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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.
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.
Modifying options for script execution
Some scripting framework options that affect script execution can be specified through the user interface. Values that you set in the user interface persist as the default values from script to script. However, you can also use the scripting framework to set some of these options directly in the functional test script, for example, the amount of time between keystrokes.

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
  You can learn to start using Rational® Functional Tester by reviewing the information in the Tutorials for the UI Test perspective and Functional Test perspective.
- 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.
    - 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.
      - Writing messages to the log
        A log is a file that contains the record of events that occur while a Functional Test script is playing back. There are several different methods you can use to write messages to the log.
      - Modifying options for script execution
        Some scripting framework options that affect script execution can be specified through the user interface. Values that you set in the user interface persist as the default values from script to script. However, you can also use the scripting framework to set some of these options directly in the functional test script, for example, the amount of time between keystrokes.
      - Starting a test script from within a script
        Test scripts can contain methods that invoke other test scripts. You might want to take advantage of this functionality by creating a test script that serves as a command file for a suite of scripts.
      - Querying values of object properties
        Components in the application-under-test, such as dialog boxes, command buttons, and labels, have associated pieces of information called properties. Properties have a name and a value. This topic provides examples of why you may want to modify your script to access an object property.
      - Unregistering references to test objects
        Helper script methods refer to an object in the application-under-test by using the test object map. Rational® Functional Tester finds such mapped objects each time a method is called on the object. In some cases; however, you might not want Rational Functional Tester to do this.
      - Handling ambiguous recognition
        In some situations during playback, might not be able to differentiate between two similar objects in the software that is being tested. This topic describes handling these situations.
      - Adding manual and dynamic verification points
        In addition to verification points specified during recording, you can also incorporate new verification points into a Functional Test script. Scripting manual and dynamic verification points enables you to specify data for comparison against an object that is not found in the test object map. The data, however, must be value-class based.
      - Handling unexpected active Windows
        A common problem in GUI testing is the appearance of an unexpected active window -- for example, a warning message box in an HTML browser. This topic describes how to handle this problem.
      - Rational® Functional Tester examples
        Rational® Functional Tester ships with some example code you can use in your own scripts. You can open these examples from within the sample project shipped with Rational Functional Tester.
      - Determining the values of cells in a table
        When working with Java™ or HTML tables, you might want to extract the value of a given cell in the table. There are many ways to do this; one simple approach is to query the table directly.
      - Reading the Windows registry
        The Windows® registry is a database used by the Windows operating system to store configuration information. Often it becomes necessary for a tester to read information out of this database using Rational® Functional Tester commands. This topic provides examples for doing this.
      - Iterating through items in a tree control using the getTestData method
        This topic provides an example of using Rational® Functional Tester's getTestData method to programmatically access the values on the branches of a tree control.
      - Iterating through table cells using the getTestData method
        This topic provides an example of using Rational® Functional Tester's getTestData method to access the values in the cells of a grid control.
      - Passing parameters to the callScript method
        This topic describes how to use the different signatures of the callScript method to pass data from one script to another.
      - Extracting data from a combobox/list control (JComboBox)
        You can use Rational® Functional Tester's getTestData method to access the values in the list of a ComboBox/List control.
      - Playing back low level mouse and keyboard actions
        Low-level playback of mouse and keyboard actions provides more control of events of user actions. For example, Rational® Functional Tester currently supports TestObject.click(), where the click consists of low-level actions including mouse move, left mouse button down, and left mouse button up. With this functionality, you can play back the individual components of a mouse click.
      - Searching for test objects
        You can search for one or more test objects that match specified search criteria. The search is based on name/value pairs that represent properties of the test object or test objects you are looking for. The search can either be global, or limited to children of a parent test object.
      - Searching for SAP TestObjects
        With Rational® Functional Tester, you can locate one or more SAP TestObjects matching a specified search criteria, even without using the Object Map.
      - Tracing AJAX requests
        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 on the corresponding document object. By setting Auto Trace option to true, you can trace the AJAX requests.
      - Searching for GEF objects
        Rational® Functional Tester recognizes the GEF EditParts and Palettes. Some Figures may not have an association with an EditPart. You can use Rational Functional Tester APIs to find such Figures as shown in the below examples.
      - Passing parameters by using the describe function in PowerBuilder
        In PowerBuilder, you can use the describe() function to identify the properties of DataWindow objects and their controls. The describe() function is available only with the PowerBuilder DataWindow. The describe() function returns a string as a result of the parameters that are specified as a part of the describe() function. For example, you can find the data types of the column in a table style presentation. You can use the describe function in Rational® Functional Tester as shown in the following examples.
      - Finding the state of the browser
        When you record functional test scripts, if you find that some controls were not picked up by the recording, you can verify whether the browser used during the recording was in a ready state for recording. Similarly, if you encountered problems during playback, you can verify the state of the browser. You can use the dynamic find() API and use the Html.HtmlBrowser method for this purpose.
      - Finding objects in a Dojo tree
        You can use the dynamic find() API and the dojoTreeExpand() method to find all objects within a Dojo tree control within the application under test.
      - Reading multiple datasets from a functional test script
        You can use the dynamic find() API to read multiple datasets from a functional test script.
      - Selecting an item from a Java drop-down list
        You can modify the dynamic find() API to use the mapped and dynamic test objects, to select an item from a drop-down list in a Java application, as the following example illustrates:
      - Verifying the status of a radio button or check box
        You can use the dynamic find() API to verify the status of a radio button or check box during playback, such as whether the control was selected or not.
      - Closing active browsers before playback
        You can use the dynamic find() API to find and close all active browsers before you play back a script to ensure that there are no active browser instances before playback.
      - Closing unexpected HTML dialog boxes during playback
        You can use the dynamic find() API to close HTML dialog boxes that are displayed unexpectedly during playback, to ensure smooth playback.
  - 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.

Modifying options for script execution

Some scripting framework options that affect script execution can be specified through the user interface. Values that you set in the user interface persist as the default values from script to script. However, you can also use the scripting framework to set some of these options directly in the functional test script, for example, the amount of time between keystrokes.

A programmatically set value only lasts until the end of playback. After playback ends, the option reverts to the default value. Constants for these options are defined in the com.rational.test.ft.script.IOptionName interface. See the Rational® Functional Tester API Reference for information about the com.rational.test.ft.script.IOptionName interface.

To retrieve the current value of an option, use the getOption method as follows:


Object x = getOption(IOptionName.option);

You can test the value of x to determine whether you want to change the option value during playback. To do so, use the setOption method, which has the following general format:


setOption(IOptionName.option,value);

You must specify a value of a type that applies to the option. The Rational® Functional Tester IDE has a Content Assist feature that can be helpful here. In the earlier example, after entering IOptionName, press Ctrl+Space, or click Edit > Content Assist from the menu. A list of all the options open. You can use the arrow keys to scroll through the list, or type the first few letters of the option name if you know it. When you press Enter, the currently selected option name is inserted into your script.

With the scripting framework, you can also reset the value of an option back to the default value by using the resetOption method. For example, to change the delay between keystrokes during playback for a short time, you can script a sequence like this:


setOption(IOptionName.DELAY_BEFORE_KEY_DOWN, 0.3);
InputWindow().inputKeys("abcdefg123");
resetOption(IOptionName.DELAY_BEFORE_KEY_DOWN);
InputWindow().inputKeys("999");