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November 6, 2015

Parasoft SOAtest: Test execution in different environments via Test Configuration

In Parasoft SOAtest, if you have 20 .tst files where your environment reference points to QA environment, after developers push the code to UAT, do you still need to manually change them to UAT 20 times and then do the smoke tests?

Later, if you would like to do regression tests in QA environment again, do you still need to manually change them back 20 times?  

Here is one easy way to handle the scenario above using the Test Configuration in SOAtest.

  • Right click the tst file
  • Click Test Configuration
  • Duplicate the Example Configuration and rename it
  • Click Execution tab
  • Enter the name of environment
  • Close the window


If you want to run the tests in QA environment, just right click the tst files and choose Test Using->User-Defined->QA1. The tests will be run in QA1 perfectly.



November 5, 2015

Fix the issue of EDI 834: the first line contains all of the strings

If you use Notepad ++ to open the EDI 834 file, sometimes the first line contains all of the strings. It is hard to read. If we would like to make it more readable in the normal way, how do we do it?


After talking to our BizTalk developer who works on EDI 834, he mentions one important point: In EDI 834, at the end of each line, you can see ~, which can be used as the line break.


Please follow the following screenshot and use ~\n to replace ~  and you are all set.


November 4, 2015

Expensive Manpower HSA plans of 2016

I am a W2 consultant in Manpower (Experis) in WA.  Some colleagues and I complain about the Manpower HSA plans of 2016 because it is really expensive.


After looking into their insurance plans of United Health Care in 2016, I would say the Base HSA plan is really expensive compared to individual plans in WA such as Premera, Lifewise and even United Health Care.

If I compare 2 plans between United Health HSA 6500 (HSA6500) and United Health Care (Base HSA Plan) in Manpower, I get the following result:


For the family size, we need to pay annual premium $15230.28 for Manpower, but the out of pocket is still high. If I shop by myself, I just pay $9,498, but the out of pocket is similar. Paying $5,732 annually gets the similar result. That’s really bad. If I use Premera’s plans, I get the same result. 

If you are W2 consultants in Manpower and you are healthy, plan to have the major surgery or pregnant in 2016, don’t enroll in Manpower’s Plan because you need to pay $15230.28. You can just shop individual plan in Premera , Lifewise or even in the State Exchange . You will save a lot of money.

Everyone says employers sponsor 20-50% of insurance, but in Manpower, I don’t see it at all.

They are trying to let consultants in 50 States pay the same price (bi-weekly). Different State has the different rate of insurance. That’s the common sense.

Manpower, if you expect to hire consultants to work for you,  please make them happy and treat them nicely. 

November 2, 2015

Fixed the issue- Find someone feature in Microsoft Lync 2013 didn't work

Last week, I noticed that when using “Find someone” feature in Microsoft Lync 2013, searching was pending forever and the names were never showing up.  



The interesting part was that when opening MS Outlook 2010, the color of the presence indicator in my name was not green, but it was green in MS Lync 2013. I was still available.


After looking into this issue, just repair Microsoft Lync 2013 in program and features. After the reboot, find someone feature in Microsoft Lync 2013 is working.


October 30, 2015

Fixed the issue of yellow triangle network icon in Windows 7 laptop without local admin right

 I use my windows 7 work laptop to connect to corporate Wi-Fi in the office without any issue. This week I noticed that for some reason, when I connected to Wi-Fi in my home network, it didn’t work. It was connected, but there was no Internet access.  It showed the yellow triangle network icon. However, there is no issue in other devices such as iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro and another windows 7 laptop.

The main issue in my windows 7 work laptop is that I don’t have the local admin right due to the corporate policy. I can’t look into the issues such as View the property in Network Connection and firewall settings.  


I tried to make it work, but I couldn’t.

  • In device manager, all are looking good.
  • In manage wireless network, remove the home network and re-connect to it: it doesn’t work.
  • Restart the router and re-connect to it : it doesn’t work
  • Ipconfig command: it doesn’t work
  • Netstat command : it doesn’t work

Finally, I removed the home network and manually created a network profile. After connecting to Wi-Fi, opening IE to go to google.com is working. 


October 28, 2015

The Parasoft SOAtest 9.9 upgrade means side-by-side installation with SOAtest 9.7

We have used SOAtest since last July. We were told we needed to upgrade SOAtest 9.7 to 9.9. After the installation, we found that it is not really the upgrade. It is called side-by-side installation. SOAtest 9.9 and SOAtest 9.7 are installed together in my laptop.

Here are 2 main issues after the “upgrade”:

  • We need to reconfigure everything in Parasoft->Preferences.

  • If we create new tests in SOAtest 9.9, we can’t use SOAtest 9.7 to expand the test scenarios in the individual .tst file. It is not backward compatible.

Why let users reconfigure the settings in SOAtest after the upgrade? It is not user-friendly. 

August 12, 2015

Fixed the issue of Parasoft SOAtest: XML assertor didn’t work

Today I noticed that in SOAtest,  the XML assertor of validating the elements in WCF response always passed even if the elements returned were wrong.

After looking into this interesting issue, I was not sure why another tester set up the following flow type: While pass/fail=1, which made the XML assertor passed all the time.




After changing the flow type to none, the test failed. 

July 31, 2015

Fixed the issue: the language bar is missing in the task bar after the downgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 7

I bought my acer laptop 5 years ago. Before upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I would not install any software in this laptop from my testing experience. This is the best way to prevent any software incompatibility. If I have a lot of software installed, it takes a long time to finish the upgrade. That’s not what I want.

I downloaded the Media Creation Tool to install Windows 10. It was easy and fast. 





After the installation, I noticed the performance in acer laptop was really bad. When using Microsoft Edge to open Internet Explorer or using Chrome to search online, the laptop was in the heavy load, which caused DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION screen all the time. 

One day later, I decided to downgrade to Windows 7. It has “Go Back to Windows 7”  feature. After the downgrade, the performance is really FAST and one issue happened:

The language bar was missing in the taskbar even if my keyboard setup looked good in Regional and Language. I couldn't switch to Chinese language via Ctrl+ Space. Ctrl+ Space has been used for more than 10 years before Windows 8 was released. In Windows 10 & Windows 8, we need to use Win Key+ Space. I believe it is the downgrade bug. I finally found a way to make it work.

Go to the registry key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Right Click to create a new String Value on the right side.

Enter the value:  ctfmon=CTFMON.EXE 

Reboot the laptop.  I can see the language bar in Windows 7 again


If you have the old laptop, upgrading to Windows 10 is not a good idea. 

July 26, 2015

Parasoft SOATest issue: Assertion tests still pass when the data returned is all blank in WCF response

Today I find one interesting issue in SOATest tool. Our developers have recently updated the namespaces in the data contracts that support “http”. For example,


Old: <ns1:Addresses xmlns:ns1=www.XXX.Com/member/06/01/2015
New: <ns1:Addresses xmlns:ns1="http://www.XXX.com/member/06/01/2015"

We have so many tests that it is not easy to tell which one has refreshed the WSDL in WCF methods. Our tests are using Value Assertion to validate the data elements in WCF response. After running all tests, all tests passed.

I noticed that in some tests, the data returned was all blank in WCF response. I could not believe that all assertion tests still passed.  That’s really surprising.

After updating WSDL again, the data returned can show all elements in WCF response. 

July 14, 2015

The appraisal tool called CoreLogic ValuePoint4 is not persuasive!

I applied the HELOC in BECU in June and finally noticed that BECU uses CoreLogic’s tool called ValuePoint4. After reviewing the report, I felt very surprised and disappointed.

The comparable sales section is totally not persuasive because all properties are from my neighbors. We bought the houses and moved in between last May and last Sep. We knew sales prices of the houses very well.

A lot of properties have been sold nearby in other communities in 3-6 months. I don’t see them in comparable sales section. What a surprise! This is very basic real estate knowledge. I can't believe CoreLogic does it this way

If the tool itself is not tested well and not persuasive, why give the appraisal report to customers? In my opinion, don’t waste the money to buy this appraisal tool- Core Logic ValuePoint4 .

June 29, 2015

Parasoft SOAtest: Exclude the data of carriage return char (13) in SQL query

Today one test failed in SOAtest. After looking into this one, I noticed that if I invoked one WCF method using the same scenario, it returned the following data in WCF response.

"INSERT\r TEST\r TESET\r \r REASON"

But In SQL server, it showed “INSERT TEST TESET REASON"

That’s because the data contains Carriage Return CHAR (13).

 

If I add Where [ReasonCode] like '%'+char(13)+'%' in SQL query, I can find the data of Carriage Return.

 

If I add Where [ReasonCode] not like '%'+char(13)+'%' in SQL query, I can’t  find the data of Carriage Return.



In order to avoid these kind of data, after adding Where [ReasonCode] not like '%'+char(13)+'%' in SQL query, the test passes all the time.

June 3, 2015

How to transfer data from iPhone 5 to iPhone 6 Plus via iTunes?

I got a used iPhone 6 Plus from my wife. If I would like to transfer data from my iPhone 5 to iPhone 6 Plus, here are the easy steps. I transferred the data successfully.

Reset iPhone 6 Plus.

Use USB to connect to iPhone 5 and Windows 7 laptop. It opens iTunes automatically.

Backup data in iPhone 5 first.

Use USB to connect to iPhone 6 plus and Windows 7 laptop.

Follow the instructions in iPhone 6 Plus and do step by step.

You will see Restore from iTunes backup.

Choose the name of iPhone 5 to restore and it takes about 10-20 minutes to transfer the data.

During the credit card setup in Apple Pay, I was not aware that my credit card in my apple account was expired. The setup was not working.  After I updated the credit card in my apple account, it was not working either because iTunes was not smart and didn’t sync well to iPhone 6 Plus.  I skipped the setup and did it later.

Follow the instruction in iPhone 6 Plus again and finally you will see all data is transferred successfully. 

May 28, 2015

TFS 2013: Querying test cases with 2 Tags via OR condition is not working

We create so many test cases. In order to organize them nicely, we add “Tags” in each test case in TFS web dashboard. (Note: I don’t have permission to add tags in MTM, but I do have permission to add tags in TFS web dashboard)
When querying test cases with 2 Tags using OR condition in TFS 2013, I can’t believe it is not working. The query is pending forever and never gets the result back. It is not working in TFS Web dashboard, either.

When querying in MTM 2013 using the same condition, it shows the following error. 

I would say querying 1 tag is always working, but querying test cases with 2 Tags via OR condition is not working in TFS , TFS web dashboard and MTM. It is the known issue after I filed a bug to Microsoft Connect.

Fixed the presence unknown issue in MS Outlook 2010 after the upgrade from MS Office Communicator 2007 to MS Lync 2013

This week, our IT department was doing the upgrade from Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync 2013. After the upgrade, I noticed that the presence status in Microsoft Outlook 2010 showed “Unknown”.
After looking into this interesting issue, I noticed that upgrade means install because Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office communicator appear in Programs and Features. But Office Communicator 2007 is turned off in Startup program.
How to fix the unknown status issue?
In Search dialog box, enter regedit.
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IM Providers.
Click DefaultIMApp and it shows Communicator. Change it to Lync.


Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IM Providers\Lync.
Add a new DWORD (32-bit) value and name is UpAndRunning. Set Value data = 2 (Hexadecimal).


Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\IM Providers\Communicator. In UpAndRunning, set Value data = 0 (Hexadecimal). (Note: this is optional if your office communicator is not launched automatically)

After rebooting the laptop, the presence status appears in MS Outlook 2010.

May 22, 2015

License issue: don’t use “Testers” field in MTM.

2 weeks ago my manager talked to me that we created so many test cases for Release 1, but all “Testers” are showing your name!  I replied: That’s because "AssignedTo" and "Testers" are different.  I use “Assigned to” field in TFS and MTM all the time.
When viewing test cases in TFS, we only see “AssignedTo “as follows:


Can you change the name in “Testers” field in TFS? The answer is NO in TFS because there is no “Testers” field . But you can change it in MTM. Click one test case, right click and choose “assign testers to select for selected tests”

You can also change it in TFS Web dashboard once you have the license to see the test suites inside the Test tab. But I heard it costs more than $ 2,000 per person. Is it worth it?  If you don’t have the license of installing MTM, you can’t change “Testers” either.



In the project team, only testers care about test case creation and execution. Who cares about how many test suites you have in Test tab? They only care about the tasks assigned to testers in each sprint.

From my experience, testers can sit down with business analysts and developers to go through test cases to see if there is something missing, but they are not interested in testers’ work. The project team only cares about the final test result.

Due to license issue, not all people in the project team can view test suites inside the “Test” tab in TFS Web dashboard. If the budget is limited in your project team, I don’t see any value using “Testers” field in this case.

May 21, 2015

Fixe the issue in Parasoft SOAtest: Message: Could not find endpoint in client configuration file

In SOATest, we have the configuration file called Environments.env where we store environment variables. When running my BVTs today, some of them failed.
I notice that our team added a new path (/BusinessService ) in the URL. After updating it in Environments.env and running BVTs again, I saw the following error message. Closing and reopening SOAtest still could not solve the issue.
Could not find endpoint in client configuration file: WCF URL

After looking into this interesting issue, I notice “Constrain request to WSDL” in some tests was checked. After unchecking it and running BVTs again, all tests passed.

February 24, 2015

Parasoft SOAtest: Fixed the issue of line feed character ( )

Today one test failed in SOAtest due to feed character (&#10). In SOAtest, if I get customer data from SQL server , the data appears in Result As XML -> Edit and it shows the following data.
<LastName>Lin&#10</LastName>

&#10 is line feed character and it is not visible in SQL Server. I can use LEN(LAST_ NAME) to know how many characters in this field. 

How to avoid the issue of line feed character and carriage return using SQL query? After using the following one, the test passed in SOAtest. 
RTRIM(replace(replace(LAST_NAME,char(10),' '),char(13),' ')) LastName

January 15, 2015

Parasoft SOAtest 9.7 doesn’t support Common Table Expression (CTE) in SQL Server 2008 R2

If you have the following SQL query that uses Common Table Expression (CTE), you will see the error after trying to populate the data in SOAtest.
  
DECLARE @PolicyName varchar(20)='%Glucose%'
; WITH CTE as
(
  SELECT field1, field2
  from Policy PO  WITH(NOLOCK)
  WHERE field1 like @PolicyName
)

The following error shows up in XML data bank after running the test.

com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: Must declare the scalar variable "@PolicyName".

When I see this error, I feel so surprised because this SQL query is always working in SQL Server 2008 R2, but SOAtest complains about it using CTE.

How to solve this issue?  We need to declare this variable in SOAtest.

  1. Double Click Scenario
  2. Click Variables and add PolicyName like this

    3.Modify the following SQL query

; WITH CTE as
(
  SELECT field1, field2
  from Policy PO  WITH(NOLOCK)
  WHERE field1 like '${PolicyName}’
)


After running the test, the variable will be passed to SQL query in CTE and the test will pass without any issue.