Visual Basic for Testers

562 Pages·2001·19.032 MB·English

by  Mary Romero Sweeney (auth.)

Visual Basic
for Testers
MARY ROMERO SWEENEY
APress Media, LLC
Visual Basic for Testers
Copyright ©2001 by Mary Romero Sweeney
Originally published by Apress in 2001
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permis
sion ofthe copyright owner and the publisher.
ISBN 978-1-893115-53-8 ISBN 978-1-4302-1138-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4302-1138-9
Trademarked names may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol
with every occurrence of a trademarked name, we use the names only in an editorial
fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement
of the trademark.
Editorial Directors: Dan Appleman, Gary Cornell, Karen Watterson, Jason Gilmore
Technical Reviewer: Harvin Queen
Marketing Manager: Stephanie Rodriguez
Managing Editor: Grace Wong
Editor: Kiersten Burke
Production Editor: Kari Brooks
Page Composition: Diana Van Winkle, Van Winkle Design Group
Artist: Tony Jonick
Cover Designer: Karl Miyajima
Indexer: Valerie Perry
The information in this book is distributed on an "as is" hasis, without warranty.
Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither
the author nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect
to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the
information contained in this work.
For my Mom, Dolores Romero Leder:
I love you, I admire you; you are my hero.
Contents at a Glance
Forewords By Elfriede Dustin ............................................................ xvii
By James Bach ...................................................................... xviii
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ xix
Introduction ...................................................................................................... xxi
Part One
In the Beginning:
Preparing for Automated Script Writing ............................................... l
Chapter 1 Automated Software Testing Overview ........................ 3
Chapter 2 Getting Started with Visual Basic on an
Automated Testing Project ............................................. 17
Part Two
The Second Stage:
Introduction to Automated Script Writing ........................................ 37
Chapter 3 Introduction to the Visual Basic
Development Environment .................................................. 39
Chapter 4 Understanding Visual Basic Application
Essentials ................................................................................ 81
Part Three
Beyond the Basics:
Now You're Testing! ...................................................................................... 135
Chapter 5 Creating Test Utilities ................................................ 137
Chapter 6 Testing with the Windows Registry ......................... 183
Chapter 7 Introduction to the Windows Application
Programmer's Interface (API) .................................... 211
v
Contents
Part Four
Advanced Topics in Automated Test Scripting ................................ 253
Chapter 8 Introduction to Database Testing ........................... 255
Chapter 9 Introduction to Testing COM Components .............. 293
Chapter 10 Testing the Web with Visual Basic ......................... 357
Chapter 11 VB.NET: Brave New World ................................................ 407
Chapter 12 From Tester to Tester:
Advice to the Visual Basic Automator .................. 453
Appendixes ........................................................................................................... 463
Appendix A Resources and References ............................................ .465
Appendix B More Controls ...................................................................... 471
Appendix C File Access and Management ........................................ .479
Appendix D Required Reading: Automated Testing Essays .... 489
Index ...................................................................................................................... 521
vi
Contents
Forewords By Elfriede Dustin ............................................................ xvii
By James Bach ...................................................................... xviii
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ xix
Introduction ...................................................................................................... xxi
Part One
In the Beginning:
Preparing for Automated Script Writing ..............................
1
Chapter Automated Software Testing Overview ..............
1 3
What Is Automated Software Testing? ........................................................ 3
When to Automate? ............................................................................................... 5
Project and Personnel Issues ......................................................................... 5
Product Issues ................................................................................................... 6
Additional Test Management Issues ............................................................... 7
Automated Software Testing in the Real World .................................... 8
Building a Team for Automated Testing .................................................... 9
What a Tester Needs to Know about Visual Basic Scripting ........ 10
Test Scripts Are Software ............................................................................ 11
Goals of Good Testing Software ................................................................... 12
Creating Successful Testing Software ....................................................... 13
Why Visual Basic? ............................................................................................. 14
Limitations of Visual Basic for Testing ............................................. 15
Chapter 2 Getting Started with
Visual Basic on an Automated Testing
Project ....................................................................................
17
Installing Visual Basic ................................................................................ 17
Visual Basic Editions .................................................................................... 17
Visual Basic Installation Notes ................................................................. 18
Visual Basic Templates and Wizards ........................................................ 18
Using the Data Form Wizard .......................................................................... 19
Using Form Templates ...................................................................................... 25
vii
Contents
Using the Visual Database Tools:
White Box Testing Using SQL ................................................................. 26
The T-SOL Debugger: Inspecting and Testing
Stored Procedures ........................................................................................ 28
Exploring COM Objects Using the Object Browser .............................. 30
The Enterprise Tools ....................................................................................... 35
Part Two
The Second Stage:
Introduction to Automated Script Writing .......................
37
Chapter 3 Introduction to the Visual
Basic Development Environment ...........................
39
Objectives .............................................................................................................
39
Visual Basic History ....................................................................................... 40
Getting Started with Visual Basic ......................................................... .41
Starting Up Visual Basic .............................................................................. 41
Using Visual Basic's Five IDE Windows ..................................................... .43
Visual Basic Application Development ...................................................... .45
Working with the Properties Window .......................................................... .48
Writing Visual Basic Code .................. ,. ........................................................ 55
Saving Your Visual Basic Program ............................................................... 60
Visual Basic Help ........................................................................................... 62
Customizing the Development Environment .................................................. 67
Exercise 3-1. A Very Simple Program .............................................. 70
Activity One: Creating the Very Simple Program ..................................... 70
Activity Two: Using a Message Box ............................................................. 71
Activity Three: Adding a Control ............................................................... 73
Activity Four: Saving Files ........................................................................ 74
To View the Suggested Answer to This Exercise ...................................... 74
Exercise 3-2. Adding Controls and Setting the Tab Index ........ 75
Tester's Checklist ............................................................................................ 79
Chapter 3 Review ................................................................................................ 80
Chapter 4 Understanding Visual
Basic Application Essentials ..............................
81
Objectives ............................................................................................................. 81
Understanding Objects, Properties, Events, and Methods ............. 82
Understanding Properties .............................................................................. 83
viii
Contents
Understanding Events ...................................................................................... 86
Understanding Methods .................................................................................... 87
Understanding the Difference between Events and Methods .................... 89
Procedural Programming versus Event-Driven Programming ..................... 90
The Debugger ........................................................................................................ 93
Exercise 4-1. Using the Debugger to Understand Events ........... 95
Coding Mechanics ................................................................................................ 96
Object Naming Conventions ............................................................................ 97
Coding Conventions ......................................................................................... 98
Declaring and Using Variables ................................................................... 100
Identifying Shortcuts and Old Code ......................................................... 107
Local-Level, Module-Level, and Application-Level Variables ............ 108
Understanding Scope and Lifetime Variables .......................................... 111
Understanding Option Explicit ................................................................... 113
Constants ........................................................................................................ 115
Using Branching Statements ........................................................................ 117
Programming with Loops ................................................................................ 119
Code Review Practice .................................................................................... 122
Using the Shell Function to Run One Program from Another ................ 124
Creating an Executable File from a Visual Basic Project .................. 126
Exercise 4-2. Information Please ................................................. 128
Tester's Checklist .......................................................................................... 132
Chapter 4 Review .............................................................................................. 133
Part Three
Beyond the Basics: Now You're Testing! ...........................
135
Chapter 5 Creating Test Utilities ......................................... 137
Objectives ........................................................................................................... 137
Creating and Using Procedures ................................................................. 138
Planning Your Procedures ............................................................................ 138
Creating and Using Subroutine Procedures .............................................. 140
Using Arguments ............................................................................................. 143
Understanding Function Procedures ........................................................... 147
Procedure Scoping ......................................................................................... 150
Creating and Using Standard Modules .................................................... 151
Adding Existing Modules to Projects ....................................................... 153
Understanding Form Modules ........................................................................ 155
Displaying Forms ........................................................................................... 157
Exercise 5-1. Adding a New Form Module ...................................... 159
Creating a Logging Utility ........................................................................ 160
ix
Contents
File Handling .................................................................................................... 161
Using The Microsoft Scripting Library to Access Files ............. 162
Setting a Reference to the Scripting Library ...................................... 162
Simple GUI Testing Using SendKeys ........................................................ 169
Adding Timing to Your Tests ...................................................................... 171
Using the Timer Control .............................................................................. 172
Documenting Your Tests ................................................................................ 174
Exercise 5-2. Testing the Calculator ........................................ 176
Tester}s Checklist .......................................................................................... 182
Chapter 5 Review .............................................................................................. 182
Chapter 6 Testing with the Windows Registry ............... 183
Objectives ........................................................................................................... 183
Introduction to the Windows System Registry ................................... 184
Creating and Saving Application Settings ......................................... 187
Retrieving Visual Basic Application Entries ................................... 190
Retrieving Single Registry Settings ....................................................... 190
Retrieving Multiple Settings ..................................................................... 191
Arrays and the GetAllSettings Function .................................................. 195
Displaying Multiple Values Using List Boxes ........................................ 197
Deleting a Registry Setting ...................................................................... 199
Error Trapping .................................................................................................. 200
Using the ERR Object .................................................................................... 202
Accessing Other Registry Keys ................................................................. 204
Exercise 6-1. Creating a Registry Management Utility ........... 205
Follow These Steps to Write the Code (Or Try It on Your Own) ........ 206
Tester} s Checklist .......................................................................................... 209
Chapter 6 Review .............................................................................................. 21 o
Chapter 7 Introduction to the Windows Application
Programmer's Interface (API) ............................
211
Objectives ........................................................................................................... 212
Windows API Overview ..................................................................................... 212
Understanding Static and Dynamic Libraries .......................................... 212
The Windows API Dynamic-Link Library Files .......................................... 214
Exploring the Windows API Routines ........................................................ .215
Useful APis for Testing .............................................................................. 216
Using API Routines ......................................................................................... 216
Steps to Call a Windows API Routine ....................................................... 216
Calling API Routines with User-Defined Type (UDT) Arguments .......... 219
X
Contents
Using Windows API Functions for the Registry ................................ 222
Exercise 7-1. Get Your Platform's Version ................................ 227
Working with the Windows API: Beyond the Basics .......................... 231
Understanding Windows API Arguments ....................................................... 231
Understanding the Any Keyword ................................................................... 234
Understanding Aliasing ................................................................................ 234
ANSI versus Unicode ...................................................................................... 235
API Return Values and the Meaning of True and False ......................... 235
Writing API Wrappers .................................................................................... 237
Windows API Examples for Testing ............................................................. 239
Calling Other DLL Procedures ..................................................................... 248
Exercise 7-2. Using Advanced API calls ...................................... .249
Additional Work ............................................................................................. 251
Tester's Checklist ......................................................................................... 252
Chapter 7 Review .............................................................................................. 252
Part Four
Advanced Topics in Automated Test Scripting ..............
253
Chapter 8 Introduction to Database Testing ..................
255
Objectives ........................................................................................................... 256
Database Application Testing
Using the Visual Database Tools ............................................................. 256
Using the Data View Window ........................................................................ 257
Using the Query Builder Window to Execute Database Queries ............ 261
The Data Environment Designer ................................................................... 264
Testing Databases Using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) ................... 264
Understanding ADO Architecture Basics .................................................... 266
Using the Connection Object ...................................................................... 268
Using the Recordset Object ........................................................................ 270
Revisiting the ODBC Logon Form Template ................................................ 274
Testing SQL Server Databases Using COM .............................................. 278
The Many Ways to Test Databases Using Visual Basic ................... 282
Exercise 8-1. Querying a Database Using
Visual Database Tools and ADO ................................................. 283
Exercise 8-2. Adding Test Data ..................................................... 289
Exercise 8-3. Testing Using SQL-DMO ........................................... 291
Tester's Checklist ......................................................................................... 292
Chapter 8 Review .............................................................................................. 292
xi