To perform testing, two things are required:

One fundamental aspect of Squish's approach is that the AUT and the test script that exercises it are always executed in two separate processes. This ensures that even if the AUT crashes, it should not crash Squish. (In such cases the test script will fail gracefully and log an error message.) In addition to insulating Squish and test scripts from AUT crashes, running the AUT and the test script in separate processes brings other benefits. For example, it makes it easier to store the test scripts in a central location, and it also makes it possible to perform remote testing on different machines and platforms. The ability to do remote testing is particularly useful for testing AUTs that run on multiple platforms, and also when testing AUTs that run on embedded devices.

Squish runs a small server (squishserver) that handles the communication between the AUT and the test script. The test script is executed by the squishrunner tool, which in turn connects to the squishserver. The squishserver starts the AUT and injects the Squish hook into it. The hook is a small library that makes the AUT's live running objects accessible and that can communicate with the squishserver. With the hook in place, the squishserver can query AUT objects regarding their state and can execute commands—all on behalf of the squishrunner. And the squishrunner itself requests that the AUT performs whatever actions the test script specifies. All the communication takes place using network sockets which means that everything can be done on a single machine, or the test script can be executed on one machine and the AUT can be tested over the network on another machine.

The following diagram illustrates how the individual Squish tools work together.

From the test engineer's perspective this separation is not noticeable, since all the communication is handled transparently behind the scenes.

Tests can be written and executed using the Squish IDE, in which case the squishserver is started and stopped automatically, and the test results are displayed in the Squish IDE's Test Results view (Section 8.2.18). The following diagram illustrates what happens behind the scenes when the Squish IDE is used.

The Squish tools can also be used from the command line without the Squish IDE—this is useful for those testers who prefer to use their own tools (for example, their favorite editor), and also for performing automatic batch testing (for example, when running regression tests overnight). In these cases, the squishserver must be started manually, and stopped when all the testing is complete (or, if preferred, started and stopped for each test).

	Terminology
	The Squish documentation mostly uses the term widget when referring to GUI objects (i.e., buttons, menus, menu items, labels, table controls, etc). Windows users might be more familiar with the terms control and container, but here we use the term widget for both. Similarly, macOS users may be used to the term view; again, we use the term widget for this concept.

4.7.1.1.1. Making an Application Testable

In most cases, nothing special needs to be done to make an application testable, since the toolkit's API (e.g., Qt) provides enough functionality to implement and record test scripts. The connection to the squishserver is also established automatically, when the Squish IDE starts the AUT.

The Squish Directory

Throughout the manual, we often refer to the SQUISHDIR directory. This means the directory where Squish is installed, which might be C:\Squish, /usr/local/squish, %USERPROFILE%\Squish, or somewhere else, depending on where you installed it. The exact location doesn't matter, so long as you mentally translate the SQUISHDIR directory to whatever the directory really is when you see paths and filenames in this manual.

A test suite is a collection of one or more test cases (tests). Using a test suite is convenient since it makes it easy to share tests scripts and test data between tests.

Here, and throughout the tutorial, we will start by describing how to do things using the IDE, with the information for command line users following.

To begin with start up the Squish IDE, either by clicking or double-clicking the squishide icon, or by launching squishide from the taskbar menu or by executing squishide on the command line—whichever you prefer and that works. Once Squish starts up you might be greeted with a Welcome Page in case you're starting the squishide for the first time. Click the Workbench button in the upper right to dismiss it. Then, the squishide will look similar to the screenshot—but probably slightly different depending on the version of Windows you are using and the theme, colors and fonts that you use, and so on.

The Squish IDE with no Test Suites

Once Squish has started click File|New Test Suite... to pop-up the New Squish Test Case wizard (Section 8.3.10) shown below.

The New Test Suite wizard's Name & Directory page

Enter a name for your test suite and choose the folder where you want the test suite to be stored. In the screenshot we have called the test suite suite_py and will put it inside an Addressbook folder. (For your own tests you might use a more meaningful name such as "suite_addressbook"; we chose "suite_py" because our tutorials offer several suites, one for each scripting language that Squish supports.) Naturally, you can choose whatever name and folder you prefer. Once the details are complete, click Next to go on to the Toolkit (or Scripting Language) page.

The New Test Suite wizard's Toolkit page

If you get this wizard page, choose the toolkit your AUT uses. For this example, we must click Windows since we are testing a native Windows application. Then click Next to go to the Scripting Language page.

The New Test Suite wizard's Scripting Language page

Choose whichever scripting language you want—the only constraint is that you can only use one scripting language per test suite. (So if you want to use multiple scripting languages, just create multiple test suites, one for each scripting language you want to use.) The functionality offered by Squish is the same for all languages. If you are new to scripting, Python is the easiest to learn and use, and arguably the best for readability and maintenance. Having chosen a scripting language, click Next once more to get to the wizard's last page.

The New Test Suite wizard's AUT page

If you are creating a new test suite for an AUT that Squish already knows about, simply click the combobox to pop-down the list of AUTs and choose the one you want. If the combobox is empty or your AUT isn't listed, click the Browse button to the right of the combobox—this will pop-up a file open dialog from which you can choose your AUT. In the case of Windows programs, the AUT is the application's executable (e.g., addressbook.exe), although it is also possible to use batch (.bat) files. Once you have chosen the AUT, click Finish and Squish will create a sub-folder with the same name as the test suite, and will create a file inside that folder called suite.conf that contains the test suite's configuration details. Squish will also register the AUT with the squishserver. The wizard will then close and Squish's IDE will look similar to the screenshot below.

The Squish IDE with the suite_py test suite

We are now ready to start creating tests. Read on to learn how to create test suites without using the IDE, or skip ahead to Recording Tests and Verification Points (Section 4.7.1.3) if you prefer.

For command-line users

To create a new test suite from the command line, three steps are necessary: first, create a directory for the test suite; second, register the AUT with squishserver; and third, create a test suite configuration file. Create a new directory to hold the test suite—the directory's name should begin with suite. In this example we have created the C:\Addressbook\suite_py directory for Python tests—we also copied Addressbook.exe into the C:\Addressbook directory. (We also have similar subdirectories for other languages but this is purely for the sake of example, since normally we only use one language for all our tests.) Register the AUT with the squishserver. [10] This is done by executing the squishserver on the command line with the --config option and the addAUT command. For example, assuming we are in the squish directory on Windows: squishserver --config addAUT Addressbook C:\Addressbook We must give the addAUT command the name of the AUT's executable and—separately—the AUT's path. In this case the path is to the executable that was added as the AUT in the test suite configuration file. (For more information about application paths, see AUTs and Settings (Section 7.3) in the User Guide (Chapter 5), and for more about the squishserver's command line options see squishserver (Section 7.4.4) in the Tools Reference Manual (Chapter 7).) Create a plain text file (ASCII or UTF-8 encoding) called suite.conf in the suite subdirectory. This is the test suite's configuration file, and at the minimum it must identify the AUT, the scripting language used for the tests, and the wrappers (i.e., the GUI toolkit or library) that the AUT uses. The format of the file is key = value, with one key–value pair per line. For example: AUT = Addressbook LANGUAGE = Python WRAPPERS = Windows OBJECTMAPSTYLE = script The AUT is the name registered in the previous step, but the .exe or .bat suffix is not required. The LANGUAGE can be set to whichever one you prefer—currently Squish is capable of supporting JavaScript, Python, Perl, Ruby, and Tcl. The WRAPPERS should be set to Windows.

We are now ready to record our first test.

Squish records tests using the scripting language that was specified for the test suite. Once a test has been recorded, we can run the test and Squish will faithfully repeat all the actions that we performed when recording the test, without the pauses that humans are prone to but which computers don't need. It is also possible—and very common—to edit recorded tests, or to copy parts of recorded tests into manually created tests, as we will see later on in the tutorial.

Recordings are made into existing test cases. We begin by creating a New Script Test Case. There are two ways we can do this. One way is to click File|New Test Case.... This will pop up the New Squish Test Case wizard (Section 8.3.10)—simply enter the name for the test case and then click Finish. Another way is to click the New Script Test Case () button (to the right of the Test Cases label in the Test Suites view); this will create a new test case with a default name (which you can easily change). Use one of these methods and give the new test case the name “tst_general”. Squish automatically creates a sub-folder inside the test suite's folder with this name and also a test file, for example test.py. (If we had chosen JavaScript as our scripting language the file would be called test.js, and correspondingly for Perl, Ruby, or Tcl.)

The Squish IDE with the tst_general test case

	Note
	If you get a sample .feature file instead of a "Hello World" script, then click on the arrow left of the Run Test Suite () and select New Script Test Case ().

To make the test script file (e.g., test.py) appear in an Editor view (Section 8.2.6), click—or double-click depending on the Preferences|General|Open mode setting—the test case. This selects the Script as the active one and makes visible its corresponding Record () and Run Test () buttons.

The checkboxes are used to control which test cases are run when the Run Test Suite () toolbar button is clicked; we can also run a single test case by clicking its Run Test () button. If the test case is not currently active, the button may be invisible until the mouse is hovered over it.

Initially, the script's main() logs "Hello World" to the test results. If we were to create a test manually (as we will do later on in the tutorial), we must create a main function, and we should import the same imports at the top. The name "main" is special to Squish. Tests may contain as many functions and other code as we like (providing it is legal for the scripting language), but when the test is executed (i.e., run), Squish always executes the main function. It is also possible to share commonly used code between test scripts—this is covered in the User Guide (Chapter 5). (In fact, two other function names are special to Squish, cleanup and init; see Tester-Created Special Functions (Section 6.1) for details.)

Once the new test case has been created, we are free to write test code manually, or to record a test. Clicking on the test case's Record () replaces the test's code with a new recording. It is also possible to record snippets and insert them into existing test cases, covered in the Users Guide and not in this tutorial.

For command-line users

Creating a new test case from the command line is an easy two-step process: first, create a test case directory; and second, create a test case script. Create a new subdirectory inside the test suite directory. For example, inside the C:\Addressbook\suite_py directory, create the tst_general directory. Inside the test case's directory create a file called test.py (or test.js if you are using the JavaScript scripting language, and similarly for the other languages).

Before we dive into recording, let's briefly review our very simple test scenario:

We are now ready to record our first test. Click the Record () to the right of the tst_general test case shown in the Test Suites view (Section 8.2.19)'s Test Cases list. This will cause Squish to run the AUT so that we can interact with it. Once the AUT is running perform the following actions—and don't worry about how long it takes since Squish doesn't record idle time:

The Squish IDE showing two verification points about to be inserted

Once we quit the AUT, the recorded test will appear in Squish's IDE as the screenshot illustrates. (Note that the exact code that is recorded will vary depending on how you interact. For example, you might invoke menu options by clicking them or by using key sequences—it doesn't matter which you use, but since they are different, Squish will record them differently.)

The Squish IDE showing the recorded tst_general test

If the recorded test doesn't appear, click (or double-click depending on your platform and settings) the tst_general test case; this will make Squish show the test's test.py file in an editor window as shown in the screenshot.

Now that we've recorded the test we should be able to play it back, i.e., run it. This in itself is useful in that if the play back failed it might mean that the application has been broken. Furthermore, the two verifications we put in will be checked on play back as the screenshot shows.

Inserting verification points during test recording is very convenient. Here we inserted two in one go, but we can insert as many as we like as often as we like during the test recording process. However, sometimes we might forget to insert a verification, or later on we might want to insert a new verification. We can easily insert additional verifications into a recorded test script as we will see in the next section, Inserting Additional Verification Points (Section 4.1.1.4).

Before going further we will look at how to record a test from the command line. Then we will see how to run a test, and we will also look at some of the code that Squish generated to record the test and discuss some of its features.

For command-line users

First and foremost, the squishserver must always be running when recording or running a test. This is handled automatically by the Squish IDE, but for command line users the squishserver must be started manually. (See squishserver (Section 7.4.4) for further details.) To record a test from the command line we execute the squishrunner program and specify the test suite we want to record inside and the name we want to give to the test case. For example (assuming we are in the directory that contains the test suite's directory): squishrunner --testsuite suite_py --record tst_general --useWaitFor It is always best to record using the --useWaitFor option since this records calls to the waitForObject function which is more reliable than using the snooze function which for historical reasons is the default. (Note that the Squish IDE automatically uses the waitForObject function.)

Running the Test

To run a test case in the IDE just click the Run Test () that appears when the test case is hovered or selected in the Test Suites view (Section 8.2.19). When we have two or more test cases, we can run them all, one after another, (or only those that are checked) by clicking Run Test Suite ().

For command-line users

As noted earlier, the squishserver must always be running when recording or running a test, or the --local option be provided to squishrunner. (See squishserver (Section 7.4.4) for further details.) To play back a recorded test from the command line we execute the squishrunner program and specify the test suite our recorded script is in and the test case we want to play. For example (assuming we are in the directory that contains the test suite's directory): squishrunner --testsuite suite_py --testcase tst_general --local

If you look at the code in the screenshot (or the code snippet shown below) you will see that it consists of lots of waitForObject and waitForObjectItem calls as parameters to various other calls such as mouseClick, clickButton, and type. The waitForObject function waits until a GUI object is ready to be interacted with (i.e., becomes visible and enabled), and is then followed by some function that interacts with the object. The typical interactions are click a menu, click a menu option or a button, or type in some text. (For a complete overview of Squish's script commands see the User Guide (Chapter 5), the API Reference Manual (Chapter 6), and the Tools Reference Manual (Chapter 7). Objects are identified by names that Squish generates. (See How to Identify and Access Objects (Section 5.1) for full details.)

The generated code is less than 35 lines. Here's an extract that just shows how Squish records clicking the Edit menu's Add option, typing in Jane Doe's details into the Add dialog, and clicking OK at the end to close the dialog and update the table.

Scripting Language Support

Although the screenshots only show the Python test suite in action, for the code snippets quoted here and throughout the tutorial, we show the code for all the scripting languages that Squish supports. In practice you would normally only use one of them of course, so feel free to just look at the snippets in the language you are interested in and skip the others. (In the HTML version of this manual you can use the combobox at the top of the page to select the language you use—this will hide the code snippets in other languages.)

    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Menubar, "Edit"))
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.edit_MenuItem_2, "Add..."))
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), "Jane")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), "Doe")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Email_Edit), "jane.doe@nowhere.com")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Email_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit), "555 123 4567")
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_OK_Button))

    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.addressBookMyAddressesAdrMenubar, "Edit"));
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.editMenuItem_2, "Add..."));
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddForenameEdit), "Jane");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddForenameEdit), "<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddSurnameEdit), "Doe");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddSurnameEdit), "<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddEmailEdit),"jane.doe@nowhere.com");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddEmailEdit),"<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddPhoneEdit), "555 123 4567");
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddOKButton));

    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem($Names::address_book_myaddresses_adr_menubar, "Edit"));
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem($Names::edit_menuitem_2, "Add..."));
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_forename_edit), "Jane");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_forename_edit), "<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_surname_edit), "Doe");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_surname_edit), "<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_email_edit),"jane.doe\@nowhere.com");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_email_edit),"<Tab>");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_phone_edit), "555 123 4567");
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_ok_button));

    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(Names::Address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Menubar, "Edit"))
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(Names::Edit_MenuItem_2, "Add..."))
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), "Jane")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), "Doe")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit),"jane.doe@nowhere.com")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit), "<Tab>")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit), "555 123 4567")
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_OK_Button))

    invoke mouseClick [waitForObjectItem $names::Address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Menubar "Edit"]
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObjectItem $names::Edit_MenuItem_2 "Add..."]
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit] "Jane"
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit] "<Tab>"
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit] "Doe"
        invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit] "<Tab>"
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit] "jane.doe@nowhere.com"
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit] "<Tab>"
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit] "555 123 4567"
    invoke clickButton [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_OK_Button]

As you can see, the tester used the keyboard to tab from one text field to another and clicked OK using the mouse rather than with a key press. If the tester had clicked the button any other way (for example, by pressing Alt+O, or by tabbing to the OK button and pressing the spacebar), the outcome would be the same, but of course Squish will have recorded the actual actions that were taken.

Object Names

Squish recordings refer to objects using variables that begin with a names. prefix. This identifies them as Symbolic Names. Each variable contains, as a value, the corresponding Real Name, which can be string-based, or implemented as a key-value mapping of properties to values. Squish supports several naming schemes, all of which can be used—and mixed—in scripts. The advantage of using Symbolic Names is that if the application changes in a way that results in different names being needed, we can simply update Squish's Object Map (which relates symbolic names to real names), and thereby avoid the need to change our test scripts. (See the Object Map (Section 7.11) and the Object Map view (Section 8.2.10) for more about the Object Map.)

	Editor Context Menu
	When a Symbolic Name is under the cursor, the editor's context menu allows you to Open Symbolic Name, showing its entry in the Object Map, or Convert to Real Name, which places its inline key-value representation in your desired script language at the cursor, allowing you to hand-edit the values and properties in your script.

Now that we have seen how to record and play back a test and have seen the code that Squish generates, let's go a step further and make sure that at particular points in the test's execution certain conditions hold.

In the previous section we saw how easy it is to insert verification points during the recording of test scripts. Verification points can also be inserted into existing test scripts, either by setting a breakpoint and using the Squish IDE, or simply by editing a test script and putting in calls to Squish's test functions such as test.compare and test.verify.

Squish supports many kinds of verification points: those that verify that object properties have particular values—known as "Object Property Verifications"; those that verify that an entire table has the contents we expect—known as "Table Verifications"; those that verify that two images match—known as "Screenshot Verifications"; and a hybrid verification type that includes properties and screenshots from multiple objects, known as "Visual Verifications". In addition, it is possible to verify that a search image exists somewhere on the screen, or that certain text is found by OCR. The most commonly used kind is object property verifications, and it is these that we will cover in the tutorial. For further reading, see How to Create and Use Verification Points (Section 5.22)).

Regular (non-scriptified) property verification points are stored as XML files in the test case or test suite resources, and contain the value(s) that need to be passed to test.compare(). These verification points can be reused across test cases, and can verify many values in a single line of script code.

Scriptified property verification points are direct calls to the test.compare function, with two arguments—the value of a particular property for a particular object, and an expected value. We can manually insert calls to the test.compare function in a recorded or hand written script, or we can get Squish to insert them for us using scriptified verification points. In the previous section we showed how to use the Squish IDE to insert verifications during recording. Here we will first show how to use the Squish IDE to insert verifications into an existing test script, and then we will show how to insert a verification by hand.

Before asking Squish to insert verification points, it is best to make sure that we have a list of what we want to verify and when. There are many potential verifications we could add to the tst_general test case, but since our concern here is simply to show how to do it, we will only do two—we will verify that the "Jane Doe" entry's email address and phone number match the ones entered, and put the verifications immediately after the ones we inserted during recording.

To insert a verification point using the IDE we start by putting a break point in the script (whether recorded or manually written—it does not matter to Squish), at the point where we want to verify.

The Squish IDE showing the tst_general test case with a breakpoint

As the above screenshot shows, we have set a breakpoint at line 35. This is done simply by double-clicking, or right-clicking in the gutter (next to the line number in the editor) and selecting the Add Breakpoint context menu item. We chose this line because it follows the script lines where the first address is removed, so at this point (just before invoking the File menu to close the application), the first address should be that of “Jane Doe”. The screenshot shows the verifications that were entered using the Squish IDE during recording. Our additional verifications will follow them. (Note that your line number may be different if you recorded the test in a different way, for example, using keyboard shortcuts rather than clicking menu items.)

Having set the breakpoint, we now run the test as usual by clicking the Run Test () button, or by clicking the Run|Run Test Case menu option. Unlike a normal test run the test will stop when the breakpoint is reached (i.e., at line 35, or at whatever line you set), and Squish's main window will reappear (which will probably obscure the AUT). At this point the Squish IDE will automatically switch to the Squish Test Debugging Perspective (Section 8.1.2.3).

Perspectives and Views

The Squish IDE works just like the Eclipse IDE. If you aren't used to Eclipse it is crucial to understand Views and Perspectives. In Eclipse (and therefore in the Squish IDE), a View is essentially a child window (perhaps a dock window, or a tab in an existing window), and a Perspective is a collection of Views arranged together. Both are accessible through the Window menu. The Squish IDE is supplied with three Perspectives—the Squish Test Management Perspective (Section 8.1.2.2) (which is the Perspective that the Squish IDE starts with, and the one we have seen in all previous screenshots), Squish Test Debugging Perspective (Section 8.1.2.3), and Squish Spy Perspective (Section 8.1.2.1). You can change these Perspectives to include additional Views (or to get rid of any Views that you don't want), and you can create your own Perspectives with exactly the Views you want. So if your windows change dramatically it just means that the Perspective changed; you can always use the Window menu to change back to the Perspective you want. In practice, Squish will automatically change perspective to reflect the current situation, so it is rarely necessary to change perspective manually.

As the screenshot below shows, when Squish stops at a breakpoint the Squish IDE automatically changes to the Squish Test Debugging Perspective (Section 8.1.2.3). The perspective shows the Variables view (Section 8.2.21), the Editor view (Section 8.2.6), the Debug view (Section 8.2.5), the Application Objects view (Section 8.2.1), and the Properties view (Section 8.2.12), Methods view (Section 8.2.9), and Test Results view (Section 8.2.18).

To insert a verification point, we can expand items in the Application Objects view until we find the object we want to verify. In this example we want to verify the DataGridView's first row's texts, so we expand the Address_Book__MyAddresses_adr_Window_0 item, and its child items until we find the Table_0, and within that we look past the TableColumn objects to the TableRow objects since the item we are interested in is in a row. We expand the first TableRow to reveal its TableCells. The first table cell (Jane_TableCell_0) has the first text we want to verify. Once we click the item object (i.e., the table cell) its Properties are shown in the Properties view (Section 8.2.12) as the screenshot shows.

Picking an object to verify in the Application Objects view

The normal Squish Test Management Perspective (Section 8.1.2.2) can be returned to at any time by choosing it from the Window menu (or by clicking its toolbar button), although the Squish IDE will automatically return to it if you stop the script or run it to completion.

Here, we can see that the text of the TableRow_6 item's Jane_TableCell_0 has the value “Jane”; we already have a verification for this that we inserted during recording. Scroll down so that you can see the jane_doe_nowhere_com_TableCell_2 item: this is the email address. To make sure that this is verified every time the test is run, click the jane_doe_nowhere_com_TableCell_2 item in the Application Objects view (Section 8.2.1) to make its properties appear, and then check the text. When we check it, the Verification Point Creator view (Section 8.2.22) appears as shown in the screenshot.

Choosing a property value to verify

At this point the verification point has not been added to the test script. We could easily add it by clicking the Save and Insert Verifications button. But before doing that we'll add one more thing to be verified.

Scroll down and click the 555_123_4567_TableCell_3 item in the Application Objects view (Section 8.2.1); then click its text property. Now both verifications will appear in the Verification Point Creator view (Section 8.2.22) as the screenshot shows.

Choosing several property values to verify

We have now said that we expect these properties to have the values shown, that is, an email address of “jane.doe@nowhere.com” and phone number of “555 123 4567”. We must click the Insert button to actually insert the verification point, so do that now.

We don't need to continue running the test now, so we can either stop running the test at this point (by clicking the Stop toolbar button), or we can continue (by clicking the Resume button).

Once we have finished inserting verifications and stopped or finished running the test we should now disable the break point. Just right click the break point and click the Disable Breakpoint menu option in the context menu. We are now ready to run the test without any breakpoints but with the verification points in place. Click the Run Test () button. This time we will get some additional test results—as the screenshot shows—a couple of which we have expanded to show their details. (We have also selected the lines of code that Squish inserted to perform the verifications—notice that the code is structurally identical to the code inserted during recording.)

The newly inserted verification points in action

These particular verification points generate four tests comparing the forename, surname, email, and phone number of the newly inserted entry.

Another way to insert verification points is to insert them in code form. In theory we can just add our own calls to Squish's test functions such as test.compare and test.verify anywhere we like in an existing script. In practice it is best to make sure that Squish knows about the objects we want to verify first so that it can find them when the test is run. This involves a very similar procedure to inserting them using the Squish IDE. First we set a breakpoint where we intend adding our verifications. Then we run the test script until it stops. Next we navigate in the Application Objects view (Section 8.2.1) until we find the object we want to verify. At this point it is wise to right-click the object we are interested in and click the Add to Object Map context menu option. This will ensure that Squish can access the object. Then right click again and click the Copy Symbolic Name context menu option—this gives us the name of the object that Squish will use to identify it. Now we can edit the test script to add in our own verification and finish or stop the execution. (Don't forget to disable the break point once it isn't needed any more.)

Although we can write our test script code to be exactly the same style as the automatically generated code, it is usually clearer and easier to do things in a slightly different style, as we will explain in a moment.

For our manual verifications we want to check the number of addresses present in the DataGridView at the end of the test, just before the AUT is terminated. The screenshot shows two of the lines of code we entered to get this verification, plus the results of running the test script.

Manually entered verification points in action

When writing scripts by hand, we use Squish's test module's functions to verify conditions at certain points during our test script's execution. As the screenshot (and the code snippets below) show, we begin by retrieving a reference to the object we are interested in. Using the waitForObject function is standard practice for manually written test scripts. This function waits for the object to be available (i.e., visible and enabled), and then returns a reference to it. (Otherwise it times out and raises a catchable exception.) We then use this reference to access the item's properties—in this case the DataGridView's rowCount—and verify that the value is what we expect it to be using the test.verify function. (Incidentally, we got the name for the object from the previous line so we didn't need to set a breakpoint and manually add the table's name to the Object Map to ensure that Squish would remember it in this particular case because Squish had already added it during the test recording.)

Here is the code we entered manually for the last verification for all the scripting languages that Squish supports. Naturally, you only need to look at the code for the language that you will be using for your own tests. (For most verifications in most languages we use calls to the test.verify function—but for Tcl it is often more convenient to use the test.compare function as we have done here.)

    table = waitForObject(names.address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Table)
    test.compare(table.rowCount, 125)

    var table = waitForObject(names.addressBookMyAddressesAdrTable);
    test.compare(table.rowCount, 125);

    my $table = waitForObject($Names::address_book_myaddresses_adr_table);
    test::compare($table->rowCount, 125);

    table = waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Table)
    Test.compare(table.rowCount, 125)

    set table [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_MyAddresses_adr_Table_2]
    test compare [property get $table rowCount] 125

The coding pattern is very simple: we retrieve a reference to the object we are interested in and then verify its properties using one of Squish's verification functions. And we can, of course, call methods on the object to interact with it if we wish.

We will see more examples of manually written code shortly, in the Creating Tests by Hand (Section 4.1.1.5) section, and further examples are in the User Guide (Chapter 5).

For complete coverage of verification points, see How to Create and Use Verification Points (Section 5.22) in the User Guide (Chapter 5).

Now that we have seen how to record a test and modify it by inserting verification points, we are ready to see how to create tests manually. The easiest way to do this is to modify and refactor recorded tests, although it is also perfectly possible to create manual tests from scratch.

Potentially the most challenging part of writing manual tests is to use the right object names, but in practice, this is rarely a problem. We can either copy the symbolic or real names that Squish has already added to the Object Map when recording previous tests, or we can copy object names directly from recorded tests. And if we haven't recorded any tests and are starting from scratch, we can use the Spy. We do this by clicking the Launch AUT toolbar button. This starts the AUT and switches to the Squish Spy Perspective (Section 8.1.2.1). We can then interact with the AUT until the object we are interested in is visible. Then, inside the Squish IDE we use the Object Picker () or navigate to the object in the Application Objects tree view and use the context menu to both add the object to the Object Map (so that Squish will remember it) and to the clipboard (so that we can paste it into our test script). At the end, we can click the Quit AUT toolbar button to terminate the AUT and return Squish to the Squish Test Management Perspective (Section 8.1.2.2). (See How to Use the Spy (Section 5.21.3) in the User Guide (Chapter 5) for more details on using the Spy.)

We can view the Object Map by clicking the Object Map () toolbar button (see also, the Object Map view (Section 8.2.10)). Every application object that Squish interacts with is listed here, either as a top-level object, or as a child object (the view is a tree view). We can retrieve the symbolic name used by Squish in recorded scripts by right-clicking the object we are interested in and then clicking the context menu's Copy Symbolic Name (or Copy Real Name, if you wish to make changes to it in your script).

Squish's Object Map

4.7.1.5.1. Modifying and Refactoring Recorded Tests

Suppose we want to test the AUT's Add functionality by adding three new names and addresses. We could of course record such a test but it is just as easy to do everything in code. The steps we need the test script to do are: first click File|New to create a new address book, then for each new name and address, click Edit|Add, then fill in the details, and click OK. And finally, click File|Quit without saving. We also want to verify at the start that there are no rows of data and at the end that there are three rows. We will also refactor as we go, to make our code as neat and modular as possible.

First we must create a new test case. Click File|New Test Case... and set the test case's name to be tst_adding. Squish will automatically create a test.py (or test.js, and so on) file.

Command line users can simply create a tst_adding directory inside the test suite's directory and create and edit the test.py file (or test.js and so on) within that directory.

The first thing we need is a way to start the AUT and then invoke a menu option. Here are the first few lines from the recorded tst_general script:

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

import names
import os

def main():
    startApplication('"' + os.environ["SQUISH_PREFIX"] + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"')
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.address_Book_Unnamed_Menubar, "File"))
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.file_MenuItem, "Open..."))

JavaScript

import * as names from 'names.js';

function main() {
    startApplication('"' + OS.getenv("SQUISH_PREFIX") + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"');
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.addressBookUnnamedMenubar, "File"));
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(names.fileMenuItem, "Open..."));

Perl

require 'names.pl';
use File::Spec;

sub main
{
    startApplication("\"$ENV{'SQUISH_PREFIX'}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"");
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem($Names::address_book_unnamed_menubar, "File"));
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem($Names::file_menuitem, "Open..."));

Ruby

require 'names'
include Squish

def main
    startApplication("\"#{ENV['SQUISH_PREFIX']}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"")
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(Names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Menubar, "File"))
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem(Names::File_MenuItem, "Open..."))

Tcl

source [findFile "scripts" "names.tcl"]

proc main {} {
    startApplication "\"$::env(SQUISH_PREFIX)\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\""
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObjectItem $names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Menubar "File"]
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObjectItem $names::File_MenuItem "Open..."]

Notice that the pattern in the code is simple: start the AUT, then wait for the menu bar, then click the menu bar; wait for the menu item, then click the menu item. In both cases, we have used the waitForObjectItem function. This function is used for multi-valued objects (such as lists, tables, trees—or in this case, a menubar and a menu), and allows us to access the object's items (which are themselves objects of course), by passing the name of the object containing the item and the item's text as arguments.

Simplicity and Sharing

It may seem a waste to put our functions in tst_adding because we could also use them in tst_general and in other test cases. However, to keep the tutorial simple we will put the code in the tst_adding test case. It is of course very easy to create shared scripts, but we defer coverage of that to the user guide. (See How to Create and Use Shared Data and Shared Scripts (Section 5.23) for how to share scripts.)

If you look at the recorded test (tst_general) or in the Object Map you will see that Squish sometimes uses different names for the same object. For example, the menubar is identified in two different ways, initially as names.AddressBook_MenuBar, then if the user clicks File|New, it is identified as names.AddressBookUnnamed_MenuBar, and if the user clicks File|Open and opens the MyAddresses.adr file, then the menubar is identified as names.AddressBookMyAddresses.adr_MenuBar. The reason for this is that Squish needs to uniquely identify every object in a given context, and it uses heuristics to determine which properties are good for identification. In the case of identifying the main window, Squish uses the window title text to give it some context. (For example, an application's File or Edit menus may have different options depending on whether a file is loaded and what state the application is in.)

Naturally, when we write test scripts we don't want to have to know or care which particular variation of a name to use, and Squish supports this need by providing alternative naming schemes, as we will see shortly.

Sometimes the AUT will appear to freeze during test execution. When this happens, just wait for Squish to time out the AUT (about 20 seconds), and then it will pop up an Object Not Found dialog (Section 8.3.14), or show an error like this:

Object Not Found Dialog

don't worry! It just means that Squish doesn't have an object with the given name in the Object Map. From here, we can Pick New Object, Debug Throw Error, or after picking a new object, Retry. Picking a new object will update the object map entry for the symbolic name. In addition to the Object Picker (), we can also use the Spy's Application Objects view (Section 8.2.1) to locate the objects we are interested in and use the context menu to access real or symbolic names of them.

We've spent a bit of time on the issue of naming since it is probably the part of writing scripts that leads to the most error messages (usually of the "object ... not found" kind shown above.) Once we have identified the objects we are going to access in our tests, writing test scripts using Squish is very straightforward. And of course you can almost certainly use the scripting language you are most familiar with since Squish supports the most popular ones available.

We are now almost ready to write our own test script. It is probably easiest to begin by recording a dummy test. So click New Script Test Case () and set the test case's name to be tst_dummy. Then click the dummy test case's Record (). Once the AUT starts, click File|New, then click the (empty) table, then click Edit|Add and add an item, then press Return or click OK. Finally, click File|Quit to finish, and say “No” to saving changes. Then replay this test just to confirm that everything works okay. The sole purpose of this is to make sure that Squish adds the necessary names to the Object Map since it is probably quicker to do it this way than to use the Spy for every object of interest. After replaying the dummy test, you can delete it if you want to.

With all the object names we need in the Object Map, we can now write our own test script completely from scratch. We will start with main(), and then we will look at the supporting functions that main() uses.

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Python

import names
import os

def main():
    startApplication('"' + os.environ["SQUISH_PREFIX"] + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"')
    table = waitForObject({"type": "Table"})
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New")
    test.verify(table.rowCount == 0)
    data = [("Andy", "Beach", "andy.beach@nowhere.com", "555 123 6786"),
            ("Candy", "Deane", "candy.deane@nowhere.com", "555 234 8765"),
            ("Ed", "Fernleaf", "ed.fernleaf@nowhere.com", "555 876 4654")]
    for oneNameAndAddress in data:
        addNameAndAddress(oneNameAndAddress)
    test.compare(waitForObject(table).rowCount, len(data))
    closeWithoutSaving()

JavaScript

import * as names from 'names.js';

function main()
{
    startApplication('"' + OS.getenv("SQUISH_PREFIX") + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"');
    var table = waitForObject({"type": "Table"});
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New");
    test.verify(table.rowCount == 0);
    var data = new Array(new Array("Andy", "Beach", "andy.beach@nowhere.com", "555 123 6786"),
        new Array("Candy", "Deane", "candy.deane@nowhere.com", "555 234 8765"),
        new Array("Ed", "Fernleaf", "ed.fernleaf@nowhere.com", "555 876 4654"));
    for (var row = 0; row < data.length; ++row)
        addNameAndAddress(data[row]);
    test.compare(waitForObject(table).rowCount,  data.length);
    closeWithoutSaving()
}

Perl

require 'names.pl';

sub main
{
    startApplication("\"$ENV{'SQUISH_PREFIX'}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"");
    my $table = waitForObject({"type" => "Table"});
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New");
    test::verify($table->rowCount == 0);
    my @data = (["Andy", "Beach", "andy.beach\@nowhere.com", "555 123 6786"],
                ["Candy", "Deane", "candy.deane\@nowhere.com", "555 234 8765"],
                ["Ed", "Fernleaf", "ed.fernleaf\@nowhere.com", "555 876 4654"]);
    foreach my $oneNameAndAddress (@data) {
        addNameAndAddress(@{$oneNameAndAddress});
    }
    test::compare(waitForObject($table)->rowCount, scalar(@data));
    closeWithoutSaving();
}

Ruby

require 'squish'
require 'names'
include Squish

def main
    startApplication("\"#{ENV['SQUISH_PREFIX']}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"")
    table = waitForObject({:type => "Table"})
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New")
    Test.verify(table.rowCount == 0)
    data = [["Andy", "Beach", "andy.beach@nowhere.com", "555 123 6786"],
        ["Candy", "Deane", "candy.deane@nowhere.com", "555 234 8765"],
        ["Ed", "Fernleaf", "ed.fernleaf@nowhere.com", "555 876 4654"]]
    data.each do |oneNameAndAddress|
        addNameAndAddress(oneNameAndAddress)
    end
    Test.compare(waitForObject(table).rowCount, data.length)
    closeWithoutSaving
end

Tcl

source [findFile "scripts" "names.tcl"]

proc main {} {
    startApplication "\"$::env(SQUISH_PREFIX)\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\""
    set table [waitForObject [::Squish::ObjectName type Table]]
    test compare [property get $table rowCount] 0
    invokeMenuItem "File" "New"
    set data [list \
        [list "Andy" "Beach" "andy.beach@nowhere.com" "555 123 6786"] \
        [list "Candy" "Deane" "candy.deane@nowhere.com" "555 234 8765"] \
        [list "Ed" "Fernleaf" "ed.fernleaf@nowhere.com" "555 876 4654"] ]
    for {set i 0} {$i < [llength $data]} {incr i} {
        addNameAndAddress [lindex $data $i]
    }
    test compare [property get [waitForObject $table] rowCount] [llength $data]
    closeWithoutSaving
}

We begin by starting the application with a call to the startApplication function. The name we pass as a string is the name registered with Squish (normally the name of the executable). Then we obtain a reference to the DataGridView. The object name we used was not put in the Object Map when the tst_general test case was recorded, so we recorded a dummy test to make sure the name was added—we could just as easily have used the Spy of course. We then copied the name from the Object Map into our code. The waitForObject function waits until an object is ready (visible and enabled) and returns a reference to it—or it times out and raises a catchable exception. We have used a symbolic name to access the table—these are the names that Squish uses when recording tests—rather than a real/multi-property name (which we will soon see an example of). Once we have the table reference we can use it to access any of the DataGridView's public methods and properties.

invokeMenuItem() is a function we wrote specially for this test. It takes a menu name and a menu option name and invokes the menu option. After using the invokeMenuItem() function to do File|New, we verify that the table's row count is 0.

Next, we create some sample data and call a custom addNameAndAddress() to populate the table with the data using the AUT's Add dialog. Then we again compare the table's row count, this time to the number of rows in our sample data. And finally we call a custom closeWithoutSaving() to terminate the application.

We will now review each of the three supporting functions, so as to cover all the code in the tst_adding test case, starting with invokeMenuItem().

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

def invokeMenuItem(menu, item):
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem({"type": "Menubar"}, menu))
    mouseClick(waitForObject({'type': 'MenuItem', 'text' : item}))

JavaScript

function invokeMenuItem(menu, item)
{
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem({'type':'Menubar'}, menu));
    mouseClick(waitForObject({'type':'MenuItem', 'text': item}));
}

Perl

sub invokeMenuItem
{
    my ($menu, $item) = @_;
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem({"type" => "Menubar"}, $menu));
    mouseClick(waitForObject({'type' => 'MenuItem', 'text' => $item}));
}

Ruby

def invokeMenuItem(menu, item)
    mouseClick(waitForObjectItem({:type => "Menubar"}, menu))
    mouseClick(waitForObject({:type => 'MenuItem', :text => item}))
end

Tcl

proc invokeMenuItem {menu item} {
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObjectItem [::Squish::ObjectName type Menubar] $menu]
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObject [::Squish::ObjectName type MenuItem text $item]]
}

As we mentioned earlier, the symbolic names Squish uses for menus and menu items (and other objects) can vary depending on the context, and often with the start of the name derived from the window's title. For applications that put the current filename in the title—such as the Address Book example—names will include the filename, and we must account for this.

In the case of the Address Book example, the main window's title is “Address Book” (at startup), or “Address Book - Unnamed” (after File|New, but before File|Save or File|Save As), or “Address Book - filename” where the filename can of course vary. Our code accounts for all these cases by making use of real (multi-property) names.

Symbolic names are variables with a names. prefix. Real names are usually multi-property names, which specify a key-value mapping of matching properties to identify the desired object. Multi-property names must specify at least the type. Here we've used type to uniquely identify the MenuBar (since the application only has one), and type and text to uniquely identify the MenuItem.

Once we have identified the object we want to interact with we use the waitForObject function or the waitForObjectItem function to retrieve a reference to it and then we click it using the mouseClick function. The waitForObject and waitForObjectItem functions pause Squish until the specified object (and its item in the latter case) are visible and enabled. So, here, we waited for the menu bar and one of its menu bar items, and then we waited for a menu item. And as soon as the waiting is over each time we click the object (or its item) using the mouseClick function.

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

def addNameAndAddress(oneNameAndAddress):
    invokeMenuItem("Edit", "Add...")
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[0])
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[1])
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Email_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[2])
    type(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[3])
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.address_Book_Add_OK_Button))

JavaScript

function addNameAndAddress(oneNameAndAddress)
{
    invokeMenuItem("Edit", "Add...");
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddForenameEdit), oneNameAndAddress[0]);
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddSurnameEdit), oneNameAndAddress[1]);
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddEmailEdit), oneNameAndAddress[2]);
    type(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddPhoneEdit), oneNameAndAddress[3]);
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.addressBookAddOKButton));
}

Perl

sub addNameAndAddress
{
    my (@oneNameAndAddress) = @_;
    invokeMenuItem("Edit", "Add...");
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_forename_edit), $oneNameAndAddress[0]);
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_surname_edit), $oneNameAndAddress[1]);
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_email_edit), $oneNameAndAddress[2]);
    type(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_phone_edit), $oneNameAndAddress[3]);
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::address_book_add_ok_button));
}

Ruby

def addNameAndAddress(oneNameAndAddress)
    invokeMenuItem("Edit", "Add...")
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[0])
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[1])
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[2])
    type(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit), oneNameAndAddress[3])
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_Add_OK_Button))
end

Tcl

proc addNameAndAddress {oneNameAndAddress} {
    invokeMenuItem "Edit" "Add..."
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Forename_Edit] [lindex $oneNameAndAddress 0]
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Surname_Edit] [lindex $oneNameAndAddress 1]
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Email_Edit] [lindex $oneNameAndAddress 2]
    invoke type [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_Phone_Edit] [lindex $oneNameAndAddress 3]
    invoke clickButton [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_Add_OK_Button]
}

For each set of name and address data we invoke the Edit|Add menu option to pop up the Add dialog. Then for each value received, we populate the appropriate field by waiting for the relevant Edit control to be ready and then typing in the text using the type function. We then type in a tab to force the focus into the next focusable widget, again using the type function. And at the end we press Return to click the dialog's OK. We got the lines at the heart of the function by copying them from the recorded tst_general test and simply parametrizing the first one by the field name and the text. Similarly, we copied the code for clicking the OK button from the code for the dummy test case we created to make Squish put the names of the objects we wanted to interact with in the Object Map.

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

def closeWithoutSaving():
    invokeMenuItem("File", "Quit")
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.address_Book_No_Button))

JavaScript

function closeWithoutSaving()
{
    invokeMenuItem("File", "Quit");
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.addressBookNoButton));
}

Perl

sub closeWithoutSaving
{
    invokeMenuItem("File", "Quit");
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::address_book_no_button));
}

Ruby

def closeWithoutSaving
    invokeMenuItem("File", "Quit")
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::Address_Book_No_Button))
end

Tcl

proc closeWithoutSaving {} {
    invokeMenuItem "File" "Quit"
    invoke clickButton [waitForObject $names::Address_Book_No_Button]
}

Here we use invokeMenuItem() to do File|Quit, and then click the Save unsaved changes? dialog's No. The last line was copied from the recorded test.

The entire test is around 30 lines of code—and would be even less if we put some of the common functions (such as invokeMenuItem() and closeWithoutSaving()) in a shared script. And much of the code was copied directly from the recorded test, and in some cases parametrized.

This should be sufficient to give a flavor of writing test scripts for an AUT. Keep in mind that Squish provides far more functionality than we used here, (all of which is covered in the API Reference Manual (Chapter 6) and the Tools Reference Manual (Chapter 7)). And Squish also provides access to the entire public APIs of the AUT's objects.

However, one aspect of the test case is not very satisfactory. Although embedding test data as we did here is sensible for small amounts, it is rather limiting, especially when we want to use a lot of test data. Also, we didn't test any of the data that was added to see if it correctly ended up in the DataGridView. In the next section we will create a new version of this test, only this time we will pull in the data from an external data source, and check that the data we add to the DataGridView is correct.

4.7.1.5.2. Creating Data Driven Tests

In the previous section we put three hard-coded names and addresses in our test. But what if we want to test lots of data? Or what if we want to change the data without having to change our test script's source code. One approach is to import a dataset into Squish and use the dataset as the source of the values we insert into our tests. Squish can import data in .tsv (tab-separated values format), .csv (comma-separated values format), .xls or .xlsx (Microsoft® Excel™ spreadsheet formats). ^[11]

Test data can either be imported using the Squish IDE, or manually using a file manager or console commands. We will describe both approaches, starting with using the Squish IDE.

For the Addressbook application we want to import the MyAddresses.tsv data file. To do this we must start by clicking File|Import Test Resource to pop-up the Import Squish Resource dialog (Section 8.3.7). Inside the dialog click the Browse button to choose the file to import—in this case MyAddresses.tsv. Make sure that the Import As combobox is set to “TestData”. By default the Squish IDE will import the test data just for the current test case, but we want the test data to be available to all the test suite's test cases: to do this check the Copy to Test Suite for Sharing radio button. Now click the Finish button. You can now see the file listed in the Test Suite Resources view (in the Test Data tab), and if you click the file's name it will be shown in an Editor view (Section 8.2.6). The screenshot shows Squish after the test data has been added.

For command-line users

It is also possible to import test data outside the Squish IDE using a file manager (such as File Explorer) or console commands. To do this, create a directory inside the test suite's directory called shared. Now make a directory inside the shared directory called testdata. Now copy the data file (in this example, MyAddresses.tsv) into the shared\testdata directory. Now quit the Squish IDE if it is running and start it up again. If you click the Test Suite Resources view's Test Data tab you should see the data file. Click the file's name to see it in an Editor view (Section 8.2.6).

Squish with some imported test data

Although in real life we would modify our tst_adding test case to use the test data, for the purpose of the tutorial we will make a new test case called tst_adding_data that is a copy of tst_adding and which we will modify to make use of the test data.

The only function we have to change is main, where instead of iterating over hard-coded items of data, we iterate over all the records in the dataset. We also need to update the expected row count at the end since we are adding a lot more records now, and we will also add a function to verify each record that's added.

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

import names
import os

def main():
    startApplication('"' + os.environ["SQUISH_PREFIX"] + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"')
    table = waitForObject({"type": "Table"})
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New")
    test.verify(table.rowCount == 0)
    limit = 10 # To avoid testing 100s of rows since that would be boring
    for row, record in enumerate(testData.dataset("MyAddresses.tsv")):
        forename = testData.field(record, "Forename")
        surname = testData.field(record, "Surname")
        email = testData.field(record, "Email")
        phone = testData.field(record, "Phone")
        addNameAndAddress((forename, surname, email, phone))
        insertionRow = row # Modern Python: insertionRow = row if row >= 1 else 1
        if row < 1:
            insertionRow = 1
        checkNameAndAddress(insertionRow, record)
        if row > limit:
            break
    test.compare(table.rowCount, row + 1)
    closeWithoutSaving()

JavaScript

import * as names from 'names.js';

function main()
{
    startApplication('"' + OS.getenv("SQUISH_PREFIX") + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"');
    var table = waitForObject({"type": "Table"});
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New");
    test.verify(table.rowCount == 0);
    var limit = 10; // To avoid testing 100s of rows since that would be boring
    var records = testData.dataset("MyAddresses.tsv");
    for (var row = 0; row < records.length; ++row) {
        var record = records[row];
        var forename = testData.field(record, "Forename");
        var surname = testData.field(record, "Surname");
        var email = testData.field(record, "Email");
        var phone = testData.field(record, "Phone");
        addNameAndAddress(new Array(forename, surname, email, phone));
        var insertionRow = row < 1 ? 1 : row;
        checkNameAndAddress(insertionRow, record);
        if (row > limit)
            break;
    }
    test.compare(table.rowCount, row + 1);
    closeWithoutSaving()
}

Perl

require 'names.pl';

sub main
{
    startApplication("\"$ENV{'SQUISH_PREFIX'}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"");
    my $table = waitForObject({"type" => "Table"});
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New");
    test::verify($table->rowCount == 0);
    my $limit = 10; # To avoid testing 100s of rows since that would be boring
    my @records = testData::dataset("MyAddresses.tsv");
    my $row = 0;
    for (; $row < scalar(@records); ++$row) {
        my $record = $records[$row];
        my $forename = testData::field($record, "Forename");
        my $surname = testData::field($record, "Surname");
        my $email = testData::field($record, "Email");
        my $phone = testData::field($record, "Phone");
        addNameAndAddress($forename, $surname, $email, $phone);
        my $insertionRow = $row < 1 ? 1 : $row;
        checkNameAndAddress($insertionRow, $record);
        if ($row > $limit) {
            last;
        }
    }
    test::compare($table->rowCount, $row + 1);
    closeWithoutSaving();
}

Ruby

require 'squish'
require 'names'

include Squish

def main
    startApplication("\"#{ENV['SQUISH_PREFIX']}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"")
    table = waitForObject({:type => "Table"})
    invokeMenuItem("File", "New")
    Test.verify(table.rowCount == 0)
    limit = 10 # To avoid testing 100s of rows since that would be boring
    rows = 0
    TestData.dataset("MyAddresses.tsv").each_with_index do
        |record, row|
        forename = TestData.field(record, "Forename")
        surname = TestData.field(record, "Surname")
        email = TestData.field(record, "Email")
        phone = TestData.field(record, "Phone")
        addNameAndAddress([forename, surname, email, phone])
        insertionRow = row >= 1 ? row : 1
        checkNameAndAddress(insertionRow, record)
        break if row > limit
        rows += 1
    end
    Test.compare(table.rowCount, rows + 1)
    closeWithoutSaving
end

Tcl

source [findFile "scripts" "names.tcl"]

proc main {} {
    startApplication "\"$::env(SQUISH_PREFIX)\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\""
    set table [waitForObject [::Squish::ObjectName type Table]]
    test compare [property get $table rowCount] 0
    invokeMenuItem "File" "New"
    set limit 10
    set data [testData dataset "MyAddresses.tsv"]
    set columns [llength [testData fieldNames [lindex $data 0]]]
    set row 0
    for {} {$row < [llength $data]} {incr row} {
        set record [lindex $data $row]
        set forename [testData field $record "Forename"]
        set surname [testData field $record "Surname"]
        set email [testData field $record "Email"]
        set phone [testData field $record "Phone"]
        set details [list $forename $surname $email $phone]
        addNameAndAddress $details
        set insertionRow $row
        if {$row < 1} {
            set insertionRow 1
        }
        checkNameAndAddress $insertionRow $record
        if {$row > $limit} {
            break
        }
    }
    test compare [property get $table rowCount] [expr $row + 1]
    closeWithoutSaving
}

Squish provides access to test data through its testData module's functions—here we used the testData.dataset function to access the data file and make its records available, and the testData.field function to retrieve each record's individual fields.

Having used the test data to populate the DataGridView we want to be confident that the data in the table is the same as what we have added, so that's why we added checkNameAndAddress(). We also added a limit to how many records we would compare, just to make the test run faster. We have to specially compute the insertion row since the Addressbook application inserts in the row before the current one—except when the table is empty in which case it inserts at the first row. Also, the Windows DataGridView uses 1-based indexing whereas Squish's data handling functions use 0-based indexing, so we must also account for this difference.

Show AllShow JavaScriptShow PerlShow PythonShow RubyShow Tcl

Python

def checkNameAndAddress(insertionRow, record):
    for column in range(1, 1 + len(testData.fieldNames(record))):
        cell = waitForObject({'container' : names.table, 'row': insertionRow, 'column' : column, 'type' :'TableCell'})
        test.compare(cell.text, testData.field(record, column - 1))

JavaScript

function checkNameAndAddress(insertionRow, record)
{
    for (var column = 1; column <= testData.fieldNames(record).length;
            ++column) {
        var cell = waitForObject({'container' : names.table, 'row': insertionRow, 'column' : column, 'type' : 'TableCell'});
        test.compare(cell.text, testData.field(record, column - 1));
    }
}

Perl

sub checkNameAndAddress
{
    my($insertionRow, $record) = @_;
    my @columnNames = testData::fieldNames($record);
    for (my $column = 1; $column <= scalar(@columnNames); $column++) {
        my $cell = waitForObject({'container' => $Names::table, 'row' => $insertionRow, 'column'=> $column, 'type' => 'TableCell'});
        test::compare($cell->text, testData::field($record, $column - 1));
    }
}

Ruby

def checkNameAndAddress(row, record)
    for column in 1..TestData.fieldNames(record).length
        cell = waitForObject({:container => Names::Table, :row => row, :column => column, :type => 'TableCell'})
        Test.compare(cell.text, TestData.field(record, column - 1))
    end
end

Tcl

proc checkNameAndAddress {insertionRow record} {
    set columns [llength [testData fieldNames $record]]
    for {set column 1} {$column <= $columns} {incr column} {
        set cell [waitForObject [::Squish::ObjectName container $names::Table type TableCell row $insertionRow column $column]]
        test compare [property get $cell text] \
            [testData field $record [expr {$column - 1}]]
    }
}

This function compares the data in the DataGridView at the given insertion row (i.e., the data just added) with the corresponding record (i.e., the data that was used for adding). We use Squish's testData.fieldNames function to get a column count and then use the test.compare function to check that each value in the table is the same as the value in the test data we used. As previously noted, Squish's data handling functions use 0-based indexing, but Window's DataGridView uses 1-based indexing, so our test code must account for these differences. Here, the insertion row and the column are 1-based so we deduct 1 from the column when using the testData.field function.

The screenshot shows Squish's Test Summary log after the data-driven tests have been run.

Squish after a successful data-driven test run

Squish can also do keyword-driven testing. This is a bit more sophisticated than data-driven testing. See How to Do Keyword-Driven Testing (Section 5.16).

We have now completed the tutorial! Squish can of course do much more than we have shown here, but the aim has been to get you started with basic testing as quickly and easily as possible. The User Guide (Chapter 5) provides many more examples, including those that show how tests can interact with particular widgets (controls or containers in Windows terminology) such as spinboxes, comboboxes, date/time editors, line editors, and various views.

The API Reference Manual (Chapter 6) and Tools Reference Manual (Chapter 7) give full details of Squish's testing API and the numerous functions it offers to make testing as easy and efficient as possible. It is well worth reading the User Guide (Chapter 5) and at least skimming the API Reference Manual (Chapter 6) and Tools Reference Manual (Chapter 7)—especially since the time invested will be repaid because you'll know what functionality Squish provides out of the box and can avoid reinventing things that are already available.

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is an extension of the Test-Driven Development approach which puts the definition of acceptance criteria at the beginning of the development process as opposed to writing tests after the software has been developed. With possible cycles of code changes done after testing.

BDD process

Behavior Driven Tests are built out of a set of Feature files, which describe product features through the expected application behavior in one or many Scenarios. Each Scenario is built out of a sequence of steps which represent actions or verifications that need to be tested for that Scenario.

BDD focuses on expected application behavior, not on implementation details. Therefore BDD tests are described in a human-readable Domain Specific Language (DSL). As this language is not technical, such tests can be created not only by programmers, but also by product owners, testers or business analysts. Additionally, during the product development, such tests serve as living product documentation. For Squish usage, BDD tests shall be created using Gherkin syntax. The previously written product specification (BDD tests) can be turned into executable tests. This step by step tutorial presents automating BDD tests with Squish IDE support.

Gherkin files describe product features through the expected application behavior in one or many Scenarios. An example showing the "Filling of addressbook" feature of the addressbook example application.

Feature: Filling of addressbook
    As a user I want to fill the addressbook with entries

    Scenario: Initial state of created address book
        Given addressbook application is running
        When I create a new addressbook
        Then addressbook should have zero entries

    Scenario: State after adding one entry
        Given addressbook application is running
        When I create a new addressbook
        And I add a new person 'John','Doe','john@m.com','500600700' to address book
        Then '1' entries should be present

    Scenario: State after adding two entries
        Given addressbook application is running
        When I create a new addressbook
        And I add new persons to address book
            | forname   | surname  | email        | phone  |
            | John      | Smith    | john@m.com   | 123123 |
            | Alice     | Thomson  | alice@m.com  | 234234 |
        Then '2' entries should be present

    Scenario: Forename and surname is added to table
        Given addressbook application is running
        When I create a new addressbook
        When I add a new person 'Bob','Doe','Bob@m.com','123321231' to address book
        Then previously entered forename and surname shall be at the top

Most of the above is free form text (does not have to be English). It's just the Feature/Scenario structure and the leading keywords like Given, And, When and Then that are fixed. Each of those keywords marks a step defining preconditions, user actions and expected results. Above application behavior description can be passed to software developers to implement these features and at the same time the same description can be passed to software testers to implement automated tests.

In the Squish IDE, users can execute all Scenarios in a Feature, or execute only one selected Scenario. In order to execute all Scenarios, the proper Test Case has to be executed by clicking on the Play button in the Test Suites view.

Execute all Scenarios from Feature

In order to execute only one Scenario, you need to open the Feature file, right-click on the given Scenario and choose Run Scenario. An alternative approach is to click on the Run Test () button next to the respective Scenario in the Scenarios tab of Test Case Resources.

Execute one Scenario from Feature

After a Scenario is executed, the Feature file is colored according to the execution results. More detailed information (like logs) can be found in the Test Results View.

Execution results in Feature file

Squish offers the possibility to pause an execution of a Test Case at any point in order to check script variables, spy application objects or run custom code in Squish script console. To do this, a breakpoint has to be placed before starting the execution, either in the Feature file at any line containing a step or at any line of executed code (i.e. in middle of step definition code).

Breakpoint in Feature file

After the breakpoint is reached, you can inspect all application objects and their properties. If a breakpoint is placed at a step definition or a hook is reached, then you can additionally add Verification Points or record code snippets.

BDD test maintainability can be increased by reusing step definitions in test cases located in another directory. For more information, see collectStepDefinitions().

The first option is to keep existing Squish tests and extend them by adding new BDD tests. It's possible to have a Test Suite containing both script-based Test Cases and BDD feature files. Simply open an existing Test Suite and choose New BDD Test Case option from drop down list.

Creating new BDD Test Case

Assuming your existing script-based tests make use of a library and you are calling shared functions to interact with the AUT, those functions can also be used from BDD step implementations. In the example below, a function is used from multiple script-based Test Cases:

def createNewAddressBook():
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.new_ToolbarItem))

function createNewAddressBook(){
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.newToolbarItem));
}

sub createNewAddressBook{
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::new_toolbaritem));
}

def createNewAddressBook
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::New_ToolbarItem))
end

proc createNewAddressBook {} {
    invoke clickButton [waitForObject $names::New_ToolbarItem]
}

New BDD Test Cases can easily use the same function:

@When("I create a new addressbook")
def step(context):
    createNewAddressBook()

When("I create a new addressbook", function(context){
    createNewAddressBook()
});

When("I create a new addressbook", sub {
    createNewAddressBook();
});

When("I create a new addressbook") do |context|
    createNewAddressBook
end

When "I create a new addressbook" {context} {
	createNewAddressBook
}

The second option is to convert an existing Test Suite that contains script-based Test Cases into behavior driven tests. Since a Test Suite can contain script-based and BDD Test Cases, migration can be done gradually. A Test Suite containing a mix of both Test Case types can be executed and results analyzed without any extra effort required.

The first step is to review all Test Cases of the existing Test Suite and group them by the Feature they test. Each script-based Test Case will be transformed into a Scenario, which is a part of a Feature. For example, assume we have 5 script-based Test Cases. After review, we realize that those script-based Test Cases examine two Features. Therefore, when migration is completed, our Test Suite will contain two BDD Test Cases, each of them containing one Feature. Each Feature will contain multiple Scenarios. In our example the first Feature contains three Scenarios and the second Feature contains two Scenarios.

Conversion Chart

At the beginning, open a Test Suite in the Squish IDE that contains script-based Squish tests that are planned to be migrated to BDD. Next, create a new Test Case by choosing New BDD Test Case option from the context menu to the right of New Script Test Case (). Each BDD Test Case corresponds to a test.feature file that contains one Feature, with one or more Scenarios. Next, open the test.feature file to describe the Features using the Gherkin language. Following the syntax from the template, edit the Feature name and optionally provide a short description. Next, decide which actions and verifications performed in the script-based Test Case should be migrated to steps. This is how an example Test Case for the addressbook application could look like:

def main():
    startApplication("Addressbook")
    test.log("Create new addressbook")
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.new_ToolbarItem))
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.address_Book_Unnamed_Table).rowCount, 0)

function main() {
    startApplication("Addressbook");
    test.log("Create new addressbook");
    clickButton(waitForObject(names.newToolbarItem));
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.addressBookUnnamedTable).rowCount, 0);
}

sub main {
    startApplication("Addressbook");
    test::log("Create new addressbook");
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::new_toolbaritem));
    test::compare(waitForObjectExists($Names::address_book_unnamed_table)->rowCount, 0);
}

def main
    startApplication("Addressbook")
    Test.log("Create new addressbook")
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::New_ToolbarItem))
    Test.compare(waitForObjectExists(Names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Table).rowCount, 0)
end

proc main {} {
    startApplication "Addressbook"
    test log "Create new addressbook"
    invoke clickButton [waitForObject $names::New_ToolbarItem]
    test compare [property get [waitForObjectExists $names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Table] rowCount] 0
}

After analyzing the above script-based Test Case we can create the following Scenario and add it to the test.feature file:

Scenario: Initial state of created address book
      Given addressbook application is running
      When I create a new addressbook
      Then addressbook should have zero entries

Next, right-click on the Scenario and choose the option Create Missing Step Implementations from the context menu. This will create a skeleton of step definitions:

@Given("addressbook application is running")
def step(context):
    test.warning("TODO implement addressbook application is running")

@When("I create a new addressbook")
def step(context):
    test.warning("TODO implement I create a new addressbook")

@Then("addressbook should have zero entries")
def step(context):
    test.warning("TODO implement addressbook should have zero entries")

Given("addressbook application is running", function(context) {
    test.warning("TODO implement addressbook application is running");
});

When("I create a new addressbook", function(context) {
    test.warning("TODO implement I create a new addressbook");
});

Then("addressbook should have zero entries", function(context) {
    test.warning("TODO implement addressbook should have zero entries");
});

Given("addressbook application is running", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    test::warning("TODO implement addressbook application is running");
});

When("I create a new addressbook", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    test::warning("TODO implement I create a new addressbook");
});

Then("addressbook should have zero entries", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    test::warning("TODO implement addressbook should have zero entries");
});

Given("addressbook application is running") do |context|
  	Test.warning "TODO implement addressbook application is running"
end

When("I create a new addressbook") do |context|
  	Test.warning "TODO implement I create a new addressbook"
end

Then("addressbook should have zero entries") do |context|
  	Test.warning "TODO implement addressbook should have zero entries"
end

Given "addressbook application is running" {context} {
    test warning "TODO implement addressbook application is running"
}

When "I create a new addressbook" {context} {
    test warning "TODO implement I create a new addressbook"
}

Then "addressbook should have zero entries" {context} {
    test warning "TODO implement addressbook should have zero entries"
}

Now we put code snippets from the script-based Test Case into respective step definitions and remove the lines containing test.warning. If your script-based Test Cases makes use of shared scripts, you can call those functions from the step definitions as well. For example, the final result could look like this:

@Given("addressbook application is running")
def step(context):
    startApplication('"' + os.getenv("SQUISH_PREFIX") + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"')
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.address_Book_Unnamed_Window).enabled, True)

@When("I create a new addressbook")
def step(context):
    mouseClick(waitForObject(names.new_ToolbarItem))

@Then("addressbook should have zero entries")
def step(context):
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.address_Book_Unnamed_Table).rowCount, 0)

Given("addressbook application is running", function(context) {
    startApplication('"' + OS.getenv("SQUISH_PREFIX") + '\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe"');
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.addressBookUnnamedWindow).enabled, true);
});

When("I create a new addressbook", function(context) {
    mouseClick(waitForObject(names.newToolbarItem));
});

Then("addressbook should have zero entries", function(context) {
    test.compare(waitForObjectExists(names.addressBookUnnamedTable).rowCount, 0);
});

Given("addressbook application is running", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    startApplication("\"$ENV{'SQUISH_PREFIX'}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"");
    test::compare(waitForObjectExists($Names::address_book_unnamed_window)->enabled, 1);
});

When("I create a new addressbook", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    clickButton(waitForObject($Names::new_toolbaritem));
});

Then("addressbook should have zero entries", sub {
    my $context = shift;
    test::compare(waitForObjectExists($Names::address_book_unnamed_table)->rowCount, 0);
});

Given("addressbook application is running") do |context|
    startApplication("\"#{ENV['SQUISH_PREFIX']}\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\"")
    Test.compare(waitForObjectExists(Names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Window).enabled, true)
end

When("I create a new addressbook") do |context|
    clickButton(waitForObject(Names::New_ToolbarItem))
end

Then("addressbook should have zero entries") do |context|
    Test.compare(waitForObjectExists(Names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Table).rowCount, 0)
end

Given "addressbook application is running" {context} {
    startApplication "\"$::env(SQUISH_PREFIX)\\examples\\win\\Addressbook\\Addressbook.exe\""
    test compare [property get [waitForObjectExists  $names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Window] enabled] true
}

When "I create a new addressbook" {context} {
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObject $names::New_ToolbarItem]
    invoke mouseClick [waitForObject $names::New_ToolbarItem]
}

Then "addressbook should have zero entries" {context} {
    test compare [property get [waitForObjectExists $names::Address_Book_Unnamed_Table] rowCount] 0
}

Note that the test.log("Create new addressbook") got removed while migrating this script-based Test to BDD. When the step I create a new addressbook is executed, the step name will be logged into Test Results, so the test.log call would have been redundant.

Additionally, when the Test Case execution ends, Squish terminates the AUT. The AUT is also terminated at the end of each Scenario, by the autogenerated hooks file containing an OnScenarioEnd hook.

@OnScenarioEnd
def hook(context):
    currentApplicationContext().detach()

OnScenarioEnd(function(context) {
    currentApplicationContext().detach();
});

OnScenarioEnd(sub {
    currentApplicationContext()->detach();
});

OnScenarioEnd do |context|
    currentApplicationContext().detach()
end

OnScenarioEnd { context } {
    applicationContext [currentApplicationContext] detach
}

The above example was simplified for this tutorial. In order to take full advantage of Behavior Driven Testing in Squish, please familiarize yourself with the section Behavior Driven Testing (Section 6.19) in API Reference Manual (Chapter 6).