7. Creating a Form

Script extensions can call user forms from scripts. We will do this to create the dialog the action will call. We added the ctcForm User Form item to our test project earlier. Configure this user form:

• In Project Explorer, double-click UserForms | ctcForm to open the user form for editing.

• In the Properties panel, enter the Copy Text to Clipboard string into the Caption property. This string is the dialog title.

• In the Components panel, click TcxMemo, and then click somewhere within the form to add the component. Set the following component properties in the Properties panel:

  • Assign the cmScriptText value to the Name property.

  • Click the ellipsis button of the Lines property and clear the property value in the ensuing dialog.

  • Expand the Properties property and assign ssBoth to the ScrollBars property.

• Select the Helpers category in the Components panel.

  Add the TObjectPicker component to the form. This component enables a user to choose an object on the screen and add an object name to the checkpoint code.

  In the Properties panel, assign ObjectPicker to the Name component property.

• Add the TcxLabel component from to the form. Place this component before the TObjectPicker on the form.

  Assign Pick object to the Caption property.

• Add the TBevel component to the form.

  Assign the bsBox value to the Shape property and assign 2 to the Height property.

• Select the Buttons category in the Components panel. Add a TcxButton component to the form. This button will act as the Copy button.

  Specify the following values for the button properties:

  Property	Value
  Name	cbCopy
  Caption	&Copy (the ampersand indicates the hot key)
  Default	True
  ModalResult	mrOK

• Add one more TcxButton to the form. This button will act as the Cancel button.

  Specify the following values for the button properties:

  Property	Value
  Name	cbCancel
  Caption	Cancel
  Cancel	True
  ModalResult	mrCancel

• Add the third TcxButton component to the form and assign the following values to its properties:

  Property	Value
  Name	cbHelp
  Caption	&Help

  This button will act as the Help button.

• Place and resize the components on the form so that the form looks like this:

  

Now we can create event handlers for the components. Let’s start with the OnClick event handler of the cbCopy button. This button will copy the code, which is displayed in the dialog, to the clipboard:

• Select the cbCopy component in the form and click Events in the Properties panel.

• Click the ellipsis button of the OnClick event. This will invoke the New Event Handler dialog.

• In the dialog:

  • Specify ctcForm_cbCopy_OnClick in the Test name box.

  • Select clcCode in the Test Containers list.

  • Click OK.

  

  TestComplete will create the specified routine in the clcCode unit and open it for editing.

• Enter the following code to the ctcForm_cbCopy_OnClick function.

  JScript

  JScript

  [clcCode.js]

  // Copy the text to the clipboard
  function ctcForm_cbCopy_OnClick(Sender)
  {
    Sys.Clipboard = UserForms.ctcForm.cmScriptText.Lines.Text;
  }

  As you can see, the code is trivial: we obtain the text that is displayed in the dialog and assign it to the Sys.Clipboard property (this will place the text in the clipboard).

Now we can create event handlers for other components:

• Switch to the form editor and select the ObjectPicker component in the form.

• Click the ellipsis button of the OnObjectPicked event.

• In the ensuing dialog, select clcCode in the Test Containers list, specify ctcForm_ObjectPicker_OnObjectPicked in the Test name box, and click OK.

  TestComplete will create a new routine and open it for editing.

• Enter the following code to the routine:

  JScript

  JScript

  [clcCode.js]

  // Add the name of the selected object to the Copy Text to Clipboard dialog
  function ctcForm_ObjectPicker_OnObjectPicked(Sender)
  {
    var lines;
  
    lines = UserForms.ctcForm.cmScriptText.Lines;
    lines.Text += "\r\n";
    lines.Text += UserForms.ctcForm.ObjectPicker.PickedObjectName;
  }

  This routine will be called after a user selects an object with the TObjectPicker component. The routine obtains a reference to the Text property of the cmScriptText component (that is, it obtains the text displayed in the dialog), and then adds the name of the selected object to the text.

Similarly, you can create code for the OnClick event of the cbHelp button:

• Select the cbHelp button in the form.

• Create the event handling routine for the OnClick event. Name the routine ctcForm_cbHelp_OnClick and add it to the clcCode unit.

• Use the following code for the routine:

  JScript

  JScript

  [clcCode.js]

  // Show Help
  function ctcForm_cbHelp_OnClick(Sender)
  {
    Help.ShowContext("ActionsExtension.chm", 6003);
  }

  This code will be executed when a user clicks the Help button of the form. It will open the help file that contains information about the form.

  We will not create the ActionsExtension.chm help file in this tutorial. We will copy it from an existing script extension:

  • Open Windows Explorer and go to the <TestComplete>\Bin\Extensions\ScriptExtensions folder.
  • Copy the AQAScriptExtensions.chm file and paste it in the C:\My Extensions\ActionsExtension folder.
  • Rename the file to ActionsExtension.chm.

  Note that the help file name must not contain spaces. Also, the name of the .chm help file must coincide with the name of the script extension .tcx file for TestComplete to install the script extension correctly.

  For detailed information on calling help topics from script extension user forms, see Calling Help for Script Extensions.

To use the created form in script extensions, save the form in a special format:

• Open the form editor and right-click somewhere within the form.

• Select Export to File from the context menu. This will invoke the standard Save File dialog.

• Save the form under the ctcForm.aqfrm name to the C:\My Extensions\ActionsExtension folder.