Release notes for Rational Functional Tester 9.5.0

This document contains information about new features, system requirements, and known limitations in IBM® Rational® Functional Tester.

Description

IBM Rational Functional Tester is an automated testing tool that tests a broad range of applications, such as:

  • HTML5-based web applications built on modern frameworks, such as Angular, React and Vue.js in the latest versions of the world’s top browsers, both on the desktop and mobile devices
  • Legacy HTML applications
  • Java™ and .Net-based thick client applications
  • ERP systems such as SAP
  • IBM zSeries, IBM iSeries, IBM pSeries, and mainframe applications
  • Ajax, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft .NET, Microsoft Silverlight, Microsoft Visual Basic, Siebel, Flex, GEF, and PowerBuilder applications
  • Adobe PDF documents

You can also import and work with Selenium tests, and combine tests of various types into compound tests.

To view the full list of domains, software, and platforms that are supported for functional testing and the compatible versions of Rational products that can be integrated with Rational Functional Tester, see Software Product Compatibility Reports.

Some of the older versions of software supported by Rational Functional Tester are deprecated. To view the list of deprecated software, see http://www.testworkbench-community.com/blogs/technology-currency-updates-for-rational-functional-tester-92.

Integrated Development Environments

Rational Functional Tester is available in two integrated development environments (IDE): Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET. The Eclipse integration supports both Java and simplified (non-programming) method of scripting while the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET integration supports Microsoft Visual Basic .NET scripting language.

Note: The ability to test HTML 5-based applications is available in the Eclipse environment, but not in the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET environment.

What's new in 9.5.0

  • Ability to create a test asset for Accelerated Functional Test suite. See Creating accelerated functional test asset. You can use a new command line argument -aftsuite to specify and run Accelerated Functional Test suite. See Running test from the command line. You can also specify the Accelerated Functional Test suite name when running the tests from UrbanCode Deploy, Jenkins, Ant, and Maven.
  • Support to integrate with IBM Rational Integration Tester to run API tests and functional tests as part of a compound test. See Testing with IBM Rational Integration Tester.
  • Support for playing back tests in Microsoft Edge 44. See Running a test in Microsoft Edge.
  • Support to run multiple tests from a single build step using the Jenkins plugin. See Testing with Jenkins.
  • Support for a new browser-based CSV editor for datasets to edit the dataset. Eclipse-based datapool is now replaced with dataset that is built on new technology. See Dataset overview.
  • eGit is now bundled along with the product. So, you can store the test assets in the Git repository and perform the related actions using eGit.
  • Introduction to the experimental features. These features should not be used in the production environment. See Experimental features.
    • Ability to record and play back tests for applications that use mixed content that is from both HTTP and HTTPS protocols.
    • Ability to view reports in the proper JSON format.

Installing the product

To install Rational Functional Tester 9.5.0, first uninstall any previous installations of Rational Functional Tester. Then, use the Install procedure in IBM Installation Manager to install 9.5.0.

Rational Functional Tester is available as a standalone product and is also included with Rational Test Workbench. You can use the same license key for each installation.

Installing .NET 2010 help

If you installed Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 .NET Integration, you must install Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 .NET help manually.

  1. After you install Rational Functional Tester Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 .NET Integration, open Rational Functional Tester, click Help and then click Manage Help Settings. This opens the Visual Studio Help Library Manager.
  2. Select the Install content from disk option.
  3. Click Browse and select the helpcontentsetup.msha file that is available by default in C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\HelpLibrary\VS2010\ . The help manifest files for other translations are found within the locale folders available in the VS2010 directory. Click Next.
  4. Select FT and click Add. The Update button is enabled.
  5. Click Update. You are prompted to confirm the installation. Click Yes. The Rational Functional Tester .NET help is installed as local help for Visual Studio 2010.
Note: To view the Rational Functional Tester .NET Scripting help in the Visual Studio 2010 IDE, you must enable the local help option in the Help Library Manager.

Tip: To view the complete table of contents of the installed local help in the Visual Studio 2010 IDE, install the Visual Studio Help Keyword Index plug-in that is available from the Microsoft website. Alternatively, you can upgrade to Visual Studio 2010 Service Pack 1 to view help in the Microsoft Help Viewer.

Known limitations and workarounds

Known problems are documented in the fix list and download document. Select a fix list from http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27036170. From the fix list, you can view the download document for additional information.

Known problems are also documented in the form of individual technotes in the Support Knowledge Base at Troubleshooting documentation for Rational Functional Tester. As problems are discovered and resolved, the knowledge base is updated. By searching the knowledge base, you can quickly find workarounds or solutions to problems. Technotes created for 9.2 family releases are available from this page.

After playing back a script in Rational Functional Tester, a message such as the following is displayed in the console: "The IBM Class Sharing Adaptor will not work in this configuration. You are not running on a J9 Java VM.". This message is displayed because the version of Eclipse that is used in the IDE is from IBM and has the IBM Java optimizations enabled. To resolve the issue:

  1. Navigate to the Rational Functional Tester Plugins Shared Folder.
  2. Back up the com.ibm.cds plugin and delete it.
  3. Restart Rational Functional Tester.

Contacting IBM Software Support

IBM Software Support provides you with technical assistance.

For FAQs, lists of known problems and fixes, and other support information, visit the product support page for Rational Functional Tester software.

For product news, events, and other information, visit the product home page for Rational Functional Tester Software at https://www.ibm.com/us-en/marketplace/rational-functional-tester.

Before you contact IBM Software Support, gather the background information that you need to describe your problem. When you are describing a problem to an IBM Software Support specialist, be as specific as possible and include all relevant background information so that the specialist can help you solve the problem efficiently. To save time, know the answers to these questions:

  • What software versions were you running when the problem occurred?
  • Do you have logs, traces, or messages that are related to the problem?
  • Can you reproduce the problem? If so, what steps do you take to reproduce it?
  • Is there a workaround for the problem? If so, be prepared to describe the workaround.
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