Using Environment Variables in Automated Tests

Applies to TestComplete 15.10, last modified on December 15, 2021
Information in this topic applies to desktop applications only.

Environment variables store information that can be used by different applications in Windows. Some environment variables store Windows system paths, such as the Program Files folder, Windows folder, user profile folder and so on. These paths can be different on different computers and in different versions of Windows. If you need to use system paths in your automated tests, you can evaluate the corresponding environment variables instead of hard-coding the paths.

On 64-bit systems, the WOW64 subsystem may redirect paths to some system directories and libraries when working with 32-bit applications. If you experience problems when using environment variables, use strict values to avoid redirection.

Getting Environment Variable Values

To get an environment variable value on the current computer, use the aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable method:

JavaScript, JScript

// Get user profile path
Log.Message(aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable("USERPROFILE"));

Python

# Get user profile path
Log.Message(aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable("USERPROFILE"))

VBScript

' Get user profile path
Call Log.Message(aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable("USERPROFILE"))

DelphiScript

// Get user profile path
Log.Message(aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable('USERPROFILE'));

C++Script, C#Script

// Get user profile path
Log["Message"](aqEnvironment["GetEnvironmentVariable"]("USERPROFILE"));

To get an environment variable value from a remote computer, use the WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable method:

JavaScript, JScript

WMI.ConnectToComputer("computername", "DOMAIN\\User", "password");
Log.Message(WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR"));

Python

WMI.ConnectToComputer("computername", "DOMAIN\\User", "password")
Log.Message(WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR"))

VBScript

Call WMI.ConnectToComputer("computername", "DOMAIN\User", "password")
Call Log.Message(WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR"))

DelphiScript

WMI.ConnectToComputer('computername', 'DOMAIN\User', 'password');
Log.Message(WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable("WINDIR"));

C++Script, C#Script

WMI["ConnectToComputer"]("computername", "DOMAIN\\User", "password");
Log["Message"](WMI["GetEnvironmentVariable"]("WINDIR"));

Note: WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable returns the local variable if you do not specify the computer to connect to.

In keyword tests, you can use the aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable and WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable methods directly in operation parameters using the Code Expression mode:

Environment variables in keyword test operations

System vs User Variables

Windows has system environment variables and user environment variables. System variables apply to all users on the computer, while user variables are only for the currently logged on user.

If you have a system variable and a user variable with the same name:

  • To get the user variable, use aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable.

  • To get the system variable, use WMI.GetEnvironmentVariable.

TestComplete Constants for Environment Variables

TestComplete has built-in constants for some environment variables. Use these constants in your tests instead of getting the corresponding environment variables:

Environment Variable Description TestComplete Constant
COMPUTERNAME The computer name. Sys.HostName
NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS The number of processors installed on the computer. Sys.CPUCount
SystemRoot, WINDIR The path to the Windows directory. Sys.OSInfo.WindowsDirectory
TEMP, TMP The user’s temporary directory. Sys.OSInfo.TempDirectory
USERDOMAIN The domain of the user account. Sys.DomainName
USERNAME The user name. Sys.UserName

Using Environment Variables in Tested Application Paths

TestComplete lets you use environment variables such as %PROGRAMFILES% to specify where your tested application is installed. For more information, see Using Variables in Tested Application Paths.

See Also

Advanced Tasks
Avoiding Computer-Specific Settings
Running Tests on Multiple Operating Systems
Using Variables in Tested Application Paths

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