Patterson Consulting - Function Manager

Function Manager

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Product Discontinued

Due to HP announcing the end-of-life for WinRunner®, we will no longer be selling this product. Our Test Design Studio product serves as a replacement.

Function Manager 2.0

for WinRunner®

Patterson Consulting's Function Manager is designed to easily browse, maintain, and document function libraries used with WinRunner®.

Specifications

Supported Operating Systems:	Windows NT, Windows 9x, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista
Minimum System Requirements:	Pentium II 400MHz, 64MB RAM
License Type:	Seat License
Pricing:	US$74.50 per seat; includes 1 year of maintenance; volume discounts available
Annual Maintenance Fees:	15% of total purchase price due annually for continued support

When developing WinRunner® scripts for a complex application, it is to your benefit to make extensive use of functions. Keeping those functions organized and documented can be very time-consuming. Why spend time maintaining documentation and searches for functions?

This tool is designed to help organize, document, and manage a collection of function libraries. By making efficient use of this tool, your can spend your time working on the issues that matter most.

You have the ability to view all the details about a function (i.e. scope, parameters, TSL code) as well as add additional information about each library, each function, and each parameter. The result is an interface with easy-to-access information on all of your functions. Once this information is collected, you can instantly generate documenation that outlines the information you have entered. This documentation includes TSL Code for the Function Generator and WinHelp Files integrated with the existing TSL Help File (click here for a sample WinHelp file created for the excellent function libraries written by Ferry Firmansjah). If any information about a function is changed or new functions are added, all your documentation can be immediately updated to reflect the new information.

The tool is more than a source for organization. It also includes a powerful, full-featured editor with syntax highlighting. The editor will resemble the one found in WinRunner, but includes additional features that WinRunner does not provide.

Key Features

Easy to Use and Highly Customizable IDE-like Interface

The application is designed like many popular IDE's (Integrated Development Environments), and focuses on being an editor for WinRunner libraries.

The application makes extensive use of docking panes to store various components. These panes can be hidden, floating, closed, or docked. You may also drag-and-drop the panes to different locations in the application. The end result is a user interface that can be customized to suit the needs of the individual user.

Menus and Toolbars provide a professional look-and-feel and can be customized to provide quick access to the commands you use most often.

The user can choose the visual theme that is used to draw various aspects of the application (menus, toolbars, docking panes, property grids). Themes include styles similar to Office 2003, Office XP, and others.

The collection explorer allows you to easily manage the various components of a Function Library Collection (Libraries, Categories, and Parameter Lists). Context- sensitive menus provide quick access to common commands for each element and the accompanying properties grid provides access to details about the item.

Find Any Function, Fast!

The Function Manager allows you to scan any location for all WinRunner scripts that have a function declaration within them. These libraries are then added to a collection which can be saved and restored. Every function from located libraries will be viewable and can optionally be grouped by library. With a few clicks of the mouse, the library for a given function will be loaded in the editor and the function declaration displayed!

View All Information About a Library

For any given library, you can view and update the information stored in the header for that script. This information includes: Name, Location, Author, Summary, Test Type, Description, Date Created, and Modified Date.

View All Information About a Function

The Function Manager derives all information about a function based on the declaration and makes this information available in a graphical format. This information includes: Name, Type (static, public, extern), and all information about parameters (mode, name, etc.).

Support for TestDirector®

The Function Manager seemlessly integrates with your TestDirector® projects to work with compiled modules that are stored in TestDirector®. Once the connection information is provided, Function Manager will automatically download the files for editing and upload any modifications. (Note: Requires TestDirector® 8.0 or higher)

Store Additional Details about Functions and Parameters!

The Function Manager gives you the ability to associate additional information to any function and its parameters. Some of these added details include:

associate a function with a category
provide a summary of a function
provide a detailed description of the function
create cross-references to other functions
include sample code for the use of a function
document the return values that a function might provide

You can also enter more detailed information for a function's parameters. Some of these added details include:

indicated the expected variable type (i.e. integer, string, boolean)
specify the method used in the Function Generator to enter the parameter (i.e. type_edit, point_object, select_list)
specify the default value to be used in the Function Generator
indicate if the parameter is optional
provide a summary of the parameter's purpose

Easily Create Function Generator TSL Code

Based on the additional information entered for a function and its parameters, TSL code will automatically be created to document all of this information in the Function Generator. Long lines (such as the function description) are automatically word-wrapped to fit within the visible portion of the Function Generator! All of your detailed information will be readily available. You can even store the Function Generator code within the function library to ensure that it is always loaded into the generator whenever the function is loaded! When you change information or update a function, just a few clicks of the mouse will keep all the information up-to-date.

Do you use the 'select_list' argument type for the Function Generator? If so, you know how time-consuming it can be to re-type the list data if the entries ever change. This gets even worse when more than one function uses the same values. The Function Manager allows you to create a list by name and then specify the values that are stored in the last. For any parameter that uses the 'select_list' argument type, you simply indicate the name of the list that it uses. When you need to change list information, you lookup the list by name and then alter the list entries. The next time you create your Function Generator code, all the new entries will automatically be updated for each function that uses the list!

Easily Document Your Functions with WinHelp Files

All of the information entered into the Function Manager can be used to generate WinHelp files that fully document your libraries. Functions are grouped by category or library to quickly locate the function of choice. Cross-referenced functions are also linked for easy access. If you choose, you can even integrate the WinHelp file with WinRunner's TSL Help File. This means you'll have context-sensitive lookup of your functions from within the WinRunner editor! A few click of the mouse keeps all your documentation up-to-date if your function information ever changes.

Click here for a sample WinHelp file created for the excellent function libraries written by Ferry Firmansjah.

Take Advantage of a Full-Featured, Integrated Editor

If you want to make quick changes to a library and do not have the WinRunner editor available, use the integrated editor! It features full syntax-highlighting to mimick the WinRunner editor and even provides features that the WinRunner editor does not. Some additional features of the editor include:

Up to four "split" views of the same edit buffer.
Select any function in the 'Available Functions List' for a library and the editor will jump to the line of code where the function is declared.
Highlight any brace character "[ ] { } ( )" and find the matching brace by pressing 'Ctrl+]'. This can help debug your code to ensure that your opening and closing braces are properly matched.
Place your cursor over any function name and you can instantly jump to the code where that function is declared (as long as that function is part of your current library collection). This can greatly reduce the time it takes to trace successive function calls.
Convert Spaces to Tabs, or Tabs to Spaces. If you have a series of spaces that were used to indent a block of code, you can easily convert those spaces to the equivalent number of tabs. This technique will also work backwards if you want to convert tabs to the equivalent number of spaces.

Of course, there are certain features of the WinRunner editor that cannot be replaced (such as the ability to run and debug a script). As long as WinRunner is open, you can easily send and receive information to and from any open script in the WinRunner editor. So if you have been editing a library in the Function Manager that you want to execute, you quickly transfer the code to WinRunner for execution. When you are ready to return to the editor in the Function Manager, just transfer the code back from WinRunner.

Import Data from Existing Function Generator TSL Code

You have probably already spent a lot of time documenting your function libraries with Function Generator TSL Code. The Function Manager will allow you to import all the information directly from your existing code!

Associate GUI Maps with your Libraries

Do your function libraries rely on GUI Maps? If so, you can create a reference to a GUI Map file and that file will automatically be loaded into the GUI Map each time the Function Library is loaded.