Configure IE11 before running a TestComplete script

[jkrolczy]

I am querying the forum to see if someone has ever write a script to preconfigured IE11
before executing their scripts.

Probably WinReg changes ???

  i.e. Tools -> Internet Options
     open in new tab versus a new IE window

Thanks,

JamesK

[tristaanogre]

I can't speak for everyone else...

But what we do is we have VM's that are set up as "clean rooms".  They are built off a template which we have configured with all the software set up with proper settings, machine policies, etc.  So, when we need a new VM to run automation against, we spin up a new clone and everything is set and configured.  I don't, personally, like the idea of having the automation code itself do the configuration as that is just one more thing to write and maintain code for.  Better to have the environment get deployed and run the automation against a known deployment...

BUT... YMMV... others may have other opinions but this is what we do.

[cunderw]

I'll second this, have your automation assets actually configure your browser opens up the possibility of false positives in your tests. You're testing how your application behaves in IE, not IE itself so it doesn't make sense to do that configuration from your tests. 

[Marsha_R]

I don't object to using TC to do some setup, because there have been some cases where we couldn't get a VM deployed in the time that we needed the tests run.

That being said, the setup tests are not part of the main test suite.  They are separate and only run when needed.   

[jkrolczy]

Marsha,

What methods were used to pre-config IE before running scripts.

Win Reg changes ?

JamesK

[Marsha_R]

All of our setup is the same as if a user had completed the steps manually.  You can always walk through it in a recording and then clean up the resulting test afterwards.