HP QuickTest Professional

HP QuickTest Professional software provides functional and regression test automation for software applications and environments.Part of the HP Quality Center tool suite, HP QuickTest Professional can be used for enterprise quality assurance.

HP QuickTest Professional supports keyword and scripting interfaces and features a graphical user interface. It uses the Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) scripting language to specify a test procedure, and to manipulate the objects and controls of the application under test.

HP QuickTest Professional was originally written by Mercury Interactive.Mercury Interactive was subsequently acquired by Hewlett Packard (HP) in 2006. HP QuickTest Professional 11 is currently available from HP Software & Solutions.

HP QuickTest Professional is automated testing software designed for testing various software applications and environments. It performs functional and regression testing through a user interface such as a native GUI or web interface.^[8] It works by identifying the objects in the application user interface or a web page and performing desired operations (such as mouse clicks or keyboard events); it can also capture object properties like name or handler ID. HP QuickTest Professional uses a VBScript scripting language to specify the test procedure and to manipulate the objects and controls of the application under test. To perform more sophisticated actions, users may need to manipulate the underlying VBScript.

Although HP QuickTest Professional is usually used for "UI Based" Test Case Automation, it also can automate some "Non-UI" based Test Cases such as file system operations and database testing.

Verification

Checkpoints verify that an application under test functions as expected. Users can add a checkpoint to check if a particular object, text or a bitmap is present in the automation run. Checkpoints verify that during the course of test execution, the actual application behavior or state is consistent with the expected application behavior or state.

HP QuickTest Professional offers 9 types of checkpoints, enabling users to verify various aspects of an application under test, such as: the properties of an object, data within a table, records within a database, a bitmap image, or the text on an application screen. The types of checkpoints are standard, image, table, page, text, text area, bitmap, database, accessibility and XML checkpoints. Users can also create user-defined checkpoints.

Exception handling

HP QuickTest Professional manages exception handling using recovery scenarios; the goal is to continue running tests if an unexpected failure occurs. For example, if an application crashes and a message dialog appears, HP QuickTest Professional can be instructed to attempt to restart the application and continue with the rest of the test cases from that point. Because HP QuickTest Professional hooks into the memory space of the applications being tested, some exceptions may cause HP QuickTest Professional to terminate and be unrecoverable.

Data-driven testing

HP QuickTest Professional supports data-driven testing. For example, data can be output to a data table for reuse elsewhere. Data-driven testing is implemented as a Microsoft Excel workbook that can be accessed from HP QuickTest Professional. HP QuickTest Professional has two types of data tables: the Global data sheet and Action (local) data sheets. The test steps can read data from these data tables in order to drive variable data into the application under test, and verify the expected result.

Automating custom and complex UI objects

HP QuickTest Professional may not recognize customized user interface objects and other complex objects. Users can define these types of objects as virtual objects. HP QuickTest Professional does not support virtual objects for analog recording or recording in low-level mode^.

Extensibility

HP QuickTest Professional can be extended with separate add-ins for a number of development environments that are not supported out-of-the-box. HP QuickTest Professional add-ins include support for Web, .NET, Java, and Delphi. HP QuickTest Professional and the HP QuickTest Professional add-ins are packaged together in HP Functional Testing software.

Test results

At the end of a test, HP QuickTest Professional generates a test result. Using XML schema, the test result indicates whether a test passed or failed, shows error messages, and may provide supporting information that allows users to determine the underlying cause of a failure. Release 10 lets users export HP QuickTest Professional test results into HTML, Microsoft Word or PDF report formats. Reports can include images and screen shots for use in reproducing errors.

User interface

HP QuickTest Professional provides two views--and ways to modify-- a test script: Keyword View and Expert View. These views enable HP QuickTest Professional to act as an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the test, and HP QuickTest Professional includes many standard IDE features, such as breakpoints to pause a test at predetermined places.

Keyword view

Keyword View lets users create and view the steps of a test in a modular, table format. Each row in the table represents a step that can be modified. The Keyword View can also contain any of the following columns: Item, Operation, Value, Assignment, Comment, and Documentation. For every step in the Keyword View, HP QuickTest Professional displays a corresponding line of script based on the row and column value. Users can add, delete or modify steps at any pointst.

In Keyword View, users can also view properties for items such as checkpoints, output values, and actions, use conditional and loop statements, and insert breakpoints to assist in debugging a test.^[20]

Expert view

VBScript code in Expert View

In Expert View, HP QuickTest Professional lets users display and edit a test's source code using VBScript. Designed for more advanced users, users can edit all test actions except for the root Global action, and changes are synchronized with the Keyword View.

Languages

HP QuickTest Professional uses VBScript as its scripting language. VBScript supports classes but not polymorphism and inheritance. Compared with Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), VBScript lacks the ability to use some Visual Basic keywords, does not come with an integrated debugger, lacks an event handler, and does not have a forms editor. HP has added a debugger, but the functionality is more limited when compared with testing tools that integrate a full-featured IDE, such as those provided with VBA, Java, or VB.NET.

Drawbacks

HP QuickTest Professional cannot be used by a plug-in in non-Windows environments. It fetches objects like ActiveX from the Windows environment but not from other operating systems. QTP cannot be used to test with all browser types and versions