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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.
Configuration of test runs from the UI Test perspective
When you create Web UI, mobile, or Windows tests, you must configure the play back of the recorded tests as test runs from the UI Test perspective before you can view their test results.
Configuration of Web UI test runs
See the different ways to play back Web UI tests.
Prerequisites to running Web UI tests
Setting or changing the ANDROID_HOME path in Mac operating systems
When you want to run or play back recorded mobile tests by using the UI Test agent in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester, you must ensure that the ANDROID_HOME path is set correctly in computers that run on Mac operating systems.

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
  You can find the sample project that you can use 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.
  - Configuration of test runs from the UI Test perspective
    When you create Web UI, mobile, or Windows tests, you must configure the play back of the recorded tests as test runs from the UI Test perspective before you can view their test results.
    - Configuration of Web UI test runs
      See the different ways to play back Web UI tests.
      - Prerequisites to running Web UI tests
        Setting a specific browser profile for the playback
        When you play back a Web UI test in a browser, the test is played back in the temporary profile of the browser. You can set a specific user profile, which includes the extensions and settings to use for the test, for the browser in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester to play back the Web UI 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.
        Setting or changing the ANDROID_HOME path in Linux operating systems
        When you want to run or play back recorded mobile tests by using the UI Test agent in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester, you must ensure that the ANDROID_HOME path is set correctly in computers that run on Linux.
        Setting or changing the ANDROID_HOME path in Mac operating systems
        When you want to run or play back recorded mobile tests by using the UI Test agent in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester, you must ensure that the ANDROID_HOME path is set correctly in computers that run on Mac operating systems.
        Setting or changing the ANDROID_HOME path in Windows operating systems
        When you want to run or play back recorded mobile tests by using the UI Test agent in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester, you must ensure that the ANDROID_HOME path is set correctly in computers that run on Windows operating systems.
      - 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 Cloud
        You can run Web UI tests on mobile devices that are connected to the BitBar cloud device. After the test run is completed, you can view the test reports in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester.
      - 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 Web UI tests on the pCloudy cloud
        You can run Web UI test on Android or iOS devices that are connected to the pCloudy cloud testing platform. After the test run is completed, you can view the test reports in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester.
      - 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.
      - 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.
      - Running tests in the headless mode
        When you do not want to view the GUI of the application under test as the recorded test is played back on a web browser, you can choose to run the test in the headless mode. Running of tests in the headless mode is useful when you use an automated testing environment.
      - Running tests in the private or incognito mode
        When you play back Web UI tests, if the user profile that is stored in the browser prevents the test from running without intervention, then you can use the private or incognito mode. Also, when you do not want cookies, caches, and user information to affect your test play back, you can choose the private mode.
      - 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.
    - Configuration of mobile test runs
      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.
    - Configuration of Windows test runs
      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.
    - Setting a global delay for test steps
      You can set the duration of a global delay in milliseconds between all the steps instead of adding the wait time manually for each of the steps in a recorded test. You can specify this global delay as a preference for the playback of Web UI, Windows, or mobile tests.
    - Configuration of test runs from the command line
      When you need to run Web UI, mobile, and windows tests using the command line without opening the desktop client to run these tests, you can use the command line of Rational® Functional Tester.
  - Configuration of test runs from the Functional Test perspective
    When you created functional tests, you must configure the run of the recorded functional tests from the Functional Test perspective before you can view the test results.
- 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.

Setting or changing the ANDROID_HOME path in Mac operating systems

When you want to run or play back recorded mobile tests by using the UI Test agent in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester, you must ensure that the ANDROID_HOME path is set correctly in computers that run on Mac operating systems.

About this task

You must set up the ANDROID_HOME path as an environment variable, if you use the UI Test agent to playback recorded mobile tests for Android applications.

You must set up the environment variable on all computers from which you want to run mobile tests for Android applications.

Note: If you encounter errors about the Android sdk path not found when you attempt to play back mobile tests for Android applications on Windows, you might want to check if the value of the ANDROID_HOME environment variable is set correctly or change the value to point to the correct path.

Procedure

Go to <install_Dir>/UITestAgent directory and stop the UI Test agent service by running the following command:

sudo ./UITestAgent.sh stop
Modify UI Test agent service (ui.test.agent.plist) by performing the following steps:
1. Open the file for editing.
2. Search for the attribute ANDROID_HOME.
3. Change the value of the attribute ANDROID_HOME to <user-home>/Android/Sdk.
  
  Note: You must point to the directory where you installed the Android SDK components. It can be the default directory as <user-home>/Android/Sdk or to the directory that contains the Android SDK.
4. Save and close the file.
Run the following command:

sudo ./UIAgentSetup.sh

Results

You have set or changed the path to the ANDROID_HOME environment variable in Mac operating systems.

What to do next

You can play back the recorded tests by using the UI Test agent on computers that run on Mac operating systems.