HP Quick Test Pro Automated Test Tool

Here are technical notes on HP's QTP (Quick Test Professioal) software used to automate functional testing It contains hard won insights not obvious from available documentation.

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The Place of QTP among HP (Mercury) Products

QTP object (Javascript) recognition technogies are being used within LoadRunner's "Click and Script" recording mode.

Veterans of WinRunner used to the freedom of a blank code editor screen may feel "claustrophobic" when using QuickTest because they must work within the confines of QuickTest's structured GUI, which looks and feels much like Microsoft Visual Studio.

Memory Consumption by Product Version

Addiition of GUI features has resulted in increase of memory requirements for the QTP executable (QTPro.exe) invoked from the bin folder where it's installed.

Ver.	Date	Mem Usage	Note
10.0	Feb 2009	- KB	-
9.5	Feb 2008	- KB	-
9.2	11 Feb 2007	157,392 KB	-
9.1	Jan 2007	119,008 KB	-
9.0	2006	-	-
8.0	Jan 2004	-	-
6.5	March 2002	-	First release as "Astra QuickTest"

Numbers in the Memory column is obtained from within the Windows Task Manager Processes tab "Mem Usage" column for QTPro.exe. is (compared to 27K for IEXPLORE.EXE):

QTPro.exe consumes 16 threads when idle.

On the other hand, avoiding that blank editor window (for newbies) is what HP claims is an advantage for QTP.

That and the ability to test Microsoft .NET and AJAX apps, which HP is not adding to Winrunner. Nevertheless, HP was brilliant at turning WinRunner, a dead legacy product into a "money maker" by refusing to sell QTP by itself but as a "Functional Testing" package that bundles QTP and WinRunner (at a higher price than QTP alone).

AFAIK, Quick Test Pro retails for $9000 for each floating license, or $6000 for a node-lock license. plus $2000 for the Test Director. Maintenance fees are an additional 25% per year.

New Features by Version

• Version 9.5 ...

• Version 9.2
  • Capture test runs as movies.

• Version 9.1 provides:
  • QuickTest Script Editor and Business Component Upgrade Tool are installed as part of the main QuickTest installation.
  • Navigate and Learn to add multiple test objects to a shared object repository while navigating.
  • Object Repository Comparison Tool compares two shared object repositories and view the differences in their objects.
  • Object Repository Automation to control object repositories through automation. For example, add, remove, and rename test objects; import from and export to XML; retrieve and copy test objects; etc.
  • Support of new operating systems, infrastructure software, and Web browsers Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, Microsoft Windows Vista Beta 2, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Beta 3, Bon Echo version 2.0a3 (Mozilla Firefox 2.0 Alpha).

Licensing and Installation

After your company buys a license, HP sends an "Entitlement Certificate" to the person designated to the HP salesperon. The pdf file contains a number that is entered (with an email address) into http://webware.hp.com.

In you already installed QTP the locking code is available from Start > Programs > Quick Test Professional > Tools > License Validation Facility.

HP send another email that contains the license key.

Functional Testing Process

Before you plunge in, keep in mind the Real Benefits and Pitfalls of using Automated Functional Testing Products

Here is my approach for using all of HP/Mercury tools to do functional testing:

1. Define Requirements and Test Cases. Within HP Quality Center (QC), define all business processes in the system.

   Using HP BPT (Business Process Testing), subject matter experts (SMEs) with an understanding of business processes a test case create "component shells" for main and variant (alternative process flow) in each business process (such as "Open an Order"). Multiple tests are defined for each business process for variations in data boundaries and potential (negative) error or vulnerability.

   The linkage of test cases to requirements defines the RTM (Requirements Traceability Matrix) used as the basis for determining requirements coverage metrics.

   Categorize each requirement by importance and risk exposure so that relevance can be used as the basis for prioritizing testing efforts within the time available.

2. Catalog Technical Components Under Test. Build lists of transactions, screens, fields, controls, etc. using TAO scans and QTP recorder and Object Spy. The result is a GUI Map of logical handles to uniquely identify physical objects under test.

   Issues of testability may surface which are resolved by developers using unique "ID's" in the screen presented to users. Not only does this help automated recognition, this makes for more precise communication by avoiding confusion.

   SMEs identify frequently used test functionality common in several scripts which Automation Engineeers define as keywords and functions in a reusable library referenced by several test scripts.

3. Design Testing Work.
   Test sets of manual or automated test steps are organized for each test requirement. These define a test flow sequence of functional Actions (such as "Login") consisting of several steps such as user manual task or tester verfication.
   • Identify sources of data. Custom SQL queries may be needed to create spreadsheets containing data needed for testing.
   • Pre-plan variations in what is tested (using Testing Ideas Checklists).
   • Identify how to verify whether what the system returns is correct.
   • Anticipate in scripts how to handle various conditions the application might encounter, such as pop-up screens announcing errors and confirmation messages. This reduces script debugging while testing.
   • Define how to trigger possible error conditions during negative testing of alternative logic branches.

4. Assemble Testing Assets. Create and debug Test Scripts by consolidating references to GUI maps and functions in an Object Repository.
   • Make sure that scripts can identify objects at run-time.
   • Edit code to Parametize scripts to use variations in data.
   • Add code to output log trace entries.
   • Add Correlations to catch data returned from the system for result verification in checkpoints to determine whether tests pass or fail.
5. Conduct a Test Readiness Review (TRR) to ensure that systems, data, disk space, and other resources are indeed available when testing is scheduled to occur.

   The review is on requirements assigned for testing within a particular Release defined in Quality Center. Within a release, several Cycles may be specified (for integration, smoke, regression, interface, system performance, etc.).

6. Perform Testing. Emulate users and systems at work by running scripts remotely from Quality Center or using Silent Test Runner from LoadRunner or BAC.

   If running manual tests, run QTP scripts to provide quick navigation and run the Mercury Micro Player to record testing sessions.

   If running fully automated tests, use Batch.

7. Analyze Results and Report Conclusions. Review error messages and captured status. Perform Root-Cause Analysis when necessary while documenting defects. Add tester notes into TestDirector for Quality Center.
8. Archive Results. Use the Test Results Deletion Tool to remove obsolete test result files.

Automated Web Testing Toolkit : Expert Methods for Testing and Managing Web Applications by Stottlemyer, Diane. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001)

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QTP Startup Options

If you are working on a single script, you make prefer to have an icon on your desktop or Start menu so QTP retrieves your script automatically.

If Quick Test can't startup, it will write out a message to the wrstderr file in the arch folder under Program Files...

This file contains command line options because of typical problems with user-defined command line options,

Test Script Assets

Here are the artifacts of a complete Quick Test automated testing system:

Object Identification

Like WinRunner, QTP provides an Object Spy utility.

Quick Test Guide by Matt Crump and Ivan Maclaine of Qualtech-int in Australia.

Where Are QTP Scripts Stored?

By default, QTP stores scripts in a folder under where it's installed:
C:\Program Files\Mercury Interactive\Quick Test Professional\

Unlike LR, which creates a separate C file, QTP creates a entire folder for each Action.
The VBScript for that action is in the .mts text file.
The Resource.mtr file is not editable. Neither are the *.html.z files in the SnapShots folder.

How does QTP recognize Objects in the AUT?

As tests are recorded, an entry for each item you interact with is added to its Object Repository.
Each Object Repository entry is identified by a logical name that is automatically determined by QTP.
References to objects in the script will all be identified by this logical name, rather than any physical, descriptive properties.
Each entry contains a set of properties (type, name, etc) that uniquely identify each object. Each line in the Quick Test script contains a reference to the object that you interacted with, a call to the appropriate method (set, click, check) and any parameters for that method (such as the value for a call to the set method).

QTP is installed with a copy of MSDE (Microsoft Data Engine), a single-user database to store the Object Repository.

Exports from the repository have a file suffix of .tsr.

Menu & Keyboard Configuration

Here are keys described in a way that is easier to find and remember:

File	New Test	Ctrl + N	Open Test	Ctrl + O
	New Business Component	Ctrl + Shift + N	Open Business Component	Ctrl + Shift + O
	New Application Area	Ctrl + Alt + N	Open Application Area	Ctrl + Alt + O
	New Function Library	Shift + Alt + N	Open Function Library	Shift + Alt + O
Automation	Record	F3
	Record Analog	Shift + Alt + F3
	Record Low Level	Ctrl + Shift + F3
	Stop	F4
	Run	F5	Run from Step	Ctrl + F5
Tools	Check Syntax	Ctrl + 7
Debug	Step Into	F11	Step Out	Shift + F11
	Step Over	F10	Run to Step	Ctrl + F10
	Add to Watch	Ctrl + T
	Breakpoint Insert/Remove	F9	Breakpoint Enable/Disable	Ctrl + F9
	-		Breakpoint Clear	Ctrl + Shift + F9
Object Repository		Ctrl + R
Keyword vs. Expert View Toggle (bottom tabs)		Ctrl + PgUp Ctrl + PgDn
Switch between open documents		Ctrl + Tab
Object Spy display		Left Ctrl

Run Result Configuration

When you click "Run", the default run results folder is something like:
C:\DOCUME~1\Bubba1\LOCALS~1\Temp\~tlp3\~Test1\Res1

DOCUME~1 is for "Documents and Settings"
Bubba1 is the computer name.
LOCALS~1 is for "Local Settings"
Temp\~tlp3 is a folder QTP created for the day.
~Test1 is a folder QTP created for the default test script name.
Res1 is the folder for a specific test run's result files QTP created.

This is hard to find. So create a folder structure that reflects your project.

Project version
Subsystem under Test
Process Stream under Test
Testing Phase
Testing Build
Test Script
Test Run

Recording

Close all Windows apps and browser windows before you start recording. Automation > Record and Run Settings can be baffling because if you want to record a Web session, you need to set SAP settings to "Record and run test on any open SAP Gui for Windows application."

Standard Windows recording

Low-level

Analog-level recording

Password Recording and Editing

When QTP sees a password field being recorded, it automatically creates the script using its SetSecure operation.

Passwords change, so remember to recognize and handle situation.

Parameterizing Input Values

When QTP creates scripts from recording, data values are captured as constants which stay constant (unchanged).

To replace constants captured with variables, click on a Value column cell and the parameter icon for the Value Configuration Options dialog.

Select Environment to define or select a parameter from the script's environment variables.

Select Data Table to use the value in a "data-driven test" which varies each iteration's value from a Data Table parameters. The Data Table for both Generic and Actions is stored as file Default.xls.

Select Random Number

• for each action iteration,
• for each test iteration,
• for entire run makes the random number static.

Environment Variables ActionIteration
ActionName
ControllerhostName
GroupName
LocalHostName
OS
OSVersion
ProductDir
TestDir
TestIteration
TestName
UpdatingActiveScreen
UpdatingCheckpoints
UpdatingTODescriptions
UserName
VuserId

Display Parameters

Obtain Action Parameters from other actions using object
Parameter("ActionName", "ParameterName")

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Exception Handling

Four trigger exception events activate the QTP Recovery Scenario Manager:

1. A pop up window appears in an opened application during the test run.
2. A property of an object changes its state or value.
3. A step in the test does not run successfully.
4. An open application fails during the test run.

The Recovery scenario manager wizard that guides you through defining a recovery scenario has 3 steps: 1. Triggered Events 2. Recovery steps 3. Post Recovery Test-Run

Synchronization

Debugging

Advisor & User Group Hangouts

• Free advice: Join the Quick Test maillist started by Software Quality Partners and moderated by ____ using the eGroups ONEList system to receive a daily dose of messages from contributors (at the risk of also exposing your email address to junk mailers).

• QA Forums.com hosts an active community with a feature-rich system.

Consultants: Fee Based Offerings & Jobs

Certified Professional

HP's Certification Program HP Quality Center 9.2 Software Exam #HP0-M15 based on HP Instructor-led 1-day ($750 US) course Using Quality Center 9.2 #QC92USING-COURSE-01 and HP Instructor-led 4-day ($3000 US) course Using Quality Center 9.2 Suite #QC92USING-COURSE-01

HP Business Availability Center 6.5 Software Exam #HP0-M20