Distinction Between FastTest and TestBasic for Windows

ID Number: Q81188

1.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

FastTest (the Microsoft Test for Windows routines provided by

including the file FASTTEST.INC into your script) is a set of

prewritten TestBasic SUB and FUNCTION procedures. FastTest is intended

to provide an easier transition to TestBasic for nonprogrammers.

FastTest automatically handles many of the details and overhead of

writing a test script for you, such as:

- Logging results

- Error and UAE trapping

- Calling the Test DLL routines

The disadvantage of using FastTest is that it has a relatively high

overhead compared to a custom script written using TestBasic, and the

FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs may be difficult to modify if you want to

change the way they operate.

Microsoft recommends that you use FastTest for learning how to write

Microsoft Test scripts or quickly creating minimal scripts, and then

begin writing your own scripts in TestBasic for more complex or

customized tests.

This information applies to Microsoft Test for Windows version 1.0.

More Information:

The file FASTTEST.INC contains mostly declaration and initialization

code. The following files are also included (using the '$Include

metacommand) into FASTTEST.INC:

FTESTKEY.MST

FTESTLOG.MST

FTESTUTL.MST

MSTEST.INC

WNAPIDEC.INC

The files FTESTKEY.MST, FTESTLOG.MST, and FTESTUTL.MST are the actual

code for the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs (the source code for xEnter,

for example, can be found in FTESTKEY.MST). MSTEST.INC is needed to

support the TestBasic code in the three script files (the code makes

calls to the Test DLL routines), and WNAPIDEC.INC is a small

include file that is needed to support some direct Windows API calls

made in the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs.

Although FastTest routines are, in general, easier to use then writing

the code yourself in TestBasic, FastTest does require a large amount

of overhead code (a total of six include files), which makes FastTest

scripts, even minimal ones, take considerably longer to parse than

TestBasic scripts. FastTest is also difficult to modify, because there

are global variables and other interrelationships between the FastTest

SUBs and FUNCTIONs.

Additional reference words: 1.00