CraigB
5 years agoContributor
Refresh files
Hi
I can't find the command to refresh files. How do I force TestComplete to refresh all files so that changes are reflected in the script files it's using to run tests if I change something w...
Sorry Craig that you feel that tristaanogre 's help is ridiculous, he is just trying to help you.
The fact that you bought a TestComplete license to end up using other editors to work on your TestComplete files, is the ridiculous part. You only need a TestExecute license for that which is 1/10 of the price.
What tristaanogre and I (and other community members) are trying to do on this form is help everyone voluntarily with our knowledge and experience with the product.
You can always fill a support ticket and get answers directly from the TestComplete Support Team if you prefer.
The way you are using TestComplete is unorthodox and not the best way to use TestComplete.
I believe tristaanogre was trying to help you realize that and save you time.
Cheers
Lino
The company I work for has a TestComplete license, so that's what I work with. Also, I imagine that creating tests to run with TestExecute would be excruciatingly difficult since one would have to know how to create all the files required for the tests to run, not just the scripts. The license also isn't the only part that is ridiculous. I'm pointing out that every time I need to refresh files I have to do some unnecessary steps. His suggestion was that I get around doing those extra steps by doing many more and far more time consuming steps. In other words, that post wasn't an attempt to help since it was presenting an approach that is clearly far far worse. He has responded to other questions with actual help, so I assume that the post about using git wasn't intended to be helpful.
If the best way to use TestComplete is to waste lots of time waiting around for tests to complete (and not, that's not because one has to run a full test suite or anything like that, but even having to wait over and over for parts of test suites that are being set up/modified/fixed adds up pretty quickly), then what you're really saying is that the best way to use TestComplete is to use some other tool instead.
I can't see how there's anything unorthodox about using a working editor designed to for editing code rather than the TestComplete editor. TestComplete already monitors files for changes (so long as tests aren't running). That means that using external editors has at least been partly considered, so it's not possible that it's unorthodox.
I can only share my experience in this situation and hope it works for you.
I have a Testsuite that takes 6 hours to run, I don't wait 6 hours for the test to finish for me to make changes. I continue to work on my scripts.
The way that is done is by executing the 6 hour tests on a different machine running TestExecute or a VM on your same machine or even running the test in CrossBrowserTesting in the cloud.
The formula is to use CI, Use TestComplete to create your initial projects and files easily, then check them into source control (GIT, Subversion, TFS, whatever...) Then once files are checked in, that triggers a deployment build to the VM or the other machine running TestExecute.
I use this method and I can NO conflict between the running project and the checked in files deplyed to the VM
Hope that helps
-Lino
Thanks Lino. I can see that working for your situation. Unfortunately I'm in the process of creating and updating tests, including moving from v12.6 to v14. If I run a test and it fails, I look at what might be wrong. If I can see what's wrong I go and fix it. Or, if a change I made fixes a problem, I go and fix anywhere else I know that problem exists. In the meantime I let the tests carry on running - there's cleanup to do so that the tests can be run again, such as closing the app under test, possibly removing a database, whatever. So now I've made changes and I want to test again. But because I made changes while the tests were running I have to change at least one file again and save it again so that Test Complete recognises that a file has changed. Since I'm making a lot of changes as the tests are added or updated, this ends up adding up to a lot of extra time and frustration.
So right now my process is
Make a change
Run the test applicable to the change
If the test runs successfully, move on to the next change while any cleanup is run. Otherwise look for what's wrong and, if found, fix the problem.
If all changes are finished before the cleanup is finished and the test run completes, change a file again and save it so that the files are refreshed in TC.
Run the test again (or run the next test if the previous test was successful).
Only once I have the tests running (or if I'm done for the day) will I commit them.
Once the tests are all done, I'll switch to running them all, but at this point they're being developed, so I'm just running the parts of the project that are applicable.
I'm used to development IDEs and general code editors which refresh files automatically when they're changed by other software whether they're in the middle of a debug session or not. So if I change a config file or pull code from a repository or otherwise change a source file, the IDE immediately refreshes the file. The code changes don't generally become part of the executing code unless a new debug session is started (or if edit and continue is enabled and the code stops at a break point). But they're always there without any intervention from me apart from possibly having to do what TestComplete requires when tests aren't running - accepting the file changes.