Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

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wcrockett
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Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by wcrockett » Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:39 pm

Hello all,

I placed Ranorex.Controls.dll, Ranorex.core.dll, Ranorex.Libs.dll, and Ranorex.ReportViewer.Exe in a folder on network storage and gave access to appropriate users.

I have set up file association for rxzlog files to open with this report viewer. When they open a report, a process spawns in their task manager, but nothing ever appears.

Has anyone ever experienced this? I need to give not QA people access to see reports, but I don't have licenses to spare for them to open a full fledged Ranorex to take a license.

Thank you,
Wes

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odklizec
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Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by odklizec » Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:36 pm

Hi Wes,

Have you tried to run the viewer exe? I mean instead of double clicking rxzlog file? I guess it will not start as well? Running exe files from network drives is always problematic. I believe you need to set some security things, disable uac, etc. There is plenty of topics on that subject discussed around the Internet. However, I think the easiest solution is to tell QA people to download all necessary report viewer files to their computers and run the viewer locally. Ideally, zip all necessary files or create a small setup file for them, so all they would have to do is to unzip the file or run setup.
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tvu
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Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:47 pm

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by tvu » Tue Feb 09, 2016 9:55 pm

I haven't tried your method. If you're only interested in distributing the reports then you can create HTML reports that can be viewed in any browser. Visually, they have the same format as the rxlog files.

These are the files that are required and can be found where the reports are generated:
  • 1. report.html
    2. report.html.data
    3. "report" directory that contains all the images for the reports
    4. RanorexReport5.css
    5. RanorexReport5.png
    6. RanorexReport5.xsl
If you put those 6 items in a directory then anyone can simply click on the HTML file and it will load correctly on a browser.

wcrockett
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by wcrockett » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:00 pm

I tried this, and would have preferred this, but I couldn't get it to work either.

The tests are being executed from Jenkins so I only see the report.html file go out. When opened, this shows:
"Data file (UCF_Data_Validation-15.html.data) or transformation file is missing."

Is there a way to get that to work through email?

Thanks,
Wes
tvu wrote:I haven't tried your method. If you're only interested in distributing the reports then you can create HTML reports that can be viewed in any browser. Visually, they have the same format as the rxlog files.

These are the files that are required and can be found where the reports are generated:
  • 1. report.html
    2. report.html.data
    3. "report" directory that contains all the images for the reports
    4. RanorexReport5.css
    5. RanorexReport5.png
    6. RanorexReport5.xsl
If you put those 6 items in a directory then anyone can simply click on the HTML file and it will load correctly on a browser.

wcrockett
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by wcrockett » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:08 pm

odklizec wrote:Hi Wes,

Have you tried to run the viewer exe? I mean instead of double clicking rxzlog file? I guess it will not start as well? Running exe files from network drives is always problematic. I believe you need to set some security things, disable uac, etc. There is plenty of topics on that subject discussed around the Internet. However, I think the easiest solution is to tell QA people to download all necessary report viewer files to their computers and run the viewer locally. Ideally, zip all necessary files or create a small setup file for them, so all they would have to do is to unzip the file or run setup.
Yes. On my computer, it pops up with a prompt to open a file... on others, though, nothing happens but a process spawns in task manager.

I have tried both having all files local as well as on the network drive.

tvu
Posts: 195
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:47 pm

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by tvu » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:15 pm

I do this on Jenkins and have the following parameter set:

Code: Select all

/rf:"%WORKSPACE%\%BUILD_NUMBER%\Report-Build-%BUILD_NUMBER%.html" 
That will produce all the necessary files and put it in the build workspace so that you can view from Jenkins.

I am running Jenkins 1.617. When I upgraded, I got your error because of Jenkins enhanced security. I was able to find the exact Jenkins update that was causing the issue previously, but I can't find it right now from the quick search I just performed.

wcrockett
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Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by wcrockett » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:23 pm

I should mention that the people getting this particular set of reports are not QA/Dev folks. I took an INCREDIBLY manual workflow and built an automated process around it. The reports are sent to business stakeholders. For this reason, and for the reason of only having one premium and one runtime license, I cannot install Ranorex on their machines.

tvu
Posts: 195
Joined: Tue Apr 07, 2015 10:47 pm

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by tvu » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:24 pm

They do not need a license to view the HTML reports.

wcrockett
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:30 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by wcrockett » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:26 pm

tvu wrote:They do not need a license to view the HTML reports.
Right. I was just clarifying why I can't just install the client to others.

When you use that tag for the report ouput, does it email all those files, or how does that work?

-Wes

tvu
Posts: 195
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Re: Ranorex Report Viewer on any PC

Post by tvu » Tue Feb 09, 2016 10:33 pm

No, that parameter simply generates the report into the workspace for that Jenkins job/build. Any file placed in the build workspace will be listed on the Jenkins job webpage.

I use that in conjunction with the below blog topic to email reports out to the stakeholders.

http://www.ranorex.com/blog/make-your-r ... sing-xunit

You don't have to do that. You can generate the necessary URL from the default Jenkins environment/build variables and then email that out with a Jenkins email plugin.