Tools learning for testing

Many times folks used to ask, what tools would be good for testing career. Used to advice to learn popular tools (mostly commercial tools) based on their coding skills and interest. But this scenario is changed in last few years. Testers should be ready to handle the automation based on business needs, rather than just toolsmiths. Also mindset change should be there, instead of sticking with just one tool and one scripting language

Read an article recently in this line and few excerpts..


It’s important to ask yourself, why do you want to learn about a specific tool or set of tools? They are an integral part of software testing, supporting what we do on a daily basis. However, having knowledge of a set of tools is less important than knowing when and where to use the right tool. An effective tester will also have the skill to know when and where to use the right tool because the problem requires it, not because the job market determines it desirable. Using the wrong tool at the wrong time can have adverse effects on your day-to-day work, potentially slowing you down, or worse, giving you biased or flat out false information. That’s not to say you shouldn’t explore new tools, but always remember:

Problem first, tools second
With this concept in mind, let’s explore different categories of tools. Some examples will be offered but they are by no means an exhaustive list. I encourage you to build up a toolbox or reference list of tools you have used in the past.

Original Article - What Tools Should I Learn?

Handling multi-dimensional array in vbscript

Was trying to build excel data provider, which can be used for Test Complete and QTP scripts. Created a VBScript to keep all excel contents into a multi-dimensional array.

Problem
Declared array with lower limits and then used ReDim to fix with right count. But I was able to retrieve the data only upto the initial array size.

Solution:
Tried different ways. Then declared array without any size as given in below code.

Code:

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------
' File     :   ExcelReadByArrays.vbs
' Author    :   PalaniSelvam Thillaiappan
' Purpose   :   To read the given sheet contents .
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------
'' Usage
'' cscript D:\MyCode\qtp_uft\ExcelReadByArrays.vbs 
'' test data: D:\MyCode\qtp_uft\testMyApp_1.xlsx
'******** Variables Declaration

Dim gsExcelFile, giStartRow, giStartCol, giEndRow, giEndCol, giSheetIndex
Dim gsLogFile
Dim arrExcelData() 'as all Rows data
'''Dim arrExcelData(5, 5) 'as all Rows data


giSheetIndex = 1
gsExcelFile = "D:\MyCode\qtp_uft\testMyApp_1.xlsx"


'' Working fine, but array size should be given properly
ExcelDataRead gsExcelFile, giSheetIndex, arrExcelData
PrintArrays arrExcelData

'--------------------------------------
' Method    :   ExcelDataRead
' Author    :   PalaniSelvam Thillaiappan
' Purpose   :   Read all the contents from Excel sheet and write into log file
' Parameters:   sExcelFile - String, contains the Excel file
'      :  iSheetIndex - Integer, Value for Sheet Index
'--------------------------------------
Sub ExcelDataRead(sExcelFile, iSheetIndex, ByRef arrExcel)
 Dim sExcelPath 'As Variant  'Excel file
 '********** Excel object declaration **********'
  ' Excel Application object
 Dim objExcel 'As Excel.Application
 Dim objXLWorkbooks 'As Excel.Workbooks
 Dim objXLWorkbook 'As Excel.Workbook

 Dim WorkSheetCount 'As Variant  'Work sheets count in a excel
 Dim CurrentWorkSheet 'As Excel.Worksheet    ' Current worksheet
 Dim objCells 'As Excel.Range
 Dim objCurrentCell 'As Variant
 Dim objFont 'As Variant

 ' Result contents
 Dim sCellText 'As Variant
 Dim sFontName 'As Variant
 Dim sFontStyle 'As Variant
 Dim iFontSize 'As Variant
 Dim iCellTextColorIndex 'As Variant
 Dim iCellInteriorColorIndex 'As Variant
 Dim sResult 'As Variant
 Dim sChartFile 'As String


 ' Row and Col integer variables
 Dim iUsedRowsCount 'As Integer
 Dim iUsedColsCount 'As Integer
 Dim iTop, iLeft 'As Integer
 Dim iRow 'As Integer     'Row item
 Dim iCol 'As Integer     'Col item
 Dim iCurRow 'As Integer
 Dim iCurCol 'As Integer
 Dim arrColList 'As Array - Column Name

 If (sExcelFile = "") Then
   sExcelPath = "D:\MyCode\qtp_uft\testMyApp_1.xlsx"
 Else
   sExcelPath = sExcelFile
 End If

 If (iSheetIndex = "") Then
  iSheetIndex = 2
 End If

 Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
 objExcel.Workbooks.Open sExcelPath, False, True

 On Error Resume Next

 WorkSheetCount = objExcel.Worksheets.Count

 Set objXLWorkbook = objExcel.ActiveWorkbook
 'objXLWorkbook.RunAutoMacros

 Set CurrentWorkSheet = objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(iSheetIndex) 'iSheetIndex worksheet

 iUsedRowsCount = CurrentWorkSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count
 iUsedColsCount = CurrentWorkSheet.UsedRange.Columns.Count
 iTop = CurrentWorkSheet.UsedRange.Row
 iLeft = CurrentWorkSheet.UsedRange.Column

 CurrentWorkSheet.UsedRange.Columns.AutoFit()
 ' Cells object
 CurrentWorkSheet.Cells.Activate
 
 ReDim Preserve arrExcel(iUsedRowsCount, iUsedColsCount)
    ''ReDim arrColList(iUsedColsCount)


 For iRow = iTop To iUsedRowsCount   '(iUsedRowsCount - 1)
 
   'Read All Columns
   For iCol = iLeft To iUsedColsCount  '(iUsedColsCount - 1)

     sResult = ""
     Set objCurrentCell = CurrentWorkSheet.Cells(iRow, iCol)
     sCellText = objCurrentCell.Text
     sResult = "Reading Cell {" & CStr(iRow) & ", " & CStr(iCol) & "}^" & sCellText & "^" 
     WScript.echo sResult
     Set objCurrentCell = Nothing
     arrExcel (iRow-1, iCol-1) = sCellText
   Next

 Next
  
 ' This will prevent Excel from prompting us to save the workbook.
 objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.Saved = True
 Set CurrentWorkSheet = Nothing

 'objExcel.Worksbooks.Close
 objExcel.Quit

 ''Set CurrentWorkSheet = Nothing
 Set objExcel = Nothing


 'MsgBox "Read Completed.", vbOKOnly, "Exec Over"
 Exit Sub

 ErrorHandler1:
 'MsgBox "Error # " & CStr(Err.Number) & " " & Err.Description
 'Err.Clear   ' Clear the error.

End Sub

'' To display given array
Sub PrintArrays( arrList)
'' To Print all list items
Dim aValue      'array item ==> dictionary
Dim aItem       'dictionaly item ==> key-pair value
Dim iRow
Dim iCol


     WScript.echo "Array Rows Count: ",UBound (arrList, 1)  '' First Array
     WScript.echo "Array Columns Count: ",UBound (arrList, 2) ''Second Array


    For iRow =LBound(arrList) to UBound (arrList)-1

       For iCol=LBound(arrList,2) to UBound (arrList,2)-1
         aValue = arrList(iRow, iCol)

         WScript.echo iRow, iCol, " Value:", aValue

        Next

    Next


End Sub