thanks mbalent.
I got a demo of the AscentialTest product made by Zeenyx just the other day. I have not yet evaluated the trial. It looks to be a very nice product, but might be out of our price range.
I did find a few more leads and have listed with my findings below.
TestComplete [by Smart Bear] [this is the most promising so far]
This product is very similar to the ancient, pre-IBM version of Rational Robot [version 2003.06] that we have been using and need to replace for our migration to Windows 7. Here is a brief review of TestComplete.
It allows you to record steps into what are called Keyword Tests which can be played back. These Keyword Tests can be modified. A recording can also be created in a script mode which produces something similar to our old Rational Robot scripts.The script looks like Visual Basic. I had problems with playback of scenarios when I recorded as Script, but have yet to encounter any issues with scenarios recorded as Keyword tests. I am still evaluating. I am hoping to find a way to replicate existing Keyword Tests and then being able to edit, or better yet, loop and provide input parameters for each iteration. I will try to follow up with more details after my evaluationis done.
Below are some other products that I evaluated.
Ranorex Studio 5.3.0This one claims tobe PowerBuilder compatible, but my findings indicate there is a hitch. In order for Ranorex to identify objects on PowerBuilder DataWindows, they need to have their AccessibleName property set. For us, this was a show stopper since we have never populated this property and it would be too dangerous to try to update all of our DataWindows for this purpose. I tried recording without modifying the DataWindows and recorded some simple scenarios, but the playback had random gaps of missing activty. Therefore, I give this application a thumbs down at least if testing legacy applications. It might be nice if oneknew about the AccessibleName property during inital PowerBuilder application project creation.
Macro Express 3.1Pros: This tool recorded and played back scenarios successfully with our PowerBuilder application. It was fairly easy to use. The recorded macros get stored in text based files. Very affordable.
Cons: The Macro Script consists mainly of Mouse Movement events making it extremely difficult to edit recorded script because it is very difficult to tell where you are in the scenario. Might be good if you want quick tests that never need to be modified.
IBM Rational Functional Tester [not completely tested]
Pro: Claims to be PowerBuilder Compatible.
Con: I omnly tested this briefly on an old XP box. It appears to be memory intensive. Numerous times the application became unresponsive. Also, playback of recorded scripts had gaps of missing activity. I hope to evaluate this on a Windows 7 boxwith more memory. Jury still out onthis one.
AutoIt
Con: Determined that this product is not compatible with PowerBuilder application due to use of non-windows APIs by PowerBuilder.
Macro Scheduler 14Con: Looks like this one has the same problem as AutoIt. Recording looks great, but playback unable to display screens with PowerBuilder datawindows.
Selenium [not compatible]
Tools to automate web browsers across many platforms.
This is not a Windows application testing tool.
Unified Functional Testing [not evaluated yet]
Pros: supposed to be PwoerBuilder compatible.
History: Mercury Interactive was bought out by HP, which then discontinued the WinRunner product in favor of their QuickTest Pro product, which it modified to support the API as well. That product is now bundled together with other tools under the name Unified Functional Testing. Things are a bit better with regard to HP’s QuickTest Pro, as they added support for PowerBuilder 12.5 in May of 2012, approximately 6 months after PowerBuilder 12.5 was released.