Using Rational Functional Tester

Rational® Functional Tester is a tool for automated functional testing, regression testing, user interface testing, and data-driven testing. Rational Functional Tester supports a wide variety of web-based applications, Microsoft® .NET, Java™, terminal emulator based applications such as 3270 (zSeries®) and 5250 (iSeries®), PowerBuilder, AJAX, Adobe® Flex, Dojo Toolkit, Siebel, and SAP.

ITCAM for Transactions provides integration support for Rational Functional Tester. With this support, you can do the following tasks:
  • Record and export Rational Functional Tester test scripts to ITCAM for Transactions.
  • Playback Rational Functional Tester test scripts on Robotic Response Time agent.
  • View response time metrics, events, and messages generated during playback of Rational Functional Tester scripts, in Tivoli® Enterprise Portal workspaces and views.
For more information on Rational Functional Tester features:
  • http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/functional/
  • http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/functional/features/index.html
  • http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/products/functionaltester/
  • http://www-01.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/portal/opal/details?catalog.label=1TW10CP0V

For Rational Functional Tester product documentation, see the following links:

  • http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/rfthelp/v8r1/index.jsp
  • http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=953?rccs=epsrft&uid=swg27010324

Setting up the environment to record and export scripts

To record and export scripts to Application Management Console, you need to install the following software:
  • Rational Functional Tester
  • Rational Integration Support for Rational Functional Tester

See the ITCAM for Transactions prerequisites for information about supported versions.

Rational Functional Tester is provided with ITCAM for Transactions, and you can install it into your environment using the provided installation media and documentation. Rational Functional Tester should be installed on every system where the Robotic Response Time agent is located, and where you intend to playback Rational Functional Tester scripts. After installing Rational Functional Tester, reboot the system to ensure that playback of your scripts will complete successfully.

After you install Rational Functional Tester, use the separate installation media also provided with this release of ITCAM for Transactions to install integration support for Rational Functional Tester. Install this integration support on each system where you installed Rational Functional Tester. For more information on installing Rational products and integration support, see the ITCAM for Transactions Installation and Configuration Guide.

Configuring a Rational Functional Tester application

You can record scripts for several different types of applications, such as Java, Windows® executable programs, or HTML. Before you can record a script on an application, you must first configure the application in Rational Functional Tester.

The following simple example uses the Windows Calculator application to illustrate the procedure for configuring an application in Rational Functional Tester:
  1. From the Rational Functional Tester workbench toolbar, click the Configure Applications for Testing icon Configure Applications for Testing icon to launch the Application Configuration Tool.
    The RFT Application Configuration Tool dialog
  2. Click Add to configure a new application. The Add Application window is displayed.
    The Add Application window with the Executable or Batch File radio button selected.
  3. Select the Executable or Batch File radio button. and click Next.
  4. Browse to the location of the calc.exe file on your system and select it, then click Finish.
    The Add Application window showing the directory path and file name for the selected calc.exe program.
  5. The Application Configuration Tool window is displayed again, showing the calc.exe application added to the list of configured applications, and the associated detail information.
    The Application Configuration Tool window showing the calc.exe program added to the list of configured applications.

    Click Finish to close the Application Configuration Tool.

See the documentation library for Rational Functional Tester for more information about configuring applications for recording test scripts.

Recording a test script in Rational Functional Tester

The following example illustrates the basic procedure to record a test script in Rational Functional Tester:
  1. From the Rational Functional Tester workbench toolbar, click the Record a Functional Test Script icon Record a Functional Test Script icon or select Script -> Add Script Using Recorder to launch the recording wizard.
  2. Specify the project folder and script name, and click Finish.
  3. The recorder is launched in a separate window. In the Recording window, click the Start Application icon and select the calc.exe program from the list of available configured applications, then click OK.
  4. The Windows Calculator application is started. Use the Calculator to perform any number of typical operations. Rational Functional Tester records each of these actions in the test script.
  5. When you are finished, click the Stop Recording icon in the Recording window. The test script is created from the recorded actions.
  6. Run the functional test script with Rational Functional Tester workbench to verify that the script was recorded properly. From the Rational Functional Tester workbench toolbar, click the Run Functional Test Script icon Run Functional Test Script icon or select Script -> Run to run the script.

See the documentation library for Rational Functional Tester for more information about recording and playing back test scripts in Rational Functional Tester.

Setting verification points in Rational Functional Tester scripts

You can set three types of verification points in Rational Functional Tester scripts:
Data verification point
To verify that data seen during the playback is the same as the data that was recorded.
Properties verification point
To verify that properties of objects are the same as recorded properties.
Image verification point
To verify that images seen during the playback match the recorded images.
You can set verification points while recording the script, or you can add them to a script that has already been recorded.
  • To set a verification point while recording the script, from the Recording window toolbar click the Insert Verification Point or Action Command icon to launch the Verification Point and Action Wizard, and follow the on-screen directions.
  • To add a verification point to a recorded script, from the Rational Functional Tester workbench toolbar click the Insert Verification Point into Active Functional Test Script icon and follow the on-screen directions. Alternatively, you can open the Script Explorer view for the script in the workbench and right-click on Verification Points.
Tip: Properties or data verification points do not show you the data that was different from the expected value. Instead they refer to the actual and expected result files, which you can find on the Robotic Response Time agent orRational Functional Tester computer in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\IBM\tivoli\common\BWM\logs\RFT\script_name\*.rftvp. To display the strings or differences in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal or the ContentCapture web application, use a text or image verification point.

See the documentation library for Rational Functional Tester for more information about setting verification points in your test scripts.

Exporting a Rational Functional Tester script

After recording the script and defining verification points, you can export the script to the ITCAM for Transactions Application Management Console to configure the script for playback on ITCAM for Transactions Robotic Response Time agents. The following example procedure illustrates the basic steps for exporting the script:
  1. From the Rational Functional Tester workbench toolbar, select File -> Export, and then in the Export window that is displayed, select Other -> ITCAM for Transactions and click Next to launch the Export wizard.
    The Export window showing the selection of ITCAM for Transactions under Other.
  2. Specify the host connection information where Application Management Console is located and click Next.
    The connection information for connecting to the system where the Application Management Console is located.
  3. Select the project that contains the test script and click Next.
  4. Select the test script from the list of available scripts, and click Finish.
  5. The script is uploaded to the Application Management Console and a success message is displayed. Click OK.

You cannot change the application name in the export wizard for exported Rational Functional Tester scripts. The application reporting value for the transaction must be changed using the AMC Editor, for the new value to be reported in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal.

Configuring Rational Functional Tester scripts for playback on Robotic Response Time agents

You can configure each Rational Functional Tester script for playback using the Application Management Configuration Editor. You can also provide global configuration information for all scripts running on a specific Robotic Response Time agent using the IBM® Tivoli Monitoring agent configuration function.

You can configure the following playback properties for Rational Functional Tester scripts:
RFT application configuration
Use the application configuration (provided by Rational Functional Tester) that is specified in the script, or use the configuration specified on the agent. The following values are valid for this property:
Exported
Use the application configuration provided in the script.
Local
Use the application configuration located on the agent. This is the default value.
Abort RFT script on timeout
When the timeout value is reached the Rational Functional Tester script is aborted. The following values are valid for this property:
True
Aborts the script when the timeout is reached.
False
Disables the abort function.
Agent Default
Use the setting specified in the agent configuration. This is the default value.
Terminate RFT and reboot when not responding
When the Rational Functional Tester process is not responding, the process is terminated and the system is rebooted. This property is available only for Rational Functional Tester Robotic Response Time scripts. The following values are valid for this property:
True
Always terminate and reboot.
False
Never terminate and reboot.
Agent Default
Use the setting specified in the agent configuration. This is the default value.
Use the following procedure to configure Rational Functional Tester playback properties in Application Management Configuration Editor:
  1. From the Tivoli Enterprise Portal, launch the Application Management Configuration Editor.
  2. Select Profiles.
  3. Expand the Robotic Response Time profile and select the Rational Functional Tester script.
  4. The configurable properties are displayed. Select a property and click in the Value column to display a list of allowable values.
  5. Select the preferred value and save your changes.

See Defining profiles for more information about configuring properties for profile scripts in the Application Management Configuration Editor.

You can also globally configure Rational Functional Tester playback properties for all scripts on a particular Robotic Response Time agent using the Reconfigure function in the Manage Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Services console.
The Rational Functional Tester Configuration tab during reconfiguration of the Robotic Response Time agent in the Manage Tivoli Enterprise Monitoring Services console.