Queries
Automating a GUI test gets difficult whenever the SUT shows dynamic or unpredictable behavior, i.e. when it displays values that change with every run of the program. This is typically the case for fields that are filled automatically with things like the current time, an automatic ID from a database, etc.
QF-Test addresses this issue with means to read values from the SUT's components or to determine the numerical index of a sub-item when given its name. These values are stored in variables to be used again later as the test proceeds.
Fetch text
|
This node lets you read a value from the SUT during the execution of a test run. The text is assigned to the local or global variable (see chapter 6) named by the Variable name attribute. To avoid negative side effects, the variable content will not be auto-expanded when being read.
Not all components display text and some complex components
contain multiple textual items, so this operation is only
supported for certain components or sub-items. If you try to fetch
the text from the wrong component, an
Web
In web applications every node could contain some text, so QF-Test
returns either the text or an empty value, but never throws an
|
Contained in: All kinds of sequences.
Children: None
Execution:
The data of the target component is sent to the SUT. The
TestEventQueue determines the corresponding component,
retrieves the requested value and sends it back to QF-Test,
where it is stored in a global variable.
Attributes:
- Client
-
The name of the SUT client process from which to query the data.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- QF-Test component ID
-
The QF-Test ID of the Window, Component or Item node that is to be queried.
The "Select component" button
![[Select component]](icons/select_component.png "Select component")
brings up a dialog in which you can select the component
interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing
Shift+Return or
Alt+Return, when the focus is in the
text field. As an alternative you can copy the target node with
Ctrl+C or
»Edit«-»Copy«
and insert its QF-Test component ID into the text field by pressing
Ctrl+V.
This attribute supports a special format for referencing components in other test suites (see section 26.1). Furthermore, sub-elements of nodes can be addressed directly without requiring separate nodes for them (see section 5.9). When using SmartIDs, you can address a GUI element directly via its recognition criteria. For more information, refer to SmartID and Component nodes versus SmartID.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- Variable name
-
The name of the global variable to which the result of the query is assigned (see chapter 6).
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- Local variable
-
This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.
In order to predefine the option use Enable 'Local variable' attribute by default.
Variable: No
Restrictions: None
- QF-Test ID
-
At the moment the QF-Test ID attribute has no meaning for this type of node.
Variable: No
Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').
- Delay before/after
-
These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Valid number >= 0
- Comment
-
Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test suite.
Note For detailed documentation, especially for Test set, Test case or Procedure nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing Alt+Return or by clicking the
button.
You can trigger special behaviors of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.
If you enter text in the comment field of a Component node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
Fetch index
|
With the help of this node you can determine the index of a sub-item during the execution of a test, provided its displayed text is known. Obviously only an Item is supported as the target component. The result is assigned to the local or global variable (see chapter 6) named by the Variable name attribute. |
Contained in: All kinds of sequences.
Children: None
Execution:
The data of the target component is sent to the SUT. The
TestEventQueue determines the corresponding component, searches
for the requested sub-item and sends its index back to QF-Test,
where it is stored in a global variable.
Attributes:
- Client
-
The name of the SUT client process from which to query the data.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- QF-Test component ID
-
The QF-Test ID of the Window, Component or Item node that is to be queried.
The "Select component" button
brings up a dialog in which you can select the component
interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing
Shift+Return or
Alt+Return, when the focus is in the
text field. As an alternative you can copy the target node with
Ctrl+C or
»Edit«-»Copy«
and insert its QF-Test component ID into the text field by pressing
Ctrl+V.
This attribute supports a special format for referencing components in other test suites (see section 26.1). Furthermore, sub-elements of nodes can be addressed directly without requiring separate nodes for them (see section 5.9). When using SmartIDs, you can address a GUI element directly via its recognition criteria. For more information, refer to SmartID and Component nodes versus SmartID.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- Variable name
-
The name of the global variable to which the result of the query is assigned (see chapter 6).
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- Local variable
-
This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.
In order to predefine the option use Enable 'Local variable' attribute by default.
Variable: No
Restrictions: None
- QF-Test ID
-
At the moment the QF-Test ID attribute has no meaning for this type of node.
Variable: No
Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').
- Delay before/after
-
These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Valid number >= 0
- Comment
-
Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test suite.
Note For detailed documentation, especially for Test set, Test case or Procedure nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing Alt+Return or by clicking the
button.
You can trigger special behaviors of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.
If you enter text in the comment field of a Component node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
Fetch geometry
|
Use this node to find out the geometry of a window, component or sub-item in the SUT. The result is stored in up to four local or global variables, one each for the X and Y coordinates, width and height. This node is useful if you want to set the X and Y coordinates of a Mouse event relative to the right or bottom border of the target component. Simply fetch the component's width and height and define the coordinates using the extended variable syntax for expressions (see section 11.2). The following table lists the supported sub-item targets for this operation. "(P/S)" indicates the primary/secondary index.
|
Contained in: All kinds of sequences.
Children: None
Execution:
The data of the target component is sent to the SUT. The
TestEventQueue determines the corresponding component,
retrieves its geometry and sends it back to QF-Test,
where the values are stored in global variables.
Attributes:
- Client
-
The name of the SUT client process from which to query the data.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- QF-Test component ID
-
The QF-Test ID of the Window, Component or Item node that is to be queried.
The "Select component" button
brings up a dialog in which you can select the component
interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing
Shift+Return or
Alt+Return, when the focus is in the
text field. As an alternative you can copy the target node with
Ctrl+C or
»Edit«-»Copy«
and insert its QF-Test component ID into the text field by pressing
Ctrl+V.
This attribute supports a special format for referencing components in other test suites (see section 26.1). Furthermore, sub-elements of nodes can be addressed directly without requiring separate nodes for them (see section 5.9). When using SmartIDs, you can address a GUI element directly via its recognition criteria. For more information, refer to SmartID and Component nodes versus SmartID.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Must not be empty.
- Location relative to window
-
This attribute determines whether the X and Y coordinate of a component or sub-item is calculated relative to its parent component or relative to its parent window. For windows there is no difference.
Variable: No
Restrictions: None
- Variable for x
-
The name of the global variable to which the X coordinate of the window, component or sub-item is assigned (see chapter 6). If you are not interested in the X coordinate, leave this value empty.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
- Variable for y
-
The name of the global variable to which the Y coordinate of the window, component or sub-item is assigned (see chapter 6). If you are not interested in the Y coordinate, leave this value empty.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
- Variable for width
-
The name of the global variable to which the width of the window, component or sub-item is assigned (see chapter 6). If you are not interested in the width, leave this value empty.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
- Variable for height
-
The name of the global variable to which the height of the window, component or sub-item is assigned (see chapter 6). If you are not interested in the height, leave this value empty.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None
- Local variable
-
This flag determines whether to create local or global variable bindings. If unset, the variables are bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for a variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing Procedure, Dependency or Test case node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.
In order to predefine the option use Enable 'Local variable' attribute by default.
Variable: No
Restrictions: None
- QF-Test ID
-
At the moment the QF-Test ID attribute has no meaning for this type of node.
Variable: No
Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').
- Delay before/after
-
These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: Valid number >= 0
- Comment
-
Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test suite.
Note For detailed documentation, especially for Test set, Test case or Procedure nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing Alt+Return or by clicking the
button.
You can trigger special behaviors of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.
If you enter text in the comment field of a Component node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.
Variable: Yes
Restrictions: None