Tool Mentor: Generating Test Scripts Automatically Using Rational TestFactory^TM

Purpose

This tool mentor describes how to use Rational TestFactory to automatically generate scripts that test specific areas of the application-under-test.

Related Rational Unified Process activities:

• Section "Record, generate, or program test scripts" of Activity: Implement Test

Overview

A ôPilotö is the TestFactory tool that you can use to generate test scripts. A Pilot generates scripts that test the functionality of the controls in the application-under-test (AUT) that are represented by UI objects in an area of the application map. For information about developing the application map, see Tool Mentor: Setting Up the Test Environment in Rational TestFactory.

This Tool Mentor is applicable when running Windows 95/98/2000/NT 4.0.

To use TestFactory to generate test scripts automatically:

1. Add a Pilot to the application map.
2. Set up and run the Pilot.

1. Add a Pilot to the application map

You can add a Pilot object at any location in the application map. From there, the Pilot automatically generates test scripts that focus on the specific functional area of the AUT corresponding to that portion of the application map.

To determine a part of the application that you want to test, see task 1 in Tool Mentor: Capturing the Results of Test Design for Automated Testing Using Rational TestFactory.

   Refer to the following topics in TestFactory Help:

• Pilots: What they are and how they work
• Effective Pilot placement
• Add a Pilot

2. Set up and run the Pilot

When you set up the Pilot, you indicate the values and options that control how the Pilot runs. The setup information that you can specify includes:

• The depth in the application map to which the Pilot must test.
• The criteria that TestFactory uses to stop the Pilot run.
• Additional UI objects in the application map that you want to include in the test.
• UI objects under the Pilot's control that you want to exclude from testing.

During a Pilot run, a Pilot builds an optimized ôbest scriptö that provides extensive code-based test coverage and contains no redundant script code.

A Pilot also generates a ôUI scriptö that is optimized for UI-based test coverage. In successive builds of the AUT, you can run UI scripts as a simple smoke test to check controls in the user interface.

Every time you run a Pilot, TestFactory adds a new ôrunö folder under the Pilot in the application map. The run folder contains the test scripts that the Pilot generates. If the Pilot encounters defects during its run, TestFactory places the defect test scripts in a ôdefectsö subfolder under the run folder.

   Refer to the following topics in TestFactory Help:

• Pilot view
• Set up a Pilot run
• Run a single Pilot

Rational Unified Process