child window objects that correspond to controls. The window and control names depend on
whether or not the test engine has access to internal methods and properties of the application under test.
TestComplete works with applications of both types, but names their windows and controls in different
ways.
 Black-box applications
Applications that do not provide access to their internal methods and properties are called black-box
applications. The name of each window of such applications includes the window’s class name, the
window’s text or title (caption) and its index. Controls are named in the same manner as windows,
because in terms of the operating system, a control is just another type of a window:
8

Automated Testing
 White-Box Applications
Applications that expose their internal objects, methods and properties to TestComplete are called
white-box applications or Open Applications. They are marked with the icon in the Object
Browser (see the image below).
To address windows and controls of Open Applications, TestComplete uses the names that reflect
the window or control type and the name defined in the application’s sources. For instance, if you
have a form named MainForm in a C# application created with the Microsoft WinForms library,
then TestComplete will address this form as WinFormsObject("MainForm"):
For detailed information on naming processes, windows and controls, see Naming Objects in TestComplete
Help.
Note: It is recommended that, whenever possible, your tests work with Open Applications rather than
black-box applications. This enables the test engine to access the application’s internal methods
and properties, allowing you to create more powerful and flexible tests.
Some applications like .NET, WPF, Visual Basic, Java or Web are always “open” to
TestComplete. Others may need to be compiled in a special way. For more information on this,
see Open Applications in TestComplete Help.
Checkpoints and Stores
A typical test performs many comparisons. For instance, if a test simulates user actions for exporting an
application’s data to a file, you will need to check whether the file contains valid data. To perform this check,
you will compare the resulting file with a baseline copy. This is only one example of a comparison that you
may need to perform. Real-life tests include hundreds if not thousands of comparisons. Every form of testing
(regression, unit, functional and so on) needs a validated reference during automation.
With TestComplete you can easily add comparison commands (or checkpoints) to your tests. You can create
checkpoints both during test recording and at design time. TestComplete offers checkpoints for comparing
different types of data: images, files, object text and properties, XML documents, database tables, etc.
TestComplete includes the Stores project item that is used to store baseline data for these checkpoints. This
project item is a container for images, files and other elements that are stored along with the project for
comparison purposes. The only exception is checkpoints that verify object properties: the baseline data for
them is specified in tests.
For more information on creating checkpoints and verification code, see About Checkpoints in TestComplete
Help.
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This section provides a step-by-step tutorial that describes how to create a test project in TestComplete,
record and play back a simple test, and analyze the results. The test will emulate user actions over a tested
application and verify some data. Verification commands will be created during test recording.
About Tested Application
In our explanations we will use the Orders application that is shipped along with TestComplete. The
application displays a list of orders and contains special functions for adding, deleting, modifying and
exporting orders.
The application is located in the following folder:
• On Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008:
C:UsersPublicDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen AppsOrdersDemo
• On Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000:
C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen
AppsOrdersDemo
Note that in Windows Explorer and in the Open and Save dialogs, the All UsersDocuments folder
may be displayed as All UsersShared Documents.
10

Automated Testing
The folder stores several Orders projects created with different compilers: C#, Visual C++, Visual Basic,
Delphi, C++Builder, Swing and so on. We will use the Orders application created with Visual C#.
1. Creating a Test Project
Let’s create a new test project:
1. If you have a project or project suite opened in TestComplete, close it. To do this, choose File |
Close from TestComplete’s main menu.
2. Select File | New | New Project from TestComplete’s main menu. This will call up the Create
New Project dialog. This dialog functions in two modes: Simple and Classic. In Simple mode,
which is enabled by default, the dialog contains three edit fields in which you can specify the
project name, location and scripting language. In Classic mode you can also specify the project
suite name and choose the project’s template and project items.
This tutorial uses the Simple mode because it is more common than the Classic mode.
3. Let’s now specify the project name, location and scripting language:
 In the dialog, enter Orders as the project name.
TestComplete will automatically generate the project path and display it in the Location
field. The project folder is used to store all information generated for or by the project:
keyword tests, scripts, test logs, stores, and so on. You can change the project’s folder in the
Location box. In our example we will keep the folder name unchanged.
 In the Language box specify the scripting language that will be used by the project. We will
select VBScript.
Scripting language is important even if you are not going to use script units in your project.
Even if you are going to use only keyword tests, you may need to call code snippets or use
script statements to specify operation parameters.
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The scripting language is also important because it defines the format of object names with
which your tests will work, regardless of whether you are using scripts or keyword tests. The
name format depends on the language syntax. For instance, in VBScript and JScript the
name of the Notepad process looks like Process("Notepad"). In DelphiScript you should
replace double quotes with single quotes, i.e. Process ('Notepad'); and in C++Script
and C#Script the word “Process” should be enclosed in brackets: ["Process"]
("Notepad").
TestComplete is equally oriented to VBScript, JScript, DelphiScript, C++Script and
C#Script, therefore it allows you to select the language you know. You will be able to use all
of TestComplete’s features regardless of the language you choose. However, because
languages have different syntax and their script instructions are executed by different
scripting engines, there are some exceptions (see Supported Scripting Languages – Specifics
of Usage). For more information on choosing the language, see Selecting the Scripting
Language.
We would like to note that the scripting language does not depend on your tested
application’s programming language. For instance, you can use JScript to test Visual C++
applications, or VBScript to test Delphi programs. However, if you plan to create a
Connected or Self-Testing Application, we recommend that you select the language that
matches the development tool with which the application was created. For example, if you
use Visual C++ or C++Builder, you should select C++Script; if you use Visual Basic, you
should select VBScript, and so forth. This will make it easier to import recorded scripts to
Connected and Self-Testing Applications.
4. After you specified the project name, scripting language and location, press Create.
TestComplete will create a new project, Orders.mds, and a project suite for it. It will then
display the project suite’s and project’s contents in the Project Explorer panel.
2. Defining Applications to Test
Each project may have a list of tested applications. This is a way for you to keep track of which applications
the project deals with and how they are configured for testing. It also allows TestComplete to launch all
applications in the list or only those applications that are enabled to be launched manually via the context
menu, or from a test. Of course, since projects are independent from one another, any application may be in
more than one project’s list.
You can append applications to the list of tested applications manually, or TestComplete can do this
automatically during test recording. The recorder is smart enough to detect the start of an application through
the command line, Windows Explorer or any other way. After the recording is over, TestComplete will add
the tested application to the list and insert the “Run Tested Application” command into the recorded test.
In this tutorial, in order to get you acquainted with the list and to demonstrate the features it provides for
managing applications under test, we will add the tested application to the list manually.
12

Automated Testing
Let’s add our sample application to the tested applications list:
1. Right-click the TestedApps node in the Project Explorer panel.
2. Choose Add | New Item from the context menu. This will invoke the standard Open File dialog.
3. Locate Orders.exe using this dialog and then click Open.
As you may remember, we were going to use the sample Orders application created in C# and
shipped with TestComplete. The path to Orders.exe looks like this: C:Documents and
SettingsAll UsersDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen
AppsOrdersDemoC#binDebugOrders.exe (if you are working under Windows XP, Windows
2000 or Windows Server 2003), or C:UsersPublicDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen
AppsOrdersDemoC#binDebug
Orders.exe (if you are working under Windows 7, Vista or Windows Server 2008).
4. After you added a tested application to the list, you can specify its run mode and run parameters.
For more information, see Run Modes in TestComplete Help. In this tutorial, we will use the
default settings.
5. Save your changes by selecting File | Save from TestComplete’s main menu.
3. Planning Your Test
General Notes on Planning Tests
It is generally considered a good practice to plan your test:
• Define the test goal and decide which application functionality should be tested. The clearer the
goal and the simpler the test, the better. Large tests that deal with various aspects of the
application’s behavior are hard to create and maintain. It is better to create a simple test that is
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aimed at one objective only. Once you create several simple tests, you can always organize them
into a one larger test.
• Plan testing steps and decide which actions the test will perform. The testing steps depend on
the test purpose and the nature of the application under test. Testing steps may include actions
that prepare the application for the test (that is, they put the application to some initial state).
Also, testing steps may feed corresponding input to the application.
• Plan checking actions. Typically, after the application performed some actions, something
changed in that application: data in an application window can be changed or rearranged, a new
window may be created and a file can be created on or deleted from your hard disk. You should
determine what criteria should be used to pass or fail a test and which checkpoints will be used
to verify these criteria.
• Log the result. The test results can be logged in different ways, for instance, your tests can save
the full test results to a file or show a message notifying you that the test run is over.
TestComplete tracks all simulated actions during the test run and saves the information on these
actions to the test log. You can also post custom messages, image, files or file links to the log.
The messages can be organized into folders and each message may use specific font and
background settings to display. The results can be exported to a file, compressed and sent via e-
mail to your co-workers. You can even create a bug report in an issue-tracking system directly
from test results shown in the log. See Test Log in TestComplete Help for more information.
Planning a Test for the Orders Application
The sample Orders application maintains a list of orders. Suppose we need to test whether the application’s
Edit Order form functions correctly and modifies data in the order list. In this case --
• Test purpose: The test should check whether the Edit Order form saves the modified data and
the changes are visible in the order list.
• Testing steps: Our test should simulate modifying the order’s details and then verify the data in
the order list. We will record a test simulating user actions over the application. For simplicity,
our test will “change” only one property of one order.
• Checking and logging the test result: If the change made to the order has been saved correctly,
it should be visible in the order list. To check this, our test will compare the data in the list with
an expected value. We will add a special comparison command to the test for this. This
command will post the comparison results to the test log, so we will see whether the verification
failed or passed successfully.
4. Recording a Test
Recording Tests in TestComplete
The recording includes three steps:
1. You start recording by selecting Test | Record | Record Keyword Test or Test | Record | Record
Script from TestComplete’s main menu or from the Test Engine toolbar. You can also start
recording by clicking Record a New Test on the Start Page.
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Automated Testing
With TestComplete you can record tests of various kinds: keyword tests, scripts, low-level
procedures and HTTP load testing tasks. The menu item that you use to start the recording defines
the main recorded test: keyword test or script code. Other tests will be recorded after the recording is
started. The main recorded test will contain special commands that will run these tests.
After you command TestComplete to start the recording, it will switch to the recording mode and
display the Recording toolbar on screen:
INCLUDEPICTURE "../AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet
%20Files/Content.Outlook/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/Local
%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet
%20Files/Content.IE5/TestComplete/Images/GettingStarted/RecordingToolbar.gif" * MERGEFORMAT
The toolbar contains items that let you perform additional actions during the recording, pause or stop
recording and change the type of the recorded test (keyword test, script code, Windows or PDA low-
level procedure, or HTTP traffic).
2. After starting the recording, perform the desired test actions: launch the tested application (if
needed), work with it by clicking command buttons, selecting menu items, typing text and so on.
3. After all the test actions are over, stop the recording by selecting INCLUDEPICTURE
"../AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/Local
%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/Local%20Settings/Temporary
%20Internet%20Files/Content.IE5/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet
%20Files/Content.IE5/TestComplete/Images/Buttons/Stop_b.gif" * MERGEFORMAT Stop
from the Recording toolbar.
For complete information on test recording, see the Recording in TestComplete section in TestComplete
Help.
Recording Test for the Orders Application
Let’s now record a keyword test for the sample Orders application. The test will launch the application, load
data in it, simulate clicks and keystrokes within the application’s window and verify the application’s data.
Note: If you are reading this document from screen, then do not switch to it during the recording.
The recording engine traces and records all user actions, so the recorded test will contain
commands that simulate “switching” to this document.
To see the instructions, you can print them before recording. Or, if you have two monitors,
you can move this document to the other monitor.
Let’s start recording:
1. Select Test | Record | Record Keyword Test from the main menu of TestComplete.
TestComplete will display the Recording toolbar on screen. If the Interactive Help panel is visible,
TestComplete will also show information about the recording in it.
2. Press the down arrow of the Run Tested Applications button and select Orders from the drop-
down list:
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TestComplete will automatically insert the application launch command into the recorded test. You
will see this command later, when we will analyze the recorded test.
3. Wait until the application starts and the application’s main window is shown:
If the Interactive Help panel is visible, resize or move it so that it does not overlap the application’s
window. Your actions on this panel are not recorded.
4. Switch to the Orders application and select File | Open from its main menu. This will bring up the
standard Open File dialog.
5. In the dialog, open the MyTable.tbl file. The location of this file depends on the operating system
you use. On Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 it resides in the
C:UsersPublicDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen AppsOrdersDemo folder. On other
operating systems, it is located in the C:Documents and SettingsAll
UsersDocumentsTestComplete 7 SamplesOpen AppsOrdersDemo folder.
16

Automated Testing
6. After specifying the file in the File name box, press Open. The Orders application will load data
from the file and display this data in the application’s main window.
7. Click the Samuel Clemens row in the list of orders.
8. Move the mouse cursor to the Orders toolbar and press Edit order. This will call the Order
dialog:
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9. In the dialog, click within the Customer Name text box to move the insertion point there. Right-
click within the Customer Name box and choose Select All from the context menu and then enter
Mark Twain as the customer name.
Note: You could also choose the text in a text box by dragging the mouse, but in this
case the test would become less universal, because if the text length varies, the
test will have to drag for a longer or shorter distance, that is, you will have to
calculate the dragging distance in your test. Using the Select All menu item
shortcut frees you from this problem and makes the test more stable. A possible
alternative to using this menu item is to use a shortcut (typically, CTRL+A) to
choose the entire context of the text box.
10. Click OK to close the dialog. TestComplete will update the customer list in the application’s main
window.
11. Now let’s insert a comparison command into our test. It will verify that the application’s customer
list displays the modified name - Mark Twain.
We call the comparison commands checkpoints. TestComplete offers various types of checkpoints
that are suitable for verifying different types of data (see Checkpoints in TestComplete Help). One of
the most frequently used checkpoints is a Property checkpoint. It is used to check data of
applications controls. We will use this checkpoint in our tutorial.
 Select Create Property Checkpoint from the Checkpoint drop-down list of the
Recording toolbar:
18

Automated Testing
This will invoke the Create Property Checkpoint wizard. It will guide you through the
process of checkpoint creation:
 On the first page of the wizard, click the Finder tool icon ( ) with the left mouse button
and keep the button depressed.
Wait until the wizard minimizes and then drag the icon to the customer list of the Orders
application. While you are dragging, TestComplete will highlight the controls and windows
under the mouse cursor with the red frame.
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Release the mouse button when the Finder tool icon is over the customer list and it is
highlighted with the red frame:
 After you release the mouse button, TestComplete will restore the wizard and display the
name of the selected object in the Object box:
Click Next to continue.
20

Automated Testing
 The next page of the wizard displays a list of the selected object’s properties. This list
includes properties provided by TestComplete as well as properties defined by the tested
application. For instance, our tested application was created in C#, so the list includes
properties of the appropriate .NET class. You can see them under the .NET node.
TestComplete appends two groups of properties to the object: one group includes
properties common for all tested windows and controls. You can see most of them under
the Standard node. Another group includes properties that are specific to tree-view
controls (since the object we selected is a tree view control). The names of these properties
start with the letter w. You can see them under the Extended node. To verify the data, we
will use the wItem property. It provides access to individual items of tree view controls.
 Find the wItem property in the list (it is under the node Extended). Click its Params
button. The following window will pop up:
In this window, specify the cell holding the Mark Twain string:
o Select Integer in the Type section
o Enter 5 into the Item box (5 is the index of the Mark Twain item in the tree view.
Indexes are zero-based).
o Click OK.
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The test engine will retrieve the item’s data and display it in the property list:
Click Next to continue.
 On the next page of the wizard you can see the name of the property, whose value will be
verified, the comparison condition and baseline data in the Value box:
Click Finish to complete the checkpoint creation. TestComplete will append the checkpoint
command to the recorded test.
12. Close the Orders window by clicking the X button on the window’s caption bar. This will display the
dialog asking if you want to save changes. Press No. Orders will close.
22

Automated Testing
13. Press Stop on the Recording toolbar to stop the recording. TestComplete will process the
recorded test commands and save them to a test.
5. Analyzing the Recorded Test
After you have finished recording, TestComplete opens the recorded keyword test for editing and displays
the test’s contents in the KeywordTest Editor:
The recorded test is similar to the test shown in the image above. Your actual test may differ from this one.
For example, it may have other object names or window indexes if you have recorded the test on a Visual C+
+ or Delphi application.
The test contains the commands that correspond to the actions you performed on the Orders application
during the recording. We call the test commands operations.
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The first operation in the test is Run TestedApp. It is used to launch the tested application (in our case, it is
the Orders application) from a keyword test. TestComplete records this operation automatically when it
detects that a user launches the application from TestComplete’s UI or somewhere from the operating
system’s UI.
The next operation corresponds to the selection of the File | Open menu item.
The next operation simulates opening the file via the Open File dialog:
24

Automated Testing
After that, there follow operations that simulate your actions with the application’s main window and the
Order form:
For more information on simulating mouse events, keyboard input and other actions from your scripts, see
Simulating User Actions in TestComplete Help.
Then there is the comparison operation that we added during test recording:
Finally, there is the operation that closes the Orders application and the operation that simulates the “No”
button press in the message box.
As you can see, TestComplete automatically organizes the operations into groups that correspond to the
processes and windows that you worked with. Grouping makes the test structure easier to understand and
also provides some information on the object hierarchy that exists in the application under test.
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We recorded user actions on one process (Orders). So, we have only one “process” group node. It contains
all of the actions that you simulated on the process windows and controls. The actions that we performed on
windows and controls of the Orders process are organized into a number of “window” grouping nodes:
You may notice that the names of the tested process and its windows and controls differ from the names that
we saw in the Object Browser panel in one of the previous steps. For instance, in the Object Browser the
tested process was named Process("Orders") while in the test it is called Orders; the main window was
called WinFormsObject("MainForm") while in the test it is called MainForm, and so on.
There is a logical reason for this: By default TestComplete automatically generates and uses custom names
for the objects that you worked with during test recording. Generating and assigning custom names is called
name mapping. TestComplete maps the names because the default names may be difficult to understand. It
may be hard to determine which window or control corresponds to a name. Using mapped names makes the
test easier-to-understand and more stable. For more information on mapping names, see Name Mapping in
TestComplete Help.
6. Running the Recorded Test
Now we can run our simple test to see how TestComplete simulates user actions.
Before running a recorded test, make sure it starts with the same initial conditions as the recording
did. For instance, the test almost always requires the tested application to be running. So, before simulating
the user actions, you should launch the application. In our case, to launch our tested application, we use the
Run TestedApp operation at the beginning of the test, so the test will launch it for us. Alternatively, you can
run the tested application manually from TestComplete’s IDE.
26

Automated Testing
To run the recorded test, simply click Run Test on the test editor’s toolbar:
The test engine will minimize TestComplete’s window and start executing the test’s commands. In our case,
the test will simply repeat your recorded actions.
Note: Don’t move the mouse or press keys during the test execution. Your actions may interfere
with actions simulated by TestComplete and the test execution may go wrong.
After the test execution is over, TestComplete will restore its window and display the test results. In the next
step we will analyze them.
Some notes about the test run:
• The created tests are not compiled into an executable for test runs. You run the tests directly from
TestComplete. To run tests on computers that do not have TestComplete installed, you can use a
resource-friendly utility called TestExecute. You can also export script code (if you use it) to an
external application and run it there. For more information on this, see Connected and Self-Testing
Applications in TestComplete Help.
• After you started the test, TestComplete executes the test commands until the test ends. You can stop
the execution at any time by pressing Stop on the Test Engine toolbar or select Test | Stop from
TestComplete’s main menu.
You can pause the test execution by clicking Pause. During the pause, you can perform any
actions needed. For instance, you can explore the test log or check the test’s variables and objects
using TestComplete’s Watch List or Locals panel or the Evaluate dialog (see Debugging Tests in
TestComplete Help).
• To launch the test we used the Run Test button on the test editor’s toolbar. This is only one of
several possible ways to run the test. You can also run tests from the Project Explorer, or from
another test. You can also use the Test Items page of the project editor to create a batch run.
For complete information on running tests in TestComplete, on project settings that affect the runs and on the
test execution, see Running Tests in TestComplete Help.
7. Analyzing Test Results
TestComplete keeps a complete log of all operations performed during testing. The links to test results are
shown in the Project Explorer panel under the ProjectSuite1 Log | Orders Log node. This is the primary
27

workspace for looking up the test history of the project and project suite. Each node corresponds to a test run.
An image to the left of the node specifies whether the corresponding test run passed successfully:
Note that TestComplete automatically adds nodes for the last results after the test execution is over. That is,
the results are not displayed when the test is running (you can view intermediate results if you pause the test
execution).
Since we have run only one test so far, we have only one log node in the Project Explorer. By default,
TestComplete automatically opens the contents of this node in the Workspace panel. You can also view the
log at any time. To do this, right-click the desired result in the Project Explorer panel and choose Open from
the context menu.
28

Automated Testing
In our example, the log is as follows --
The log window shows the results of one test run at a time. On the left side of the window, there is a tree-like
structure of the tests that were executed during the run; the node of each of these tests can be selected to view
their results. For our example, we have run only one test, so in our case this tree only contains one node. The
node’s icon indicates whether the test passed successfully or failed.
The test log contains error, warning, informative and other types of messages. The icon on the left indicates
the message type. Using the check boxes at the top of the message list you can hide or view messages by
type.
For each message, the log also shows the time that each action was performed. You can see it in the Time
column.
TestComplete may post additional text and images along with the message. To view them, simply select the
desired message in the log and look in the Remarks and Picture panes that are below the message list. For
instance, on the image above the Remarks pane displays the additional text for the message “Toolbar button
5 was clicked”.
The log’s Call Stack pane displays the hierarchy of test calls that led to posting the selected message to the
log.
29

To view a test operation that posted a message to the log, double-click the desired message in the log.
TestComplete will open the keyword test in the editor and highlight the appropriate operation. For instance,
if you double-click the “Toolbar button 5 was clicked” message in the log, TestComplete will highlight the
keyword test operation that performed this action:
For detailed information on the test log panels, on posting messages to the log and on working with the
results, see the Test Log section’s topics in TestComplete Help.
Note: The log that we described is typical for TestComplete keyword tests and scripts. Tests of other
types may form a log of a different structure. For instance, the HTTP load tests form a log that
contains tables with information about simulated virtual users, connections, simulated requests
and their responses. For detailed information about these logs, see the description of the
appropriate project item, or simply click within the log page and press F1.
30

Where to Go Next
Where to Go Next
This concludes the Getting Started tutorial. We hope it helped you to get acquainted with TestComplete.
Now you can move onto learning more advanced features and even start creating your own tests. To get
more information about TestComplete and its features, please refer to TestComplete Help. Below are some
help topics that may interest you:
 Recording in TestComplete
This section contains information on recording tests in TestComplete.
 Naming Objects
This section provides information on how TestComplete names processes, windows and controls.
 Checkpoints
This section describes various checkpoint types offered by the test engine and explains how to create
checkpoints during test recording or test design.
 Simulating User Actions
This section describes how to simulate mouse clicks, keystrokes and selecting menu items with
TestComplete.
 Working With Applications’ Object and Controls
Explains how to perform specific actions over test objects and retrieve data from them.
 Running Tests
This section contains information on how to run tests, how to organize batch runs (run a group of
tests), how to schedule test runs and so on.
 Test Log
Explains how TestComplete logs test results and describes the test log panels. This section also
describes how to post messages, images and files to the log.
Technical Support and Resources
If you have questions, problems or need help with TestComplete, contact our support team at:
 http://www.automatedqa.com/support/message
The support team will answer you via e-mail and all further communication will be made via e-mail.
However, to start the conversation, please use the Contact Support Form.
You can also ask questions, search for answers, exchange comments and suggestions on our newsgroup and
on the Community web site, find answers to your question in the list of the frequently asked questions,
read technical papers and take part in TestComplete training seminars offered by AutomatedQA.
For information on our support offerings, please visit our web site at
http://www.automatedqa.com/support.
31

Where to Go Next
32

Index
Index
A
Analyzing recorded test......................................23
Analyzing test results.........................................27
Automated testing................................................4
B
Black-box applications.........................................8
C
Checkpoints....................................................9, 18
L
Log.........................................................................
Jump to source................................................30
N
Name mapping...................................................26
O
Object Browser panel...........................................6
Open Applications................................................9
P
Planning tests.....................................................13
Project Explorer panel..........................................6
Project items.........................................................5
Projects...................................................................
Creating...........................................................11
R
Recording tests...................................................14
Running tests..........................................................
Batch runs.......................................................27
Initial conditions.............................................26
Pausing............................................................27
Stopping..........................................................27
S
Simulating user actions.......................................25
Support and resources........................................31
T
Test object model.................................................7
Tested applications.............................................12
Tests.......................................................................
Creating...........................................................10
Running...........................................................26
Test types..........................................................4
U
User interface overview........................................6
W
Workspace panel..................................................6
33

Getting started with test complete 7

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