One of the benefits of using Web Extensibility Add-ins is that you get a performance gain in running tests vs using the old WebElement method. For a demonstration, I wrote a basic WebExt add-in that only has one class defined: Div. Div is any object whose tagName is “DIV”, so it is the equivalent of WebElement(”tagName:=DIV”). You can download it here. All you have to do to use it in your QTP 9.5 environment is extract that zip file into “C:\progfiles\hp\QuickTest Professional\dat\Extensibility\Web” and restart QTP. Make sure to check the “rawElements” add-in on QTP’s splash screen.
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During the Web Extensibility talk at HP Software Universe, somebody asked me to post the code for childNodeByID. This is a javascript function that is useful in Web Extensibility projects. It lets you find the child of a DOM object that has a specific id attribute.

At the time, I said this function was only a few lines long. I was wrong. Somebody with more javascript experience could probably golf this down to a few lines, but my version is pretty long.
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HP just gave a revealing presentation about the next version of QuickTest Pro. It is codenamed Atlantis, and it will probably be called QuickTest Pro 10.0. QTP 10 is targeted to be released in the beginning of 2009.

I’ll break down some of the features that were discussed.
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A central server manages every aspect of the queue. All interactions with the queue take place via Apache over port 80, using very simple LWP::Simple (HTTP) requests. Nearly every CGI script in this discussion was written using basic Perl. (more…)

One limitation of QTP that has always bothered me is the inability to reuse its web objects after the browser reloads. I spend countless cpu cycles parsing the DOM to find an element, grab enough properties to make it unique, build a description with those properties and finally get the right micobject. Then I perform some action and that reloads the page, and my object is useless. If I want to use it, I have to start the process all over again.

After years of struggle to find an answer, I packed some gear, hired a Sherpa and set off to find a guru who could give me an answer.
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In case anybody wants to come by, I will be presenting at HP Software Universe this year on Thursday 6/19 at 8:30a.

The session is Automating Web 2.0 using HP QuickTest Professional 9.5 Web Extensibility.

This should be a good session. I’ve become a big fan of QTP’s Web Extensibility. I will show you how we are using it to create classes for our custom web controls.

Also, Patterson Consulting is donating a Test Design Studio license to be given away at this presentation. I have been testing WebExt support for an upcoming version of Test Design Studio, and the difference between TDS and manually editing the WebExt XML and Javascript files is amazing.

Despite persistent the rumors to the contrary, you really can execute Javascript from QTP, and not just using Web Extensibility. Here is a simple function that will run some javascript in IE and return the result.

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I just got this email from HP:

HP Software is announcing end-of-support for HP WinRunner software, all versions (7.5, 7.6, 8.0, 8.2, 9.2). This end-of-support is based on our decision to consolidate and focus our functional testing offerings (HP WinRunner and HP QuickTest Professional) to maximize value to our customers. For migration options, support end dates and a list of FAQs, read the entire announcement here.
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I've now had a few days with Quicktest Pro 9.5, and most of that time has been spent with the new Web Extensibility feature. This feature has huge potential. I look forward to seeing how it is accepted by QTP programmers.

The basic idea is that you can create your own QTP add-in. When your add-in is loaded, Quicktest will recognize objects you defined in your add-in and make your custom methods available for them.

After I went through the tutorial in the QuickTest 9.5 documentation, I jumped into creating a Web add-in for a simple DIV in the product I am testing. I called the extension auLogin and the object auLoginForm. The first method I added was SubmitLogin. All it does is click the Login button. This seemed to be an unambitious task, but it proved more difficult than I counted on because I didn't learn as much as I thought through the tutorial. It is also something much easier done with the single line Browser().Link("html id:=Submit1_a").click, but this exercise is about learning, not being efficient.
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I managed to get my hands on a copy of Quicktest Pro 9.5, and it appears to not be as big of a change as I expected. At least the portions of QTP that I use are mostly unchanged. It looks like most of the updates happened in the area of Object Repository and various n00b features.

The first thing that struck me as soon as I saw the default font is that HP doesn't consider QTP a tool for programmers. Rule number one for every IDE should be that nobody wants a proportional font. At least it only took about 15 seconds to change the font to Consolas.
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