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DCarroll_1's avatar
DCarroll_1
14 years ago

Trial user - how can I test green screen apps

I am on a QA start-up and we are currently evaluating tool sets. My favorite test management tool so far is QAComplete. The direction seems to be to keep all tools within the same family, so if I want QAComplete, I have to also get TestComplete. Unfortunately, TC is on the bottom of the automated tool list.

In addition to regular web testing, we will need to automate some ‘green screen’ apps that run on the IBMi (aka AS400). I use Reflection as my 5250 emulator, but I haven’t figured out how to get TC to recognize the individual fields on the screen. It sees the whole screen as one object, and I need to identify 9 input fields and 10 output fields.

I have to complete my trials and submit the results in less than three days, which means I don’t have time to read the books, user guides, and forums. I’ve run quick searches on the topic but haven’t found anything yet. Please point me in the right direction to get the information I need. And if I can’t get it working in time I would appreciate some assurance that TestComplete can be used to test green screen apps.

Thanks

1 Reply

  • tristaanogre's avatar
    tristaanogre
    Esteemed Contributor
    14 years ago
    Short answer:  Yes, you can do it.



    Long answer:  You can interact with your emulator by passing a "Keys" method to the window to effectively test the input since that is what you're doing as a user anyways.  You're not going to be able to say "Set input field 2 to value X" since a regular user of a terminal emulator like that can't get to input field 2 without navigating to it using Tab or Enter keystrokes.



    As for the output fields, again, you have a similar problem as you do with the input because there aren't necessarily separate components that represent the output fields and an end user at the terminal is simply reading text that is printed out on the screen (albeit printed at particular locations on the terminal screen).  Your best bet for testing those things is either using Region checkpoints (http://smartbear.com/support/viewarticle/11028/) or by using Text Recognition (http://smartbear.com/support/viewarticle/11502/) or OCR (http://smartbear.com/support/viewarticle/11241/).  Any one of these three features can be used to validate the text output of the terminal.