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Rational® Functional Tester
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.
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.
Rational® Functional Tester proxy SDK
Extend automated functional testing support for your application's user interface controls.
Proxy development
A challenge in functional testing is the variety of user interface (UI) frameworks that are available (for example, Java™ and HTML) and controls (for example, button and table) that testing must support. UI frameworks differ in architecture and programming models and the controls differ in their inheritance hierarchy, methods, properties data, and user actions.
Extending proxies
Rational® Functional Tester needs UI control-specific information to perform functional testing operations such as recording, playback, verification points, and data driving. It tries to map the closest proxy if it finds a new control for which it has no proxy.
Debugging the proxy code
Debugging the proxy code is an essential part of the proxy development process for problem determination. The proxy code containing the JAR file or .Net assembly file with the .dll extension is loaded into the application under test (AUT) process. To debug the proxy code, attach the respective debugger to the AUT process after the proxy binary files are loaded into the AUT.

Rational® Functional Tester
- Release Notes
  This document contains information about what's new, installation instructions, known problems in and contact information of IBM Customer Support.
- System Requirements
  This document includes information about hardware and software requirements for IBM® Rational® Functional Tester.
- Getting Started Guide
  This guide provides an overview of Rational® Functional Tester. You can find the task flows to get you started with Rational Functional Tester. This guide is intended for new users.
- Tutorials
  This section contains the tutorials which explains the main features of Rational® Functional Tester.
- Samples
  This section describes about the sample project which can be used with Rational® Functional Tester to test the functionality of an application.
- Administrator Guide
  This guide describes how to install IBM® Rational® Functional Tester software. After you install the software, you can perform administration tasks such as license configuration and integration with other products. This guide is intended for administrators.
- 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.
  - 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.
    - Rational® Functional Tester proxy SDK
      Extend automated functional testing support for your application's user interface controls.
      - Introduction to proxy SDK
        With Rational® Functional Tester proxy software development kit (SDK) you can extend automated functional testing support for your application's user interface controls (GUI test objects), beyond what is provided by Rational Functional Tester by default. The proxy SDK provides detailed documentation, API references and ready-to-use samples and tutorials on how to extend Rational Functional Tester to add support for testing new controls. It also helps you to extend already supported controls from the existing domains. You can develop proxies manually or by using the proxy wizards driven approach.
      - Rational® Functional Tester architecture
        Rational® Functional Tester can be extended to perform additional functions for which it needs to communicate with the application under test (AUT). To do that Rational Functional Tester first establishes a communication channel to the AUT which is called enablement.
      - Proxy development
        A challenge in functional testing is the variety of user interface (UI) frameworks that are available (for example, Java™ and HTML) and controls (for example, button and table) that testing must support. UI frameworks differ in architecture and programming models and the controls differ in their inheritance hierarchy, methods, properties data, and user actions.
        Understanding proxies
        A proxy object implements the prescribed Rational® Functional Tester interface for a UI control in the application under test (AUT). When you enable your application for testing, the proxy classes are loaded into the application and become part of it. A proxy object wraps around the actual control (the native object) in your application, making it testable in Rational Functional Tester. It is a connection point between the TestObject and the real control (object) being tested at the AUT.
        Proxy development environment
        Rational® Functional Tester proxies can be developed either in Java™ or C# programming languages based on the UI framework of the application under test (AUT).
        Setting up proxy projects
        ProxyObjects are deployed as either JAR files which are proxies written in Java™, or as Assembly DLLs which are proxies written in C#, along with customization file with the .rftcust extension.
        Current level of proxy support that Rational® Functional Tester provides
        To develop proxies for a control, you must understand the current level of support that Rational® Functional Tester provides for that control. Consider that you want to add testing support for the Java™ swing UI control, javax.swing.JFormattedTextField.
        Extending proxies
        Rational® Functional Tester needs UI control-specific information to perform functional testing operations such as recording, playback, verification points, and data driving. It tries to map the closest proxy if it finds a new control for which it has no proxy.
        Creating a proxy class
        You can write a ProxyObject class either in Java™ or C#, depending on which control you are developing the proxy for. Creating a new ProxyObject class is similar to creating a new Java or C# class extending the respective base ProxyObject class.
        Adding more control properties
        Rational® Functional Tester provides a set of control properties for access and property verification. You can add more control properties by extending the getProperties() and getProperty() APIs.
        Adding more data types for a control
        Rational® Functional Tester provides a set of control data types for data verification point. You can add more control data types by extending the getTestDataTypes() and getTestData() APIs.
        Enhancing the recording behavior
        You can enhance the recording behavior for a user action on a control by extending the processMouseEvent() API. Rational® Functional Tester framework calls the processMouseEvent() API when a mouse event happens on a control. The processMouseEvent() API tells the Rational Functional Tester framework which method has to be recorded for the mouse action.
        Enhancing the recording behavior with SubItems
        SubItems are Rational® Functional Tester defined portions of a control under test. In some cases, you get best results by recording the user interaction with SubItem details rather than recording just with the coordinate information. The disadvantage of using the coordinate information is that when portions of a control are resized or rearranged, playing back the user actions might not return the same results.
        Extending data driving
        You must implement the GetDataDrivableCommand() method in the proxy to add data driving support to a control. This method returns a method specification to implement data driving support for a control. While using the data driving wizard, the method specification that GetDataDrivableCommand() returns is sent to the test script. Proxies can override and return any method that you specify for data driving.
        Changing the role of a control
        The role of a control determines which icon is displayed in the Object Map for a TestObject. You can do this by extending the getRole() method and returning one of the Rational® Functional Tester predefined role values.
        Modifying the recognition properties and weight of a control
        Rational® Functional Tester uses recognition properties to uniquely identify a control. Various recognition properties are assigned different weights for recognition analysis. Rational Functional Tester uses these values and weights to identify a control during playback. You can customize the recognition properties and the weights that best suit the controls you are testing.
        Changing the mappability of a control
        There are certain types of controls in applications under test (AUT) that do not need to be exposed as a TestObject. For example, container controls have no useful testing value and are not exposed. Rational® Functional Tester needs these container controls to run certain methods to retrieve information about their children.
        Mapping proxies to controls
        Rational® Functional Tester identifies each application under test (AUT) control by its class name. Running the testObject.getProperty(".class") method in the test script gives you the class name. The mapping is established through the class names of the respective control and ProxyObject.
        Deploying a proxy
        After you have developed the proxy binary and customization files, you must deploy them for the changes to take effect.
        Debugging the proxy code
        Debugging the proxy code is an essential part of the proxy development process for problem determination. The proxy code containing the JAR file or .Net assembly file with the .dll extension is loaded into the application under test (AUT) process. To debug the proxy code, attach the respective debugger to the AUT process after the proxy binary files are loaded into the AUT.
        Implementing logs for proxy code debug
        Rational® Functional Tester provides a log infrastructure that you can use while debugging the developed proxy code. The FTDebug class is available in both Java™ and .Net proxy development frameworks. You can instantiate an object of the FTDebug class for each proxy class and log any information, warning, or error message categorically.
        Extending proxies for Flex custom controls
        Developing proxies using the Proxy SDK wizard
        Rational® Functional Tester proxy SDK supports wizard driven development of proxies. Proxy development life cycle stages such as creating a proxy project, creating a proxy class, exporting the proxy packages and deploying these proxies is done using the proxy wizards.
      - TestObjects
        TestObjects are the script-side interfaces for proxies and application under test (AUT) controls. A TestObject is a connection point between the test script and a ProxyObject that connects to the real object in the AUT. During recording, statements are recorded and objects are added to the Object Map. The script uses the information from the Object Map to construct and find TestObjects.
      - ProxyObject hierarchy
        While developing new proxies by extending existing proxies for any domain, it is important to understand the existing proxies and the hierarchies, so that you extend the right proxy.
      - TestObject class diagram and canonical names
        Rational® Functional Tester has a predefined set of TestObjects that are hierarchically grouped and each TestObject has a set of predefined methods.
      - SubItems
        SubItems are part of TestObjects. The ObjectMap does not contain the SubItems, because they are not mapped.
      - Value classes and value managers
        The following code examples show several value classes and value managers.
      - TestData types
        The Rational® Functional Tester framework calls the getTestDataTypes() and getTestData(String) proxy methods for extracting data from controls for verification and reference. These methods are used during the creation and play back of data verification points. You can override the getTestDataTypes() method to add more specific data types for a control.
      - Proxy exceptions
        Rational® Functional Tester has a set of predefined exceptions that covers wide ranges of errors that are usually expected while functional testing. These exceptions are available for both the Java™ and .NET proxy development frameworks.
      - Proxy development best practices
        Following best practices while you develop proxies can help make your work more efficient and effective. Consider these methods to enhance your development efforts.
    - Customizing a script template
      Rational® Functional Tester uses its default script templates to format and provide basic information when you create a script. You can customize the information and format by customizing the script templates.
    - Using the API to edit functional test scripts
      These topics describe how you can take advantage of the Rational® Functional Tester application programming interface (API) or the scripting framework to make changes to functional test scripts. As a general rule, the modifications that you make with the scripting SDK, should emulate as closely as possible, the user interactions to test with the application-under-test.
  - 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.
- Test Execution Specialist Guide
  This guide describes how to automate the playback of the tests by using different methods such as Docker, IBM® Cloud Private, Jenkins and so on. The test results can be pushed to Rational® Test Control Panel.
- Test Manager Guide
  This guide describes how to keep track of the performance of the application by evaluating the test results. Following topics cover how you can work with the test results.
- Troubleshooting
  This guide describes how to analyze and resolve some of the common problems that you might encounter while you work with Rational® Functional Tester.
- Reference Guide
  This guide describes the additional topics to gain more knowledge about Rational® Functional Tester.
- All Guides (PDF)
  You can find the link to view or download the content of the release notes, system requirements, and persona guides of IBM® Rational® Functional Tester as a PDF file.
- Security Considerations
  You can take certain actions to ensure that your installation is secure, customize your security settings, and set up user access controls.
- Notices
  This document provides information about copyright, trademarks, terms and conditions for the product documentation.

Debugging the proxy code

Debugging the proxy code is an essential part of the proxy development process for problem determination. The proxy code containing the JAR file or .Net assembly file with the .dll extension is loaded into the application under test (AUT) process. To debug the proxy code, attach the respective debugger to the AUT process after the proxy binary files are loaded into the AUT.

Preparing the debug environment

About this task

Before you debug the proxy code, perform the following tasks:

Procedure

Save the debug version of the proxy binary files in the customization directory and restart Rational® Functional Tester.
In case of Java™, enable the JRE that the AUT uses with the Rational® Functional Tester enabler.
In case of .Net, start the .Net AUT and record a click action on any control using Rational® Functional Tester to enable it for testing.
Note: The proxy assembly .dll file is loaded only when the first click is recorded on Windows® and .Net applications. Windows and .Net applications are enabled dynamically for testing. In case of Java, the Application Configurator Tool enables the AUT.

Setting invocation timeout

Debugging proxies is time sensitive and the invocation times out after two minutes by default. To adjust timeout for debugging, add a DWORD value InvocationTimeout in milliseconds under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Rational Software\RationalTest\8\Options in the Windows registry. A timeout during debugging throws a SpyMemory MutexTimeout exception.

Debugging record

The getChildAtPoint() method is the entry point for proxy debugging for record. Any user action calls the processMouseEvent() method, even before AUT sees the event. Rational® Functional Tester processes the user actions, for example whether the action is a click or drag and accordingly the method specification and arguments are generated. For best results, use these methods to start inserting breakpoints.

Debugging playback

The getMappableChildren() method is the entry point for proxy debugging for playback. During proxy development, most ObjectNotFound problems that occur result from a mismatch between the object hierarchy that the record produces and the hierarchy produced during playback. Make sure that the getMappableParent() and getMappableChildren() methods are symmetrical.