Troubleshooting hacks, Jugaad

1.              Guice Provision Error -

Cause - Happens when Surefire plugin is initiated on Maven 3.0.5 (which is too old now). This usually happens on Jenkins/TC when the default settings for Maven are used.

Resolution - Use latest version of Maven and specify the same in Jenkins' Maven Settings too

2.              SurefireBooterException -          

To resolve, add this config in the POM, to set useSystemClassloader to false:

<plugin>

    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>

    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>

    <configuration>

        <useSystemClassLoader>false</useSystemClassLoader>

    </configuration>

</plugin>

3.              Run Maven commands without changing dir –

We don’t need to ‘cd’ to the directory containing the pom every time we want to run a mvn command, we can fire the mvn command from anywhere as long as we give the path to the pom like below:

Syntax: mvn –f <fullpath-to-pom> <goals> -D<params>

Sample: mvn –f C:/Automation/keyword/pom.xml test –Dthread1=Test1

It would be good to not have any spaces in the path so as to avoid escape char.

Use / instead of \  in the path.

4.              Invoke CMD via VbScript –

If you want to invoke the CMD utility automatically with certain parameters then use the below snippet:

Set oShell = CreateObject(“WScript.Shell”)

cmndToRun = “mvn –f C:/Automation/keyword/pom.xml test –Dthread1=Test1”

oShell.Run “cmd.exe /k “ & cmndToRun

To keep the CMD window open use /k after cmd.exe or use /c to close it.

5.              StackOverflowError –

Happens due to infinite recursion. For example when a method invokes itself during its execution or where one class object is instantiated under another class recursively. We will not get any compile-time Errors, but at runtime we will get this Error.

6.               Maven Compilation Error - package <name> does not exist

Resolution - Sometimes old or un-used packages are not found after updating versions of some libraries, which causes compilation Errors. Fastest solution is to delete these unwanted packages from Java files.

7.              Log4J package is not getting imported in the classes, hence, not able to initiate logging.

Steps to troubleshoot - A combination of these resolved this, after multiple iterations

·       Tried mvn dependency:resolve - It got successfully downloaded when resolving dependencies via mvn.

·       Delete local repo and re-download all dependencies from scratch - Even after deleting the old local repo, and rebuilding the same from scratch, it does not work

·       'Cleaned' the eclipse project - it resolved all Errors, but still Log4J is not getting imported.

·       Delete '.lastUpdated'  files from local repo

·       For Windows cd (change directory) to <user-directory>\.m2\repository and execute this command:

for /r %i in (*.lastUpdated) do del %i

·       Now update dependencies again.

·       You could also get Errors like: [Could not find artifact org.apache.logging.log4j:log4j:jar:2.6.1 in central (https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2) -> [Help 1]]

·       Run mvn eclipse:eclipse - This could cause the following Error, visible only on eclipse, not in maven: [The project was not built due to "Resource already exists on disk: '/bddproject/target/classes/log4j.properties'.". Fix the problem, then try refreshing this project and building it since it may be inconsistent]. To resolve it, run mvn clean, as it will delete the target folder, where this Error was. Then go to eclipse and do Project > Clean. Now, all Errors should be resolved.

8.              Get 'failed to load jvm' Error when running eclipse

            Try restarting the machine, it gets resolved sometimes

9.              Even though the default story steps[in myStory] have been implemented, while running the MyStories class, they still come up as @Pending in the results.

Cause - The Pending annotation was already imported by default in the default MySteps class, which was marking all the steps as pending.

Resolution - Delete that import statement for Pending, and re run the test, it worked and all steps were Green/Run/Passed

Also, if now I add a Pending annotation but do not use it, it still runs the remaining steps, as it should run.

 

10.          Getting junk lines being reported in the console with the freemarker log -

Like - "Jul 05, 2016 1:17:56 AM freemarker.log._JDK14LoggerFactory$JDK14Logger info"

If Log4J works, then this is not needed

11.          Run via mvn is Erroring out -

mvn clean install - this command Errors out

Error - [Error] Failed to execute goal org.jbehave:jbehave-maven-plugin:4.0.5:run-stories-as-embeddables (embeddable-stories) on project bddproject: Execution embeddable-stories of goal org.jbehave:jbehave-maven-plugin:4.0.5:run-stories-as-embeddables failed: A required class was missing while executing org.jbehave:jbehave-maven-plugin:4.0.5:run-stories-as-embeddables: org/apache/log4j/Priority

12.          The simple-archetype comes with the default jbehave report template, which needs to be fixed

13.          Even though the M2E plugin is downloaded and installed, it does not show up in eclipse - there is nothing for maven

14.          Getting the following Error while running dependency:resolve command

Error - Failed to collect dependencies at org.jbehave:jbehave-core:jar:4.0.5 -> com.thoughtworks.xstream:xstream:jar:1.4.7:

Cause - Looks like the command to download the dependencies was getting timed out, as it worked well when the internet connection was strong

Resolution - Ran the dependency:resolve command again, and it was successful, without any Errors

15.          Getting the following Error when deleting and re-importing the bdd project

Error - unbound classpath variable 'm2_repo

Cause - Eclipse is not able to locate the path of the local mvn repo

Resolution - The below steps work to solve this issues

·       Open the Eclipse Preferences [Window - Preferences]

·       Go to [Java - Build Path - Classpath Variables]

·       Click New and set its name as M2_REPO

·       Click Folder and select your Maven repository folder. For example, my repository folder is C:/Users/user/.m2/repository

·       Rebuild the Project.

16.            No need to run these commands

mvn compile

mvn clean install

mvn clean

17.          Error - archive for required library cannot be read in eclipse

·       This generally happens when you are importing projects, which has external jars [added via maven POM or via direct import]

·       The first thing to try is delete those external jars and their folders, and then re-import them

·       Then in Eclipse, go to Project > Clean Project [Ensure that Build Automatically is checked]

·       If this does not resolve, then see if the jars got corrupted during copy/import, then replace them with original/valid jars

18.          Avoid having multiple versions of the same jars in the projects - only have the required version and delete the rest.

19.          If you get Errors like 'Source Not found' or 'Attach source', or 'NoClassDefFoundException' it generally means some jar is missing and not there in your build path, so find that jar, and just add it to your build path

20.          Split method in Java has a bug!

·       When we use a split function, ideally, if we don’t specify any limit, it should return all the tokens in the string, but it does not, if you have multiple delimiters in the end with empty tokens. 

·       For example in a | delimited message ("ASDAS|ASDASD|AA||||ASS|||||"), the last empty tokens would be ignored.

·       To fix this use the limit as -1

·       String[] token = sampleMsg.split("\\|" , -1);

21.          Always use string.isEmpty() method to check if the string is empty or not. 

1.    Never use null or any other method. Even if the variable is not a String, convert it to String via toString and then use isEmpty().

2.    Though a lot of people would frown upon this idea, but its simple, effective, and very easy to remember and can be implemented by a rookie in your team

22.          Ensure that you use JDK [and not JRE] in your Project Build Path

23.          Apache POI –

When adding apache poi in the dependency tree ensure to add dependencies for "poi-ooxml" and "poi-ooxml-schemas" as well, as some of the base classes for apache poi use these jars, and otherwise we would not be able to use certain classes like XSSF.

24.          If QCUtils is not working in UFT

·       Try checking the Registry values for this key.

·       'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mercury Interactive\QuickTestProfessional\MicTest\QEEE'. 

·       This key had the parameter 'ExternalExecutionSupported', so either set it to Yes or delete it.

 

 

Other Hacks -

• Error: Could not find PKIX Certificate Path when connecting to Artifactory.
• Problem: When trying to run any maven commands on windows machines, sometimes we get this error where we are not able to connect to Artifactory or any Central Repo in Enterprise setups. This error will not come on your home computer but its one of the perks of working in a big Co.
• What its not: This problem is not related to your Artifactory credentials or API Keys, or git or bitbucketor even the maven Settings.XML; although thats what you might be lead to think.
• Cause: The problem is related to outdated Java Security Certificates or the use of incorrect ones. This happens when the java pkg gets upgraded or the one that you currently have installed does not have the required certificates. So the solution really lies in updating the security certificate file (cacertificates file in jdk dir).
  
• Sol 1: Manually find and download the latest certificate and then update the cacertificates file, and then import them via the usual 'keystore' import command that you can easily google. The prob with this approach is that it needs Admin rights to edit the cacertificates file, and you will not get that ever in a big Co - another perk. So this method is DOA.
• Sol 2: If your jdk package has recently been upgraded, then you might be lucky enough to get the latest java cacertificates files which will hopefully have the correct certificates added, and you will have to re-point your JAVA_HOME and M2_HOME and PATH variables to this new jdk pkg.
• But that also needs Admin rights, so you will not be able to do that also. Sometimes some Cos have support teams that give you temp Admin rights, which might save the day for you, if not, read on...
• What you can do is reset the Env Variables like JAVA_HOME and M2_HOME and PATH to new values for the current session via CMD prompt. This will work only till the time this CMD prompt is open, and all changes will be lost when you close it, and you will have to re-do these. The steps are:
• SET JAVA_HOME=<new path>
• SET JDK_HOME=<new path>
• SET PATH=<new path>;%PATH%
• Remember to append to the PATH variable otherwise it will overwrite and remove all the other values in it.
• No need to change the variables for Maven
• This should point your current session to the new jdk pkg folder which has the correct certs file.
• Sol 3: Create a new folder for JDK pkg where you would have admin rights and then re-point all the variables, including Maven based, to this new folder. This approach would be helpful if you are trying to update the existing certs file with the new certs
  

Java Code Snippets

Some random code snippets...

Running JavaScript via WebDriver -

JavascriptExecutor jsRunner = (JavascriptExecutor) driver;

// This will get us the name of the browser on which the test is running
String jsString = "return navigator.appCodeName";
System.out.println ("BrowserName = " + jsRunner.executeScript(jsString));

Code to get the text of all the links on a web page -

List<WebElement> allLinks = driver.findElements(By.tagName("a"));
for (WebElement link : allLinks){
     System.out.println("Link text = " + link.getText());
}

File copy - just ensure that the folder path has a \\ in the end, otherwise, the files wont be copied/deleted and even strange-ly, there wont be any errors!

    //Function to copy all the files in a dir, but will not replace if the file already exists
    public void copyAllFilesToDir(String sourceDir, String destinationDir){
        String fileName = null;

        File folder = new File(sourceDir);
        File[] listOfFiles = folder.listFiles();
        //loop through all the files in the dir
        for (int i =0; i < listOfFiles.length; i++){
            //check if the item is a file or a folder
            if(listOfFiles[i].isFile()){
                fileName = listOfFiles[i].getName();
                copyFile(sourceDir + fileName, destinationDir + fileName);
                try {
                    Thread.sleep(3000);
                } catch (InterruptedException e) {
                    e.getMessage();
                }
            }
        }
    }

    //Function to delete all files in a dir
    public void deleteAllFiles(String dirPath){

        File folder = new File(dirPath);
        File[] listOfFiles = folder.listFiles();
        for (int i = 0; i < listOfFiles.length; i ++){
            if (listOfFiles[i].isFile()){
                if(listOfFiles[i].delete()){
                    System.out.println("file deleted -" + listOfFiles[i].getName());
                }else {
                    System.out.println("could NOT delete file -" + listOfFiles[i].getName());
                }
            }
        }
    }

    //Function to copy one file at a time, does not overwrite/replace existing files
    public void copyFile(String sourceFilePath,String destinationFilePath){
        File sourceFile = new File(sourceFilePath);
        File destinationFile = new File(destinationFilePath);
        try {
            FileUtils.copyFile(sourceFile, destinationFile);
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.getMessage();
        }
    }

Miscellaneous Code, Tips and Tricks on QTP

Reusing Objects after Page Refreshes via Init

QTP web test objects go out of sync whenever the webpage Refreshes/Reloads. This means that if you held a reference to a web-object, you couldn’t could on it to work throughout your script.

'By using a .Init command after the page loads, the web-object resyncs, and the script will not break.

''Set oBrowser = Browser("version:=inter.*")
oBrowser.Navigate ""http://www.google.com"
Set oWebEdit = oBrowser.WebEdit("name:=q", "index:=0")
oWebEdit.Set "software inquisition"
oWebEdit.submit ''Page reloads
oBrowser.sync

'This resyncs oWebEdit
oWebEdit.init

'Now the next line will work
oWebEdit.Set "Bonnaroo"

--------------------------------------------------

Changing Time-out Options on Remote Machine [RDC]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ScreenSaverIsSecure"="0"
"ScreenSaveActive"="0"
"ScreenSaveTimeOut"="999999999"

--------------------------------------------------

Quick way to generate Unique Temporary files at Runtime

Many a times we need to create all sorts of temporary files with unique names; and after the test is over they are not useful anymore. But to do this we usually ending up writing a large code for creating a new folder, then doing a lots of checks, and then finally creating a file, and then using the FilePath where ever it is that we wanted!
A quicker way of doing this and avoiding all the creation and checks for new folders is by using the Current Report Path of the test during Runtime itself, and using the DotNETFactory utility

sFilePath = Reporter.ReportPath & "\" & DotNETFactory.CreateInstance("System.DateTime").Now.ToString("ddMMyyHHMMss") & ".png"

--------------------------------------------------

Variations of SendKeys Method

This code works and has been verified!
'Create DeviceReplay object
Set objSendKey = CreateObject("Mercury.DeviceReplay")

'Focusing on the Object by clicking it
Browser("Google").Page("Google").WebElement("WebElement").Click

'Call the required function
objSendKey.SendString("Hi, Your text goes here!!!")

'Release the object
Set objSendKey = Nothing

--------------------------------------------------

How to Clear or Delete text from Edit Box

When the Set method is used, it first clears the text in the EditBox and then writes new text in the EditBox
This may also be possible by the following code:
Browser("B").Page("P").WebEdit("E").Object.Clear
What should we do if we have to just Type next to next and not overwrite the text already present

--------------------------------------------------

Keyboard Status

The Devices.Keyboard class Provides properties for accessing the current state of the keyboard, such as what keys are currently pressed, and provides a method to send keystrokes to the active window.
How can we know if CAPS-LOCK already pressed?
Before we use the numpad keys we want to verify that if NUM-LOCK already pressed.

Set Keyboard = DotNetFactory.CreateInstance( "Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices.Keyboard", "Microsoft.VisualBasic" )

Print CBool( Keyboard.AltKeyDown )
Print CBool( Keyboard.CapsLock )
Print CBool( Keyboard.CtrlKeyDown )
Print CBool( Keyboard.NumLock )
Print CBool( Keyboard.ScrollLock )
Print CBool( Keyboard.ShiftKeyDown )
Source: http://www.advancedqtp.com/2008/04/keyboard-status/

--------------------------------------------------

Explanation of a Click

Click is not a physical click, but its just a 'Return' Event, which is why even when we see that the button has been clicked, the button would not have been actually clicked, because qtp would have sent a Return which did not get registered.
So, we may be able to correct this by changing the Replay Type

--------------------------------------------------

Use OLE Objects to get number of pages in PDF

Function GetNumPagesInPDF(FileName)
    Dim oPDFDoc
    Set oPDFDoc = CreateObject( "AcroExch.PDDoc" )

    If oPDFDoc.Open( FileName ) Then
        GetNumPagesInPDF = oPDFDoc.GetNumPages()
        Set oPDFDoc = Nothing
    Else
        GetNumPagesInPDF = -1
    End If
End Function

numPages = GetNumPagesInPDF("C:\Program Files\Mercury\QuickTest Professional\help\QTUsersGuide.pdf")
MsgBox "Number of pages: " & numPages

--------------------------------------------------

Difference between Class Name, micClass, micclass, className

Class Name: When looking through the object spy on any object, we'll see the test-object property "Class Name", which always equals to the QTP-Type of that object. So for example, the Class Name of a browser is "Browser", the Class Name of a WinButton is "WinButton".

However, if you wish to use the "Class Name" property to identify objects with Descriptive Programming syntax, you'd have to use the property micclass.

So for example, this won't work:
Browser("Class Name:=Browser")
But this will:
Browser("micclass:=Browser")"

So, this takes case of Class Name and micclass, what about the plain old Class and className properties? These properties are usually unique to Web objects.
className is a Run-Time object property of Web objects. You can test it yourself: build a symple HTML file, and add class="Something" to one of the HTML nodes. When you'll load that HTML file in a browser, and use the object spy on the relevant web-object, you'll see className="Something" in the Run-Time tab of the object spy.
class is simply the Test-Object property which equals the Run-Time property of className. Meaning that oWebObject.GetROProperty("class") will be the same as oWebObject.Object.className. They represent the same inner data, once through the Run-Time world, and once through the Test-Object world.

--------------------------------------------------
Change the default directory for Tests path for QTP

Open the registry editor (Start -> Run -> type ""regedit"".)

Navigate to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Mercury Interactive\QuickTest Professional\MicTest

Find the TestsDirectory value. The value contains the path to the directory you want to be the default test script directory. Edit this value to have your desired path
Right click on TestsDirectory
Choose Modify from the menu
Enter the path into the Value data field
Click OK
Repeat steps 2 through 4 for the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mercury Interactive\QuickTest Professional\MicTest

If the specified directory path does not exist, QuickTest Professional will open the "My Documents" directory by default.

You should not place a "\" at the end of the path.

--------------------------------------------------

Get Content from WinList Form

Window("Window").Activate
text= Window("Window").WinList("From").GetContent