FDS requirement first: it is a licensing requirement; it is not a technical requirement. And the license is that you need to pay for one FDS CPU license per tester seat. That license could be Departmental (list $6k) or Enterprise. So if you're looking to create a tool that can be used for free by the testers, the automation framework is probably not for you. But if you're just looking to avoid using QTP then this could give you a big head start.
We are working on documentation for writing an agent. That has been slower to come out because it's primarily ISV/partners who are interested in building agents. When the docs are ready we'll post them. I think it is fair to say that playback is essentially what you need to support scripting, even if you don't need recording. QTP for example records actions into scripts, then the tool plays the script back and we turn those into the playback commands. You can do the same thing. Either you can write to the automation framework directly with events, or you could write some layer that takes your own scripting calls and generates the automation events for you. The automation framework is written in AS and exposes classes, methods, and events, so it is capable of being used programmatically. Matt ________________________________ From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of brian.knorr Sent: Thursday, February 08, 2007 7:35 AM To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com Subject: [flexcoders] Re: any interest in an alternative to QTP to automate Flex apps? Is there any documentation on building an adapter to use the automation packages? I browsed through the source of the classes in the automation package and it appears to support the record and playback model of testing, which in my opinion what you want to avoid. Can the automation package be leveraged for programmatically controlling the Flex components like you would do in a tool like Watir, Watij, or Jemmy? Is FDS absolutely required to build on top of this system? --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> , "Matt Chotin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I am not looking to derail any interest in you guys building > alternatives, but would like to point out that the Flex team did a large > amount of work to enable the kind of functionality you're looking for > (minus the tool). Check out the mx.automation packages and you'll see > the infrastructure that is in place to solve problems like using > semantic events instead of x/y coordinates, etc. Admittedly, this is > the portion that we consider the more interesting IP rather than the > plugin that enables QTP to leverage this functionality (and what you > need to pay to use). If you have FDS or are willing to invest money in > the APIs even if not in QTP itself, I'd encourage you to build on top of > this system. Interest from other vendors is increasing as well and I > hope that we'll see offerings in addition to QTP in the future (they > will be built using this framework). > > > > As I stated previously we will continue to examine licensing options for > things like the automation package, but do not expect any changes in the > short term. > > > > Matt > > > > ________________________________ > > From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> [mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> ] On > Behalf Of brian.knorr > Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 4:02 PM > To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > Subject: [flexcoders] Re: any interest in an alternative to QTP to > automate Flex apps? > > > > I took a look at imacros...my only concern is that it uses WINCLICK to > automate flash apps. This means everything is x/y coordinate based. We > want to interact with the actual ui components, finding them by their > properties or type. For example here is a short snippet of a simple > test we are using...I added the comments in order to explain what is > going on: > > //find the first ComboBox in the app > var comboBoxOperator:ComboBoxOperator = flexOperator.find(ComboBox) as > ComboBoxOperator; > > //select the option with the specified label > //upon user selection the app fires an event that sets a label component > with the text 'You selected: X' > comboBoxOperator.select("MasterCard"); > > //find the label with the specified properties and assert the correct > selection was made > assertEquals("You selected: > MasterCard",LabelOperator(flexOperator.find({id:"myLabel"})).text); > > Thoughts? > > --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > , "Allen Riddle" <ariddle@> wrote: > > > > I've posted on here before about this topic. I think this is something > > that lacks in the Flex community. Just curious if you or your company > > have looked at a product called imacros. I downloaded the demo and it > > was pretty decent. It's a lot cheaper than QTP. It also lets you > script > > out tests. I've also wondered if it was possible to get Ruby's Watir > > tool to work with Flex, that would be my first choice if so. Cool > > suggestion, we'd use it. > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > > > From: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > [mailto:flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > ] > On > > Behalf Of Simeon Bateman > > Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 3:56 PM > > To: flexcoders@yahoogroups.com <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> <mailto:flexcoders%40yahoogroups.com> > > Subject: Re: [flexcoders] any interest in an alternative to QTP to > > automate Flex apps? > > > > > > > > I am interested in this. I had been playing with the thought of using > > the FA Bridge to allow you to use Selenium to test your applications. > > Then you could use the Firefox plugin to record our actions and test > the > > movie. > > > > Not sure how feasible it is but even that would start with having a > > testing framework in flex to tie into. > > > > > > simeon > > > > On 2/7/07, brian.knorr wundahwheel@ > > <mailto:wundahwheel@ > wrote: > > > > > > Automating functional tests is critical to the way we develop software > > at my company. And there are two big things that stop us from using > QTP. > > > > 1) It's record and playback - we want to write test scripts > > 2) It costs a lot of money - we want a tool that is free and community > > driven > > > > At my company we are writing several applications in Flex2 and are > > building out an as3 library that allows us to write test scripts in > > as3 to drive the Flex ui as if the user was interacting with it. If > > you are familiar with the Java Swing testing tool called Jemmy, it's > > very similar in design. > > > > Is there any interest out there for a tool like this? I am about to > > create a sourceforge project, but first wanted to get a feel for the > > need. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Brian > > >
