A.: First, define the property collection to compare and save this collection using the Objects.Save method. The property collection will be added to the Stores | Objects project item. Then, you can change the object’s properties and call Objects.Compare to compare them with values you have saved. Below there is a sample routine. Note that you must compile your application as an Open one in order to have access to the object’s properties:

[VBScript]

Dim w, PropertyNames, CollectionName

Set w = Sys.Desktop.ActiveWindow
  ' Prepares the property list
PropertyNames = "Top Left Height Width"
  ' Sets the name of a property collection
CollectionName = "ActiveWindowProps"
  ' Saves values of properties specified in PropertyNames.
  ' Note that the Save method also has the fourth parameter
  ' that does not let you save certain properties.
Objects.Save w, CollectionName, PropertyNames
...
  ' Compares property values
If Not Objects.Compare(w, CollectionName) Then
  Log.Message "Properties have been changed."
End If

[JScript]

var w, PropertyNames, CollectionName;

w = Sys.Desktop.ActiveWindow();
  // Prepares the property list
PropertyNames = "Top Left Height Width";
  // Sets the name of the property collection
CollectionName = "ActiveWindowProps";
  // Saves values of properties specified in PropertyNames.
  // Note that the Save method also has the fourth parameter
  // that does not let you save certain properties.
Objects.Save(w, CollectionName, PropertyNames);
...
  // Compares property values
if (! Objects.Compare(w, CollectionName))
  Log.Message("Properties have been changed.");

[DelphiScript]

var 
  w, PropertyNames, CollectionName : OleVariant;
begin
  w := Sys.Desktop.ActiveWindow();
  // Prepares the property list
  PropertyNames := 'Top Left Height Width';
  // Sets the name of the property collection
  CollectionName := 'ActiveWindowProps';
  
  // Saves values of properties specified in PropertyNames.
  // Note that the Save method also has the fourth parameter
  // that does not let you save certain properties.
  Objects.Save(w, CollectionName, PropertyNames);

  ...
  // Compares property values
  if not Objects.Compare(w, CollectionName) then
    Log.Message('Properties have been changed.');
end;

[C++Script, C#Script]

var w, PropertyNames, CollectionName;
  
w = Sys["Desktop"]["ActiveWindow"]();
  // Prepares the property list
PropertyNames = "Top Left Height Width";
  // Sets the name of the property collection
CollectionName = "ActiveWindowProps";
  // Saves values of properties specified in PropertyNames.
  // Note that the Save method also has the fourth parameter
  // that does not let you save certain properties.
Objects["Save"](w, CollectionName, PropertyNames);
...
  // Compares property values
if (! Objects["Compare"](w, CollectionName) )
  Log["Message"]("Properties have been changed.");

A.: Yes. Scripts can save images using the Regions.AddPicture method. The saved image will be automatically added to the Regions collection of the Stores project item. To compare images, use the Regions.Compare method:

[VBScript]

Dim w1
Set w1 = p.Window("MyWindowClass", "MyWindowCaption", 1)
w1.Activate
Regions.AddPicture(w1, "MyAppWnd")
. . .
If Not Regions.Compare("MyAppWnd", w1) Then
  Log.Warning "The window " & w1.FullName & " was changed!"
End If

[JScript]

var w1 = p.Window("MyWindowClass", "MyWindowCaption", 1);
w1.Activate();
Regions.AddPicture(w1, "MyAppWnd");
. . .
if (! Regions.Compare("MyAppWnd", w1) )
  Log.Warning ("The window " + w1.FullName + " was changed!");

[DelphiScript]

var w1 : OleVariant;
. . .
w1 := p.Window('MyWindowClass', 'MyWindowCaption', 1);
w1.Activate;
Regions.AddPicture(w1, 'MyAppWnd');
. . .
if not Regions.Compare('MyAppWnd', w1) then
  Log.Warning ('The window ' + w1.FullName + ' was changed!')

[C++Script, C#Script]

var w1 = p["Window"]("MyWindowClass", "MyWindowCaption", 1);
w1["Activate"]();
Regions["AddPicture"](w1, "MyAppWnd");
. . .
if (! Regions["Compare"]("MyAppWnd", w1) )
  Log["Warning"]("The window " + w1["FullName"] + " was changed!");

Note: If the TestComplete 3 Compatibility plug-in is installed, TestComplete emulates functionality of the earlier versions of the product and the Regions object contains methods and properties from TestComplete 3 and this new functionality is not available. In this case use the Regions.SaveToFile method instead of Regions.AddPicture.

See the "Comparing and Finding Images" help topic for more information.

A.: The Objects object can only save properties of simple types (integer, string, and so on), TestComplete’s engine works with TStrings via IDispatch, and thus, properties of the TStrings objects are not saved. For instance, if you need to save tree view items, Objects will not save you from writing the save and retrieve code yourself. The code below illustrates how you can save TreeView items. This example assumes that the application displays a form with a VCL TListView control on it, and this list view is passed to SaveItems as its first parameter. SaveItems first retrieves all treeview items and saves them as text under the filename specified as the last parameter. Next, SaveItems compares this file with another one (hard-coded) and reports directly to the Log whether the treeview contents have changed. Note that the application under test must be compiled as an Open Application. To start testing, run the MainTest procedure in TestComplete.

[DelphiScript]

procedure SaveItems(LV : OleVariant; FileName : string);
var
  i, j : Integer;
  s : string;
  F : TextFile;
  Node : OleVariant;
begin
  AssignFile(F,FileName);
  Rewrite(F);
  try
    for i := 0 to LV.Items.Count - 1 do
    begin
      Node := LV.Items.Item[i];
      s := Node.Caption;
      Log.Message(s);
      Writeln(F,s);
      { If you use PRegister to prepare the Open Application, 
      use the following line }
      for j := 0 to Node.SubItems.Count-1 do
        { If you work with the Debug Info Agent™,
        the TStrings.Count property is invisible 
        to TestComplete (see Debug Info Restrictions).
        You have to call the read method of
        the Count property directly.}
        for j := 0 to Node.SubItems.GetCount-1 do
        begin
          { If you use PRegister to prepare the Open Application, 
          use the following line. }
          s := Node.SubItems.Strings.Strings[j];
          { If you work with Debug Info Agent™,
          the TStrings.Strings property is invisible to TestComplete.
          You have to call its read method directly.}
          s := Node.SubItems.Strings.Get(j);
          Writeln(F,s);
        end;
        Writeln(F,'');
     end;
  finally
    CloseFile(F);
end;

// Compares two files
if not Files.Compare(FileName, 'ListViewContents.txt') then
  Log.Error('ListView has changed', '', pmHighest)
else
  Log.Message('OK', '', pmLower);
end;

procedure MainTest;
var
  p, w: OleVariant;
begin
  TestedApps.RunAll;
  p := Sys.Process('Project1');
  w := p.Form1;
  w.Activate;
  SaveItems(w.ListView1,'c:\Work\Test1.txt');
end; 

A.: The screen resolution should not affect image comparison results if the size of the windows remain the same (in pixels). That is, if the image size changes, there is nothing you can do in TestComplete to prevent the failure.

For color depth, the image comparison engine is able to perform automatic color conversion and compare images that have different color depths. However, sometimes the changes in color depth may cause Windows to draw objects differently. TestComplete cannot ignore these changes and the comparison fails.

To make sure the test works correctly, you can set the screen resolution and color depth from your script. Below is a sample script that demonstrates how to do this:

[VBScript]

Sub TestSetDisplay
  Call SetDisplay(800, 600, 32)
  MsgBox "SetDisplay(800, 600, 32)"
  Call SetDisplay(1024, 768, 32)
End Sub

' This function changes display settings:
' x, y - screen resolution
' d - color depth
Function SetDisplay(x, y, d)
  Dim dm, dwLastError

  SetDisplay = -1
  Set dm = Win32API.DEVMODE
  If (Win32API.EnumDisplaySettings(VarToInteger(0), -1, dm) <> 0) Then
    dm.dmPelsWidth = x
    dm.dmPelsHeight = y
    dm.dmBitsPerPel = d
    SetDisplay = Win32API.ChangeDisplaySettings(dm, 0)
  Else
    dwLastError = Win32API.GetLastError()
    Log.Error("Error code: " & dwLastError)
  End If
End Function

A.: Most likely you used the JPEG format. This format uses lossy compression to reduce the size of the original image, even if high compression quality is set. To avoid the problem we recommend that you use the BMP or PNG format instead of JPEG.

A.: Currently, there are no features for comparing Adobe PDF files. However, you can use one of the following solutions: