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Setting Up Your Test Environment

Before You Begin Recording

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Consider the following guidelines before you begin recording:

Establish predictable start and end states for your scripts.

Set up your test environment.

Create modular scripts.

Create Shared Projects with UNC.

These guidelines are described in more detail in the following sections.

Establishing Predictable Start and End States for Scripts

By starting and ending the recording at a common point, scripts can be played back
in any order, with no script being dependent on where another script ends. For
example, you can start and end each script at the Windows desktop or at the main
window of the application-under-test.

Setting Up Your Test Environment

Any windows that are open, active, or displayed when you begin recording should be
open, active, or displayed when you stop recording. This applies to all applications,
including Windows Explorer, e-mail, and so on.

Robot can record the sizes and positions of all open windows when you start
recording, based on the recording options settings. (For information about setting
the recording options, see Setting GUI Recording Options on page 2-5.) During
playback, Robot attempts to restore windows to their recorded states and inserts a
warning in the log if it cannot find a recorded window.

In general, close any unnecessary applications before you start to record. For stress
testing, however, you may want to deliberately increase the load on the test
environment by having many applications open.

Creating Modular Scripts

Rather than defining a long sequence of actions in one GUI script, you should define
scripts that are short and modular. Keep your scripts focused on a specific area of
testing -- for example, on one dialog box or on a related set of recurring actions.

NOTE: Since Rational Administrator no longer supports Windows 98 and
Windows Me, you must connect to a remote test datastore when using Robot to
record a script on either of these two platforms. Use the Browse button on the
Robot Test Login dialog box to select the location of the Rational project file.