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Test Author Guide
This guide describes how to create test scripts and enhances them by applying different test elements such as dataset, variables, and verification points.
Testing in the Functional Test perspective
When you develop Java, HTML, or Terminal-based applications, you can use IBM® Rational® Functional Tester to create traditional functional tests for these applications. You must first record the tests and then use Rational Functional Tester to run the tests before you can view the test results.
Preparing the functional test environment
This section describes the tasks you must perform to configure the functional test environment.
Flex applications testing process
The testing process is based on the tasks that Flex developers and testers perform. The process for automating functional tests of Flex applications differs, depending on the way developers create the application under test.
Test Flex applications that are not enabled using Rational® Functional Tester
Developers can enable the RuntimeLoading component for Flex applications and provide the application on a web server for testing.
Testing nonenabled Flex applications
Testers can test a Flex application that is not enabled for functional testing and is deployed on a web server.

Test Author Guide
This guide describes how to create test scripts and enhances them by applying different test elements such as dataset, variables, and verification points.
- Testing in the UI Test perspective
  When you develop web applications, Windows-based applications, or mobile applications, you can use IBM® Rational® Functional Tester to create functional tests for these applications. You must first record the tests and then use Rational Functional Tester to run the tests before you can view the test results.
- Testing in the Functional Test perspective
  When you develop Java, HTML, or Terminal-based applications, you can use IBM® Rational® Functional Tester to create traditional functional tests for these applications. You must first record the tests and then use Rational Functional Tester to run the tests before you can view the test results.
  - Preparing the functional test environment
    This section describes the tasks you must perform to configure the functional test environment.
    - Automatically enabled environment for functional testing
      From Rational® Functional Tester version 8.2.2 onwards, Rational Functional Tester automatically enables the environments for functional testing.
    - Before you record
      Before you can start recording functional test scripts, perform the following setup and configuration tasks:
    - Enabling Java environments
      You need to enable Java™ environments before you can use Rational® Functional Tester to test Java applications. Rational Functional Tester is shipped with a JRE that is automatically enabled during your installation. The JRE is called "Default JRE." To enable other JREs, or if you install a new JRE, you must run the enabler again.
    - Enabling web browsers
      To test the HTML applications in Rational® Functional Tester, you must enable web browsers. You can then record and play back tests by using the browsers that you enabled.
    - Enabling multi-window support to test Functional HTML tests
      You can enable multi-window support for Functional HTML tests to record the actions that you perform in multiple windows of the same browser instance. The playing back of the test finds controls from all the active windows of the browser instance. You can use this capability when an HTML application opens a new browser window after you perform an action from the parent window of the application.
    - Preparing for functional testing in Google Chrome browsers
      You can use Rational® Functional Tester to test HTML applications in Google Chrome browsers. To do this, you must enable the Google Chrome browser and add the Rational Functional Tester extension for Google Chrome™ to the browser.
    - Enabling the Eclipse non-p2 based applications for functional testing
      If the application under test is a non-p2 Eclipse based application, you can enable the Eclipse platform for functional testing using the Eclipse enabler.
    - Enabling the Eclipse p2- based applications for functional testing
      If the application-under-test is based on p2-based Eclipse, you must enable the Eclipse platform for testing using the Eclipse Software Updates feature.
    - Enabling stand-alone Standard Widget Toolkit applications
      You must enable stand-alone Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) support before using Rational® Functional Tester to test SWT applications in the application under test.
    - Configuring applications for testing
      You must configure your Java™, HTML, VB.NET, SAP GUI, Flex or Windows® applications for functional testing by providing the name, path, and other information that Rational® Functional Tester uses to start and run the application. You use the Application Configuration Tool to configure applications.
    - Configuring Java environments for testing
      You need to configure your JREs for Java™ testing with Rational® Functional Tester. This provides path, run options, and other information that Rational Functional Tester needs to access and use your JREs. You use the Java Environments tab of the Enable Environments dialog box to do this.
    - Configuring browsers for testing
      You need to configure your browsers for HTML testing with Rational® Functional Tester. This provides name, path, and other information that Rational Functional Tester needs to access and use your browsers. You use the Web Browsers tab of the Enable Environments dialog box to do this.
    - Browser enablement diagnostic tool
      The Browser Enablement Diagnostic Tool is used to diagnose problems you might have with enabling your browser for HTML testing. The tool will diagnose the enablement problem and report how to solve the problem.
    - Enabling the Java plug-in of a browser
      The Oracle Java™ plug-in of your browser(s) must be enabled in order for some applets to be tested, and for the View Results link that launches the Verification Point Comparator from the HTML log to work properly. If you get an error regarding the plug-in during HTML testing, or when trying to launch the Comparator, use the following steps to fix the problem.
    - Adding references to external resources
      Functional test scripts or projects may refer to or use external resources like the DLLs in .Net IDE or JAR files in Eclipse IDE. To enable the scripts or projects to use these files, you must add references to these files in Rational® Functional Tester.
    - Setting up the environment for testing AJAX-based web applications
      You can test AJAX-based applications in two different ways; by setting the Auto Trace option to true or by setting the Auto Trace option to false. If you set the Auto Trace option to false, you must use the Rational® Functional Tester APIs for AJAX in the script by manually inserting them.
    - Enabling SAP client and server
      To use Rational® Functional Tester to test SAP applications, you must enable the SAP client and SAP server.
    - Enabling SAP GUI for HTML applications for functional testing
      Objects in SAP GUI for HTML applications contain many dynamically-changing properties, for example .url, .href, and .id. While playing back functional test scripts against these applications, the value of one or more object recognition properties may change causing a high ScriptAssure score that results in script failure. Rational® Functional Tester provides a mechanism to convert the recognition property value to a regular expression for those values that change dynamically. Finding each object's dynamic recognition property and converting it into a regular expression becomes cumbersome while testing SAP GUI for HTML applications.
    - Enabling applications with WebDynPro controls for functional testing
      When you playback functional test scripts to test HTML applications with WebDynPro controls, you may get object not found exception or a weak recognition warning even if the control exists.
    - Enabling the GEF application
      You must enable the GEF support before using Rational® Functional Tester to test GEF objects on the application under test.
    - Enabling response time breakdown
      You can enable response time breakdown to see how much time is spent in each part of the application as the test runs. To collect response time breakdown, the data collection infrastructure must be installed and running on all computers that are used in the distributed application under test.
    - Flex applications testing process
      The testing process is based on the tasks that Flex developers and testers perform. The process for automating functional tests of Flex applications differs, depending on the way developers create the application under test.
      - Setting up the development environment for Flex applications
        The developer must set up the development environment before enabling the Flex application for testing with Rational® Functional Tester.
      - Setting up the test environment for testing Flex applications
        A correct environment setup for testing Flex applications helps ensure reliable functional testing results. The test environment is typically set up by the testers on the test computer.
      - Testing Rational® Functional Tester enabled Flex applications
        Developers can enable the Flex applications for testing by building the Flex application with Rational® Functional Tester agent and Flex automation framework libraries. After compilation, the developer must create an HTML wrapper that embeds the enabled Flex application and provide the application on a web server or on a local test computer for testing.
      - Test Flex applications that are not enabled using Rational® Functional Tester
        Developers can enable the RuntimeLoading component for Flex applications and provide the application on a web server for testing.
        Configuring the non-enabled Flex application
        You can configure the Flex applications that are not compiled using theRational® Functional Tester agent and Flex automation libraries.
        Deploying the Runtime loader components
        You must deploy the Runtime loader components to test Flex applications that are not compiled using the Rational® Functional Tester agent and Flex automation framework libraries.
        Testing nonenabled Flex applications
        Testers can test a Flex application that is not enabled for functional testing and is deployed on a web server.
    - Importing and exporting configuration and customization files
      You can configure and customize files in the configuration and the customization directories. The configuration files contains information such as the application that must be configured for testing. However, the customization files contain information about the external jar files used in your project, customization of any recognition properties, and third-party proxy extensions. You can export these files and later deploy them using the export and import utility. The default location for the configuration and customization file is C:\ProgramData\IBM\RFT . For example: If you want to use the same configuration and customization files on different computers, you can archive these files and later deploy them using this utility.
    - Setting preferences
      You use the Preferences dialog box to customize Rational® Functional Tester in a number of different areas, such as settings for time options; colors for the Verification Point Editor, the Verification Point Comparator, and the Object Map Editor; highlight color for test objects; operating system; playback; delays; log; playback monitor; ScriptAssure(TM); recorder; recording monitor; and the workbench.
  - Managing functional test projects
    A functional test project stores application test assets such as scripts, object maps, verification point baseline files, and script templates. You must create a functional test project before you can record scripts.
  - Working with functional test scripts (Windows-only)
    This section describes the process of creating functional test scripts to test your applications.
  - Working with verification points
    Verification points verify that a certain action has taken place, or verify the state of a control or an object. When you create a verification point, you are capturing information about a control or an object in the application to establish this as baseline information for comparison during playback.
  - Driving functional tests with external data
    This section describes techniques you can use to data-drive functional tests with external data.
  - Managing functional test assets
    You can integrate Rational® Functional Tester with IBM® Rational ClearCase® or Rational Team Concert™ and manage functional test assets using any of these source control management tools.
  - Testing terminal-based applications
    Use the Rational® Functional Tester Terminal-based Applications feature to create test scripts and automate your host-application test cases. You can test host attributes, host field attributes, and screen-flow through a host application. It uses terminal verification points and properties, as well as synchronization code to identify the readiness of terminal for user input.
  - Troubleshooting issues
    You can find information about the issues or problems that you might encounter while working with the Functional Test perspective in Rational® Functional Tester. Details about issues, their causes and the resolutions that you can apply to fix the issues are described.
- Extending the UI Test perspective with custom code
  You can use custom code to extend the default Web UI testing capabilities. You can write custom Java™ code and call the code from the test. You can also specify that results from the tests that are affected by your custom code to be included in reports.
- Extending the Functional Test perspective
  You can use custom code to extend the default functional testing capabilities. You can write custom code and call the code from the test. You can also specify that results from the tests that are affected by your custom code to be included in reports.
- Experimental Features
  Rational® Functional Tester contains a set of pre-releases that enable you to test various experimental features. These experimental features, while still in progress, are introduced early in the release to seek your feedback on its overall functionality and performance. You can play around with these capabilities before they are made available and supported as a general feature in an upcoming release.

Testing nonenabled Flex applications

Testers can test a Flex application that is not enabled for functional testing and is deployed on a web server.

About this task

Developers deploy the application on a web server and provides the URL to the testers. Testers must perform the test using the Runtime Loader component that is available with Rational® Functional Tester.

Important: If you encounter problems while the Flex application is loading using the Runtime Loader test page, check the security settings of Internet Explorer ActiveX and plug-ins.

Ensure that you add the application in the Application Configuration tool, enable the required JRE and set your default web browser.

To test a nonenabled Flex application:

Procedure

Copy the compiled RunTimeLoader.swf and the RuntimeLoadingTest.html to the folder that contains the Flex application to the server.
Open the RuntimeLoadingTest.html page in browser.
Pass the relative path of the Flex application to be tested as a query parameter to the HTML page. For example, type:http://localhost/RuntimeLoadingTest.html?automationswfurl=applicationtotest.swf, where applicationtotest.swf is the file name of the Flex application.
Start Rational® Functional Tester.
Start testing the HTML file that contains the embedded Flex application.