Microsoft Knowledge Base

• Microsoft Visual Test for Windows 95 and Windows NT, version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article answers some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ) about Microsoft Visual Test 4.0.

MORE INFORMATION

1. Q. I installed Visual Test 4.0. Now I can't gain access to the Visual
      Test 4.0 Books online.

   A. The books online may not have registered correctly during
      installation. You have to open a file to let it register and then you
      will be able to access it. Please follow these steps:

      1. On the File menu, click Open.

      2. Change directory to C:\Msdev\Help or whereever you installed
         Visual Test.

      3. Select Mst40bks.mvb from the file list box, and click OK.

      Now, you should be able to access the Books Online. On the Help menu,
      click Open Information Title from the Developer Studio.

2. Q. I am trying to test an MS-DOS-based application on Window s95. Visual
      Test's Scenario Recorder does not record strokes for an MS-DOS-based
      application.

   A. Visual Test uses a a method called journaling to record keystrokes.
      This method won't record keystrokes in MS-DOS-based applications in
      Windows 95. You can, however, use Play commands in the script to send
      the keyboard or mouse events to the active window in an MS-DOS-based
      application.

3. Q. Where can I find information on upgrading Microsoft Test 3.0 scripts
      to Visual Test 4.0?

   A. Select "Upgrading existing Test Scripts" in Books Online under Visual
      Test 4.0 Books Online Programmer's Guide for information on upgrading
      scripts. Also in Books Online, refer to the Knowledge Base Article
      "How to Incorporate Resources into a Visual Test Script" if you have
      used resources in your script.

4. Q. Can I use Visual Test 4.0 to test applications that are running under
      the Windows 3.1 or Windows for WorkGroups operating systems?

   A. No. Visual Test works only on Windows 95 or Windows NT version 3.51.
      Test 3.0 is provided on the same CD-ROM compact disc as Visual Test
      4.0. You can use Test 3.0 to test 16-bit Windows-based applications
      running under Windows 3.x.

5. Q. How do I find more information about the control that I am working
      with such as its class name or ID?

   A. Use the Window Information (WInfo) utility. You can run WInfo by
      choosing the WInfo command from the Test menu in Microsoft Developer
      Studio. Please search in Books Online using "Window Information
      Utility" for more information.

6. Q. How do I start my application using a Visual Test script?

   A. Use the RUN Statement to start your application. Please refer to the
      "RUN Function" or "RUN Statement" topic in the Language Reference
      in Books Online for more information. For example, the following line
      of code starts Notepad from within a Test script:

      RUN   "C:\WINDOWS\NOTEPAD.EXE" , NOWAIT

7. Q. The Scenario Recorder displays a Define Unknown Control dialog box.
      What is the type of control that I need to select?

   A. Select Window for the type of control if you are not sure about
      the type of control. If you are sure that the specific type of
      control behaves like some standard control and you know that it
      processes standard messages for that control, you can select that
      type. For example, if the control behaves like an edit box and
      processes EM_XXXXX messages, you can select Edit for the type of
      control.

8. Q. How can I distribute my Visual Test scripts or run them on other
      computers without installing Visual Test?

   A. You can compile your scripts into a .pcd file and distribute them
      along with the necessary files needed to run your scripts. Choose
      Compile from the Test menu in Microsoft Developer Studio to compile
      your scripts into .pcd files. Please search for "PCD" in the Help
      file for more information.

9. Q. How do I synchronize my test script with the application I am
      testing?

   A. A test script is not going to wait until the application under test
      finishes the task or event triggered by the test script. The test
      script runs the next line of code as soon as it hands over some
      task to the application under test. Therefore, if you need to make
      the test script wait, you need to have commands in your script to do
      this. Please refer to Knowledge Base article Q136208, "Techniques for
      Determining When a Task Has Completed" in Books Online.

   A. You can use Suite Manager to create, manage, and run test suites.
      After you've created a test project with Microsoft Developer Studio,
      use Suite Manager to create and run different suites of test folders.
      Test case files that fully test the application. Please refer to
      "Suite Manager" in the Utilities User's Guide in Books Online for
      more information.

   A. Yes. Please refer to Visual Test 4.0 Books Online by following this
      path: \Programmer's Guide \Advanced Programming Techniques \OLE
      Automation, or search for the "OLE Automation Testing" and "OLE
      Automation Procedures" topics in the Help file. You can also refer to
      the OLE Automation samples in the Msdev\Samples\Vtest40\OLE\Disptest
      Directory.

      Test 4.0?

   A. Please read the topic \programmers guide \ Simulating and Verifying
      User Actions \Working with OLE Controls in Books Online. You need to
      place the Mstest.ocx file on the form or window that has the OLE
      controls that you want to test before you can use the OLE Functions
      from Visual Test 4.0.

      Please make sure that you are dealing with an OLE Control. Use the
      Winfo Utility to check the properties. Winfo will display the OLE
      Control's properties in an additional dialog box.

      OLE Control APIs?

   A. Here is a small sample code that shows the usage:

   ' This tests the Grid Control VB sample(\sample\grid\loan.vbp) in
   ' VisualBasic 4.0. You need to run the VB sample and enter some values.
   ' Then Place the Mstest.ocx on the main form before you run a
   ' script with the following code.

   '$include 'decalres.inc'
   dim control$,property$
   dim retval as variant
        CurrentWindow = WFndWndWaitC("LoanSheet", "ThunderForm", _
                                FINDWINDOWFLAGS_IF, Timeout)
        WSetWndPosSiz(CurrentWindow, 36, 96, 473, 427)
         control$ = "#grdPayments" 'Name property value from Winfo..
   'Select a range of cells
   OlectlSetproperty(control$,"SelstartCol" ,1 ,10)
   OlectlSetproperty(control$,"SelstartRow" ,1 ,10)
   OlectlSetproperty(control$,"SelendCol" ,5 ,10)
    OlectlSetproperty(control$,"Selendrow" ,11 ,10)
   property$ = "Clip"
   'Get the values in those cells
   retval = OleCtlGetProperty ( control$ , property$ ,10 )
   print retval

      use the Run statement in the Script to start it. I am including the
      Complete path and the program name in the Run statement. What am I
      doing wrong?

   A. Some programs may require the working directory to be set before you
      start the program; it needs to use the working directory to find its
      initialization and other files needed to run the program. Please use
      the CHDIR or CHDRIVE commands to set the working directory for the
      Program as in the following example:

      Chdrive "d:"   'If the program(.exe) is in a different drive
      Chdir "d:\mydir"
      Run "d:\mydir\myprog.exe" ,Nowait

      the source and the target files/screens. How can I see what the
      differences are?

   A. Save the screen image to a new file when there is a mismatch, and use
      the Screen Utility to compare the two files (the source and the
      target). That should give you a comparison image to view.

      am testing?

   A. Use Visual Test's notifications functionality. Please refer to the
      "Handling Errors and Events" topic in the Programmer's Guide in Books
      Online for more information on this. Also, you can search in the
      Knowledge Base articles included in Books Online for an article on
      this topic.