Network Suite Variables - Overview

Creating Network Suite Variables

Types of Network Suite Variables

Working With Network Suite Variables in Tests

Using Critical Sections When Changing Network Suite Variables

You create variables on the Variables page of the Network Suite editor:

• Right-click the NetworkSuite item in the Project Explorer and choose Edit | Variables from the context menu.

– or –

• Double-click the NetworkSuite item to open the NetworkSuite editor and switch to the Variables page.

You add variables whose value will be stored between network suite runs to the Persistent Variables section. You add variables whose value will be restored to their initial value after each network suite run to the Temporary Variables section.

Click Add Variable on the toolbar of the needed section.

– or –

Right-click within the needed section and then click New Item.

Specify the variable's name, type and description, as well as its default value and the current value (in the Local column, only for persistent variables). For detailed information on columns of the Variables page, see the page’s description.

Note: The variable name must conform to the naming rules of the scripting languages supported by TestComplete. The easiest way to do this is to follow a simple rule: a variable name must consist only of alphanumeric characters and it must start with a letter.

There are two types of network suite variables:

• Persistent network suite variables are stored between network suite runs.

• Temporary network suite variables are restored to their initial value when the network suite run is finished.

Network suite variables can take values of the following types:

• String - Can store strings and individual characters.

• Integer - Can store integers.

• Double - Can store floating-point numeric values.

• Boolean - Can store True or False.

Network suite variables cannot store values of the Object, Table and DBTable types.

You can use network suite variables in scripts and keyword tests.

To access network suite variables from scripts, use the construction NetworkSuite.Variables.variable_name.

The following code demonstrates how to work with network suite variables in scripts:

# Stores a value to the network suite variable
NetworkSuite.Variables.Var1 = 0

To assign a value to a network suite variable from a keyword test, use the Set Variable Value operation. To use a network suite variable as a parameter of a keyword test operation, in the Operation Parameters dialog, set the Variable mode for a parameter and select the network suite variable from the list.

TestComplete includes the OnNetVarChange event that fires when a network suite variable's value is changed. You can use it perform the needed actions when changing network suite variables.

You can also use the NetworkSuite.WaitForNetVarChange method to pause the test run until a variable gets the needed value.

All the projects that belong to a network suite share network suite variables.

It is quite possible that several projects may access the same variables at the same time. Multiple reading attempts do not cause problems, but changes made simultaneously may cause unexpected results.

Suppose you have two projects that change records in a database, and you have a network suite variable that stores a change counter. The variable is 0 before the network suite starts running. We expect the variable value will be 2 after we run both projects.

To change a variable, the test engine —

• Gets the variable value.

• Changes it.

• Saves the value to the variable.

If the changes made to the variable are not synchronized, and one of the projects reads the variable before another project changes it, the other project may overwrite the changes the project makes. As a result, the variable will store 1 instead of 2.

To work around the problem, synchronize the changes by using critical sections. This is a special instrument that is offered by the test engine to synchronize projects that participate in distributed testing. Critical sections are identified by their names and a project can “enter” or “exit” a section via the EnterCriticalSection and LeaveCriticalSection methods of the NetworkSuite object. Once a project enters a critical section, no project can enter it until that project exits it.

The common procedure of changing a variable value looks as follows:

1. Enter a critical section by calling the NetworkSuite.EnterCriticalSection method.

2. Change the variable (or work with it in the desired way). You can use a single scripting statement or keyword test operation to change the variable, or you can use several statements or operations.

3. Leave the critical section by calling the NetworkSuite.LeaveCriticalSection method.

To call the EnterCriticalSection and LeaveCriticalSection methods from within keyword tests, use the Run Code Snippet operation.

If two projects use a network suite variable as a counter, each of these projects may contain the following code that updates the variable value:

...
NetworkSuite.EnterCriticalSection("My Section")
NetworkSuite.Variables.MyVarCounter = NetworkSuite.Variables.MyVarCounter + 1
NetworkSuite.LeaveCriticalSection("My Section")
...

...
if NetworkSuite.EnterCriticalSection("MySect", 30000):
  NetworkSuite.Variables.MyVarCounter = NetworkSuite.Variables.MyVarCounter + 1
  NetworkSuite.LeaveCriticalSection("MySect")
else:
  Log.Error("Timeout has elapsed.");
...

We highly recommend that you use critical sections to change the values of network suite variables. This will help you avoid possible problems caused by incorrect variable values.