WinRunner vs.

QuickTest Pro
Overview Today Mercury has two functional testing tools WinRunner (WR) and QuickTest Professional (QTP). WinRunner has been around since about 1995 while QuickTest Pro has been available since about 2002. We have lots of companies asking us Whats the difference between WinRunner and QuickTest Pro? and If they are both functional testing tools from the same company, then which one of the tools should we use? This document was developed as a short simple reference in helping to understand the basics about the tools in order to answer these two questions. Mercurys position on the two tools is this: The strategic direction for Mercury and its customers for Functional Testing is product integration. The new releases of QTP and WR improve already existing integration where customers can leverage complete WinRunner assets (scripts/functions) from QuickTest Pro without any modification to these assets. QuickTest Pro 8 has recently been released and WinRunner version 8.0 is planned for November 2004. There are no plans to phase out WinRunner. QuickTest Pro remains Mercurys prime product for best customer satisfaction and experience. For customers who need both products, Mercury continues to offer Mercury Functional Testing as a combined package of both product offerings. The Business Process Testing system will be extended to incorporate components designed in WinRunner for the WinRunner 8.0 release in November.

Environment Coverage Comparison 1 Common environments shared by both WinRunner and QuickTest Pro: Web-Related Environments IE, Netscape, AOL JDK, Java Foundation Classes, AWT Symantec Visual Caf ActiveX Controls ERP/CRM Oracle: Jinitiator, 11i, NCA Custom Client Server Windows C++/C Visual Basic Operating Systems Windows 98, 2000, NT, ME, XP Legacy 3270, 5250 Emulators VT100 2 WinRunner Only Environments: Custom Client/Server PowerBuilder Forte Delphi Centura Stingray SmallTalk ERP/CRM Baan PeopleSoft Windows Siebel 5, 6 GUI Clients Oracle GUI Forms 3 QuickTest Pro Only Environments:

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 1 of 6

WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro

ERP/CRM SAP Siebel 7.x PeopleSoft 8.x WinForms WebForms .Net controls XML, HTTP WSDL, SOAP J2EE, .Net RealAudio/Video Flash

.Net

Web Services

Multimedia

Recommend We have been implementing Mercurys products since 1992 and have senior level expertise in WinRunner. We have been implementing WinRunner since the very first version of it. So like many existing WinRunner customers we have a huge knowledge investment in WinRunner ourselves. However we have worked on the Mercury development team on the QuickTest Pro 6.0 and 6.5 releases, and have solid realworld experience in implementing QuickTest Pro since the 6.0 release. We have found it to be a great tool to use and recommend it to all customers! Overall, we recommend using QuickTest Pro unless for some reason you have to use WinRunner due to an unsupported environment not existing in QuickTest Pro. Overall, QuickTest Pro is easier to use and implement for both technical and nontechnical testers in comparison to WinRunner. QTP offers many features that are found in WinRunner, but are easier to use. QTP also offers many features not found in WinRunner that make test script creation, enhancement and maintenance easier. Lets quickly discuss some key issues: The WinRunner interface forces the user to look directly at TSL code. TSL is the WinRunner programming language developed by Mercury. It is based on the C programming language and therefore looks very similar. For testers who do not have a technical background, they are not always comfortable with having to always look at code. However QuickTest Pro offers a Tree View which is an icon-based view of the script. This is very easy to get used to and non-technical people adapt to it quicker and feel more comfortable working with it. For the technical user, they can always switch over to the Expert View in QuickTest and look directly at code, and program away using VBScript. WinRunner uses TSL which is a proprietary language of Mercury. These types of languages can be very restrictive and you are limited on available resources. QuickTest Pro use the Microsoft programming language VBScript which is very powerful, has lots of capabilities and there are lots of resources available. We feel that there are many more point and click features in QuickTest Pro than WinRunner. This makes its use easier.

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 2 of 6

WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro

All the same features found in WinRunner are found in QuickTest Pro plus more. Data Table integration is much easier and simpler with QuickTest Pro. Data Driven Testing is easier with more options in QuickTest Pro. Script enhancements are typically easier with QuickTest Pro because it has the Active Screen where the windows and objects in your application are captured for later use. Using a point and click capability you can easily interface with objects, their definitions and create checkpoints after having recorded a script without having to navigate back to that location in your application like you have to with WinRunner. This greatly speeds up script development. QuickTest Pro currently has built in integration with WinRunner in order to be able to call existing scripts, which is great for customers who already have a large test script investment with WinRunner. Likewise WinRunner 8.0 is to have the ability to also call QuickTest Pro scripts. This eases the transition from WinRunner to QuickTest Pro for existing customers. Parameterization is much easier in QuickTest Pro and basically anything in QuickTest Pro can be parameterized (statements, checkpoints and the Object Repository). Capturing various output values is easier and simpler with QuickTest Pro. Using this capability with parameterization enables you to easily develop scripts that can do more in regards to testing. We have been implementing QuickTest Pro in real-world environments and have found it much easier to use, advance features are easier to implement and the script development is quicker. We really enjoy using QuickTest Pro and highly recommend it as the functional testing tool to use.

Winrunner Summary This product is a mature tool that has been around since approximately 1995. It interfaces with most of the leading development toolkits using the WindowsAPI and toolkit DLLs to interface with the Application Under Test. WinRunner offers a recording feature that will watch the individual tester and generate a test script to simulate the same actions just performed. The script is displayed as a program which can be enhanced with checkpoints, logic and special coding/programming. WinRunner also has integration with Excel spreadsheets for data driven testing and the ability to write data out in Excel format or in simple text files. - WinRunner Features and Benefits webpage from Mercury: Winrunner features

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 3 of 6

WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro

Pros Mature product that has been around since about 1995. Simple interface. Many features. Many consultants and user group/forums for support. Decent built in help. Fewer features to have to learn and understand compared to QuickTest Pro. Interfaces with the Windows API. Integrates with TestDirector.

Cons Has basically been superceded by QuickTest Pro. Looking at program code for the test case. Coding is done in a proprietary language (TSL). Very few resources available on TSL programming (it is based on the C programming language, but is not C). Need to be able to program to a certain extent in order to gain flexibility and parameterization. Need training to implement properly. The GUI Map can be difficult to understand and implement.

QuickTest Professional provides an interactive, visual environment for test development. Summary

Here is the description from the Mercury Interactive How it Works section of the QuickTest Pro web page: Mercury QuickTest Professional allows even novice testers to be productive in minutes. You can create a test script by simply pressing a Record button and using an application to perform a typical business process. Each step in the business process is automated documented with a plain-English sentence and screen shot. Users can easily modify, remove, or rearrange test steps in the Keyword View. QuickTest Professional can automatically introduce checkpoints to verify application properties and functionality, for example to validate output or check link validity. For each step in the Keyword View, there is an ActiveScreen showing exactly how the application under test looked at that step. You can also add several types of checkpoints for any object to verify that components behave as expected, simply by clicking on that object in the ActiveScreen. You can then enter test data into the Data Table, an integrated spreadsheet with the full functionality of Excel, to manipulate data sets and create multiple test iterations, without programming, to expand test case coverage. Data can be typed in or imported from databases, spreadsheets, or text files. Advanced testers can view and edit their test scripts in the Expert View, which reveals the underlying industry-standard VBScript that QuickTest Professional automatically generates. Any changes made in the Expert View are automatically synchronized with the Keyword View.

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 4 of 6

WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro

Once a tester has run a script, a TestFusion report displays all aspects of the test run: a high-level results overview, an expandable Tree View of the test script specifying exactly where application failures occurred, the test data used, application screen shots for every step that highlight any discrepancies, and detailed explanations of each checkpoint pass and failure. By combining TestFusion reports with Mercury Quality Management, you can share reports across an entire QA and development team. QuickTest Professional also facilitates the update process. As an application under test changes, such as when a Login button is renamed Sign In, you can make one update to the Shared Object Repository, and the update will propagate to all scripts that reference this object. You can publish test scripts to Mercury Quality Management, enabling other QA team members to reuse your test scripts, eliminating duplicative work. QuickTest Professional supports functional testing of all popular environments, including Windows, Web, .Net, Visual Basic, ActiveX, Java, SAP, Siebel, Oracle, PeopleSoft, terminal emulators, and Web services. QuickTest Pro How it Works webpage from Mercury: quicktest-professional_works We like QuickTest Pro and now prefer implementing it over WinRunner. When you get into advance testing scenarios, QuickTest Pro has more options and they are easier to implement compared to WinRunner in our opinion. Do to the similarities in concept and features, an experienced WinRunner user can easily convert to QuickTest Pro and quickly become an efficient Test Automation Engineer! We recommend that existing customers begin all new development with QuickTest Pro and use the built-in feature of calling WinRunner scripts from QuickTest Pro for all existing WinRunner scripts that they already have. As older scripts require updates and time permits, we recommend replacing them with QuickTest Pro scripts. Eventually you will be able to convert your test script library with all QuickTest Pro scripts. Pros Will be getting the initial focus on development of all new features and supported technologies. Ease of use. Simple interface. Presents the test case as a business workflow to the tester (simpler to understand). Numerous features. Uses a real programming language (Microsofts VBScript) with numerous resources available. QuickTest Pro is significantly easier for a non-technical person to adapt to and create working test cases, compared to WinRunner. Data table integration better and easier to use than WinRunner.

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 5 of 6

WinRunner vs. QuickTest Pro

Test Run Iterations/Data driving a test is easier and better implement with QuickTest. Parameterization easier than WinRunner. Can enhance existing QuickTest scripts without the Application Under Test being available; by using the ActiveScreen. Can create and implement the Microsoft Object Model (Outlook objects, ADO objects, FileSystem objects, supports DOM, WSH, etc.). Better object identification mechanism. Numerous existing functions available for implementation both from within QuickTest Pro and VBScript. QTP supports .NET development environment (currently WinRunner 7.5 does not). XML support (currently WinRunner 7.5 does not). The Test Report is more robust in QuickTest compared to WinRunner. Integrates with TestDirector and WinRunner (can kick off WinRunner scripts from QuickTest).

Cons Currently there are fewer resources (consultants and expertise) available due to QTP being a newer product on the market and because there is a greater Demand than Supply, thus fewer employee/consulting resources. Must know VBScript in order to program at all. Must be able to program in VBScript in order to implement the real advance testing tasks and to handle very dynamic situations. Need training to implement properly. The Object Repository (OR) and testing environment (paths, folders, function libraries, OR) can be difficult to understand and implement initially.

Source: Automated Solutions, Inc

Page 6 of 6