RECORD-AND-REPLAY TOOLS

15.3 RECORD-AND-REPLAY TOOLS

15.3.1 TestComplete

TestComplete is an automated testing tool that aims to enable testers to create, record, edit, and save complex test scripts; it also saves failure logs that correspond to test scripts.

Web page http://smartbear.com/products/qa-tools/automated-testing-tools/ Access

Commercial

Target language(s)

No restriction

Life cycle phase Performance testing, reliability testing Test phase

Test data generation, test outcome analysis

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Sample example of use : We use this tool to edit, save, then replay a test sequence. • First, we click on the button labeled “record a new test” on the TestComplete

start page. • This brings up the window to create a new test project and allows us to give it a name and to decide where to save it; also, it allows us to associate the project to an application that we want to test.

• Upon this, the TestComplete window minimizes down to a small recording tool- bar; from now on and until we click on the stop button, everything we do with the

selected application is recorded in the test script. • Once the test script is saved, it can be reexecuted by clicking on the button labeled

“ run the test” in the window that corresponds to the TestComplete project. Among its strengths, TestComplete offers the ability to record arbitrary interac-

tions between the tester and the application, can run unattended, and does not require any programming or scripting skills. Nevertheless, for users who have adequate pro- gramming skills, TestComplete offers the ability to integrate sophisticated testing scenarios written in a wide variety of scripting languages, such as VBScript, JScript, C++Script, C#Script, or DelphiScript.

15.3.2 Selenium IDE

Selenium interactive development environment (IDE) is a Mozilla Firefox add-on that provides an interface for running test cases or complete test suites via a simple mech- anism of record and playback of browser transactions. It can be applied to any appli- cation whose user interface is supported by a browser; this includes virtually all web applications.

Selenium IDE

Source

Freeware

Web page

http://docs.seleniumhq.org/

Access

Open source

Target language(s)

SQL, http, Java

Life cycle phase

System-level

Test phase Test data generation, test data recording, test execution

Sample example of use : We can start an experiment by opening a tab of Firefox and running the Selenium IDE through its Tools tab; once Selenium IDE is on, we push the record button to start the recording process. From then on, Selenium IDE records any operation we do on the browser, such as visiting URLs, navigating

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replay, Selenium runs all the interactions that were recorded and displays the reactions of the web application under test.

Among the strengths of Selenium IDE, we cite that it requires no programming experience, hence can be run by an end user; that it provides for extensions and cus- tomizations; and that its scripts can be converted to a variety of programming lan- guages, such as Java, Ruby, C#, and Python. The main weakness of Selenium IDE is, of course, that it can only run on Mozilla Firefox.