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Tutorial - Creating and Running Suites

This tutorial will describe how to create and run PTD suites and testcases. It will also briefly cover workspaces and how to view input and output. The tutorial and subsequent tutorials will make use of the PhantomTarget.exe application (located in the PTD installation directory) and some sample scripts included with PTD (located in the 'scripts' subdirectory of the PTD installation directory).

The first step in this tutorial will be to create a new workspace. This workspace will be used by all subsequent tutorials. Workspaces are used to keep track of commonly used scripts and declarations files. Whenever a workspace is opened, the suite and declarations files associated with the workspace are automatically opened. Additionally, all scripts that were open when the workspace was last used will be opened.

Create the new Workspace by selecting 'File' and then 'New Workspace' from the main menu. This will display a prompt to save then close any open scripts and clear the Suite window.

Next, save the new Workspace. Do this by selecting 'File' and then 'Save Workspace' from the main menu. This will open a dialog requesting a path and name to save the workspace as. Navigate to the 'scripts' folder where PTD was installed (note: this is nominally 'C:\Program Files\Phantom', but could be different depending on your installation), and save the workspace as 'tutorial.pws'.



Now that the workspace is set up, the next step is to set up the suite. When the new workspace was created, a new suite was automatically created. Currently, there are no items in the suite except the root suite, titled 'Root'. Change the name of the 'Root' suite by selecting it in the Suite Viewer. The Suite properties panel will show information about the Suite, including the name. Change the name to 'Tutorial' in the Suite properties panel, then click 'Apply'.



Notice that the Suite viewer will now show a root suite with the name 'Tutorial *'. The '*' indicates that the suite has not been saved. Save the suite by selecting 'Suite' then 'Save' from the main menu. A dialog will appear asking for the path and name where the suite should be saved. Navigate to the 'scripts' folder in the PTD installation directory and save the suite as 'tutorial.sui'. The Tutorial suite is now saved (the '*' should disappear). This suite will be automatically loaded whenever the Tutorial workspace is loaded.

The root suite is simply a holder for all subsuites and testcases. It does not perform any actions (with the exception of pre- or post-processors). A testcase needs to be added that will contain a script. To create a new testcase, right-click the 'Tutorial' suite. Select 'Insert' and then 'Testcase' from the menu that appears. This will insert a new testcase called 'New Testcase'.



Change the name of the new testcase by selecting the testcase and changing the name to 'Hello World' in the Testcase properties panel. The testcase should be associated with a script, so click the '...' button next to the 'File' edit field. A dialog will appear requesting the path and name of the script to open. Navigate to the 'scripts' folder in the PTD installation directory and select 'helloworld.psc'. Click 'Open'. The full path to the script will appear in the 'File' field. Click 'Apply' to apply the changes to the new testcase, and then save the suite by selecting 'Suite' then 'Save' from the main menu.



The 'Tutorial' suite now has one testcase associated with it: 'Hello World'. When the Suite is run, the script associated with the the testcases will be run. To run the 'Tutorial' suite, select it in the Suite viewer. With the suite selected, select 'Run' then 'Suite' from the main menu. Script execution will begin immediately, and 'Hello World' should appear in the output area.The output has two sections, one for the 'Tutorial' suite and one for the 'Hello World' testcase. The 'Hello World' output is nested inside the 'Tutorial' output, and is known as a child output (similarly, the 'Hello World' testcase is a child to the 'Tutorial' suite). The output for each item can be hidden by clicking the '-' box next to the output name. Note that when the 'Tutorial' '-' box is clicked, the entire suite output is hidden. To show the output again, click the '+' box.



At the end of each output is a line showing the total number of errors and warnings that occurred during the execution. In this case, both counters are zero because no errors should have occurred. The counter at the end of each testcase shows the error and warning count only for that testcase. The counter at the end of each suite shows the cumulative error and warning counts for the suite and all child suites and testcases contained in the suite. Close the output by clicking the 'x' () in the output tab.

Suites are useful for combining testcases into a single group. Add another testcase to the suite following the same steps as for the 'Hello World' testcase, except set the name to 'Hello Phantom' and select the 'hellophantom.psc' script in the 'scripts' directory where PTD was installed. Now the suite contains two testcases: 'Hello World' and 'Hello Phantom'.



Before running the new suite, note that the 'Hello Phantom' script will request some user input. When this occurs, the output area of the script will turn red. Enter the input requested and click 'Enter'. The script will continue, using the input entered. Additionally, the script will display an alert dialog (see the Phantom 'Alert' function) which must be closed before the script will continue.

Run the Tutorial suite by selecting it and selecting 'Suite' then 'Run' from the main menu. As before, the scripts associated with the suite will begin executing: first 'helloworld.psc' and then 'hellophantom.psc'. When the second script runs, it will request the input as described previously. As the scripts run, the output will appear in the output panel.



Note now that the output panel contains three outputs: the 'Tutorial' suite output and the 'Hello World' and 'Hello Phantom' testcase outputs.

Also, notice that when a suite or testcase is run, the title bar for each item in the output displays a blue color. The color will be blue as long as the testcase is running. For a suite, the color will be blue until all child items are finished executing.

The output from a run can be saved to either a text or HTML file. To do this, select the tab in the output panel that contains the output to save, and then select 'Output' then 'Export As...' from the main menu. Select the format to save as. A dialog will appear requesting a path and name for where the output should be saved. Enter a file name and click 'Save'. The output can now be viewed with a text editor or in a web browser (for text and HTML, respectively).

Close the output again by clicking the 'x' () in the output tab.

Nominally, when a suite is run all the child items in a suite are run. To prevent a child suite or child testcase from running, uncheck the checkbox () next to the suite or testcase name. When the suite is run, only the checked items will be run. Note that when a suite is saved, the check states of all child items are saved as well. Uncheck the 'Hello Phantom' testcase and run the 'Tutorial' suite. Notice that only the 'Hello World' testcase was run.



The suite viewer can be used to manage all the items in a suite. For example, a testcase script can be edited by selecting the testcase and then selecting 'Suite' then 'Edit' from the main menu. The associated script will open in the script editor and changes can be made to it. To save the script, select 'File' then 'Save' from the main menu. Additionally, the suite items can be copied and pasted. To copy and paste suite items, select the item and select 'Edit' from the main menu. In the 'Edit' menu, you can select 'Copy', 'Cut', 'Paste', etc... to manage the contents of the suite.

To run an individual script without running a suite, open the script in the editor. This can be done by either selecting a testcase and editing the script as described previously, or by selecting 'File' then 'Open' from the main menu. To run the script, select 'Run' then 'Script' from the main menu.

Select the 'Hello World' script in the suite viewer and open the script by selecting 'Suite' then 'Edit' from the main menu. The 'Hello World' script will open as a new tab in the script editor area. Run the script by selecting 'Run' then 'Script' from the main menu. The 'helloworld.psc' script will immediately run, with the output appearing in the output area.



Finally, save the workspace by selecting 'File' then 'Save Workspace' from the main menu. This workspace can now be used for future tutorials.

This tutorial covered some of the basics of creating and running testcases and suites. The next tutorial will describe how to use Window Declarations with the Window Declarations Editor.


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