TestComplete - Supported Third-Party Controls
TestComplete is able to work with controls on application forms via the application’s UI. TestComplete simulates user actions (mouse clicks, keyboard input and so on) and the tested application interprets those actions and responds to them. The drawback of this approach is that you cannot always know the control’s state and reaction, for instance, it is not easy to find out the initial state of a combo box.
That is why TestComplete has objects that simplify the handling of controls; they provide a scripting interface to the underlying controls and obtain internal properties or call control-specific methods. Using special objects for controls adds more capabilities for application testing and makes your scripts more readable. Most of the standard Windows controls have corresponding program objects in TestComplete.
However, many applications use custom components in their user interface and the interface and behavior of these components may significantly differ from the behavior of similar Win32 controls, or may not have Win32 analogues at all. One possible way to work with these controls is to compile the tested application as an Open Application and use the components’ internal methods and properties to perform the desired actions. For instance, TestComplete has access to internal objects, methods and properties of Java, .NET and WPF applications, so testers can use methods and properties of the applications' controls to perform the desired test operations. This approach, however, requires the tester to be familiar with the components methods, properties and fields.
TestComplete includes several plug-ins that provide “high level” support for popular components. The plug-ins introduce special methods, properties and objects, that can be used by the most inexperienced users and can easily simulate user actions over the third-party controls and retrieve data from them. Currently, TestComplete includes special support for the following components:
Borland
ComponentOne
Developer Express
Infragistics
Janus
Microsoft
Sun
Syncfusion
For more information on TestComplete and other Quality Assurance products from AutomatedQA, write to us at
sales@automatedqa.com.

