FAQ - Automation - QTP (181 to 190)

181. When should I use SMART Identification?

Something that people don’t think about too much. But the thing is that you should disable SI while creating your test cases. So that you are able to recognize the objects that are dynamic or inconsistent in their properties. When the script has been created, the SI should be enabled,so that the script does not fail in case of small changes. But the developer of the script should always check for the test results to verify if the SI feature was used to identify a object or not. Sometimes SI needs to be disabled for particular objects in the OR, this is advisable when you useSetTOProperty to change any of the TO properties of an object and especially ordinal identifiers like index, location and creation time.

182. What is a Recovery Scenario?

Recovery scenario gives you an option to take some action for recovering from a fatal error in the test. The error could range in from occasional to typical errors. Occasional error would be like “Out of paper” popup error while printing something and typical errors would be like “object is disabled” or “object not found”. A test case have more then one scenario associated with it and also have the priority or order in which it should be checked.

183. What does a Recovery Scenario consists of?

Trigger: Trigger is nothing but the cause for initiating the recovery scenario. It could be any popup window, any test error, particular state of an object or any application error. Action: Action defines what needs to be done if scenario has been triggered. It can consist of a mouse/keyboard event, close application, call a recovery function defined in library file or restart windows. You can have a series of all the specified actions.Post-recovery operation: Basically defined what need to be done after the recovery action has been taken. It could be to repeat the step, move to next step etc….

184. When to use a Recovery Scenario and when to us on error resume next?

Recovery scenarios are used when you cannot predict at what step the error can occur or when you know that error won’t occur in your QTP script but could occur in the world outside QTP, again the example would be “out of paper”, as this error is caused by printer device driver. “On error resume next” should be used when you know if an error is expected and don’t want to raise it, you may want to have different actions depending upon the error that occurred. Use err.number & err.description to get more details about the error.

185. How do we associate a library file with a test?

Library files are files containing normal VBScript code. The file can contain function, sub procedure, classes etc…. You can also use executefile function to include a file at run-time also. To associate a library file with your script go to Test->Settings… and add your library file to resources tab.

186. When to associate a library file with a test and when to use execute file?

When we associate a library file with the test, then all the functions within that library are available to all the actions present in the test. But when we use Executefile function to load a library file, then the function are available in the action that called executefile. By associated a library to a test we share variables across action (global variables basically), using association also makes it possible to execute code as soon as the script runs because while loading the script on startup QTP executes all the code on the global scope. We can use executefile in a library file associated with the test to load dynamic files and they will be available to all the actions in the test.

187. What is the difference between Test Objects and Run Time Objects?

Test objects are basic and generic objects that QTP recognize. Run time object means the actual object to which a test object maps.

188. Can I change properties of a test object?

Yes. You can use SetTOProperty to change the test object properties. It is recommended that you switch off the Smart Identification for the object on which you use SetTOProperty function.

189. Can I change properties of a run time object?

No (but Yes also). You can use GetROProperty(”outerText”) to get the outerText of a object but there is no function like SetROProperty to change this property. But you can use WebElement().object.outerText=”Something” to change the property.

190. What is the difference between an Action and a function?

Action is a thing specific to QTP while functions are a generic thing which is a feature of VB Scripting. Action can have a object repository associated with it while a function can’t. A function is just lines of code with some/none parameters and a single return value while an action can have more than one output parameters.