Development | .NET Compact Framework

Regression testing your Pocket PC app, a new form of torture
Written by Derek Mitchell  [author's bio]  [read 44871 times]
Edited by Derek

      

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So what this about Tcl?

The test scripts contain loops and variables as well as conditions, procedures, expressions, file access functions and many other items. Pocket PC TestSuite 2.0 uses Tcl as a base language for test scripts. Tcl is a simple but powerful programming language. Tcl provides the added flexibility and power to design very sophisticated test scripts, but in 95% of cases you are not going to need this level of complexity.

Here are some samples that give an overview of some of the Tcl expertise you might need:

Variables

#this is a comment line because it starts with #
#create 2 variables
set x 40
set y 50

#click to point (x, y)
ts_click $x $y

Loops

set x 40
set y 50

#a loop, here we click 10 times increasing y coordinate by 1
for {set i 0} {$i<10} {incr i 1} {
ts_click $x [expr $y+$i]
}

Functions

#this function clicks 10 times to the given point
proc click10times {x y} {
for {set i 0 } {$i<10} {incr i 1} {
ts_click $x $y
ts_wait 500 #wait 0.5 second
}
}

click10times 78 45
click10times 210 200
click10times 34 100
click10times 80 80

You can read more about Tcl in the following Tcl tutorial or these FAQs, Tcl FAQ 1, Tcl FAQ 2.

Test functions

There 22 special functions (excluding the standard Tcl functions) that you can use in your test scripts. You can create your own functions that will perform batch operations if needed. Here is a list of the basic test functions:

Simulation

Simulation functions simulate user activities like key pressing, etc.

ts_click x y - Simulates tap (click) to the given point
ts_mousedown x y - Simulates mouse down event in the given point
ts_mouseup x y - Simulates mouse up event in the given point
ts_mousemove x y - Simulates mouse move event to the given point
ts_wait mills - Delays script for mills milliseconds
ts_key keycode - Simulates pressing of the key with the given code
ts_keydown keycode - Simulates key down even of the key with the given code
ts_keyup keycode - Simulates key up even of the key with the given code
ts_text yourstring - Simulates entering of the given string
ts_run program_path arguments - Starts program with the given path and the given arguments (arguments are optional)
ts_cpapplet applet_id page_id - Opens Control Panel applet with the given id (page id is optional)

Checking

These functions are used to check results. For example if you know that in the end of your script the program must be in a certain state you can check this state using the following functions:

ts_getpixel x y - Returns RGB color of the given point (for example "230 4 34")
ts_gettext x y - Returns text of the control under the given point. You can use this function to check text in edit control, comboboxes, etc.
ts_getfreemem - Returns available memory in bytes
ts_checkscreenrect x1 y1 x2 y2 bmp_file_name - Checks if the screen rectangle of [(x1,y1) - (x2,y2)] is equal to the given bitmap file

Reporting

ts_log message_string - Writes the given string to the log file. When the test script is finished this log file is shown to the user.
ts_messagebox message_string - Shows message box with the given string. Use this function for debug purposes only because it can affect the tested process.

You can access the Pocket PC TestSuite documentation PDF here.

Last but not least - checking the results

It is important to check the results after testing an app. Pocket PC TestSuite 2.0 includes a set of functions for that. Here are main usage scenarios:

1. You can get free memory (using ts_getfreemem) then simulate actions that bring the program to the initial state - now check that free memory os has not changed.
2. You have a test script and know what the final state of the app should be after running this script. So you create a bitmap picture (using Remote Zooming or the ts_savescreenrect function) and check at the end of your script that the screen is equal to this bitmap file (using ts_checkscreenrect).
3. You can check results of your script by checking the color of some coordinates (using ts_getpixel).
4. You can check the text in windows controls (using ts_gettext).

Conclusion

All in all Pocket PC TestSuite has saved us hours of testing. It also ensures, after making changes to code, that we don't get too far down the road and then discover that we 'broke' something at some point and can't figure out when that was?

Price

Pocket PC testSuite is $200 but you can get a 5% discount using this code 357F8W25.

Read about the 5% discount on Pocket PC TestSuite through DEVBUZZ.

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