Rice Consulting have just announced that their new Practical Software Test Automation Course – which features Macro Scheduler for the scripting exercises – is now available in an e-Learning format.

This course focuses on the basics of software test automation and expands on those topics to learn some of the deeper issues of test automation. This course is not specific to any particular tool set but does include hands-on exercises using free and inexpensive test tools. The tool used for test automation exercises is Macro Scheduler.

The main objective of this course is to help you understand the landscape of software test automation and how to make test automation a reality in your organization. You will learn the top challenges of test automation and which approaches are the best ones for your situation, how to establish your own test automation organization, and how to design software with test automation in mind. You will also learn many of the lessons of test automation by performing exercises using sample test automation tools on sample applications.

I’ve been running through the course myself and so far I’m really impressed. This is a great way to get started on test automation and the great value e-Learning format means you can do it in your own time at your convenience. There’s also a whole module on using Macro Scheduler with some videos to help you get started.

You can see the course outline here, take a demo, or sign up on line here.

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I thought I might start a weekly round up of some of the Macro Scheduler forum posts that caught my eye during the week. Not everyone gets a chance to browse the forums all the time, so it might help to link to some here. Then those that subscribe to the blog via RSS/Email will see them and they’ll also show up in Macro Scheduler’s News Feed window.

The forums are quite active but I won’t link to every little discussion or request for support – just those that demonstrate a new feature, or work as a “how to” or anything else that I think could be useful. We’ll see how it goes.

So here’s my list for week ending 21st May 2010:

How to trim spaces from the ends of, or within, a string

A Progress Bar Demo using Macro Scheduler 12

How to make a custom dialog minimize to the task bar

Putting a status bar with multiple panels on a custom dialog

Finding a drive based on its label (volume name)

Getting the HTML source of a page using WebRecorder

Running Automated Testing scripts in the background via VMWare

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Randy has just reported on his blog that the first run of his new Test Automation class which features Macro Scheduler in the hands-on exercises was a great success.

The next class will be held next month in Rome, Italy on 16/17 June, where Randy will also be presenting a workshop entitled “Innovative Software Testing Approaches“.

So if you’re this side of the pond and looking to improve your skills, with the added advantage of a business trip in a beautiful, historical city, check it out.

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If you’re new to Automated Software Testing or looking to expand your knowledge you wouldn’t go far wrong with Randy Rices’ training courses.

Rice Consulting specialise in software testing training, certification and consulting. Their new Practical Software Test Automation course focuses on the basics of software test automation and expands on those topics to learn some of the deeper issues of test automation. The course includes hands on exercises using Macro Scheduler.

The course is aimed at Software Testers, Test Automators, Developers and Test Managers.

I’m told an e-learning version of the course is also in the works and I’ll let you know more when I hear about it.

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We recently received the following query to support:

I’m interested in Macro Schedular for GUI testing. How do I verify that the test has succeeded or not? 

I thought it would be useful to post my response here:

There are a number of ways you could do this. Which one you use might depend on the type of application you are automating, or your specific requirements. You could:

• Capture object text to see if it contains the data you would expect using such functions as: GetControlText, GetWindowText or Windows API functions. See: http://www.mjtnet.com/AutomatedTesting.pdf
• Capture object and other screen text using the Screen Scraping functions: GetWindowTextEx, GetTextAtPoint, GetTextInRect. Compare captured text to expected data. There’s a sample script called Text Capture which you can use to test what text you can capture. Run it, and point the mouse cursor at the text you want to capture and confirm you can see it on the dialog. See Screen Scrape Text Capture Example and Screen Scraping with Macro Scheduler
• Compare visually: Capture screen shots (or just windows) and compare the captured bitmaps with bitmaps captured at design time. Use the ScreenCapture and CompareBitmaps functions. This solution has the benefit of working with ANY technology on ANY platform. When you create the routine you capture the screens as they should appear when valid. So at runtime after entering data and controlling the app the macro would capture the screen/window and then compare to the valid images thus determining success or failure. See: How to use Image Recognition
• There may be other options, especially for non-UI processes, such as reading data from the apps database (using DBQuery) or reading from a text file (ReadLn, ReadFile) or CSV file, checking the existence of files etc – depending on what the application you are testing does and what signifies a valid outcome.

Are you using Macro Scheduler for automated testing?  What types of app are you testing and what methods are you using?  Please comment below.

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A couple of great posts in the new Software Testing forum are demonstrating the power of Macro Scheduler for automated testing.

Antonius Momac says in this post:

I’ve looked at more than 8 other automation tools. Some were from the big companies with many products like IBM (rational), HP/Mercury, and other more focused shops like Automated QA, Tethy Solutions, Redstone (eggplant) ….. However, the application I was putting under test was very particular. In fact, plain and simple, Macro Scheduler was the only tool that worked.

In this post Gale Dyvig said:

We found the problem with object orientated test tools like WinRunner, QTP, SilkTest, etc is the partial or nonexistant support for the objects under test. As new technologies are created the problem gets worse.

These tools have image based workarounds, but they need the script to specify the image location on the screen. We tried some workarounds based on a WINAPI command similar to GetPixelColor to find the images. It worked but was nowhere as well developed or convenient to use as Macro Scheduler’s FindImagePos. If you have bmp’s the images your application will display, you can write a script before the application is coded.

Macro Scheduler and AppNav are great because the same solution works for all technologies runnable on Windows. Because the solution is image based it works in development, independent test, and production environments.

Are you using Macro Scheduler for automated software testing? If so please post an introduction in the Software Testing forum. I’d love to know more about how people are using Macro Scheduler in automated software testing scenarios.

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I have created a new forum dedicated to using Macro Scheduler for Automated Software Testing. So if you are using Macro Scheduler for software testing, please head on over and introduce yourself, post about your experiences and share any tips you might have.

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A new version of WebRecorder is now available with the following changes:

- New function ContainsText added to IEAuto.DLL. This function simply determines whether or not the specified text is contained within the body of the page. This is a quick and easy way to determine an outcome and is ideal for automated testing.

- Fixed a bug in IEAuto.DLL which could cause a crash when calling WaitNewIE after a call to KillIE.

- Fixed a bug in the WebRecorder application which prevents a crash when a page is closed by a script in the page.

Downloads: Evaluation, Registered

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Really nice article over at StickyMinds by Lee Copeland: All I Ever Need to Know about Testing I Learned in Kindergarten.

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People have been using Macro Scheduler for Automated Software Testing and Load Testing for years. I’ve often been asked the best way to do this, and I’ve finally gotten around to putting some articles together on how best to use Macro Scheduler for automated testing. You’ll find them here:
http://www.mjtnet.com/automated_testing.htm

Automated Software Testing:
http://www.mjtnet.com/AutomatedTesting.pdf

Automated Load Testing:
http://www.mjtnet.com/loadtesting.pdf

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