Since the early 1990s XML files have been widely used for data transfer between application modules and even between different systems. An XML file may contain, for instance, the results of a billing record for a cellular phone customer. In such a case, it may be of high value to be able to have preset expected results and be able to compare actual XML files with these.
Proceed with the following steps:
- From the UFT menu navigate to Design | Checkpoint | XML Checkpoint (From Resource), which will open the dialog by the same title:
- Click on the Browse button and select a file from the Open XML File dialog. In our example, we will be using a sample XML given by Microsoft with the following contents:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <catalog> <book id="bk101"> <author>Gambardella, Matthew</author> <title>XML Developer's Guide</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>44.95</price> <publish_date>2000-10-01</publish_date> <description>An in-depth look at creating applications with XML.</description> </book> <book id="bk102"> <author>Ralls, Kim</author> <title>Midnight Rain</title> <genre>Fantasy</genre> <price>5.95</price> <publish_date>2000-12-16</publish_date> <description>A former architect battles corporate zombies, an evil sorceress, and her own childhood to become queen of the world.</description> </book> <book id="bk103"> <author>Lucas, George</author> <title>The Force Awakens</title> <genre>Sci-Fi</genre> <price>11.78</price> <publish_date>2015-12-18</publish_date> <description> Set approximately 30 years after the defeat of the Empire and the demise of Darth Vader, the plot follows a trio of young leads, along with characters from the previous installments.</description> </book> <book id="bk104"> <author>Wright, Jonathon</author> <title>Experiences of Test Automation</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>25.95</price> <publish_date>2012-01-09</publish_date> <description>Software test automation has moved beyond a luxury to become a necessity. Applications and systems have grown ever larger and more complex, and manual testing simply cannot keep up.</description> </book> <book id="bk105"> <author>Crispin, Lisa</author> <title>Agile Testing: A Practical Guide</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>25.95</price> <publish_date>2008-12-30</publish_date> <description> Testing is a key component of agile development. The widespread adoption of agile methods has brought the need for effective testing.</description> </book> <book id="bk106"> <author>Graham, Dorothy</author> <title>Software Test Automation</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>14.95</price> <publish_date>1999-05-28</publish_date> <description> This book describes how to build and implement an automated testing regime for software development. It presents a detailed account of the principles of automated testing.</description> </book> <book id="bk107"> <author>Hendrickson, Elisabeth</author> <title>Explore It!</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>14.95</price> <publish_date>2013-03-03</publish_date> <description> Uncover surprises, risks, and potentially serious bugs with exploratory testing. Rather than designing all tests in advance, explorers design and execute small, rapid experiments.</description> </book> <book id="bk108"> <author>Adzic, Gojko</author> <title>Specification by Example</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>24.95</price> <publish_date>2011-05-06</publish_date> <description> Specification by Example is an emerging practice for creating software based on realistic examples, bridging the communication gap between business stakeholders and the dev teams building the software.</description> </book> <book id="bk109"> <author>Whittaker, James</author> <title>How Google Tests Software</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>16.95</price> <publish_date>2012-03-23</publish_date> <description> Do you need to get it right, too? Then, learn from Google.</description> </book> <book id="bk110"> <author>O'Brien, Tim</author> <title>Microsoft .NET: The Programming Bible</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>36.95</price> <publish_date>2000-12-09</publish_date> <description>Microsoft's .NET initiative is explored in detail in this deep programmer reference.</description> </book> <book id="bk111"> <author>O'Brien, Tim</author> <title>MSXML3: A Comprehensive Guide</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>36.95</price> <publish_date>2000-12-01</publish_date> <description>The Microsoft MSXML3 parser is covered in detail, with attention to XML DOM interfaces, XSLT processing, SAX and more.</description> </book> <book id="bk112"> <author>Galos, Mike</author> <title>Visual Studio 7: A Comprehensive Guide</title> <genre>Computer</genre> <price>49.95</price> <publish_date>2001-04-16</publish_date> <description>Microsoft Visual Studio 7 is explored in depth, looking at how Visual Basic, Visual C++, C#, and ASP+ are integrated into a comprehensive development environment.</description> </book> </catalog> - At the end, click on OK. The XML Checkpoint Properties dialog will appear, as shown:
Now, for each node we will be able to define whether we wish to:
- Check the number of attributes it has (if any).
- Check the number of child elements.
- Limit our verification to a particular type of child (relevant when more than a single type is present). In our example, under the catalog root node, we only have book nodes so it does not make any difference.
When traversing the hierarchy we can view the specific values of nodes, as shown:
We can also click on the Activate Schema Validation button to validate the integrity of the XML document with regards to a schema (XSD), either referenced in the document or an external one:
In case our, XML is expected to be based on such a schema, this would give us a comprehensive checkpoint, which not only verifies the contents of the XML document but also its structure.
- At the end of the definitions, we click on OK, and the following statement is inserted in
Action:XMLFile("catalog.xml").Check CheckPoint("catalog.xml")In addition, our Object Repository now includes
XMLFileas TO and aCheckPointobject ofXMLFile. TheXMLFileTO carries a single description property, that is, its filename, which stores its path. Of course, as with other TOs, it is possible to parameterize this property. In a similar fashion, as with theDbTablecheckpoint, theCheckPointobject ofXMLFilewill have the properties as we defined in the XML Checkpoint Properties dialog previously.
When invoking the Check method of XMLFile with the XML CheckPoint object, the target file is opened and checked against the data stored as expected results. Running the command yields a results report, as follows (here we have deliberately changed one value in the XML file to make the checkpoint fail):
If prompted to allow ActiveX Add-In, then approve in order to see Captured Data. Clicking on the View XML Checkpoint Results button in that pane will open a window titled XML Checkpoint Results:
We see that for each node there is a checkpoint summary giving details about the checks that were performed. As the tooltip shows, we can browse through our results very efficiently to drill-down and examine the failures. Clicking on the icon to find the next error will lead us to the node in which UFT found a discrepancy between the expected and actual data:
