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Uses for Timers

Inserting Timers

3-9

You can insert any number of timers with different names into the same script to
measure a variety of separate tasks. You can nest timers within other timers (starting
and stopping the second timer before stopping the first timer), and you can overlap
timers (stopping the second timer after stopping the first timer). However, you
should stop a timer before starting that same timer over again. If you start the same
timer twice without stopping it, Robot terminates the first occurrence when it starts
the second.

If you do not explicitly stop a timer, the timer is stopped automatically at the end of
the transaction.

When you play back a script that includes timers, you can view the elapsed time in
the log. For more information, see Playing Back a Script That Includes Timers on page
3-10.

Uses for Timers

You can use timers to measure general application performance and specific task
performance.

Measuring General Application Performance

For general application performance, start a timer, perform a series of actions and
create verification points with the application-under-test, and then stop the timer.

When you play back the script, the timer measures the amount of time it took for the
application to complete all of the actions. The log shows the timing results.

Measuring Specific Task Performance

For specific task performance, you often use timers with verification points that have
wait-state values. (For more information, see Setting a Wait State for a Verification Point
on page 4-8.) You use the wait-state value to detect the completion of a task before
stopping the timer.

The following is an example of using timers for specific task performance testing:
1. During recording, start a timer.
2. Start an application task or transaction (for example, open an application or start

a database query).

3. Insert a verification point with a wait state.

For example, insert a Window Existence verification point that waits up to 30
seconds for a window that indicates the task is complete.