About Running Manual Test Scripts

When you run a manual test script, you use the execution viewer to go through the statements one by one, check off steps as you complete them, and validate verification points and reporting points.

Note: By default, the execution viewer is 15% transparent so that you can see the application you are testing while the viewer is displayed. The % Transparent slider enables you to control how transparent the execution viewer is. Moving the slider to the left makes the execution viewer less transparent; moving it to the right makes it more transparent. A setting of 0 displays the execution viewer as a solid window. To establish the current setting as the default, double-click % Transparent. You can also adjust the degree of transparency in the Main Preferences page of the Preferences dialog box.

The window in the execution viewer displays a few lines of the script you are running. A light blue highlighting bar indicates the statement you are currently processing. As you complete one statement, the highlighting bar moves to the next statement in the script.

If you do not want to check every step off individually, but you do want to confirm each verification point and reporting point, you can accelerate your work by clicking the Skip to next Verification Point or Reporting Point button Skip to Next Verification Point or Reporting Point button. Manual Tester skips steps and moves the highlighting bar to the next verification point or reporting point in the script.

As you perform each step, you click Apply to indicate that the step is complete. Manual Tester inserts a small check mark Small check mark indicating step accomplished to the left of the step to indicate that it is done.

As you validate each verification point or reporting point, you select a result from the Result section of the execution viewer. The standard results are inconclusive, pass, fail, and error. You can create customized execution results in the Execution Results page of the Preferences dialog box. On the Execution Results page you can also choose whether results apply to steps.

Note: The tutorial Running a Manual Tester Script guides you through running a manual test script. To start the tutorial:
  1. From the Manual Tester menu, click Help > Tutorials Gallery.
  2. In the left pane of the Tutorials Gallery, expand Do and Learn.
  3. Click Running a Manual Tester Script.

If you are running the test and want to change the script, in the execution viewer menu click Run > Stop/Return to Script. Manual Tester displays a message asking if you want to save the test results. Click Yes to save the test log or click No to discard the test results. Manual Tester stops execution, closes the execution viewer, and redisplays the Manual Tester window.

You can also pause and resume running the manual test script. Pausing the script enables you to save the results in a paused test log and resume execution at a later time. See About Pausing and Resuming Manual Test Scripts for more information.

When running a script, you can compare text in the application that you copied to the clipboard to expected text that is associated with the statement. If a data available icon Data Available icon is displayed in the Result section, text that is expected to be in the application is associated with the statement and is available to compare with the text that is actually displayed in the application. For example, the data available icon is displayed in the upper right corner of the Result section to indicate that text is available with the current statement being executed:

Result section with data available icon

Manual Tester displays the expected text associated with a statement in the Compare Data property in the Properties view.

In the application, go to the appropriate field and copy the actual text to the clipboard (press Ctrl+C) and click the Compare copied text to expected text button Compare copied text to expected text button on the execution viewer toolbar. If the actual text and the expected text are the same, Manual Tester displays a message. If the expected text differs from the actual text in the application, Manual Tester displays the Text Difference dialog box.

Using a similar feature, you can also paste text that has been associated with a statement into the application you are testing to save time and typing and ensure accuracy. If the statement is a step and a data available icon Data Available icon is displayed in the Result section, text is associated with the statement and is available to paste into the application. Manual Tester displays the text that is associated with the step in the Paste Data property in the Properties view. Place the cursor in the appropriate field of the application you are testing and press Ctrl+V. Manual Tester pastes the text into the application at the cursor location.

You can make the execution viewer remain in view while you are interacting with the application you are testing. In the execution viewer menu, click Window > Always On Top.

You can enter comments about individual statements during execution by clicking the Execution comment button on the execution viewer toolbar. Manual Tester includes the comment in the Execution Comment property in the Properties view. You can also type short comments into the Execution Comment property.

When you finish processing statements in the script, you can save the results in a test log. By default, Manual Tester uses the name of the script with the extension .execution for the name of the test log file. You can export the test log file in a .csv file, which has comma-separated values.

Parent topic: Running Manual Test Scripts

Related concepts
About Viewing Results in the Log

Related tasks
Running a Manual Test Script
Customizing Results in the Execution Viewer
Entering Text into an Application
Verifying Text
Exporting Log Files

Related reference
Execution Viewer
Test Log
Properties View

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