Tool Mentor: Setting Up the Test Environment in Rational RobotTM
Purpose
This tool mentor describes how to use Rational RobotTM to set up the test environment.
Related Rational Unified Process activities:
- Section "Record or Program Test Scripts" of Activity: Implement Test
- Section "Execute Test Procedures and / or Test Scripts" of Activity: Execute Tests
Overview
This Tool Mentor is applicable when running Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT 4.0.
To use Robot to set up your environment for testing, do the following:
1. Set up the test environment for
recording, editing, or test script playback 
The state of the Windows environment as well as your application-under-test can affect script playback. If there are differences between the recorded environment and the playback environment, playback problems can occur.
Before recording or editing your test script, make sure your application-under-test and all the other software (in the test environment) are in the appropriate initial state. Additionally, prior to executing your tests (playing back your test scripts), ensure that your application-under-test and all other software are in the same initial state as when the test scripts were recorded / edited. Whatever applications and windows were open, active, or displayed when you started recording the script should be open, active, or displayed when you start playback. In addition, be sure that any relevant network settings, active databases, and system memory are in the same state as when the script was recorded.
When playing back your test scripts, make sure you set the appropriate playback options, including how Robot should handle unexpected active windows and recover from script command errors (see next section).
2. Set GUI script record options
GUI script record options provide instructions to Robot on how to handle certain objects, mouse drags, window settings, object contents, and the Robot window during the recording of a test script.
To set GUI script record options:
- Display the GUI Record Options dialog box by doing one of the following:
- Before you start recording, click Tools > GUI Record Options.
- Start recording by clicking the Record Script button on the toolbar. In the Record dialog box, click Options.
- Set the options on each tab. For detailed information on each tab, see the chapter Setting GUI Record Options in the Using Rational Robot manual or see the Robot online Help.
General û Specify how Robot identifies / recognizes list and menu contents and unsupported mouse drags. Additionally, from this tab you can also specify: the prefix for script autonaming, whether Robot saves and restores the sizes and positions of active windows, whether to record think time, or record a delay after the Enter key is pressed.
Robot Window û Specify how the Robot window will appear during the recording of a test script. This tab also enables the user to specify the hot keys used to hide / redisplay the Robot window and toggle between Object-Oriented Recording and low-level recording modes.
Object Recognition Order û Used to change the priority of object recognition methods for individual object types either before or during recording.
For information on how to record a script, see Tool Mentor: Creating Test Scripts using Rational RobotTM.
3. Set GUI script playback options
GUI Script playback options provide instructions to Robot on how to play back GUI scripts. You can set these options either before you begin playback or early in the playback process.
To set GUI playback options:
- Display the GUI Playback Options dialog box by doing one of the following:
- Before you start playback, click Tools > GUI Playback Options.
- Start playback by clicking the Playback Script button on the toolbar. In the Playback dialog box, click Options.
- Set the options on each tab. For detailed information on each tab, see the chapter Setting GUI Playback Options in the Using Rational Robot manual or see the Robot online Help.
- Click OK.
Playback û Specify the delay between commands and keystrokes, whether to use the recorded think time and typing delays, whether to skip verification points, whether to display an acknowledge results box, and what happens to the Robot window during playback. For information, click the Help button in the dialog box.
Log û Specify what results are saved in the log, whether the log appears after playback, whether you want to be prompted before the log is overwritten, and whether to use default log information or information you supply.
Caption Matching û Specify how Robot matches window captions captured during recording with captions found during playback. For information, click the Help button in the dialog box.
Wait State û Specify the default retry and timeout values during playback.
Unexpected Active Windows û Specify how Robot responds to the appearance of unexpected active windows.
Error Recovery û Specify how Robot recovers from script command and verification point failures during script playback.
Trap û Specify what information the Trap utility captures about general protection faults that occur during playback and the recovery method.
For information on how to play back a script, see Tool
Guide: Executing Tests with Rational RobotTM.
