Last week, Mercury posted a file for download called "QTP Expert Series - Issue 1". I saw it today and it interested me enough to download it. I'm certainly glad I did, because inside I found a spicy* little example framework called SAFFRON (Simple Automation Framework For Remarkably Obvious Notes).

SAFFRON is far from being a ready-to-use framework, but it does provide some good example code for creating an easy to read and write meta language that doesn't use an Object Repository. It is similar in concept to what the Inquisitors have been working on ... except a lot more light weight.

Here is an example from the SAFFRON FAQ:

QuickTest Script:

View as plain text
Visual Basic:
Browser("Google").Navigate "http://google.com/"
Browser("Google").Page("Google").WebEdit("q").Set "Hello World!"
Browser("Google").Page("Google").WebButton("Google Search").Click
Browser("Google").Page("Hello World! - Google").Link("Hello, World Page").Click
SAFFRON Script:

View as plain text
Visual Basic:
BrowseTo "http://google.com/"
EnterTextIn "q", "Hello World!"
Activate "WebButton", "Google Search"
Activate "Link", "Hello, World Page"
SAFFRON is extremely limited, but it is a step in the right direction. And it is good to know there is at least one person at Mercury who is doing some innovative thinking on test frameworks instead of focusing on how to apply the latest buzzword to the same old record and playback tests.