Record and Playback in qtp

Recordand Playback

Initial development of automated tests with QTP is usually done by record-and-playback. A user’s actions are captured via Microsoft’s Component Object Model (COM). These are recorded into Actions, a kind of subroutine, as VBScript commands. All manipulated objects that QTP recognizes are also added to the object repository. Once recorded, the scripts are editable in either Keyword View or Expert View.

After clicking on the playback button all these actions will be played back. During playback, QTP attempts to identify and perform operations on the same objects, again using COM.

Recording Modes: There are three recording modes in QTP

Normal

Analog

Low Level

NormalRecording Mode: It records the actions performed by the user on the application objects like Edit boxes, List boxes and Links. QTP records each action as one step in the QTP script. Step is nothing but one line in the code.

Stepsfor Normal Recording Mode:

·         Launch QTP

·         Create a new test by selecting  File>New>Test

·         Click Record button or select Automation>Record or press the Record command shortcut key F3.

·         The Record  and Run settings dialog opens as shown below, Enter Application URL in the box as shown in our case .When  you are done with recording click the Stop button or select Automation>Stop or press F4.

·         Save Your Test.

·         Run the test by clicking Run.

AnalogRecording Mode: This mode enables you to record the exact mouse and keyboard operations you perform in relation to either the screen or the application window. This mode is useful when you want to record mouse movements, for example recording a signature or drawing performed by dragging the mouse. To record in analog mode , first start normal recording then select Automation>Analog Recording. The Analog recording dialog box opens up as shown below.

Record relative to the screen: QTP records any mouse movement or keyboard input relative to the top

  left coordinates of your screen(i.e. desktop).

  Record relative to the following window: QTP records any mouse movement or keyboard input

   relative to the coordinates of the specified window.

Low Level Recording:

 Low level recording mode is used only when exact coordinate of the operation is essential. To record a test using low level recording mode, start the normal recording session then select Automation>Low Level Recording to start recording in low level

(code created in low level recording)

Window("Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager").Window("Create New Virtual Machine").WinObject("Cancel").Click 40,17

This code states that Cancel button was clicked at  coordinate 40,17. This coordinate is measured by taking top left corner of the object( Here it is the Cancel button) as reference (0,0).

Guidelinesfor choosing the recording mode:

Use Analog recording mode only when normal recording mode does not accurately record your operations.

Use analog recording for the applications in which the actual movement of the mouse is what you want to record, like drawings, signatures etc.

Use low level recording when you need to record the exact location of the operation on your application screen.

Running Tests:

QTP always run from the first step, unless you specify otherwise.To run a test , open it and select Automation>Run or press F5.The Run dialog box opens, in the dialog box specify the result location. Temporary run result folder saves run results in a temporary folder.This option overwrites any results previously saved in this folder. Click OK to start the Run session.

Test Result Window: When a run session ends, you can view run session results in the Test Results window. The run result tree is located in the left pane in the Test Result window

Recordand Run Settings Dialog: This Dialog box is used to instruct QTP , which application to open when you begin to record or run your test.

Windows Application Tab: As shown in figure below.There are two radio buttons, if we select first one QTP records and run test on any application and if we select a second one, we can specify the applications on which QTP should record or run test.

  Web Tab: Web Tab as shown below also have two radio buttons, if select the first one,QTP records and run test on application opened on any browser and if we select the second one, QTP records and runs tests by opening application in a new browser of the specified type.

Dynamic arrays

An array can hold more than one value. An array lets you address many data values through the same variable. Think of an array as a list (e.g., a list of usernames). You reference each item in this list with a common name and index number. The common name is the name of the array variable. The common name typically includes the prefix arr to denote that the variable contains data of the subtype Array. The index number is an integer subscript that denotes an item's relative location in the list. The indexes always increment sequentially, starting from 0. For example, if an array has three items, the indexes are 0, 1, and 2. The 0 index represents the first position, the 1 index represents the second position, and the 2 index represents the third position in the array.

There are two types of arrays:

Static arrays

Dynamic arrays

Static array has to be declared with the number of elements that the array can hold (i.e. arr(5)).  If we don’t know the number of elements to be stored in the array, then the dynamic array can be used.

Syntax:

Dim arr()

ReDim keyword should be then used to declare the number of elements that the array can hold.

Syntax:

Dim arr()

ReDim arr(3)

Example:

Dim arr()

ReDim arr(3)

    arr(0)=10

    arr(1)=15

    arr(2)=20

msg=""

For i=0 to 3

    msg=msg&"Arr("&i&") : "&arr(i)&vbnewline

Next

msgbox msg

ReDim arr(4)

arr(4)=20

msg=""

For i=0 to 4

    msg=msg&"Arr("&i&") : "&arr(i)&vbnewline

Next

msgbox msg

In the above example, array is initially sized with five elements.  Array elements with indices 0 to 5 are initialized and displayed using for loop.  The array is resized with ReDim keyword and then the added array element is initialized with the statement “arr(4)=20”.

Output before resizing the array:

dynamicarray1

Output after resizing the array:

dynamicarray2

We will use the Preserve keyword with the ReDim in the above example.

Dim arr()

ReDim arr(5)

    arr(0)=10

    arr(1)=15

    arr(2)=20

    arr(3)=25

msg=""

For i=0 to 4

    msg=msg&"Arr("&i&") : "&arr(i)&vbnewline

Next

msgbox msg

ReDim Preserve arr(6)

arr(4)=20

msg=""

For i=0 to 4

    msg=msg&"Arr("&i&") : "&arr(i)&vbnewline

Next

msgbox msg

preserve

Output shows the array element values starting from Arr(0) to Arr(6).  Preserve keyword preserves the values of the array elements before ReDim statement.  Hence, if we resize the array with ReDim and add new elements does not erase the earlier values of the array.

Follow the steps below to use the dynamic arrays:

Declare the array with no size – Dim array_name()

Re-declare the size of the array with ReDim & Preserve – ReDim Preserve array_name(number of elements)

About other VB Built functions in QTP

About all the built-in VBScript functions. The page is divided into following sections: Date/Time functions; Conversion functions; Format functions. Math functions; Array functions. String functions; Other functions

Date/Time Functions

Function         Description

CDate Converts a valid date and time expression to the variant of subtype Date

Date    Returns the current system date

DateAdd         Returns a date to which a specified time interval has been added

DateDiff         Returns the number of intervals between two dates

DatePart         Returns the specified part of a given date

DateSerial      Returns the date for a specified year, month, and day

DateValue      Returns a date

Day     Returns a number that represents the day of the month (between 1 and 31, inclusive)

FormatDateTime       Returns an expression formatted as a date or time

Hour   Returns a number that represents the hour of the day (between 0 and 23, inclusive)

IsDate Returns a Boolean value that indicates if the evaluated expression can be converted to a date

Minute            Returns a number that represents the minute of the hour (between 0 and 59, inclusive)

Month Returns a number that represents the month of the year (between 1 and 12, inclusive)

MonthName   Returns the name of a specified month

Now    Returns the current system date and time

Second            Returns a number that represents the second of the minute (between 0 and 59, inclusive)

Time   Returns the current system time

Timer  Returns the number of seconds since 12:00 AM

TimeSerial      Returns the time for a specific hour, minute, and second

TimeValue     Returns a time

Weekday        Returns a number that represents the day of the week (between 1 and 7, inclusive)

WeekdayName          Returns the weekday name of a specified day of the week

Year    Returns a number that represents the year

Conversion Functions

Function         Description

Asc      Converts the first letter in a string to ANSI code

CBool Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Boolean

CByte Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Byte

CCur  Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Currency

CDate Converts a valid date and time expression to the variant of subtype Date

CDbl   Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Double

Chr     Converts the specified ANSI code to a character

CInt    Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Integer

CLng  Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Long

CSng   Converts an expression to a variant of subtype Single

CStr    Converts an expression to a variant of subtype String

Hex     Returns the hexadecimal value of a specified number

Oct      Returns the octal value of a specified number

Format Functions

Function         Description

FormatCurrency       Returns an expression formatted as a currency value

FormatDateTime       Returns an expression formatted as a date or time

FormatNumber         Returns an expression formatted as a number

FormatPercent          Returns an expression formatted as a percentage

Math Functions

Function         Description

Abs     Returns the absolute value of a specified number

Atn      Returns the arctangent of a specified number

Cos      Returns the cosine of a specified number (angle)

Exp     Returns e raised to a power

Hex     Returns the hexadecimal value of a specified number

Int       Returns the integer part of a specified number

Fix       Returns the integer part of a specified number

Log     Returns the natural logarithm of a specified number

Oct      Returns the octal value of a specified number

Rnd     Returns a random number less than 1 but greater or equal to 0

Sgn      Returns an integer that indicates the sign of a specified number

Sin       Returns the sine of a specified number (angle)

Sqr      Returns the square root of a specified number

Tan     Returns the tangent of a specified number (angle)

Array Functions

Function         Description

Array  Returns a variant containing an array

Filter   Returns a zero-based array that contains a subset of a string array based on a filter criteria

IsArray           Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified variable is an array

Join     Returns a string that consists of a number of substrings in an array

LBound                Returns the smallest subscript for the indicated dimension of an array

Split    Returns a zero-based, one-dimensional array that contains a specified number of substrings

UBound          Returns the largest subscript for the indicated dimension of an array

String Functions

Function         Description

InStr   Returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another. The search begins at the first character of the string

InStrRev        Returns the position of the first occurrence of one string within another. The search begins at the last character of the string

LCase Converts a specified string to lowercase

Left     Returns a specified number of characters from the left side of a string

Len     Returns the number of characters in a string

LTrim Removes spaces on the left side of a string

RTrim            Removes spaces on the right side of a string

Trim   Removes spaces on both the left and the right side of a string

Mid     Returns a specified number of characters from a string

Replace           Replaces a specified part of a string with another string a specified number of times

Right   Returns a specified number of characters from the right side of a string

Space  Returns a string that consists of a specified number of spaces

StrComp        Compares two strings and returns a value that represents the result of the comparison

String  Returns a string that contains a repeating character of a specified length

StrReverse     Reverses a string

UCase Converts a specified string to uppercase

Other Functions

Function         Description

CreateObject Creates an object of a specified type

Eval    Evaluates an expression and returns the result

GetLocale       Returns the current locale ID

GetObject       Returns a reference to an automation object from a file

GetRef            Allows you to connect a VBScript procedure to a DHTML event on your pages

InputBox        Displays a dialog box, where the user can write some input and/or click on a button, and returns the contents

IsEmpty          Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified variable has been initialized or not

IsNull  Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified expression contains no valid data (Null)

IsNumeric      Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified expression can be evaluated as a number

IsObject          Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether the specified expression is an automation object

LoadPicture   Returns a picture object. Available only on 32-bit platforms

MsgBox          Displays a message box, waits for the user to click a button, and returns a value that indicates which button the user clicked

RGB   Returns a number that represents an RGB color value

Round            Rounds a number

ScriptEngine  Returns the scripting language in use

ScriptEngineBuildVersion   Returns the build version number of the scripting engine in use

ScriptEngineMajorVersion  Returns the major version number of the scripting engine in use

ScriptEngineMinorVersion  Returns the minor version number of the scripting engine in use

SetLocale        Sets the locale ID and returns the previous locale ID

TypeName     Returns the subtype of a specified variable

VarType         Returns a value that indicates the subtype of a specified variable