Engines - General Options

Applies to TestComplete 15.68, last modified on October 16, 2024

To call the Engines - General Options dialog, select Tools > Options from the main menu and then select Engines > General from the tree displayed on the left side of the resulting Options dialog.

You can change the following options:

  • Display members - Specifies which members of test objects will be displayed by such TestComplete subsystems and project items as the Object Browser, Name Mapping and Stores. The following options are available:

    • Display numbers in hexadecimal format - If this option is checked, TestComplete subsystems and project items display numbers in the hexadecimal format.

    • Show hidden members - Specifies whether TestComplete subsystems and project items, such as the Object Browser, Name Mapping and Stores, display private and protected properties of objects that reside in the application under test. If this option is disabled, the private and protected properties are not visible. See Access to Properties.

      The option also controls whether the Object Browser displays properties that are marked as hidden in the type library that describes the ActiveX object being explored.

  • Debug

    • Highlight execution point - If it is enabled, the Editor will highlight the script line or a keyword test’s operation that is to be run next.

    • Pause test execution on posting an error - Specifies whether TestComplete should switch into debug mode upon posting an error message to the test log. The script or keyword test is paused on the next code line or operation to be executed. After that you can use all the of the debugger’s abilities to find out the reason of the error. See Activating Debugger From Tests and Debugging Tests - Overview.

      The option is ignored if the  Enable Debugging item on the Debug toolbar is unchecked (in this case the debugger is off).

  • Object Naming

    • Auto-correct Afx/ATL window class names - The window class name is one of the parameters used to recognize windows in tested applications. The window class name that includes the Afx or ATL prefix that may change from one application run to another. If this option is enabled, TestComplete will automatically replace the dynamic part of the class name with * in recorded scripts, keyword tests, or checkpoints. This makes the recorded tests more stable.

      If the option is disabled, TestComplete will use the actual window class name.

    • Auto-correct window captions - Specifies whether TestComplete will use the asterisk wildcard (*) for certain window captions when recording script code, keyword tests or generating checkpoints. The window caption is one of the parameters used to recognize a particular window via the Process.Window, Window.Window, Process.WaitWindow or Window.WaitWindow method. If this option is enabled, TestComplete will automatically use the string “*” for window captions that include hyphens, the ":\" substring or characters whose code is 10 or 13. Captions that match these criteria are likely to change from one application run to another, so replacing them with an asterisk wildcard makes the created tests more resistant to changes in the application under test. If the option is disabled, TestComplete will use the actual window caption.

    • Use short names when possible

      This option is deprecated and is provided for backward compatibility only.

      This option affects the naming format of Open Applications’ objects when TestComplete generates or records a script code or records a keyword test, or creates a checkpoint. Typically, during recording TestComplete uses the object names as they are displayed in the Object Browser. Windows and controls of Open Applications are addressed with special methods like WinFormsObject, VBObject, SwingObject, VCLObject and others. TestComplete uses these special methods to avoid possible naming conflicts with properties and methods of parent objects. However, in some rare cases it is possible to name objects of Open Applications without using special methods and by just using their actual name. So, if this option is enabled, when possible, TestComplete will not use special methods to form object names. If the option is disabled, TestComplete uses special methods to address objects of Open Applications.

  • Windows Store Applications

    • Enable support for testing Windows Store applications (requires restart) - Available only if you run TestComplete under Windows 8.1 or later. If this option is enabled (by default), TestComplete supports testing of Windows Store applications.

      When you change this option, restart TestComplete for the change to come into effect.

      Note: With the Windows Store applications support enabled, TestComplete stops supporting several test features you may want to use:
      • Automating TestComplete via COM (to do this, you need to configure your application in a certain manner).

      • Running tests in Connected and Self-Testing Applications (the applications will not be able to connect to TestComplete).

      • You may also experience problems with various tools that launch TestComplete via COM or command line.

      For more information on testing Windows Store applications with TestComplete, see Testing Windows Store Applications.

  • Privacy

    • Send feature usage data to help improve TestComplete - Specifies whether you allow TestComplete to collect information about the product features you are using and send it to SmartBear. If you permit data collection, TestComplete will send feature usage data to our server every time you close TestComplete, or when an error occurs.

      The collected data contains information on product features only. It does not include passwords, logins and other sensitive values. SmartBear will not share this data with any third-parties.

      Information on feature usage will help us understand how our customers work with the product and how we can improve it.

See Also

TestComplete Options
Exploring Applications
Object Tree Models
Access to Properties

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