Screen Preview and Step Synchronization in Visual Tests

During record and playback, Silk Test Workbench captures application snapshots that include captured screens and enumerations of various controls with various properties. The captured screens display in the Screen Preview.

Silk Test Workbench takes snapshots under the following circumstances:

Before every automation test step during recording.
Note: For SAP applications, snapshots occur when the screen changes rather than before every automation test step.
When executing a Using step in a visual test, a snapshot of the result.
When a playback error occurs.

Tip: When working with test applications that are slow to refresh the contents of the application screens, you can configure Silk Test Workbench to wait before taking a snapshot of the application screen. For more information, refer to the Attach to screen shot delay option.

Automation Test Steps

Every automation test step has its own snapshot and is labeled as (group screen) or (step screen) in Screen Preview. The (group screen) contains the main context of the current dialog box or Web page. While the (step screen) is associated with a specific action on the current dialog box or Web page.

Silk Test Workbench takes the application snapshots before the actual test step that references the snapshot. For automation steps where the screen context changes, such as a new dialog box or Web page opening, a Using step is associated with a screen capture that represents the application state before the automation step. In the Screen Preview, the Using step is labeled (group screen). For example, a (group screen) for a Web page in the Screen Preview might correspond with a Using Browser Application 'BrowserApplication step in the Test Steps pane. The test steps that follow the Using step correspond with a single action that occurs on the context of the current dialog box or Web page and are labeled (step screen) in the Screen Preview. For instance, if you enter a zip code in a text field, the corresponding test step might be Enter '92109' and the Screen Preview shows a black rectangle around the zip code text field and the zip code value before the value that you entered. So, if the value before 92109 was 18966, the Screen Preview shows 18966.

If you disable a Using step, the steps that follow the Using step are associated with the Using step prior to the Using step that you disabled. For instance, if you disable Using step 26, the following test steps use the Using step prior to step 26.

Note: If you insert a control from screen preview, the (group screen) snapshot displays in Screen Preview. Because the control was not recorded, no snapshot was taken. As a result, the (group screen) is used.

Other Test Step Types

In most cases, test steps that are not associated with automation steps do not display a snapshot in Screen Preview. For instance, if you insert a script into a visual test, Screen Preview displays the text that displays in the Test Steps pane.

Configuring Settings

By default, Silk Test Workbench records both group and individual screen captures during recording. You can change these settings to only record group screen captures or to record no screen captures using the Options dialog box. Choose Tools > Options expand Record, click Output and then click Visual test to configure these options.

You can configure playback screen capture settings for both group and individual screen captures in a visual test or you can set global options that apply to all visual tests in the Options dialog box. Choose Tools > Options expand Playback, click Results and then click Visual test to configure these options.

To configure individual settings for visual tests, record the visual test and then insert a Set playback setting step to override the global playback value. Settings include: Screen capture and Screen capture (test steps).

For example, you might set the playback setting for Screen capture (test steps) to No for a specific step to improve performance and then return the Screen capture (test steps) to Yes for any remaining steps where an individual screen capture is imperative.