Launchers / Automated tests

SmartBear� TestComplete Launcher (testcomplete_v2.jar)

The SmartBear� TestComplete_v2 launcher allows interfacing with TestComplete v10+ tests.

Configuration

The testcomplete_v2.xml file is just a template and must NOT be edited. It's used by the system to build dynamically the form that the user will be able to fill in from the GUI when creating a custom execution configuration.
Parameter Description
TestComplete
TestComplete install path This must indicate where TestComplete has been installed.
This path MUST not include an ending slash.
Default value is: C:/Program Files (x86)/SmartBear/TestComplete 10
Run type This will specify how you designed your mapping in between XStudio and TestComplete structure:
In one case, when you will run a test case in XStudio it will execute a full project suite in TestComplete.
In the other, when you will run a test case in XStudio it will execute an individual test in TestComplete.
  • Full project suite:
    XStudio's test and test case names will be used to find the TestComplete's project suite (.mds or .pjs file) and TestComplete will execute the full project suite.
  • Selected project and tests:
    XStudio's test name will match TestComplete's project name
    XStudio's testcase name will match TestComplete's test name.

Default value is: Full project suite
Project suite file path (only with 'Selected project and tests') If you are going to execute individual test in TestComplete, this parameter will indicate in which project suite file the system is expected to find the tests.
This must indicate a full path including the file extension (.mds or .pjs).
Default value is: C:/Automation/automation_suite_1.mds
Project suite extension (only with 'Full project suite') If you are going to execute full project suites in TestComplete, this parameter will indicate the expected extension for the project suite file.
Indeed, XStudio's test and test case names will be used to find the TestComplete's project suite file name but an extension will need to be added automatically.
Default value is: .mds
Optional arguments You can specify any optional argument to pass to the TestComplete command line.
Default value is: /ns /SilentMode (no splashscreen and execute TestComplete in silent mode)

These values can be changed while creating the campaign session from XStudio.
Note about file path parameters:
Any parameter referring to a file or folder path (for instance Test root path) can be provided either using \ separator (if the tests are going to be executed on a Windows agent) or / separator (if the tests are going to be executed on a linux or MacOSX agent).

On windows, if you provide a path containing an OS-localizable folder such as C:\Program Files, always prefer the English version (i.e. NOT C:\Programmes if you're using a french-localized Windows) or the corresponding native environment variable (i.e. %PROGRAMFILES%).


Process

The tests are executed by the launcher using this syntax:
In "Full project suite" mode:
<testCompleteInstallPath>/bin/TestComplete.exe <testPath>/<testName>/<testcaseName><projectSuiteExtension> /run /exit <optionalArguments>
Once the execution is completed, the launcher will parse the output of this run (.tcLogX and .dat files generated by TestComplete) and will generate detailed messages in XStudio so that you have all the details about the tests statistics but also which tests succeeded and failed.
In "Selected project and tests" mode:
<testCompleteInstallPath>/bin/TestComplete.exe <projectSuiteFilePath> /project:"<testName>" /test:"<testcaseName>" /run /exit <optionalArguments>
Once the execution is completed, the launcher will parse the output of this run (.tcLogX and .dat files generated by TestComplete) and will generate detailed messages in XStudio so that you have all the details about the tests statistics, which tests succeeded and failed etc.

The tests are marked as passed or failed depending on the return code of the execution and content of the .tcLogX and .dat files
the .tcLogX and .dat files as well as the console output of the execution are attached in XStudio's test cases execution objects.

Permissions

WARNING: if you're running your tests on Windows, it may be required to run the tests as administrator.
Having an account with Administrators permissions may even not be enough in some cases (especially if you're using Windows 10) and you may need to disable completely the UAC (User Access Control) on your computer.
To do so:
  • Press the Windows + R key combination
  • Type in regedit
  • Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System
  • In the right-side pane, look for EnableLUA and set the value 0
  • Close the registry editor
  • Restart your computer

Debug

If your tests are not executed correctly or are reporting only failures, this is very likely because your configuration is incorrect or because you used a wrong naming convention for your tests and test cases.

The best way to quickly find out what's wrong is to look at the traces generated by XStudio (or XAgent).
The traces always include the detailed description of what the launcher performs (command line execution, script execution, API calling etc.) to run a test case. So, if you experiment some problems, the first thing to do is to activate the traces and look at what's happening when you run your tests.

Then, try to execute manually in a cmd box the exact same commands.
This will normally fail the same way.
At this point, you needs to figure out what has to be changed in these commands in order to have them run properly.

When you have something working, compare these commands to what's described in the Process chapter above. This will tell you exactly what you need to change.

Most of the time, this is related to:
  • some incorrect values in some parameters of your configuration,
  • the name of your tests,
  • the name of your test cases,
  • the canonical path of your tests