Introduction:

This document demonstrates the usage of Descriptive programming in QTP 8.20. It also discusses situations where Descriptive programming can be used. Using Descriptive Programming automation scripts can be created even if the application has not been developed.

Descriptive Programming:

Whenever QTP records any action on any object of an application, it adds some description on how to recognize that object to a repository of objects called object repository. QTP cannot take action on an object until unless its object description is in the Object Repository. But descriptive programming provides a way to perform action on objects which are not in Object repository

 Object Identification:

 To identify an object during the play back of the scripts QTP stores some properties which helps QTP to uniquely identify the object on a page. Below screen shots shows an example Object repository:

  Now to recognize a radio button on a page QTP had added 2 properties the name of the radio button and the html tag for it. The name the left tree view is the logical name given by QTP for the object. This can be changed as per the convenience of the person writing the test case. QTP only allows UNIQUE logical name under same level of hierarchy. As we see in the snapshot the two objects in Browser->Page node are “WebTable” and “testPath”, they cannot have the same logical name. But an object under some other node can have the same name. Now with the current repository that we have, we can only write operation on objects which are in the repository. Some of the example operations are given below

 Browser("Browser").Page("Page").WebRadioGroup ("testPath").Select "2"

 cellData = Browser("Browser").Page("Page").WebTable ("WebTable").GetCellData (1,1)

 Browser("Example2").Page("Page").WebEdit("testPath").Set "Test text"

 When and Why to use Descriptive programming?

 Below are some of the situations when Descriptive Programming can be considered useful:

1. 1.      The objects in the application are dynamic in nature and need special handling to identify the object. The best example would be of clicking a link which changes according to the user of the application, Ex. “Logout <>”.
2. 2.      When object repository is getting huge due to the no. of objects being added. If the size of Object repository increases too much then it decreases the performance of QTP while recognizing a object.
3. 3.      When you don’t want to use object repository at all. Well the first question would be why not Object repository? Consider the following scenario which would help understand why not Object repository

 Scenario 1: Suppose we have a web application that has not been developed yet. Now QTP for recording the script and adding the objects to repository needs the application to be up, that would mean waiting for the application to be deployed before we can start of with making QTP scripts. But if we know the descriptions of the objects that will be created then we can still start off with the script writing for testing

 Scenario 2: Suppose an application has 3 navigation buttons on each and every page. Let the buttons be “Cancel”, “Back” and “Next”. Now recording action on these buttons would add 3 objects per page in the repository. For a 10 page flow this would mean 30 objects which could have been represented just by using 3 objects. So instead of adding these 30 objects to the repository we can just write 3 descriptions for the object and use it on any page.

1. 4.      Modification to a test case is needed but the Object repository for the same is Read only or in shared mode i.e. changes may affect other scripts as well.
2. 5.      When you want to take action on similar type of object i.e. suppose we have 20 textboxes on the page and there names are in the form txt_1, txt_2, txt_3 and so on. Now adding all 20 the Object repository would not be a good programming approach.

 How to use Descriptive programming?

There are two ways in which descriptive programming can be used

1. 1.      By creating properties collection object for the description.
2. 2.      By giving the description in form of the string arguments.

1. 1.    By creating properties collection object for the description.

 To use this method you need first to create an empty description

 Dim obj_Desc ‘Not necessary to declare

Set obj_Desc = Description.Create

 Now we have a blank description in “obj_Desc”. Each description has 3 properties “Name”, “Value” and “Regular Expression”.

 obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

 When you use a property name for the first time the property is added to the collection and when you use it again the property is modified. By default each property that is defined is a regular expression. Suppose if we have the following description

 obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

obj_Desc(“name”).value= “txt.*”

 This would mean an object with html tag as INPUT and name starting with txt. Now actually that “.*” was considered as regular expression. So, if you want the property “name” not to be recognized as a regular expression then you need to set the “regularexpression” property as FALSE

 obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

obj_Desc(“name”).value= “txt.*”

obj_Desc(“name”).regularexpression= “txt.*”

 This is how of we create a description. Now below is the way we can use it

 Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebEdit(obj_Desc).set “Test”

 When we say .WebEdit(obj_Desc) we define one more property for our description that was not earlier defined that is it’s a text box (because QTPs WebEdit boxes map to text boxes in a web page).

 If we know that we have more than 1 element with same description on the page then we must define “index” property for the that description

 Consider the HTML code given below

 Now the html code has two objects with same description. So distinguish between these 2 objects we will use the “index” property. Here is the description for both the object

 For 1^st textbox:

      obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

obj_Desc(“name”).value= “txt_Name”

obj_Desc(“index”).value= “0”

 For 2^nd textbox:

      obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

obj_Desc(“name”).value= “txt_Name”

obj_Desc(“index”).value= “1”

 Consider the HTML Code given below:

 We can use the same description for both the objects and still distinguish between both of them

obj_Desc(“html tag”).value= “INPUT”

obj_Desc(“name”).value= “txt_Name”

 When I want to refer to the textbox then I will use the inside a WebEdit object and to refer to the radio button I will use the description object with the WebRadioGroup object.

 Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebEdit(obj_Desc).set “Test” ‘Refers to the text box

Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebRadioGroup(obj_Desc).set “Test” ‘Refers to the radio button

 But if we use WebElement object for the description then we must define the “index” property because for a webelement the current description would return two objects.

Hierarchy of test description:

 When using programmatic descriptions from a specific point within a test object hierarchy, you must continue to use programmatic descriptions

from that point onward within the same statement. If you specify a test object by its object repository name after other objects in the hierarchy have

been described using programmatic descriptions, QuickTest cannot identify the object.

 For example, you can use Browser(Desc1).Page(Desc1).Link(desc3), since it uses programmatic descriptions throughout the entire test object hierarchy.

You can also use Browser("Index").Page(Desc1).Link(desc3), since it uses programmatic descriptions from a certain point in the description (starting

from the Page object description).

 However, you cannot use Browser(Desc1).Page(Desc1).Link("Example1"), since it uses programmatic descriptions for the Browser and Page objects but

then attempts to use an object repository name for the Link test object (QuickTest tries to locate the Link object based on its name, but cannot

locate it in the repository because the parent objects were specified using programmatic descriptions).

 Getting Child Object:

We can use description object to get all the objects on the page that matches that specific description. Suppose we have to check all the checkboxes present on a web page. So we will first create an object description for a checkboxe and then get all the checkboxes from the page

 Dim obj_ChkDesc

 Set obj_ChkDesc=Description.Create

obj_ChkDesc(“html tag”).value = “INPUT”

obj_ChkDesc(“type”).value = “checkbox”

 Dim allCheckboxes, singleCheckBox

 Set  allCheckboxes = Browse(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).ChildObjects(obj_ChkDesc)

 For each singleCheckBox in allCheckboxes

       singleCheckBox.Set “ON”

Next

 The above code will check all the check boxes present on the page. To get all the child objects we need to specify an object description i.e. we can’t use the string arguments that will be discussed later in the 2nd way of using the programming description.

 Possible Operation on Description Object

 Consider the below code for all the solutions

Dim obj_ChkDesc

Set obj_ChkDesc=Description.Create

obj_ChkDesc(“html tag”).value = “INPUT”

obj_ChkDesc(“type”).value = “checkbox”

Q: How to get the no. of description defined in a collection

A: obj_ChkDesc.Count ‘Will return 2 in our case

 Q: How to remove a description from the collection

A: obj_ChkDesc.remove “html tag” ‘would delete the html tag property from the collection

 Q: How do I check if property exists or not in the collection?

A: The answer is that it’s not possible. Because whenever we try to access a property which is not defined its automatically added to the collection. The only    way to determine is to check its value that is use a if statement “if obj_ChkDesc(“html tag”).value = empty then”.

 Q: How to browse through all the properties of a properties collection?

A: Two ways

      1^st:

                  For each desc in obj_ChkDesc

                              Name=desc.Name

                              Value=desc.Value

                              RE = desc.regularexpression

                  Next

      2^nd:

                  For i=0 to obj_ChkDesc.count - 1

                              Name= obj_ChkDesc(i).Name

                              Value= obj_ChkDesc(i).Value

                              RE = obj_ChkDesc(i).regularexpression

                  Next

1. 2.    By giving the description in form of the string arguments.

 You can describe an object directly in a statement by specifying property:=value pairs describing the object instead of specifying an object’s

name. The general syntax is:

 TestObject("PropertyName1:=PropertyValue1", "..." , "PropertyNameX:=PropertyValueX")

 TestObject—the test object class could be WebEdit, WebRadioGroup etc….

 PropertyName:=PropertyValue—the test object property and its value. Each property:=value pair should be separated by commas and quotation

marks. Note that you can enter a variable name as the property value if you want to find an object based on property values you retrieve during a run session.

Consider the HTML Code given below:

 Now to refer to the textbox the statement would be as given below

 Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebEdit(“Name:=txt_Name”,”html tag:=INPUT”).set “Test”

 And to refer to the radio button the statement would be as given below

Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebRadioGroup(“Name:=txt_Name”,”html tag:=INPUT”).set “Test”

If we refer to them as a web element then we will have to distinguish between the 2 using the index property

 Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebElement(“Name:=txt_Name”,”html tag:=INPUT”,”Index:=0”).set “Test” ‘ Refers to the textbox

Browser(“Browser”).Page(“Page”).WebElement(“Name:=txt_Name”,”html tag:=INPUT”,”Index:=1”).set “Test” ‘ Refers to the radio button

 Mercury Screen Recorder :

Capture your entire run session in a movie clip or capture only the segments with errors, and then view your movie from the Test Results window.

Dynamic Management of Object Repositories:

QuickTest now has a new RepositoriesCollection reserved object that you can use to programmatically manage the set of object repositories that are associated with an action during a run session.

Object Repository Manager:

You can use the Object Repository Manager to manage all of the shared object repositories in your organization from one, central location. This includes adding and defining objects, modifying objects and their descriptions, parameterizing test object property values, maintaining and organizing repositories, and importing and exporting repositories in XML format.

You can open multiple object repositories at the same time. Each object repository opens in its own resizable document window. This enables you to compare the content of the repositories, to copy or move objects from one object repository to another, and so forth.

Object Repository Merge Tool:

You can use the Object Repository Merge Tool to merge the objects from two shared object repositories into a single shared object repository. You can also use the Object Repository Merge Tool to merge objects from the local object repository of one or more actions or components into a shared object repository.

When you merge objects from two source object repositories, the content is copied to a new, target object repository, ensuring that the information in the source repositories remains unchanged.

If any conflicts occur during the merge, for example, if two objects have the same name and test object class, but different test object descriptions, the relevant objects are highlighted in the source repositories, and the Resolution Options pane details the conflict and possible resolutions.

Multiple Object Repositories per Action or Component:

QuickTest provides several options for storing and accessing test objects. You can store the test objects for each action or component in its corresponding local object repository, which is unique for each action and component. You can also store test objects in one or more shared object repositories that can be used in multiple actions and components. Alternatively, you can use a combination of objects from the local object repository and one or more shared object repositories. You choose the combination that matches your testing needs.

XML Object Repository Format:

QuickTest now enables you to import and export object repositories from and to XML format. This enables you to modify object repositories using the XML editor of your choice and then import them back into QuickTest. You can import and export files either from and to the file system or a Quality Center project (if QuickTest is connected to Quality Center).

Function Library Editor:

QuickTest now has a built-in function library editor, which enables you to create and edit function libraries containing VBScript functions, subroutines, modules, and so forth, and then call their functions from your test or component.

Handling Missing Actions and Resources:

Whenever a testing document (test, component, or application area) contains a resource that cannot be found, QuickTest opens the Missing Resources pane and lists the missing resource(s). For example, a test may contain an action or a call to an action that cannot be found; a testing document may use a shared object repository that cannot be found; or a testing document may use a object repository parameter that does not have a default value. In all of these cases, QuickTest indicates this in the Missing Resources pane, enabling you to map a missing resource to an existing one, or remove it from the testing document, as required.

Mercury Screen Recorder :

Capture your entire run session in a movie clip or capture only the segments with errors, and then view your movie from the Test Results window.

Dynamic Management of Object Repositories:

QuickTest now has a new RepositoriesCollection reserved object that you can use to programmatically manage the set of object repositories that are associated with an action during a run session.

Object Repository Manager:

You can use the Object Repository Manager to manage all of the shared object repositories in your organization from one, central location. This includes adding and defining objects, modifying objects and their descriptions, parameterizing test object property values, maintaining and organizing repositories, and importing and exporting repositories in XML format.

You can open multiple object repositories at the same time. Each object repository opens in its own resizable document window. This enables you to compare the content of the repositories, to copy or move objects from one object repository to another, and so forth.

Object Repository Merge Tool:

You can use the Object Repository Merge Tool to merge the objects from two shared object repositories into a single shared object repository. You can also use the Object Repository Merge Tool to merge objects from the local object repository of one or more actions or components into a shared object repository.

When you merge objects from two source object repositories, the content is copied to a new, target object repository, ensuring that the information in the source repositories remains unchanged.

If any conflicts occur during the merge, for example, if two objects have the same name and test object class, but different test object descriptions, the relevant objects are highlighted in the source repositories, and the Resolution Options pane details the conflict and possible resolutions.

Multiple Object Repositories per Action or Component:

QuickTest provides several options for storing and accessing test objects. You can store the test objects for each action or component in its corresponding local object repository, which is unique for each action and component. You can also store test objects in one or more shared object repositories that can be used in multiple actions and components. Alternatively, you can use a combination of objects from the local object repository and one or more shared object repositories. You choose the combination that matches your testing needs.

XML Object Repository Format:

QuickTest now enables you to import and export object repositories from and to XML format. This enables you to modify object repositories using the XML editor of your choice and then import them back into QuickTest. You can import and export files either from and to the file system or a Quality Center project (if QuickTest is connected to Quality Center).

Function Library Editor:

QuickTest now has a built-in function library editor, which enables you to create and edit function libraries containing VBScript functions, subroutines, modules, and so forth, and then call their functions from your test or component.

Handling Missing Actions and Resources:

Whenever a testing document (test, component, or application area) contains a resource that cannot be found, QuickTest opens the Missing Resources pane and lists the missing resource(s). For example, a test may contain an action or a call to an action that cannot be found; a testing document may use a shared object repository that cannot be found; or a testing document may use a object repository parameter that does not have a default value. In all of these cases, QuickTest indicates this in the Missing Resources pane, enabling you to map a missing resource to an existing one, or remove it from the testing document, as required.