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Best Practices for Functional Test Environment and Execution

The following best practices are provided to assist you executing functional test scripts:

• Test with One Browser Window and One Siebel Application at a Time
• Avoid Navigating Between Web Applications During a Test
• Use Test Tool APIs to Aggregate Result Reports
• Launch Siebel Developer and Mobile Web Client Applications for Testing from the Command Line

Test with One Browser Window and One Siebel Application at a Time

When developing and executing tests, make sure there is only a single browser window open (the one that contains the Siebel application).

A test script may click on a link within the Siebel application to open a separate browser under certain circumstances, but that additional browser must be a pure standard-interactivity Siebel application or a nonSiebel application.

NOTE:  Some test management tools require you to have two browsers open at a time. The first browser runs the test management tool, and the second is for developing and executing tests.

Avoid Navigating Between Web Applications During a Test

Avoid switching to another Siebel application or to any other application from the browser address bar during a test. Switching between applications in the same browser window can work in some instances, but it is not the recommended approach.

When testing high-interactivity applications, you can test only one Siebel application instance at a time. Do not use the browser address bar to select another page from the history list during a test. Navigating using the browser history list is not supported.

Use Test Tool APIs to Aggregate Result Reports

Some test tools provide a programming interface that allows you to aggregate the results of multiple test passes. If such an API exists for your test tool, use it to aggregate the results of several test passes into a single file. Otherwise, you must analyze individual test results manually, which can be a cumbersome process for large sets of tests that run in unattended mode.

Launch Siebel Developer and Mobile Web Client Applications for Testing from the Command Line

When recording test scripts on Mobile Web Client and Siebel Developer Web Client applications, you can launch the Siebel application using the following methods:

• Start recording and enter the full command line in the Windows Run dialog box (available from the Windows Start menu). The test tool records this operation as a native line of script.
• Start recording and launch the Mobile Web Client from an existing Start menu shortcut. This operation is recorded by the test tool as a native line of script.
• Configure the test tool to launch the Mobile Web Client when you begin recording a script. You must save the full command line in a persistent setting in the test tool to launch the Mobile Web Client.

NOTE:  Make sure the command line contains the /u and /p switches to log in with a username and password when the application launches. You cannot record or replay the login page using the Mobile Web Client or the Siebel Developer Web Client.

For the Mobile Web Client and Siebel Developer Web Client, you do not need to include any special switches (such as, SWECmd=AutoOn and AutoToken=password) in the URL, because you are launching the application from a command line rather than a URL. However, you must update the .cfg file for the application that you plan to test.