Application Area Overview

An application area provides all settings and resources required to automate content. These include:

  • The automation engineer can change the behavior of these objects in the application using the RegisterUserFunc utility statement in . For details, see the Object Model Reference.

    Note: The automation engineer can change the behavior of these objects in the application using the RegisterUserFunc utility statement in UFT One. For details, see the UFT One Object Model Reference.

  • User-defined operations (keyword GUIs), contained in function libraries.
  • Special operations to recover from errors and unexpected events, contained in recovery scenarios.

You can create multiple application areas, each representing a different area or aspect in your application. It is important that you select the correct application area on which to base your business component. Each application area should have a detailed description to help you to make the correct choice.

You can create basic application areas based on a default template in the ALM Test Resources module. (For details, see the Micro Focus Application Lifecycle Management User Guide: How to Use Test Resources.) However, most application area functionality is provided by the subject matter expert in UFT One.

When you create a business component and choose an associated application area, the settings and resources that are defined in the current application area are embedded in the component. Therefore, any changes made to the application area in UFT One at a later time are applied directly to the component.

The shared object repository, function libraries, and scenario files that comprise an application area are links to the actual repository and files stored in ALM. Changes to the stored repository and files affect all the components that reference them, and it is not necessary to update the application area for such changes.

You cannot delete an application area that is associated with a business component.

The following users can create application areas:

  • The automation engineer, in UFT One. For details on working with and creating application areas in UFT One, see the Micro Focus Unified Functional Testing User Guide. For details on working with and creating application areas in API, see the Micro Focus Service Test User Guide or the information about API testing in the Micro Focus Unified Functional Testing User Guide.
  • Either the subject matter expert or the automation engineer in the Test Resources module in ALM. The application area entity that is created in ALM provides the structure for automation, using default resources.

You can start to create an automated component, even if its application area has not yet been created or fully-defined. Create the automated component by adding comments describing the steps you need to create when the application area is available. However, if the application area has not yet been created, you cannot add keyword GUI steps to your component yet.

The business component resources for the project are created automatically in the Test Resources module by the UFT One Add-in for Business Process Testing, available from the Application Lifecycle Management Add-ins page (Help > Add-ins).

The resources are stored in the BPT Resources folder. The automatic creation occurs:

  • The first time you click Business Components module > Automation tab in a new project
  • When you create a UFT One automated component for the first time
  • When UFT One connects to ALM for the first time

For business process tests or flows to perform properly, the BPT Resources folder and its subfolders should not be renamed or deleted.

The BPT Resources folder contains all the UFT One resources available for business components in the project, and includes the following subfolders.

Folder

Resource Description
Application Areas

Provides all of the settings and resources required to create the automated content for a particular application or part of an application. The application area typically contains all the items contained in the folders listed below.
Function Libraries

Contains all the function libraries available for business components in the UFT One project. Function libraries provide customized operations (keyword GUIs) for components (VBScript functions, subroutines, and so on).

The Libraries folder contains the default function library containing operations that can be used when creating steps. The automation engineer can store additional function libraries in this folder.
Object Repositories

Contains all the shared object repository files available for components in the UFT One project. Object repository files define the test objects that can be used in the component steps.

Recovery Scenarios

Contains all the recovery scenario files available for components in the UFT One project. Recovery scenarios define special operations to recover from errors and unexpected events during the component run. By default, the Recovery Scenarios folder contains the DefaultWeb.qrs file, which is a recovery scenario file that can be used in the Web environment.

This section lists additional resources that impact the objects available to you when automating using the UFT One keyword GUI method:

Associated Add-ins

The specified set of UFT One add-ins that is associated with the business component determines the types of objects that UFT One recognizes and that can be tested using that business component. Each add-in is associated with a development environment. For example, UFT One includes built-in add-ins for testing in Web, ActiveX, and Visual Basic environments. Additional UFT One add-ins are available for testing environments such as SAP Solutions, Java, Oracle, Siebel, terminal emulators, and more.

Applications List

UFT One runs components only on the set of Windows-based applications that are specified for the component. It can also run on applications in any other environment for which the appropriate UFT One Add-in is loaded.

Parent topic: Components with Automated Content