Overview of QuickTest Professional and its features

Mercury Interactive's QuickTest Professional (QTP) is a very sophisticated testing tool for carrying out functional/regression testing of a variety of applications and very easy to learn and use. Learning QTP becomes easy if you already know WinRunner. QTP is much more powerful and one can migrate to it very easily.
It is used to generate various test cases and run them automatically. Its important features are :
- It has the record/replay provision to record the user interactions with the application software. You can record your keyboard entries and mouse clicks of the application GUI. QTP automatically generates the test script. Test script can be run repeatedly for regression testing of your application.
- This testing tool has a recovery manager and in case the application halts due to an error, it will automatically recover and this is very useful for unattended testing.
- QTP provides checkpoints option.
- It uses VB script as the scripting language and its syntax is very similar to Visual Basic, hence learning this scripting language is very easy.
- It provides a facility for synchronization of test cases.
- Its auto-documentation feature provides the feature for creating test documentation.
- Test report data is stored in documented XML format. This facilitates transferring the report data to another third party tool or into HTML web page.
- It supports Unicode and hence you can test applications written for any of the world languages.
- USing special add-in modules, QTP can be used for testing a variety of applications such as :

ERP/CRM packages such as SAP, Siebel, PeopleSoft, Oracle.
.NET WebForms, WinForms, .Net Controls.
.Web service applications and protocols including XML, SOAP, WSDL, J2EE and .NET.
Multimedia applications such as RealAudio/Video and Flash.

Test Director : Important Features and Capabilities of test management tools

To deliver quality product, the testing process has to be managed efficiently. Testing management tools are very useful in such situations. Mercury Interactive's TestDirector is an excellent tool for managing the testing process efficiently. It is a web-based tool so it is very easy to use. Even if the development team and the testing team are located at different locations, the testing process can be managed very effectively.

Features of TestDirector
- A web-based tool and hence it facilitates distributed testing.
- As testing the software is linked to the requirements of the software, it provides the feature of linking the software requirements to the testing plan.
- It provides the features to document the testing procedures.
- It provides the feature of scheduling the manual and automated tests and the testing can be done during nighttimes or when system load is less.
- Keeps the history of all test runs.
- The audit trail feature allows keeping track of changes in the tests and test runs.
- It provides the feature of creating different users with different privileges.
- It keeps a log of all defects found and the status of each bug can be changed by authorized persons only.
- It provides the features of setting groups of machines to carry out testing.
- It generates test reports and analysis for the QA manager to decide when the software can be released in market.

What is WinRunner and what are its important aspects ?

Mercury Interactive's WinRunner is a testing tool to do functional/regression testing. Using WinRunner, GUI operations can be recorded. While recording, WinRunner automatically creates a test script. This test script can be run automatically later on for carrying an unattended testing.
Important features of WinRunner are :
- Functional/Regression testing of a variety of application software written in programming languages such as PowerBuilder, Visual Basic, C/C++, and Java can be done.
- Testing of ERP/CRM software packages can also be carried using WinRunner.
- Testing in all flavors of Windows operating systems and different browser environments such as Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator can be done.
- GUI operations can be recorded in the record mode. WinRunner automatically creates a test script. This test can be modified if required and can be executed later on in unattended mode.
- Checkpoints can be added to compare actual and expected results. The checkpoints can be GUI checkpoints, bitmap checkpoints and web links.
- Facility for synchronization of test cases is provided.
- Data Driver Wizard provides the facility to convert a recorded test into a data driven test.
- Database checkpoints are used to verify data in a database during automated testing.
- The Virtual Object Wizard of WinRunner is used to teach WinRunner to recognize, record, and replay custom objects.
- The reporting tools provide the facility to generate automatically the test reports and analyze the defects.
- WinRunner can be integrated with the testing management tool TestDirector to automate many of the activities in the testing process.