Comparison between SilkTest and QuickTest Professional

Two months back, I thought to write a post about SilkTest and QTP comparison. Both the tools are market-leading testing tools. The latest versions of both tools have Vista and Flex support. I did not give any detailed description for each feature or item.

Product page
Here I have listed the product pages for both.
Silktest Product Page
Quick Test Professional Product page

Wiki pages
Silktest on Wiki
QuickTestProfessional (QTP) on Wiki

Code samples for both tools
Sample 4test code snippets for SilkTest
Sample QTP and VB Script code snippets

References:

1. SILKTEST AND WINRUNNER FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS - By Horwath/Green/Lawler


2. WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro Quick Comparison - By Shawn LoPorto, Senior Test Automation Architect


3. AUTOMATION TEST TOOLS - By Ray Robinson, 2001


4. Comparision of Web testing tools

Comparison Table: SilkTest Vs QuickTest Professional

Features	SilkTest	QuickTest Professional
Recording Script	Recorder available with different set of features.	Recorder available with different set of features.
OS	Windows upto Vista, Unix (SilkBean)	Windows upto Vista, Unix (Xrunner)
Browsers support	Internet Explorer, Netscape, FireFox, AOL	Internet Explorer, Netscape, FireFox, AOL
Database tests	With the help of DSN (ODBC32 Interface)	With the help of DSN (ODBC32 Interface) plus VB Scripting
Data functions	Good	Good. Having extensive support for SpreadSheet (Excel).
Tests	Termed as Testcase. Each Testcase has block of coding statements.	Termed as Actions. Each Action has block of coding statements.
Test Script	Script is a single file.	Actually Script is a folder and have set of supporting files.
Code View	Classic 4Test, Visual 4Test	Keyword View, Expert View
Objects Repository	Official term is Window declarations. They can be edited directly from the Editor.	Maintained as separate file. With the help of utility, objects are modified. Two types as per QTP setting. They are 'Per Action Repository' and 'Shared Repository'. File extensions will be varied for each type.
Dynamic objects	Object properties can be passed dynamically. Variety of methods available to handle them.	Object properties can be passed dynamically. Another term is known as Descriptive Programming.
Class Mapping	Class Mapping is available.	Class Mapping is available.
Custom Classes	RecorderClass and Extension Kit are available.	Virutal Object Wizards available.
Image testing	Bitmap Capture and Verification functions.	Bitmap Capture and Verification functions.
Test/Error Recovery	Powerful Recovery system available.	Recovery Manager
Verification	Provided Verify and Verify Properties functions.	Provided check points for different purposes.
Results Reporting	Results are stored into *.res binary files. It can be converted into differnt formats. Multiple versions can be stored into single file.	QTP results are stroed as XML files and can be converted to HTML files. Result folder contain many files. One result folder can store results for only one run.
Test Management Tool Integration	Integrated with SilkCentral Test Manager.	Integrated with Quality Center.
Distributed Testing	Remote Agent.	Having Remote COM Agent.
DLL support	Only Standard DLLs. It does not support the COM/ActiveX DLLs, which are created by VB/.NET.	Both COM and Standard DLLs are supported.
Java Support	Yes	Yes
Flex Support	Available to certain extent.	Available to certain extent.
DotNet Support	Yes	Yes
Internatioalization (i18N) Support	Yes	Yes
Timer functions	Having rich set of functions to calculate time taken for block of statements or testcases. Help: Timers	Having limited functions to calculate time taken for block of statements or actions. Help: Measuring Transactions
Environment support	Can access OS level variables.	Can access OS level variables.
Batch Run	Suite (*.s) and Test plan (*.pln) are available.	Test Batch Runner utility.
Coding	4Test Language.	Similar to Visual Basic
Ability to run multiple scripts consistantly and continuously.	Yes	Should run from Quality Center.
Coding Style	4Test Language. Similar to C++	Visual Basic Script
Integration with External libraries	NO	VB Script libraries.
Code Samples	Few samples from vendor.	Few samples from vendor. But many VB Script samples available on Internet.
OOPs Support	Yes. Oops concepts are supported for certain extent. User can extend standard classes.	NO
Data types	Set of data types are available. User can create their own data types also.	Set of data types are available. User cannot create their own data types
Interactive Debugging	Debugging features available.	Debugging steps available.
Ease of use	Just record and playback, won't help. Medium.	Record and playback used to help. Very Simple. Easy to learn.
Documentation	HLP file available. PDF docs are only for beginners.	Both CHM and PDF files are available. Enough info.
Tool Updates	Continuing process.	Continuing process.
Cost	~$9K	More than $10K
Script Templates	Manual. No Ways to create automatic templates.	Manual. No Ways to create automatic templates.
Editor	Good. Simple one. Having Project explorer similar to MS Visual Studio.	Better one with nice look. But using tabs to show more than one script.
Tool Support	Tool support is available for only latest versions (from silktest 8.0 )	Tool support is available for only latest versions.
Latest Version	Silktest 2008	QuickTest Professional 9.5
Strengths	Good Development language, good online community, recovery system, Good cross browser support, Code Maintenance	The most popular test tool by great user base, plenty of jobs, good online community, Good cross browser support.
Weaknesses	Helpdesk, Slightly expensive, Skilled resources	Helpdesk (Getting bad now), Expensive tool.
Vendor	Borland. Initially developed by Segue. Borland acquired Segue on 2006.	HP (Hewlett-Packard). Initially developed by Mercury Interactive. HP acquired Mercury on 2006.
Product Name Changes	Initially QA Partner. Later changed to SilkTest.	Initially Astra QuickTest. Later changed to QuickTest Professional.

Note:In case, if you want to add or modify any feature, please drop a mail to palani.selvam@gmail.com

Windows Vista Presentation

Last month, I have written a post about Free Training on Windows Vista . Now Microsoft made all those sessions download-able. Hope that It will be useful to you. You can download them from following links:

Login URL
Session 1: Optimize Windows Vista - By Sudhir Rao B
Session 2: Deploy Windows Vista - By Sudhir Rao B

QTP - Descriptive Programming

QuickTestProfessional help refers Descriptive Programming as Programmatic description. Below given few info about Descriptive Programming.

Using Object Repository
When you record an operation on an object, QuickTest adds the appropriate test object to the Object Repository. Once the object exists in the Object Repository, you can add statements in the Expert View to perform additional methods on that object. To add these statements, you usually enter the logical name of each of the objects in the object's hierarchy as the object description, and then add the appropriate method.

Descriptive Programming (Programmatic Description) Usage
Programmatic description can be very useful if you want to perform an operation on an object that is not stored in the Object Repository. You can also use programmatic descriptions in order to perform the same operation on several objects with certain identical properties, or in order to perform an operation on an object whose properties match a description that you determine dynamically during the test run.

There are two types of programmatic descriptions:

1. Static . You list the set of properties and values that describe the object directly in a VBScript statement.
2. Dynamic . You add a collection of properties and values to a Description object, and then enter the Description object name in the statement.

Using the Static type to enter programmatic descriptions directly into your statements may be easier for basic object description needs. However, in most cases, using the Dynamic type provides more power, efficiency, and flexibility.

Useful Links :
Descriptive Programming by QTP Expert Tarun Lalwani

Sample QTP code for Descriptive Programming - Dynamic

Sample QTP code for Descriptive Programming - Static

.opt files in Silk test

Definition for .opt file extension
Configuration file that contains preferences and options settings for a specific program; modified by the program when the user selects different options within the program.

OPT files are referenced by several programs including Borland Delphi and SilkTest, Microsoft Visual Studio, Symantec pcAnywhere, and Macrovision FLEXnet Manager.

Options Sets Usage in Silktest
Options sets save all current options except General Options. Options sets can be very useful when trying to use the same scripts on different operating systems. The primary differences between the two may be compiler constants.

You can use options set for following purposes.

1. To save and load the Silktest Project settings


2. Run a plan file for particular settings


3. Specify your options set file, while running from command prompt

See a sample batch file to run the scripts by using options set.
Silktest - Run script in different browsers

SilkTest - End of Life information

Earlier Borland announced end of support for few of older versions. I think, it is announced in the last month of 2006. I have given the URL below.

Updating Existing Automation to Eliminate Obsolete Specifiers

In version 8.0, SilkTest will discontinue support for certain platforms and application environments:

* Windows 95, NT4 6A, Windows 2000 SP 1,2,3
* IE 4 (SP2), IE 5.01, IE 5.5, IE 6 SP 0 a.k.a. Gold
* Netscape 4.x, 6.x
* PowerBuilder 6.5, 7, 8
* J2SE 1.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.0, 1.4.0, 1.4.1
* AOL 7, 8 and 8 Plus
* SilkTest’s VO extensions (see Note - Discontinuation of VO )
* JInitiator 

In general, SilkTest attempts to preserve backward compatibility. However, the discontinuation of support for VO extensions, leaving only one extension (the DOM extension) per browser version, made it desirable to streamline the list of browser specifiers in 4Test.inc. Additionally, 4Test.inc included several GUI specifiers that represented platforms that have not been supported for quite a few versions of SilkTest, so the list of GUI specifiers has also been trimmed. If your automation uses GUI or browser specifiers that have been eliminated, then you will need to modify it. The information presented below will describe the changes to the specifier lists and will aid you in updating your automation.

Silktest Info URL: http://www.segue.com/support/technical-support/silktest-end-of-life.asp

Silktest - Click HTML objects using JavaScript

I was facing a problem, to click a HtmlImage or HtmlCheckbox, which are non-visible objects in the web page. The scrollbars are not native scrollbars. Silktest is unable to click those objects.

I was reading through SilkTest help 'JavaScript: running with ExecMethod' and went through a Knowledge base article. They helped me to solve this problem. The "ExecMethod()" function runs a JavaScript method or property on an object within a webpage. This function can be used to simulate a mouse click on the form element. Following 4test statement, will simulate a mouse click on the Image object.

wImage.ExecMethod("click()")

Borland - SilkTest's KB Article: http://support.borland.com/kbshow.php?q=20434

4Test - Getting IP address

In automation, sometimes we need to find the tricks to achieve it. Like that I have done to find the IP address of a machine. You can see the following code snippet.

Silktest code - To find IP address of a system

[+] public String GetIpAddress(String sMachineName)
[ ] //To get IP Address for the particular machine in Network
[ ] List of String lsOutput
[ ] String sCommand
[ ] String sTemp, sItem
[ ] String sResult = NULL
[ ] Boolean bResult = FALSE
[ ] Integer iPos1, iPos2
[ ]
[ ] sCommand = "ping -a {sMachineName}"
[ ] Sys_Execute (sCommand,lsOutput)
[ ]
[ ] //ListPrint (lsOutput)
[-] for each sItem in lsOutput
[-] if (MatchStr("*pinging*", sItem))
[ ] bResult = TRUE
[ ] break
[ ]
[-] if (bResult)
[ ] iPos1 = StrPos ("[", sItem)
[ ] iPos2 = StrPos ("]", sItem)
[-] if ((iPos1 > 0) && (iPos2 > 0))
[ ] sResult = SubStr(sItem,iPos1+1, iPos2-iPos1-1)
[ ] Print ("Found IP Address: {sResult}")
[ ] return sResult

Tool Comparison - Silktest Versus VisualTest

You will not get the difference between Silktest and VisualTest in the web. Thats why I thought to update it. See the comparison below.

Features	SilkTest	VisualTest
OS	Windows, Unix	Windows
Browsers	Internet Explorer, Netscape, FireFox	Only Internet Explorer
Recorder	Mouse Clicks and Context Sensitive	Only Mouse Clicks and Keyboard Events
Installation	Simple	Easy
Debugging	Good	Fair
Verification	Recorder and code can be used	Needs to write lot of code
Results	Results are stored into *.res files. It can be converted into differnt formats	Suite Manager has the flexibility. Otherwise will output to View Port.
Batch Run	Suite (*.s) and Test plan (*.pln) are available.	Suite Manager is available.
DLL support	Only Standard DLLs. It does not support the DLLs, which are created by VB	Supporting Standard and COM Dlls
Java Support	Supports all Java components	Support for only AWT package
Internatioalization	Support is available	No
Documentation	HLP file available. PDF docs are only for beginners.	Only HLP file available. Adequate.
Distributed Testing	4test scripts can be run in multiple systems from single machine.	Not Known
Tool Support	Tool support is available for only latest versions (from silktest 8.0 )	No
Updates	Continue process. Latest version is Silktest 2008	Product updates were stopped seven years ago (from Version 6.5 )
Cost	~$9000 + Support cost	Less than $1000
Script Templates	Manual	Automatic Templates
Editor	Better One	Good
Coding	4Test Language.	Similar to Visual Basic

VisualTest - Functions by web Tag

Visual Test has the flexibility to click the web objects by the tag. Even you can verify whether the tag exists or not in the web page. Below I've given code snippets to use tag related functions.

VisualTest code : Click based on the given tag details.

'-------------------
' Method : WebClickTag
' Author : T.Palani Selvam
' Purpose :   Click based on the given tag. It is useful to nonform tags.
' Parameters: sContext - String, contains web context value.
'    sForm  - String, contains part of title.
'    sTag - String, contains tag data.
'    sTagType - String, type of tag to be processed.
' Returns :   Returns Integer, either TRUE or FALSE
' Caller : 
' Calls  : - Nil -
'-----------------------
Function WebClickTag (sContext As String, sForm As String, sTagType As String, sTag As String) AS Integer
WebClickTag = FALSE
If WebTagExists(sContext, sTag, sTagType) Then
WebTagClick(sContext, sTag, sTagType)
LogWrite("Successfully Clicked tag: " + sTagType, 1)
WebClickTag = TRUE
Else  
LogWrite("Failure to Click tag: " + sTagType, 1)
End IF

End Sub

Visual Test code: Check object exists based on the given tag

'---------------------
' Method : WebTagCheck
' Author : T.Palani Selvam
' Purpose :   Check objectexists based on the given tag. It is useful to nonform tags.
' Parameters: sContext - String, contains web context value.
'    sForm  - String, contains part of title.
'    sTag - String, contains tag data.
'    sTagType - String, type of tag to be processed.
' Returns :   Returns Integer, either TRUE or FALSE
' Caller : 
' Calls  : - Nil -
'---------------------
Function WebTagCheck (sContext As String, sForm As String, sTagType As String, sTag As String) AS Integer
WebTagCheck = FALSE
If WebTagExists(sContext, sTag, sTagType) Then
LogWrite("Successfully Checked tag: " + sTagType, 1)
WebTagCheck = TRUE
Else  
LogWrite("Failure to Click tag: " + sTagType, 1)
End IF

End Sub

VisualTest - Radio button functions

Last week, I interviewed one guy and he is using VisualTest in his company. I'm surprised. IBM - Rational VisualTest development was stopped about seven years ago and Still people are using the tool. Here I have given code snippet for Handling Radio buttons in the browser.

Sample VisualTest Code:

 
'--------------------------------
' Method : WebClickRadio
' Author : T.Palani Selvam
' Purpose :   Selects the Radio Button to the given value.
' Parameters: sContext - String, Contains web context
'    sForm - String, contains information about Form
'    sRadioButton - String, Contains name of control
'    sRadioValue - String, Contains value of control
' Returns :   Returns Integer, either TRUE or FALSE
' Caller : WebHandleClick(sContext, sForm, sElement ,sElementValue , sElementType)
' Calls  : - Nil -
'-----------------------------
Function WebClickRadio(sContext As String, sForm As String, sRadioButton As String,sRadioValue As String) As Integer
Dim iIndex as Integer, iCount As Integer
Dim sControl As String, sTemp As String
Dim lItem As Long, lState As Long

 WebClickRadio = FALSE
 If  (WebRadioExists(sContext,sForm,sRadioButton)) Then
  If (Instr(LCase(sRadioValue),"check") = 1 OR Instr(LCase(sRadioValue),"select") = 1) Then
   lState = SELECTED
  Else
   lState = NOTSELECTED
  End IF

  If (Instr(sRadioButton,"@") = 0) Then
   iCount = WebInputelementCount(sContext, sForm,"radio")
   For iIndex= 1 To iCount
    lItem = iIndex
    sControl = Str$(WebInputElementProperty(sContext,sForm, _ord(lItem), "radio", "name"))
    sTemp = Str$(WebInputElementProperty(sContext,sForm, _ord(lItem), "radio", "value"))
    
    Print sControl,sTemp

    If ((Instr(Lcase(sRadioButton),lcase(sControl)) <> 0) AND (Lcase(Trim(sRadioValue)) = lcase(sTemp))) Then
     WebRadioSetState(sContext, sForm, _ord(lItem), lState)
     'WebInputElementSetState(sContext,sForm, _ord(lItem), "radio", SELECTED)
     WebClickRadio = TRUE
     LogWrite("Successfully set the state for radio button " + sRadioButton, 1) 
     Exit Function
    End IF
   Next iIndex
   LogWrite("Failure to set the state for radio button " + sRadioButton, 1) 
  Else
   WebRadioSetState(sContext, sForm,sRadioButton, lState)   
   WebClickRadio = TRUE
   LogWrite("Successfully set the state for radio button " + sRadioButton, 1) 
  End IF
 Else
  LogWrite("Doesn't exist radio button " + sRadioButton, 1) 
 End IF
End Function

Sample Visual Test Code: Checks the selected Radio Button to the given value

 
'---------------------------
' Method : WebRadioCheck
' Author : T.Palani Selvam
' Purpose :   Checks the selected Radio Button to the given value.
' Parameters: sContext - String, Contains web context
'    sForm - String, contains information about Form
'    sRadioButton - String, Contains name of control
'    sRadioValue - String, Contains value of control
' Returns :   Returns Integer, either TRUE or FALSE
' Caller : WebHandleCheck(sContext, sForm, sElement ,sElementValue , sElementType)
' Calls  : - Nil -
'--------------------------
Function WebRadioCheck(sContext As String, sForm As String, sRadioButton As String,sRadioValue As String) As Integer
Dim iValue As Integer, iState AS Integer

 WebRadioCheck = FALSE
 If  (WebRadioExists(sContext,sForm,sRadioButton)) Then
  If (Instr(LCase(sRadioValue),"check") = 1 OR Instr(LCase(sRadioValue),"select") = 1) Then
   iState = SELECTED
  Else
   iState = NOTSELECTED
  End IF

  iValue = WebRadioState(sContext, sForm, sRadioButton)
  If  (iState = iValue) Then
   LogWrite("Successful to check Radio " +  sRadioButton,1)
   WebRadioCheck = TRUE
  Else
   LogWrite("Failure to check Radio " + sRadioButton ,1)
  End IF
 Else
  LogWrite("Doesn't exist radio button " + sRadioButton, 1)
 End IF

End Function

Silktest - Compilation Warning

We have one silktest suite, which was developed by using lower version of Silktest. Three years back, We ported that suite to Silktest 6.5. After that no changes are done in the script. While compiling the script in Silktest 7.1 and Silktest 2006, I was getting following warnings. Since it is working fine and Nobody tried to solve this warnings.

d:\scripts\myaut\includes\elementprops.inc(713) *** Warning: Function SelectExistingFormula is not defined for window ElementProperties.Formulas

I searched Silktest Help to see the compilation warning. No documentation about that. I searched in Google and got following results from different release notes.

silk8.0 (SilkTest 2006) ReleaseNotes
When using AutoComplete, the member list occasionally may reveal methods that are not valid for the 4Test class. The compiler will not catch these usage problems, but at Runtime the following exception will be raised when the script is played back:

*** Error: Function <invalid method> is not defined for <window class>.

silk2006 R2 ReleaseNotes
The MoveMouse() method is not defined for the Menu and MenuItem classes.

But None of them are useful. Then I tried each warning and corrected now.

SilkTest - Make sublist from a list

I have written a function to get sublist from a list of items. I have done for STRING type. You can try for ANYTYPE data type.Its usage is similar to SubString. See the following code snippet.

Silktest code sample: GetSubList

[+] public LIST OF STRING GetSubList(LIST OF STRING lsInput, STRING sFirst optional, STRING sLast optional, Boolean bMatch optional)
[ ] //To get String list between sFirst and sLast
[ ] //If sFirst is NULL or "", SubList will be taken from first item of list
[ ] //If sSecond is Null or "", SubList will be taken upto last item of list
[ ] //bMatch - FALSE means exact match, TRUE means Partial Match
[ ] Integer iCount, iItem
[ ] Boolean bFirst = FALSE
[ ] Boolean bLast = FALSE
[ ] LIST OF STRING lsReturn = {}
[ ]
[-] if (IsNull(bMatch))
[ ] bMatch = FALSE
[-] if (IsNull(sFirst) || (sFirst == ""))
[ ] bFirst = TRUE
[ ]
[ ] iCount = ListCount(lsInput)
[-] for iItem=1 to iCount
[-] if !(bFirst)
[-] if !(bMatch)
[-] if (sFirst == lsInput[iItem])
[ ] bFirst = TRUE
[ ] ListAppend(lsReturn,lsInput[iItem])
[-] else
[-] if (Len(sFirst) <= Len(lsInput[iItem]))
[-] if (MatchStr("*{sFirst}*",lsInput[iItem]))
[ ] bFirst = TRUE
[ ] ListAppend(lsReturn,lsInput[iItem])
[+] else
[-] if !(bLast)
[ ] ListAppend(lsReturn,lsInput[iItem])
[-] if !(IsNull(sLast))
[-] if !(bMatch)
[-] if (sLast == lsInput[iItem])
[ ] bLast = TRUE
[-] else
[-] if (MatchStr("*{sLast}*",lsInput[iItem]))
[ ] bLast = TRUE
[-] else
[ ] break  //Exit from for loop
[ ]
[ ] return lsReturn
[ ]

Unable to load IE (IE7) extension

Sometimes Silktest2006R2 is throwing following error.

*** Error: Unable to load extensions: Enabled extension(s) for iexplore.exe#7 not installed: ActiveX, Accessibility

But Internet Explorer7 exists on that system and earlier Silktest was working fine with IE7. Even restarting Silktest will not be helpful. I didn't try restarting machine.

Problem Cause:
Browser might be running for a long time. Silktest Agent initialization used to fail.

Solution:

1. Verify your default browser.
2. Create a new Silktest project and try to enable extension for IE7. Assume that successfully IE7 extension is set for the new project. Now open your old project and try to identify any browser object. IE7 extension will be enabled automatically.

Hope that it will be a useful tips.

QTP - Handling Dynamic objects

Most of the QTP (Quick Test Professional) users are using playback methods to develop the scripts. Here I have given a code snippet to handle dynamic objects. You can put the object physical description directly. You can develop the script with Object Repository.

Code: Login for Mercury Flight

Dialog("nativeclass:=#32770","text:=Login").Activate
Dialog("nativeclass:=#32770","text:=Login").WinEdit("nativeclass:=Edit","attached text:=Agent Name:").Set "tester1"
Dialog("nativeclass:=#32770","text:=Login").WinEdit("nativeclass:=Edit","attached text:=Password:").Set "mercury"
Call wait(2)
Dialog("nativeclass:=#32770","text:=Login").WinButton("nativeclass:=Button","text:=OK").Click

Code: Browser certification dialog

If Browser("name:=Certificate Error: Navigation Blocked").Page("title:=Certificate Error: Navigation Blocked").Exist(0) Then
' To DO
End If

Silktest - File Handling

Any automation suite must have file handling functions for various scenarios. It may be just text files or any data files. Silktest also has few methods for file handling.

SYS_FileOpen is executed by the Agent process and not by the SilkTest host process. But it is essentially the same as FileOpen. SYS_FileOpen and SYS_FileClose should be used to do file operations in other machines (while the agents are running from other machines ), not in the host machine. Below few 4test code samples are given.

4Test Sample Code: To Read a text file.

[+] public void ReadTxtFile(STRING sFile)
[ ] // Purpose:  Read contents of a file.
[ ] HFILE hFile
[ ] String sLine
[ ] 
[ ] hFile = FileOpen (sFile, FM_READ)
[ ] Print ("File: {sFile}")
[ ] 
[-] while (FileReadLine (hFile, sLine))
[ ] Print (sLine)
[ ] 
[ ] FileClose (hFile)
[ ] 

4Test Sample Code: To Create a text file.

[+] public void CreateTxtFile(STRING sFile, STRING sMsg)
[ ] // Purpose:  Create a txt file. All contents will be removed
[ ] //  from that file, if that file exists already.
[ ] HFILE hFile
[ ] String sLine
[ ] 
[ ] hFile = FileOpen (sFile, FM_WRITE)
[ ] FileWriteLine (hFile, sMsg)
[ ] FileClose (hFile)

SilkTest Sample Code: To append a text file.

[+] public void AppendTxtFile(STRING sFile, STRING sMsg)
[ ] // Purpose:  Create a txt file. Given string will be appended
[ ] //  from last line of the file, if that file exists already.
[ ] HFILE hFile
[ ] String sLine
[ ] 
[ ] hFile = FileOpen (sFile, FM_APPEND)
[ ] FileWriteLine (hFile, sMsg)
[ ] FileClose (hFile)
[ ] 

Silk Test Sample Code: To Delete a text file.

[-] void DeleteFile (String sFileName)
[ ] // To delete given file, if it exists
[-] if (Sys_FileExists(sFileName))
[ ] Print ("Existing file - {sFileName}")
[ ] Sys_RemoveFile (sFileName)
[ ] Sleep (0.1)
[-] if (Sys_FileExists(sFileName))
[ ] Print ("Could not delete file - {sFileName}")
[-] else
[ ] Print ("Deleted file - {sFileName}")
[-] else
[ ] Print ("File {sFileName} does not exist.")

Silktest Sample Code: To Separate filename and path.

[+] public void GetFileNameAndPath (String sFileWithPath, inout String sFileName null optional, inout String sFilePath null optional)
[ ] // Purpose: To separate filname and path.
[ ] String sTmpFile, sTmpPath, sTemp
[ ] Integer iPos,iCount = 0
[ ] 
[ ] sTemp = sFileWithPath
[ ] iPos = strPos ("\",sTemp, TRUE)
[-] if (iPos > 0)
[ ] sFileName = Substr (sTemp,iPos + 1)
[ ] sFilePath = Left (sTemp,iPos -1)
[-] else
[ ] Print (" File {sFileWithPath} does not  have File Separator")

Silktest - Difference between tag and identifier

Sometimes testers are confused with tag and identifier. Thats why, I prepared this post.

Identifier
Identifier is equal to a variable and it holds the object's reference. The Constraints, which is applicable for variable, is applicable for identifier also. You can not give special characters such as space, dollar etc into the identifier.
Testcases use the identifier to refer to an object. In Winrunner, it is referred as Logical Name.

tag
Tag is a string information, which contains the object details. Tag is the physical description of the object. SilkTest uses the tag to identify objects in the application under test when recording and when executing testcases. Testcases never use the tag to refer to an object. Tags are classified as tag and multitag.

Types of tags:

1. Caption


2. Prior text


3. Index


4. Window ID


5. Location


6. Attributes - only for HTML objects (Added from Silktest 2006).

More details: See the Silktest help for tag: definition

Silktest - No License errors

Sometimes silktest engineers may get error like "NO license for Silktest_GUI x.x". It will not work even if you re-install silkmeter and configuring licenses. At that time, you can check following Two things:

1. You can check your network. Sometimes network identification may go to wrong for silk meter server. We used to give the machine name and few machines are not getting license. At that time, you can not access the license server from that machine. It will work if you give IP address of license server.

2. Mostly lower version of Silktest can use higher version's license. In this case, you may need to restart silkmeter service or machine.