What a pain it can be to reproduce issues for developers. How handy would it be if we could compile tests into an exe and pass it on for script playback? No easy request I'm sure, but I can dream...r...
A few ideas for the pot though some are a bit wacky:
1) TC packages up an exe containing project and related information as well as a target VM to run on:
- the relevant project and files i.e. it would know to grab external referenced items as well
- configuration information pointing to a shared VM (similar to what TestLeft can do)
Then when the exe is run it dynamically opens an rdp session to that VM and runs the tests in real time.
2) Alternative solution. TC standalone log viewer with script executed per action added to log.
TC currently captures screenshots per click, etc. Each screenshot is synced in the log to the line of script/Keyword test that was run at that moment. In TC you can click on this line in the log and it will instantly go to that line of script/Keyword test.
This is not possible outside of TC.
However, if there was a stand-alone TC log viewer and information was added to the current log format which showed the script that was executed at that moment then:
- A log file could be passed to the dev and,
- A new stand-alone TC log viewer could open that log that had been exported out of TC to some location for the dev (even perhaps a shared intranet website where they simply click on a link and it loads it into the stand-alone log viewer on their local PC). The dev could click on the screenshot/log entry where the bug occured. A tab in the log viewer could show the actual script that was executed at the time the screenshot was taken.
Also, assuming video recording is an option, the external standalone TC log viewer could be synced with the video such that a separate window, while the video was playing, showed the script executed at that moment.
As I said, a bit out there, but I'm guessing technically possible. Doesn't require a full runtime anywhere. Just a new standalone TC log viewer :)