TestComplete - Key Features
TestComplete is undoubtedly the most feature rich and complete automated testing suite available on the market today - at any price. But don’t just take our word for it. Read the features listed below and judge for yourself.
Recording and Simulating User Actions
Build your tests quickly, and build them with the power to thoroughly test your business process. Use any mixture of recorded actions, hand-written code, calls to TestComplete’s powerful test library, and script tuning in the full-featured editor and debugger — whatever fits the need, whatever is easiest for the user. Everyone in your organization can start using TestComplete immediately for their job.
Language-Independent Scripting
The design philosophy behind TestComplete is to never inhibit or restrict a development team or a QA team. One illustration of this is that with TestComplete you never have to use a proprietary scripting language to code test cases. TestComplete is the only tool of its kind with built-in support for multiple scripting languages: VBScript, JScript, C++Script, C#Script and DelphiScript.
Intelligent Recording
TestComplete’s point-and-click test recorder is powerful and easy to use. It works at the object level. When it captures user actions on an application, it reads the object name and properties from the application. That’s the same name and properties that the application developer uses when the application is created, and it records more than just mouse clicks, it tracks object properties like selection, string input, checked/unchecked controls and much more.
In the default recording mode, TestComplete records the key actions necessary to replay the test and discards all unneeded actions. This makes recorded scripts compact and easy to read.
However, there are times when you need to record everything, and TestComplete’s Low-level recording feature will record every step of every action. It logs single keyboard events and single mouse events at absolute screen positions, with total detail.
TestComplete’s point and click recorded scripts are recorded in standard scripting languages so they often end up looking a lot like the source code of the application under test. That helps testers better understand your applications and improves communication with developers.
TestComplete’s recorded scripts are very robust. Older test recorders
captured simple screen coordinate based actions. For example, a mouse click at
point X=245, Y=350. TestComplete can see the object names inside the application
under test, so it creates scripts that address those objects. Instead of click(245,350),
TestComplete scripts look more like, Windows.MainForm.OkButton.Click(). That’s
because TestComplete records object based actions instead of coordinate based
actions, its scripts are more stable and are harder to break than older tests.
Coordinate based scripts usually fail when the application’s interface
changes. TestComplete’s object based scripts still work after changes
like moving, adding and resizing controls.
TestComplete recognizes the most common UI library objects for your development platform like ATL, VCL, ActiveX, .NET, Java, WPF (XAML) and more. And it’s not limited to common library objects, it can recognize even the most application-specific elements if the application is compiled for this.
Support for Third-Party Controls
TestComplete provides comprehensive support for the most popular third-party controls. Currently, TestComplete supports grid, menu and toolbar controls by Microsoft, Borland, Developer Express, Infragistics, Syncfusion and other manufacturers, and this list is constantly expanding.
When recording tests, TestComplete recognizes these custom controls and records control-specific actions, for example, actions over individual grid cells. Besides the recording and playback support, TestComplete exposes internal properties and methods of these controls, so that you can use them to learn the control state or perform the needed tasks. This helps you create more thorough UI tests for your applications. More...
Support for Unicode
TestComplete fully supports Unicode. This means that TestComplete’s edit boxes, dialog boxes and panels (including the Code Editor) support the input and display of Unicode characters. It also means that TestComplete can process these characters.
Multiple Compiler Support
TestComplete can record and simulate user actions on any Windows application, regardless of the development tool used to compile the application. It also provides extended support, like access to the application’s internal objects, for applications and modules created with .NET and Java compilers, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, C++Builder, and even Microsoft Visual FoxPro, Access and Sybase PowerBuilder! TestComplete also supports 64-bit .NET, Java and Windows applications.
Superior Support for .NET Applications
TestComplete is an industry leading testing tool that provides full support for automated unit, functional, regression and other kinds of testing of 32- and 64-bit .NET applications. TestComplete supports both Microsoft and non-Microsoft .NET compilers: Microsoft Visual C#, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++ .NET, C#Builder, Borland Delphi for .NET (Delphi 8, 2005 and 2006), Python .NET, COBOL .NET, and more. The test scripts can access WinForms and VCL.NET objects, methods and properties of .NET applications. TestComplete scripts can also call functions located in .NET assemblies.
Superior Support for WPF (XAML) Applications
TestComplete provides access to methods and properties of WPF (XAML) applications. It also includes special program objects that let you easily simulate user actions over the XAML controls.
Support for Windows Vista Technologies
TestComplete provides extensive support for Windows Vista technologies. With TestComplete you can record and play back scripts under Windows Vista, you can use special program objects to simulate user actions and access properties of WPF (XAML) applications’ objects. You can also use methods and properties exposed by the UI Automation technology in your tests and test .NET Framework 3 applications. More...
Superior Support for Java Applications
TestComplete provides full support for automated unit, functional, regression and other kinds of 32- and 64-bit Java application testing. These applications can be tested in black-box mode by simulating mouse clicks, keystrokes and various user actions, as well as white-box mode, where test scripts have access to objects, methods and properties of Java applications created with the Swing, AWT, SWT and WFC libraries.
TestComplete provides full-scale support for the most popular Java controls, such as JButton, JCheckBox, JComboBox, JList, JTable and many others. TestComplete also provides scripting access to Java arrays and their elements.
Support for 64-bit Applications
TestComplete fully supports automated testing of 64-bit Windows, .NET and Java applications. It lets you create functional, unit, regression and other kinds of tests for 64-bit applications the same way you would for 32-bit applications. Because TestComplete records and replays user actions over 32-bit and 64-bit applications using the same scripting objects, methods and properties, you can use the same automation scripts for testing both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the tested applications. More...
Access Internal Objects, Methods and Properties
TestComplete lets you dig deep into your applications like no other tool can. It can give your scripts and tests access to most internal elements - objects, methods and properties - of the application under test.
.NET, WPF, Java and Visual Basic applications are what we call Open Applications, they are always “open” to TestComplete. It can always read the names of the visible elements and many of the internal elements that are normally off-limits to testers.
There are also some application types that are not normally open, but they can be recompiled with special options to give TestComplete access to internal elements.
If the Open Application is compiled with external debugger information, TestComplete’s Debug Info Agent™ can use that information to watch and manage the application’s private elements, just like the IDE debugger can. Debug Info Agent™ is an exclusive TestComplete technology and an industry first. By using it, you can watch or run anything in the application, including calling methods and changing property values.
Load, Stress and Scalability Testing of Web Servers and Services
TestComplete allows you to perform load, stress and scalability testing of web server applications. It can record HTTP, HTTPS and SOAP requests and it allows you to play back the recorded traffic with hundreds or thousands of virtual users that can be simulated on several workstations simultaneously.
Load test creation is visual, so even the most inexperienced users can quickly create a load test simulating the desired number of virtual users, that “run” on the desired workstations and “work” with the desired web browser. TestComplete supports load test simulation of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape Navigator, Pocket IE, Smartphone or any other browser. More...
Web server load testing is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
Functional Testing of Web Pages (Web Testing)
TestComplete fully supports front-end web page testing. It can simulate user actions through the browser and detect the page state so that web applications can be tested on the back end with load testing and the front end with web client testing.
TestComplete can work with web pages displayed in Internet Explorer, Firefox and in the Microsoft WebBrowser control embedded into your application. Limited support is also provided for Netscape Navigator.
TestComplete provides scripting access to methods and properties of web page elements. This feature lets you perform almost any checking and verifying actions. Specific methods, properties and events allow you to easily navigate to the desired web page, delay script execution until the page is fully loaded, and much more. More...
Web client functional testing is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
Testing of Web Services
With TestComplete, you can perform functional testing of web services. Using the WebService project item, you can explore methods, interfaces and objects used by web services under test. Special wizards help even the most inexperienced users quickly create script code that will call web service’s methods and verify their responses. This way, you can easily ensure whether the web service functions correctly. More...
Because TestComplete can record SOAP requests and responses from web services, you can also perform load testing of web services.
Distributed Testing
TestComplete includes the Network Suite project item that lets you perform distributed testing, that is, simultaneously run several TestComplete projects on several workstations. The distributed tests can be run simultaneously or synchronized in sophisticated ways allowing you to create realistic multi-client testing of your distributed applications.
The network suite includes advanced features such as synchronization points, critical sections, and more, to synchronize and control the distributed test run. Network suites can also be managed via test scripts for vast flexibility. More...
Distributed testing is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
Advanced Unit Testing Support
You can extend your TestComplete projects with unit tests created with MSTest, JUnit, NUnit or DUnit tests. That is, you can call unit tests created with these tools directly from your test projects. Of course, TestComplete supports ordinary unit tests created for earlier versions of the product.
Testing Under Different User Accounts
You can launch your tested applications directly from TestComplete under different user accounts and test them without rebooting. Using this feature you can check whether the application functions properly under a user account that has different security privileges.
Manual Testing
TestComplete includes superb support for manual testing. When executing a manual test, TestComplete shows a window holding text that describes user actions to be performed. After performing the actions, a tester can click the Fail or Success button to confirm whether the test failed or was executed successfully. The results of the test execution are recorded in the test log.
Automated Self-Testing
Your applications can have complete control of the TestComplete engine via COM. Anything a TestComplete script can do, your application code can do via your application’s native programming language. In other words, by controlling the TestComplete engine, your application can test itself and other applications. It can embed recorded scripts, use TestComplete’s scripting tools to feed itself input and to capture its own output, use the TestComplete library and the result sets stored by TestComplete to analyze its own behavior, and post its conclusions to the test log just like any other TestComplete test. Your application can even call and execute external TestComplete scripts. Self-testing applications are an obvious way to simplify unit testing. Moreover, self-testing code is written in the application source language, has the same access to application internals as the rest of the source code, and can be debugged using the native IDE debugger.
Entirely Open Architecture
TestComplete is the first major automated testing tool that is entirely COM-based. There are many advantages to TestComplete’s architecture. For instance, because the TestComplete engine is a COM server, it can be run from any COM-based language interpreter, or from application code. It can also have an application log its own details to it, so that it becomes “open” to external tests. Because the engine “sees” everything through one interface, COM, it is source-language independent, and can even read debugger information and use it at runtime through the Debug Info Agent™.
You can also create plug-ins and script extensions that add new functionality to TestComplete: custom project items, program objects, panels and toolbar commands.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
TestComplete includes an optical character recognition engine that lets you translate text shown in forms and windows of tested applications into text strings. These strings can then be used to create solid and reliable tests. The OCR engine is fully scriptable, so you can configure its settings to provide better recognition.
OCR is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
User-Friendly IDE
The onscreen interface of TestComplete is clear, attractive and intuitive by design. It is also very flexible: menus and panels can be customized in a few seconds to adapt them to your particular needs. See Screenshots.
Object Browser
TestComplete’s Object Browser panel is a special tool that allows you to explore the application under test as well as other processes running in the system. Like Windows Explorer, the Object Browser is divided into two panes. In the left pane it displays a tree of all objects (processes, windows, and so on) that exist in a system, with full expand-collapse capabilities. In the right pane, it displays all available properties, methods, fields and events of the object selected in the left pane. This right-pane view can expand its details in order to dig into the object’s properties. You can also select objects directly onscreen with the mouse, and get the same detailed analysis. The Object Browser serves the following purposes:
![Screen shot](javascript:showPic("OB_GettingStarted.gif","Object Browser",691,564)){kind=link}
Advanced Test Log
In TestComplete, all project test results go to one project log. The log begins when you define a new test project and ends when you close it. Dozens of different tests, hundreds of iterations, thousands of results are posted to the log as messages. TestComplete’s log supports messages of different types: error, warning and informative messages, pictures, links to files, and more. You can nest messages in order to distinguish one part of a test from another. (Screen shot)
![Screen shot](javascript:showPic("ExportedResults_SampleLog.gif","Advanced Test Log",626,422)){kind=link}
Messages can be filtered by date, time, type, priority, and then automatically formatted into clear, to-the-point test reports that tell you exactly what you want to know about how your application is performing. The reports can be exported to XML and HTML or to an .MHT file for reading on any machine equipped with Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera.
You can also create a bug report from the logged results and automatically post it to an issue-tracking system by selecting the menu item from the log’s context menu. (Screen shot)
![Screen shot](javascript:showPic("image025.png","Advanced Test Log",520,404)){kind=link}
Compressing Test results
TestComplete allows you to compress and archive test results as needed. Simply configure TestComplete for your favorite compression utility and you can activate the utility from within the TestComplete UI. It is a one step process to compress one or more test result logs.
Issue-Tracking Support
Each TestComplete project includes issue-tracking templates that can be used to create or modify items stored in issue-tracking systems. Currently, TestComplete supports Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System and AutomatedQA AQdevTeam. Using the templates, you can create items visually from your test results shown in the test log or write script code that will create items storing the desired content.
Issue-tracking support is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
Visual Studio 2005 Team System Integration
With TestComplete you can easily extend Visual Studio tests with TestComplete test projects. The Visual Studio 2005 Integration package shipped with TestComplete adds a new test type (TestComplete6 Test) to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System allowing you to execute TestComplete projects as part of your Visual Studio tests. You can work with TestComplete tests the same way you work with other types of tests: modify the test properties in the Visual Studio IDE, select the test for execution in Visual Studio’s Test Manager panel, view results in the Test Results panel, and much more. More...
Visual Studio 2005 Team System integration is an exclusive feature of the Enterprise Edition.
Source Control System Integration
TestComplete integrates with source control systems, such as Visual SourceSafe, Team Coherence, CVS, and more. With this integration, you can check in your TestComplete project suites, projects and project items or check them out directly from TestComplete. You can also compare the project and project item files with other files, view their history and use other services provided by source and version control systems. TestComplete supports all Microsoft SCC API compatible source control systems.
Events and Event Handler Support
TestComplete can trace events that occur during the script’s execution. These can be events that occur in TestComplete or in any ActiveX object located in an external application, for example, events in Microsoft Word. You can create script routines to handle these events. For instance, you can create specific scripts that are called when an unexpected window appears, when TestComplete starts or stops a test run, or when Microsoft Word creates a new document. If your tested application contains an ActiveX control, you can handle its events as well.
ActiveX Support
TestComplete provides the ActiveX Objects project item that was designed to work with ActiveX objects. The project item includes a special editor, where you can visually modify properties of the objects added to the collection and create handling routines for the objects’ events. If you work with a control via the ActiveX Objects project item, there is no need to create a special container for your control. The container is an internal TestComplete form which is created automatically. This frees you from creating a test application or a web page for the control and, thus, makes testing easier.
Calling Win32 functions and functions located in DLLs
TestComplete includes a special plug-in that lets you easily call Win32 API functions in your scripts. Calls to routines located in dynamic link libraries are also supported.
User Forms
TestComplete includes a powerful editor where you can visually create user-defined forms. You can use these forms to display various information and interact with the tester running the project.
TestComplete provides over 20 controls that can be used on forms - from simple edit boxes and buttons to Open File dialogs and advanced date editors and calculators. You can also create event handlers for controls to implement complex processing.
CORBA Support
TestComplete can access CORBA objects located on a local computer or on network computers. You can explore these objects in the Object Browser panel and work with them in scripts. The CORBA support engine requires VisiBroker for C++ ver. 5.52 to be installed on your computer.
TestExecute
TestExecute is a small resource-friendly utility that allows you to run TestComplete
projects and to log results on computers where TestComplete is not installed.
It can be even installed on your customer computers to play back script routines. TestExecute is available as part of
the TestComplete Enterprise Edition
or as a stand-alone product.
Unlimited distribution licenses are available for TestExecute.
TestRecorder
TestRecorder allows you to embed script recording capability into your applications. The recorded scripts are fully compatible with TestComplete. Once created, the recorded script can be converted to a script routine on one of the supported scripting languages with TestComplete. TestRecorder is available as part of TestComplete Enterprise Edition or as a stand-alone product.
For more information on TestComplete and other Quality Assurance products from AutomatedQA, write to us at
sales@automatedqa.com.