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Key TestFactory Concepts

1-3

The Application Map

One of the first tasks that you perform in a new TestFactory project is to map the
application-under-test (the AUT) using the Application Mapper. The Application
Mapper explores the AUT to produce a detailed, hierarchical application map

that

graphically depicts all of the controls in the user interface and the actions used to
exercise them. The application map models all possible states of the AUT and the
transitions between those states.

As it remaps new builds, the Application Mapper looks for, flags, and resolves
changes in the AUT. For information about application mapping and application
map components, see Chapter 4, Developing and Working with the Application Map.

The UI Library

The UI library is an archive that contains all classes and subclasses of objects that
commonly occur in the user interface of an application. When you open a project in
TestFactory for the first time, TestFactory builds the UI library and places it in the
UI Library folder. TestFactory uses the UI library to identify and reconcile objects
in the AUT interface during the mapping process. Controls identified in the AUT
are represented in the application map by user interface objects, or UI objects.

UI Objects

UI objects are the objects in the application map that represent the controls in the
user interface of the AUT. Each UI object is an instance of a UI object class in the
UI library. UI objects and their properties are described in Chapter 4, Developing and
Working with the Application Map.

Pilots and Automatic Script Generation

In TestFactory, you use Pilots to automatically generate scripts. A Pilot uses the
application map to build scripts that test the AUT. You can drop a Pilot at any
functional area of the application map. From there, the Pilot generates scripts that go
progressively deeper into the source code for the area of the AUT to which you give
it access.

After a script is generated, it is independent of the Pilot that generated it. You can
move or copy the script into a folder and include it in Test Suites. For information
about using Pilots to automatically generate scripts, see Chapter 5, Automatically
Generating Scripts. For information about Test Suites, see Test Suites on page 1-5.