Home
Rational® Functional Tester
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.
Running tests from UI Test perspective
In this section, you will learn how to play back the Web UI, mobile and Windows tests from the UI Test perspective.
Running Web UI tests
See the different ways to play back Web UI tests.
Prerequisites to running Web UI tests
Using a specific browser profile during playback
By default, when you play back a test, a temporary browser profile is created. This browser profile is used by the test. To use a specific browser profile, which includes the extensions and settings to use for the test, create a separate browser profile and specify the path before playing back a test.

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.
- 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.
  - Running tests from UI Test perspective
    In this section, you will learn how to play back the Web UI, mobile and Windows tests from the UI Test perspective.
    - Running Web UI tests
      See the different ways to play back Web UI tests.
      - Prerequisites to running Web UI tests
        Using a specific browser profile during playback
        By default, when you play back a test, a temporary browser profile is created. This browser profile is used by the test. To use a specific browser profile, which includes the extensions and settings to use for the test, create a separate browser profile and specify the path before playing back a test.
        Clearing cache, cookies, and history of browsers
        To optimize the performance of web browsers that are used to play back Web UI tests, you can clear cache, cookies, and history of browsers.
      - Running a Web UI test
        To verify that a web application works as designed, run the test in a browser. Optionally, you can run the test in more than one browser at a time to speed up your test effort. Before running the test, you can choose to use a specific browser profile for the test.
      - Running Web UI tests on BitBar mobile device cloud
        You can run Web UI tests on mobile devices available in BitBar cloud device from the test workbench and to view the execution reports in the BitBar cloud.
      - Running Web UI tests on Perfecto mobile cloud
        To check the connection between the application and mobile cloud device, ideally before the test execution, you can enter the Perfecto mobile cloud credentials and get it verified.
      - Running a test using industry-standard mobile browsers
        Starting with 9.2.1, you can use industry-standard mobile browsers, such as Chrome and Safari, to run Web UI tests for mobile web applications. You can run tests with Chrome on Android devices and emulators and with Safari on iOS devices and simulators. This capability uses Appium to actually run the tests. Before 9.2.1, you could only run tests on mobile devices using the generic browser that is bundled with Rational® Functional Tester.
      - Running a test recorded in Google Chrome Device Mode
        You can run a test that you recorded in Chrome Device Mode. Doing so allows you to emulate the testing of applications on the browser of a mobile device.
      - Testing with Docker images
        IBM® Rational® Performance Tester, IBM Rational Functional Tester, and IBM Rational Performance Tester Agents are available for download as Docker images. You can use them to fulfill the continuous testing aspects of your DevOps lifecycle.
      - Testing with IBM® Cloud Private
        You can automate your testing environment by using Docker container images of the workbench and agents on top of IBM® Cloud Private.
      - Starting a new recording immediately after playback
        Starting from 9.1.1.1, you can keep the Google Chrome browser active after Web UI test playback is complete. This feature allows you to continue recording at the point where playback finished without the need to re-record the earlier steps.
      - Adding custom JavaScript code as a test step in a Web UI test
        You can manually add JavaScript files (*.js) to test scripts with defined functions. You might want to run your own JavaScript snippet such as retrieving some data from the application, doing some actions within the application, or validating some complex logic actions within the application for example. To be able to execute specific code in a test, write your own JavaScript code and insert the custom JavaScript statement as a new test step in your test script.
    - Running mobile tests
      After you record the tests for mobile applications by using Rational® Functional Tester, you can play back the recorded tests by using Rational Functional Tester. The test reports help you to analyze the functional and performance issues in the mobile applications developed.
    - Running Windows tests
      You can run Windows tests that you created for Windows desktop applications in Rational® Functional Tester.
    - Configuration of AFT Suite runs
      When you create Web UI, mobile, or Windows tests, you must configure the play back of the recorded tests as AFT Suite runs before you can view their test results.
    - Running a test on multiple browsers and devices simultaneously
      Rather than run a Web UI test on one browser at a time, you can run a single Web UI test on multiple browsers simultaneously. Doing so can significantly speed up your test effort. You can also extend your test coverage by adding mobile devices to the test run. You can run the test from Rational® Functional Tester, from the command line, or from Rational Quality Manager. This topic describes how to run a test from the UI Test perspective.
    - Running a test from a command line
      You can run a test without opening the product by using the command-line interface.
  - Running tests from Functional Test perspective
    In this section, you will learn how to play back tests from the Functional Test perspective.
- 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.

Using a specific browser profile during playback

By default, when you play back a test, a temporary browser profile is created. This browser profile is used by the test. To use a specific browser profile, which includes the extensions and settings to use for the test, create a separate browser profile and specify the path before playing back a test.

About this task

You can specify an alternate browser profile path only for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome browsers. To create a browser profile, see that browser's documentation. For Firefox, see the Use the Profile Manager to create and remove Firefox profiles page. For Chrome, see the Create a new browser user profile page. Note that the URL might change in the future.

The alternate browser profile is used when you run the test from the workbench, command line, UrbanCode™ Deploy, and IBM® Rational® Quality Manager.

Note: If the test script modifies the Firefox browser profile during the test run, the profile goes back to the default state after the run completes. The Chrome browser persists the changes that occurred during the test run. The difference in behavior is due to the way each browser handles a profile.

Procedure

To specify the browser profile path for test playback:

Click Window > Preferences > Test > Test Execution > UI Test Playback.
In the Browser Profile section, for a browser, click Browse and specify the path to the browser profile.