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Ranorex with Realtime system

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 10:09 am
by elyanivson
Hi All,
I have a RealTime system which basically developed with several platforms.
-Database--> SQL Server
-MFC (C++) and Flash.

should the Ranorex work well on this kind of application in general?
Thanks.

Yaniv

Re: Ranorex with Realtime system

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:31 pm
by krstcs
Ranorex works well with all of those technologies.

A lot of the problems that people have with Ranorex and any given technology are related to implementation on the developer's side of things. If the developers don't include accessibility identifiers then Ranorex will have a hard time with any technology.

Also, by "Realtime" do you mean an actual realtime software system such as aircraft control systems? Or do you mean a near-realtime system such as constant-update webpage?

If you mean the first, I would highly recommend using much more than Ranorex to do your testing, since realtime systems usually have people's lives depending on them. :D

Re: Ranorex with Realtime system

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:39 pm
by elyanivson
I mean the First one. :)
what do you mean by saying "If the developers don't include accessibility identifiers"?
what is including accessibility identifiers? should developers do that usualy or just when they aware there should be automation test in this system\web?

Please, if you have any suggestion for something "bigger" than Ranorex, please send me a Private message. this would be much appreciated.
an email can be ok as well : [email protected]

Thanks for your time.

Re: Ranorex with Realtime system

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:22 pm
by krstcs
First, yes, developers SHOULD be adding accessibility features when they can, but they don't always do it. But, especially when there is going to be some type of automation, they should work with the automation developers (you in this case) to ensure that automation can be effective.

Most Windows-based software systems include mechanisms for accessibility, such as AutomationID properties. Ranorex uses these, primarily (among other things), to identify objects in the system under test (SUT).



Second, a web-based system is, by definition, "near real-time", not "real-time". A true real-time system will not be able to operate in real-time over the internet, or even a local-area-network, because of having to account for latency. Even over a local area network, "real-time" usually actually means "near real-time", again due to latency issues, even if you are using fiber. Switching, routing, packet-loss, etc., all make true "real-time" applications impossible over a packet switched network.

If you are testing a true "real-time" system, I would highly recommend doing manual testing, using an appropriate test-bed, because Ranorex may not even be able to validate in real-time correctly, depending on what you are validating. If you are just using Ranorex to automate input, you might be able to get it working, but it, again, would highly depend on the interface and system requirements/environment.

On top of that, I know of no real-time systems that use Flash/web-based software, even as a front-end, and especially not on Windows (Ranorex is Windows-based), because they do not update in true real-time. (My first test position was testing real-time flight systems on large USAF weapon systems, for what it's worth, but that was 15 years ago.) They usually need very specialized user-interfaces and highly complex (expensive) test-beds.

Re: Ranorex with Realtime system

Posted: Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:48 pm
by elyanivson
OK. Since you are very kind and providing aproffesional description I'll explain my problem.
So I understand that in our system it will be almost impossible to do automation test. I'll do my best to try it but according to you, it's going to be very difficult.

Doing manual test is something I'm doing with MTM and TFS for a while. The next testing generation requires QA that are also know how to create and deal automation tests. Currently I'm not doing that and actually never did. But, I want to. I might look for a new job in a year or two and then I would like to say that I also know to create automation tesys . which probably, again, will be very difficult to implement in my case. I'm 28 years old and I want to learn and a lot.
I'll be more than happy to have your suggestions .
Thanks for your time , again.