Forum Discussion

DavidE's avatar
DavidE
Contributor
8 years ago

TestExecute - Configure Settings

We destroy and rebuild the OS on our TestExecute machines frequently.  As a result I would like to automate the installation of TestExecute with certain settings automatically applied.  Specifically, I need to turn off the Check for updates at startup function as this causes an OLE error when we attempt to execute jobs on that machine if there is an update pending.  This causes false failures in our environment.

 

I know I can set this manually by logging into the machine and making the appropriate settings from the GUI, but this is tedious and time consuming given how frequently these machines are rebuilt.

 

I can't find any documentation on how to do this.

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

  • cunderw's avatar
    cunderw
    Community Hero
    8 years ago

    This isn't tested, but you might be able to copy your configuration files from:

     

    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\SmartBear\TestExecute\12.0 to a network share. 

     

    Then use silent mode install:

     

    https://support.smartbear.com/testexecute/docs/general-info/installing/installing-in-silent-mode.html the second option by default does not allow updates to happen.

     

    Then in theory you could copy your config files back into the new installation. Like I said haven't tested this, but it's worth a shot. 

    • DavidE's avatar
      DavidE
      Contributor
      7 years ago

      SmartBear said there is no official solution for this.

       

      What we ended up doing is copying the tcsettings.xml file once we had it configured on a single workstation and adding it to our scripted process of installing TestExecute. 

       

      We opted to place the file into the DEFAULT profile in Windows 7.

       

      c:\users\default\appdata\local\smartbear\testexecute\12.0

       

      This works for us as it will install and place the file into this directory prior to any user profiles being generated.  I am looking at options to get it copied out to the user profile if the profile already exists and the tcsettings.xml does not yet exist as a backup solution.

       

      I created a "Feature Recommendation" post for additional functionality around configuring TestExecute options.  If you are interested, please read and give kudos if you think it is a good idea.

       

      TestExecute Settings Customization

  • tristaanogre's avatar
    tristaanogre
    Esteemed Contributor
    8 years ago

    There isn't that I know of... TestExecute options are stored in the user profile of whoever is logged in at the time.  So, even if you configure it on the machine, if you log off and log in as a different user, you will need to configure again.

     

    I suppose (and this is untested) that you might be able to "fix" this by having the user that you use for test execution use a "Roaming" profile in your windows AD... that way, no matter what machine they log into, they'll have the same configuration/setup.  This is COMPLETELY untested so it's just presented as a theory but it's worth a try.

    • DavidE's avatar
      DavidE
      Contributor
      8 years ago

      This is very disappointing to hear.  A tool like this should be configurable without having to touch every workstation you install it on.  We have 10 TestExecute floating licenses and due to the how fluid the testing environment is, we have to come up with a solution.

       

      While your proposal would definitely work in theory, I would prefer not to go down that path as it would change our standard desktop configuration and potentially invalidate some of our testing as a result.

       

      I did see that the tcsettings.xml file exists in the user profile.  However I also saw that there was a "defaulttcsettings.xml" file in the installation folder for TestExecute.  Unfortunately it uses a bunch of GUID type strings and is not readable as far as determining what settings are what.  I was hoping that this file might be what it sounds like and are the settings that ultimately get copied over to the user profile once it is logged in and created.  Unfortunately like I said, it is very difficult to interpret the way it has been written.