Running UI tests in an Azure DevOps Pipeline

After you create the tests in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester for the application that you are testing, and after you install the IBM Rational Test Workbench extension in your organization, you can run the tests in Azure DevOps pipelines.

Before you begin

You must have completed the following tasks:

About this task

After you add the IBM Rational Test Workbench extension in your Azure DevOps organization, you can use an existing pipeline or create a new one to add Rational® Functional Tester test tasks. You can install an agent or use the one that you installed in your default agent pool. You can add the Rational® Functional Tester tests to your task for the agent job, configure the task, and then run the task in the Azure DevOps pipeline.

If you have created test cases under test plans in your Azure DevOps project, you can provide the details of the Azure DevOps URL, test plan, test case, and your personal access token (PAT) while you configure the test job in a pipeline so that you can view the results of the test run on your Test Plan dashboard.

Procedure

  1. Open your Organization page in Azure DevOps and perform the following steps:
    1. Click the project you want to use.
    2. Initialize the repository by performing the following steps:
      1. Click Repos from the left pane.
      2. Click Initialize from the Initialize with a README or gitignore section.
        Note: Select the Add a README checkbox if it is not selected.
    3. Click Pipelines from the left pane.
    4. Click Create Pipeline.
    5. Click Use the classic editor to create a pipeline without YAML.
    6. Verify the project, repository, and branch for manual and scheduled builds, and then click Continue.
    7. Click Empty job.
  2. Select Pipeline and complete the following steps:
    1. Change the name for the build pipeline if required.
    2. Select the Agent pool for your build pipeline.

      You can use the agent from the default agent pool or use the one you have installed.

    3. Select the Agent Specification for the agent if required.
  3. Add a task to the agent job by completing the following steps:
    1. Click the Add Task icon Add Task icon in Azure DevOps pipeline for the agent job.

      The Add tasks pane is displayed.

    2. Search for the IBM tasks defined in the IBM Rational Test Workbench extension.

      The tasks that you can select are displayed.

      IBM task selection in Azure DevOps

      Depending on the type of test that you have created in Rational® Functional Tester, you can select the type of task.

      You must use the following table to identify the task you must select:
      Type of test Task to select
      • AFT suites
      • Web UI tests
      • Compound tests

      IBM® Rational® Functional Tester Task
    3. Select the Rational Functional Tester Task option, and then click Add to add the task to the agent job.

      The selected task is added to the agent job and it is displayed with a warning that some settings require attention. You must configure the settings mentioned in Step 4.

      You can also remove the tasks that are not required in your job. Select the tasks in the list that you want to remove. You can then right-click the tasks, and click Remove selected task(s) to remove them.

  4. Configure the settings by performing the following steps:
    1. Select the task version from the list if required.
    2. Follow the action for the Web UI task by referring to the following table:
      Note: All mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*) in the UI.
      Field Description Action
      Display name Displays the name of the selected task. Enter the name of the task.
      Testcase Type The type of test to execute. Select Web UI from the Testcase Type list.
      Product Path The fully qualified path to the Rational® Functional Tester. This path must exist on the agent computer. Enter the complete path of Rational® Functional Tester.
      IMShared Path The path to the IMShared folder on your local computer. Enter the complete path to the location of the IBMIMShared folder. For example, C:\Program Files\IBM\IBMIMShared
      Workspace Location The complete path to the Eclipse workspace. Enter the complete path of the Eclipse workspace.
      Project Name The name of the project containing the test. Enter the name of the project containing the test.
      Test Suite Name The name of a test within the project to use. A test can be a Web UI test, Performance schedule, Compound test or AFT suites. Enter the name of the test that you want to run.
      VM Arguments Java™ virtual machine arguments to pass in.
      Enter the Java™ virtual machine arguments.
      Note: You can add multiple virtual machine arguments files separated by a comma.
      Var File The complete path to the XML file that contains the variable name and value pairs. Enter the complete path to the location of the variable file.
      Dataset Override For a test, the default value is the dataset specified in the test editor. Use the Dataset Override option to replace dataset values during a test run. If a test is associated with a dataset, you can replace the dataset at run time while initiating the run from the command line.
      Note:

      You must use the Dataset Override option to replace the dataset values during a test run. You must ensure that both original and new datasets are in the same workspace and have the same column names. You must also include the path to the dataset.

      For example,

      /project_name/ds_path/ds_filename.csv:/project_name/ds_path/new_ds_filename.csv.

      You can swap multiple datasets that are saved in a different project by adding multiple paths to the dataset separated by a semicolon (;).

      For example, 

      /project_name1/ds_path/ds_filename.csv:/project_name1/ds_path/new_ds_filename.csv;
/project_name2/ds_path/ds_filename.csv:/project_name2/ds_path/new_ds_filename.csv
      Configuration File The complete path to a file that contains the parameters for a test run. Enter the complete path of the file that contains the parameters for a test run.
      Results The name of the results file. The default name of the result file is the test name with a time stamp appended. Enter a folder name that is relative to the project to store the test results. For example, -results folder/resultname.
      Overwrite Determines whether a results file with the same name is overwritten. The default value false indicates that the new results file is created. Set the value as true to overwrite the existing file and retain the same file name.
    3. Expand Control Options and configure the settings for your task if required.
    4. Expand Output Variables and configure the settings for your task if required.
  5. Select the following options:
    1. Click Save to save the configured settings for the task.
      Note: The task is not queued for a run.

      You can save the task to a build pipeline and opt to run the build at a later time.

    2. Click Save & queue to save the configurations and queue the run in the pipeline.

      The Run pipeline dialog box is displayed.

  6. Complete the following steps:
    1. Enter a comment for the test in the Save comment field.
    2. Select the agent that you configured for the test from the Agent pool list.
    3. Select the agent specification from the Agent Specification list for the agent if required.
    4. Select the branch from the Branch/tag list.
    5. Add the variables and demands for the task run from the Advanced Options pane if required.
    6. Select the Enable system diagnostics checkbox for a detailed log view.
    7. Click Save and run.

      The pipeline summary page displays the progress of the job run.

Results

You have run the tests for the application you are testing, in the Azure DevOps pipeline.

What to do next

You can open the job to view the task logs from the pipeline summary page.

You must click the task to open the Task page to view the test results.

In Rational® Functional Tester, if the URL is configured in Window > Preferences > Test > Rational Test Automation Server and Publish result after execution is set as Always in Window > Preferences > Test > Rational Test Automation Server > Results, then the logs in the Task page also displays the names of the published report along with its corresponding URLs. The report URLs are the IBM® Rational® Test Automation Server URLs where the reports are stored. You can access the report URLs to view the test execution information at any point of time.