Test Consultant

Lately, test automation has become a buzz word. I'm seeing a lot of business stakeholders suggesting and letting us go forward with investing more into test automation but rarely do they truly understand the purpose for automation.

There are many preconceptions that go with test automation but I will not get into them. Rather, I'd like to share what you do get out of test automation if done properly.

The first reason why you would want to invest in test automation is because it should hasten the turn around time for the testing phase of a project. If you have built a mature test automation engine that follows a mature framework, you will have the ability to run the test automated regression suite at any point in the testing phase(s) to flush out bugs in old functionality in the new code. Not only that but you can hasten the turn around time after the initial build. Keep in mind though, the ROI is achieved over time. The initial development time for a test automation engine is very significant. I won't get into that in this blog but just keep that in mind.

The second reason why you would want to invest in test automation is because if the automation is developed with a mature testing framework,;with test scenarios chosen that are suitable; you will get return on investment over time. The savings only become somewhat significant over time.
Over the years, I have seen ROI lost because people do not truly understand what should be automated. Suitable scenarios need to be tests that are highly repeatable, do not change often or save a mountain of time compared to manual execution of the scenario. If you compare manual preparation and execution with automated development, maintenance and execution and completing the scenario manually costs more, then it is a true indication that the scenario should be automated. Everything should not be automated!

The third reason for investing is due to the fact that automation can be run at any time and should be faster than manual execution. If this is not the case, the framework maturity is not at a level that is adequate. This will lead to loss in the return of investment you should be getting with the investment in automation. Going back to the point, if you can spend time out of hours without human intervention while the automated suite is executing, you can invest time in other activities. Thus allowing more efficient and effective use of the test resources in your team.

There are many other reasons why you would want to invest in test automation but the above reasons are, in essence, the primary reasons you should invest in it.

Utility functions for SilkTest 4Net (VB.NET variant)

This is currently for a 4th+ generation Keyword Driven Framework. Below are some more useful functions.

'PT 20/11/2012 - This is to make reporting easier

'Usage: result is boolean, message is string, functionname is the name of the calling function and sheetname is passed in.

Public Sub Reporting (ByVal result, ByVal testStep, ByVal message, ByVal functionName, ByVal sheetName)

If result = True Then

Workbench.Verify(result, result, "[" & testStep & "] " & functionName & "(): " & message)

Else

Workbench.Verify(result, True, "[" & testStep & "] " & functionName & "(): " & message)

End If

'Workbench.Verify takes screenshots as well. Below is deprecated.

' If Config.DEBUGMODE = "ON" Then

' ScreenShot (testStep, functionName, result, sheetName)

' ElseIf Config.DEBUGMODE = "OFF" And result = False Then

' ScreenShot (testStep, functionName, result, sheetName)

' End If

End Sub

'PT 06/12/2012 - Add key and value to a object dictionary.

Public Sub AddKeyValToDictionary (ByRef dictionary, ByVal Key, ByVal Value)

Try

dictionary.Add(Key, Value)

Reporting(True, "", _

"Key: " & Key & ", and Value: " & Value & _

", added to the dictionary.", _

"AddKeyValToDictionary", "")

Catch e As Exception

Reporting(False, "", _

"Exception thrown. The key is most likely duplicate. Please use a unique key.", "AddKeyValToDictionary", "")

End Try

End Sub

'PT 20/11/2012 - This is to compare text values, report on a response and return the result

Public Function CompareText (ByVal testStep, ByVal text, ByVal text1) 'ByVal description

'Workbench.Verify(text, text1, description)

If String.Compare(text, text1) = 0 Then

Reporting(True, testStep, text & " and " & text1 & " matches.", "CompareText", "")

CompareText = True

Exit Function

Else

Reporting(False, testStep, "The text do not match. Text: " & text & ", Text1: " & text1, "CompareText", "")

CompareText = False

Exit Function

End If

End Function

'PT 13/12/2012 - Returns true or false to say whether a key exists in a dictionary or not.

Public Function KeyExistsInDictionary (ByVal dictionary, ByVal Key)

KeyExistsInDictionary = dictionary.ContainsKey(Key)

End Function

'PT 28/11/2012 - Access a key from a object dictionary. Returns blank if the key isn't found

Public Function GetValFromDictionary(ByVal testStep, ByVal dictionary, ByVal dicKey)

Dim value As String = ""

If dictionary.TryGetValue(dicKey, value) Then

GetValFromDictionary = value

Else

Reporting(False, testStep, "The key in the dictionary does not exist! Key: " & dicKey, "GetValFromDictionary", "")

GetValFromDictionary = ""

End If

End Function

'PT 28/11/2012 - Get the keys from a dictionary. Return blank if the dictionary doesn't exist.

Public Function GetKeysFromDictionary(ByVal dictionary)

Dim keysCol As Dictionary(Of String, String).KeyCollection = dictionary.Keys

GetKeysFromDictionary = keysCol

End Function

'PT 26/11/2012 - Create new web request for a NAB user, stage 1

'NOTE: Returns status code

Public Function NewHTTPWebReq_NAB1 (ByVal URL)

Dim statusDesc, status, message, source, errString As String

Dim innerException As Exception

Dim CookieContainer As CookieContainer = New CookieContainer()

'Ignore Cert problems

'ServicePointManager.ServerCertificateValidationCallback = New System.Net.Security.RemoteCertificateValidationCallback(AcceptAllCertifications);

'Create the web request

Console.WriteLine("SENDING REQUEST-------------------")

Dim httpWebReq As HttpWebRequest = CType(WebRequest.Create(URL), HttpWebRequest) 'Config.NABQA_URL

Console.WriteLine("URL: " & URL)

httpWebReq.Method = "GET"

httpWebReq.ContentType = "text/html"

'Common header elements

httpWebReq.Host = "nabqa0.sso.corp.dmz" 'https:// - not valid.

httpWebReq.UserAgent = "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:10.0.2) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/10.0.2"

httpWebReq.Accept = "text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8"

httpWebReq.KeepAlive = True

'New header elements

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("Accept-Language:en-gb,en;q=0.5")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("Accept-Encoding:gzip, deflate")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("iv-user:*") 'existing user

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("iv-groups:*")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("vh-surname:*")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("vh-firstName:*")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("vh-otherName:*")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("vh-email:*")

httpWebReq.Headers.Add("vh-clientCostCentre:d0003")

'Proxy details

Dim proxy As IWebProxy = CType(httpWebReq.Proxy, IWebProxy)

proxy.Credentials = New NetworkCredential("*", "*")

Console.WriteLine("Proxy: {0}", proxy.GetProxy(httpWebReq.RequestUri))

'Get the cookies

httpWebReq.CookieContainer = CookieContainer

httpWebReq.AllowAutoRedirect = True 'was false

'Send the web request

Try

Dim httpWebRes As HttpWebResponse = CType(httpWebReq.GetResponse(), HttpWebResponse)

Console.WriteLine("Status Code: " & httpWebRes.StatusCode)

Console.WriteLine("Status Description: " & httpWebRes.StatusDescription)

Console.WriteLine("Content Length: " & httpWebRes.ContentLength)

Console.WriteLine("Content Type: " & httpWebRes.ContentType)

Console.WriteLine("Server: " & httpWebRes.Server)

Console.WriteLine("Last Modified: " & httpWebRes.LastModified)

Console.WriteLine("ENDING REQUEST-------------------")

'Using writer As StreamWriter = New StreamWriter("myfile.txt")

For Each cookieValue As Cookie In httpWebRes.Cookies

'writer.WriteLine("Cookie: " + cookieValue.ToString())

Console.WriteLine("Cookie: " + cookieValue.ToString())

'writer.Close()

'End Using

httpWebRes.Close

NewHTTPWebReq_NAB1 = httpWebRes.StatusCode

Catch ex As WebException

statusDesc = CType(ex.Response, HttpWebResponse).StatusDescription

status = CType(ex.Response, HttpWebResponse).StatusCode

message = ex.Message

innerException = ex.InnerException

source = ex.Source

errString = ex.ToString()

Console.WriteLine("Status: " & status )

Console.WriteLine("Status Description: " & statusDesc)

Console.WriteLine("Message: " & message)

Console.WriteLine("Inner Exception: {0}", ex.InnerException)

Console.WriteLine("Source: " & source)

Console.WriteLine("Error: " & errString)

Console.WriteLine("ENDING REQUEST-------------------")

NewHTTPWebReq_NAB1 = status

End Try

End Function

'PT 29/11/2012 - Kill a process

Public Sub KillProcess (ByVal processName)

Dim proc As System.Diagnostics.Process

For Each proc In System.Diagnostics.Process.GetProcessesByName(processName)

proc.Kill()

End Sub

'PT 30/11/2012 - Date function

'Example out: 20121130 is 30th Nov 2012

Public Function GetDate ()

Dim time As DateTime = DateTime.Now

Dim format As String = "yyyyMMdd"

' Console.WriteLine(time.ToString(format))

GetDate = time.ToString(format)

End Function

'PT 06/12/2012 - Get date based on format

Public Function GetDateFormat (ByVal dateFormat)

Dim time As DateTime = DateTime.Now

Dim format As String = dateFormat

GetDateFormat = time.ToString(format)

End Function

'PT 29/11/2012 - Screenshot capability

'ScreenShot (testStep, functionName, result, sheetName)

'Screenshot file name format: TESTCASE_PASS_1_VEDACHECK_PROCESSLOGIN_20121130.bmp

'Screenshot file name without test case: PASS_1_CompareText_20121130.bmp

'PT 30/11/2012 - DEPRECATED. SilkTest automatically screenshots every step.

Public Sub ScreenShot (ByVal testStep, ByVal functionName, ByVal result, ByVal sheetName)

If sheetName <> "" Then

desktop.CaptureBitmap(Config.SCREENSHOTDIR & "_" & sheetName & "_" & _

result & "_" & testStep & "_" & functionName & "_" & GetDate())

Else

desktop.CaptureBitmap(Config.SCREENSHOTDIR & _

result & "_" & testStep & "_" & functionName & "_" & GetDate())

End If

End Sub

'PT 17/12/2012 - Get Text parsed from a block based on the

'criteria provided by SearchStr With the length Of LenToReturn

Public Function GetText (ByVal TextBlock, ByVal SearchStr, ByVal LenToReturn)

Dim StrPos As Integer

StrPos = Trim(TextBlock).IndexOf(SearchStr) + 1 'For some reason the IndexOf value is 1 short...

If StrPos <> -1 Then

GetText = Mid(TextBlock, StrPos, LenToReturn)

Else

GetText = "False"

End If

End Function

'PT 08/01/2013 - Output values to specified sheet

'The Value string is delimited and thus allows for multiple entries into excel.

'The delimiter is the ";" character, note that the field labels and field values are paired.

Public Sub OutputValToXLFile (ByVal DirName, ByVal FileName, ByVal WorksheetName, ByVal Value)

Dim objExcel, objWorkbook, objWorksheet As Object

Dim i, j As Integer

Dim rowCount As Integer

Dim fileExists As Boolean

Dim strArr As String()

Dim arrSize As Integer

'Check to see if the file you want to output to already exists

fileExists = CheckFileInDir (DirName, FileName)

'Config 'Initialise all the variables

objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

objExcel.DisplayAlerts = False

If fileExists = False Then

objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Add

objWorksheet = objExcel.Worksheets(1)

'Add Entries to the worksheet.

If InStr(Value, ";") <> 0 Then

'Check to see if the values are paired properly otherwise exit and fail.

If arrSize Mod 2 <> 0 Then

Reporting(False, "OutputValToXLFile", "The value passed in is not paired correctly!", "OutputValToXLFile", "")

End If

'Write the header labels in the sheet first

objWorksheet.Cells(1, 1).Value = "Field Label" 'Header cells

objWorksheet.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Field Value" 'Header cells

'Get the array size of the split array.

strArr = Value.Split(";")

arrSize = UBound(strArr)

'Now iterate through the array and start filling in the excel file with the output

'Note that every pair is on a new row.

'Set the row to the first one as it is for a new file

j = 1

For i = 0 To arrSize + 1

If i = arrSize + 1 Then

Exit For

End If

If i Mod 2 = 0 Then

j = j + 1

If LEFT(strArr(i) , 1) = "0" Then strArr(i) = "'" & strArr(i)

If LEFT(strArr(i + 1) , 1) = "0" Then strArr(i + 1) = "'" & strArr(i + 1)

objWorksheet.Cells(j, 1) = CStr(strArr(i))

objWorksheet.Cells(j, 2) = CStr(strArr(i + 1))

i = i + 1

End If

Else

objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Open (DirName & FileName)

objWorkbook.Worksheets(WorksheetName).Select

objWorksheet = objWorkbook.Activesheet

'Determine the sheet ranges

rowCount = objWorkbook.Activesheet.usedrange.rows.count

'colCount = objWorkbook.Activesheet.usedrange.columns.count

'See if the value string is delimited

If InStr(Value, ";") <> 0 Then

strArr = Value.Split(";")

arrSize = UBound(strArr)

Else

Reporting(False, "OutputValToXLFile", "The value passed into this function is not delimited!", "OutputValToXLFile", "")

End If

'Set the row to the first one as it is for a new file

j = rowCount

For i = 0 To arrSize + 1

If i = arrSize + 1 Then

Exit For

End If

If i Mod 2 = 0 Then

j = j + 1

If LEFT(strArr(i) , 1) = "0" Then strArr(i) = "'" & strArr(i)

If LEFT(strArr(i + 1) , 1) = "0" Then strArr(i + 1) = "'" & strArr(i + 1)

objWorksheet.Cells(j, 1).Value = CStr(strArr(i))

objWorksheet.Cells(j, 2).Value = CStr(strArr(i + 1))

i = i + 1

End If

'Close off the excel object

objWorkbook.SaveAs (DirName & FileName)

objExcel.Quit

'Clear the memory for all the objects.

objExcel = Nothing

objWorkbook = Nothing

objWorksheet = Nothing

End Sub

'PT 08/01/2013 - Check for file in file directory and return boolean result

Public Function CheckFileInDir (ByVal DirectoryName, ByVal FileName)

' make a reference to a directory

Dim dirIfno As New IO.DirectoryInfo(DirectoryName)

Dim dirArr As IO.FileInfo() = dirIfno.GetFiles()

Dim file As IO.FileInfo

'list the names of all files in the specified directory

'Console.WriteLine("File name: " & file.ToString)

For Each file In dirArr

If InStr(FileName.ToString, file.ToString) <> 0 Then

CheckFileInDir = True

Exit Function

Else

CheckFileInDir = False

End If

End Function

'PT 09/01/2013 - Combines strings based on a delimmiter and returns it.

Public Function StringDelimiter (ByVal str1, ByVal str2, ByVal str3, ByVal str4, ByVal delimiter)

StringDelimiter = str1 & delimiter & str2 & delimiter & str3 & delimiter & str4

End Function

Test Consultant

Monday, 25 February 2013

Test Automation Framework

Monday, 18 February 2013

Test Automation - why would you want to?

Sunday, 13 January 2013

Disabling the screensaver on an execution PC

Upload QTP scripts to Quality Center / ALM

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Utility Functions for SilkTest 4Net (VB.Net variant)