Hi all,
It's been a while, I thought of talking about automation tools instead on this post. This is because of the last few months, I've been working with the Silk Tools (particularly the WorkBench .NET variant IDE) and I must say that I like what I've been using. The libraries provided by Silk are quite good for your typical automation and when you run into custom applications, the .NET IDE (which is based on the MS Visual Studio IDE) allows you to code purely in VB.NET. There are some limitations using WorkBench but they can completely removed when you switch completely to MS Visual Studio and import the Silk libraries. From an automation perspective, I'd say this is actually more powerful than QTP but for the majority of client engagements, QTP out of the box, can handle the engagement a lot more easily because it is catered to almost every situation. However, when it comes to the bang for your buck, I'd actually go with Silk/Borland! The only real problem comes down to the fact that you have very little online presence for the Silk products compared to HP's QTP. So finding solutions to problems requires more self help and reading of more technical articles than compared with finding solutions for QTP, as it has already been done and the code is most likely available online somewhere.
So take what you want from this and if you have any questions, feel free to comment and I'll get back to you when I look at this next.
Just in keep in mind, I'm talking in the broadest sense and what I've said may not apply to your current situation. If you want advise I can also provide that.
Cheers,
Pat
