Reading the Windows registry with Rational® Functional Tester

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 some examples for doing this.

The following example is applicable for scripts running on Windows®:

#Region " Script Header "
' Functional Test Script
' author Administrator
Imports Microsoft.VisualBasic
Imports Rational.Test.Ft
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Object.Interfaces
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Object.Interfaces.SAP
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Object.Interfaces.Siebel
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Script
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Value
Imports Rational.Test.Ft.Vp
Imports System.Windows.Forms

#End Region

Public Class RegistryExample 
    Inherits RegistryExampleHelper

    'Script Name   : RegistryExample
    'Generated     : Jul 20, 2006 3:15:34 PM
    'Description   : Functional Test Script
    'Original Host : Windows XP x86 5.1 build 2600 Service Pack 2 

    'since  2006/07/20
    'author Administrator

    Public Function TestMain(ByVal args() As Object)
        SetOption(IOptionName.BRING_UP_LOGVIEWER, False)
        Try
            ' Use this code to extract String (REG_SZ) values
            ' from the registry.
            Dim RegKeyString As String = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Rational Software\Rational Test\8\Rational FT Install Directory"
            Dim RegValueString As String = GetOperatingSystem().GetRegistryValue(RegKeyString)
            MessageBox.Show(RegValueString, "String Registry Value")

        Catch E As NoSuchRegistryKeyException
            MessageBox.Show("Error finding registry key.")
            System.Console.WriteLine("No Such Registry Key Exception." + E.toString)
        End Try

        Try
            ' Use this code to extract Integer (DWORD) values from the
            ' registry.
            Dim RegKeyInt As String = "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\LowLevelHooksTimeout"
            Dim RegValueInt As Integer = GetOperatingSystem().GetRegistryIntValue(RegKeyInt)
            MessageBox.Show(RegValueInt, "Integer Registry Value")
        Catch E As NoSuchRegistryKeyException
            MessageBox.Show("Error finding registry key.")
            System.Console.WriteLine("No Such Registry Key Exception. (" + E.toString + ")")
        End Try
    End Function

End Class

There are two commands available to Rational® Functional Tester users to read values from the registry. The GetRegistryValue command is used to read string values from the registry. The GetRegistryIntValue is used to read integer values from the registry. The terms "REG_SZ" describe the string and integer types. Both of the commands take a type String argument, which contains the registry key to extract.

The example extracts both a string and an integer value from the registry. Looking first at the String value segment, notice the core code:

      Dim RegKeyString As String = "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Rational Software\Rational Test\8\Rational FT Install Directory"
      Dim RegValueString As String = GetOperatingSystem().GetRegistryValue(RegKeyString)
      MessageBox.Show(RegValueString, "String Registry Value")

The first line creates a type String variable, which contains the registry value to extract. The second line executes the command and stores it in the type String variable RegValueString. The third line uses the MessageBox class to display the registry value in a message box on the screen.