Replay Xcessory FAQ
Copyright 2006 Integrated Computer Solutions, Inc.
Table of Contents:
Getting Help!
Getting Debug Information for Issue Resolution
Expediting Your Response From ICS Support
Installing from a CD
Installing from a Download
License Key Installation for Evaluations
License Key Installation for Purchased Products
Documentation
Common Evaluation Problems
Birds Eye View
Getting Help!
- If you are an existing ICS customer, please send your questions to support@ics.com. You can also call us on the telephone at 1.617.621.0060 or Fax us your questions at 1.617.621.9555.
- If you are evaluating Replay Xcessory, send all your non-technical questions to your ICS sales representative. If you are not sure who that might be, send email to sales@ics.com and the proper person will get in touch with you.
- If you have a technical question, send email to support@ics.com and a product manager or technical support engineer will respond within a business day.
- In either case, please read Expediting Your Response From ICS Support later in this FAQ to understand things that you can do that us that will speed your response.
Getting Debug Information for Issue Resolution
Replay Xcessory has the ability to record debug information to assist our support team in resolving issues that are difficult to identify or repeat. Here is the information support most commonly needs.
Activating Log Files
In order to activate the log files set the following environment variables in your shell before starting Replay (no value is needed):
- DRIVER_DEBUG_ON
- XTLIB_DEBUG_ON
- REPLAY_DDEBUG_ON
- ONEFILE
Note:
- Here is an example in the c-shell.
%setenv DRIVER_DEBUG_ON
Once the variables are set then start Replay and recreate the issue using the minimal set of actions needed to create the error. This process will create 2 files in the /tmp directory (xtliblog and driverlog). Please send these files to support@ics.com along with a description of what you are seeing. Please send any files (tcl script, system configuration, etc..) or screenshots that you think would help in the debugging process.
Expediting Your Response From ICS Support
If you want the fastest possible response to your support question, try to do ALL of the following:
- If you are not yet a customer, please send your questions through your ICS sales representative. If you are not sure who that might be, send email to sales@ics.com and the proper person will get in touch with you.
- If you are a customer and are having problems using an ICS product, send your support request to support@ics.com. Sending your support request to any other email address will only delay our response. DO NOT sending your support report to a specific person at ICS. If that person is on vacation or traveling for the day, the response to your problem could be delayed.
- Make sure that you receive an automated reply from ICS Support with a case number. Make a note of that case number and include it on all communications with ICS Support. If you do not immediately receive the automated acknowledgement to your support request, send email to supportmanager@ics.com.
- On any communication with ICS, make sure you put the case number between "["..."]" (e.g., [94271]) in the subject line. This will ensure that your email is logged into your case. Again, always reply to support@ics.com and not directly to a specific person. This allows multiple people to work on your case.
- Include with your initial support request, your Support Number. This was provided on your letter that accompanied your software. When you renew your support, you will also receive a letter with your support number. ICS Support will always ask for this support number before responding. Let ICS Support in your initial email if you cannot find your Support Number and they will research it. This can delay your response, so please write it down for future use when we find it!
- Depending on the problem attach one of the following files to your email:
- If this is a license problem, attach your license.dat file.
- Include detailed step-by-step instructions on how to reproduce the error. Screen captures are also very helpful!
- Please include a description of your hardware/software environment. At a minimum, this description should specify hardware and operating system version. On Linux, you might want to describe the distribution, kernel version and release of glibc too. Network topology might also be relevant if you are experiencing a licensing failure and the license server is on another machine or if you are using a PC Xterm like Hummingbird.
- The smaller the test case that exhibits the problem the better! If we have to create our own test case, the response delay could be significant and we might never be able to duplicate your problem.
Installing from a CD
If you received a CD in the mail, please read this section. If you downloaded an evaluation, please see the section: Installing from a Download.
Contents of the CD-ROM
The CD-ROM contains the following files and directories:
| File | Description |
| /install.txt | Text version of these notes. |
| /install.pdf | Adobe Acrobat version of these notes. |
| /manifest // /goodies/ |
Text file identifying product contents. One or more product installation directories. See the file /manifest for descriptions. Directory with various software that you might find useful. |
| /LICENSE | Text version of the license agreement. |
| /ChangeLog /serial |
List of the changes in the recent version. Test file identifying the CD-ROM. |
Quick Start
- Mount the CD-ROM
- Change to the directory on the CD-ROM that contains the product you want to install.
- Review any readme, license, release.txt, and change.log files you find in the directory.
- Execute the setup program and follow its instructions:
% ./setup
Mount the CD-ROM
If your system does not automatically mount the CD-ROM, mount it using the instructions below.
- Become the superuser.
- Mount the CD-ROM using the command below that matches your system:
| OS | Mount Command |
| AIX | %mount -r -v'cdrfs' /dev/cd0 ${mount-point} |
| HPUX | %mount -r -F cdfs /dev/dsk/c0t3d0 ${mount-point} |
| IRIX | %mount -t iso9660 /dev/dsk/dks0d1s7 ${mount-point} |
| SunOS | %mount -o ro -t hsfs /dev/sr0 ${mount-point} |
| Solaris | %mount -o ro -F hsfs /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s0 ${mount-point} |
| Tru64 | %mount -r -t cdfs /dev/rz4c ${mount-point} |
| Linux | %mount -t iso9660 /dev/cdrom ${mount-point} |
Notes:
- ${mount-point}refers to the location in the file system that you want the CD-ROM to be mounted.
- The specific device files above (e.g., /dev/rz4c) are just examples. Please check with your system administrator for the specific device file to use.
- When done, you can unmount the cdrom using the command:
% umount ${mount-point}
Installation
Your CD-ROM will contain one or more directories. Each directory will be the name of the ICS product. The text file ./manifest describes each product contained on the CD-ROM and identifies the associated directory. To install a specific product, follow these instructions.
- Become the superuser (if you are not already).
- Change directory to the appropriate product directory ().
% cd ${mount-point}/ - Read the file license contained in this directory before proceeding. Do not install the software if you are not willing to agree to the terms of this license. You might also want to read any readme or change.log files provided in the directory too!
- Execute the setup command and follow its prompts.
% ./setup
Installing from a Download
The software you downloaded is a copy of the actual installation media that we ship on CD. The only difference is that it has been tar'ed and then gziped. After performing the tar and gunzip in Step #1 below, you can use follow the detailed instructions in Installing from a CD above. Alternatively, you can follow the Quick Start instructions below.
- Extract the Software: If you have Gnu Tar (commonly called gtar, or just tar on Linux) type at the shell prompt:
% tar xzvf Replay*.tar.Z
Where will be 2-5 characters representing the target operating system for your evaluation. If you do not have gnu tar type:
% gunzip Replay*.tar.Z
and then type:
% tar -xvf Replay*.tar
Note: This step does NOT install the product, this merely creates a directory structure which is the same as if the install CD were mounted in the new directory. - Change to the new directory, it will be something similar to the following line:
% cd RX3FC3 - This directory may contain several directories of software that were packaged on this media. Read the file "manifest" for a full description. In this directory you will also find a pdf file install.pdf (or install.txt), which will give you detailed installation instructions.
- Change into the appropriate subdirectory that contains the Replay Xcessory eval and type:
% ./setup
License Key Installation for Evaluations
Full operation of a Replay Xcessory evaluation requires the installation of a license key. You should receive an email with both a link and a license key to download and run your evaluation. If you did not, you can request another evaluation key by emailing keys@ics.com. The following instructions will help you properly install the keys.
- Start Replay by typing the following at the shell prompt (in the REPLAYHOME/bindirectlory):
% replaytm - Replay will startup and ask you for the location of your license key. Navigate to your key and select OK. Replay will copy the key to your home directory and Replay will start without issue in subsequent sessions.
Note: The ReplayXcessory evaluation key is stored in the home directory of the user. This means that every person evaluating Builder Xcessory must install this key through the dialog box mentioned above. You do not need to request additional evaluation keys. The one that you used will work for them too.
License Key Installation for Purchased Products
Installing the license key for a purchased version of Replay follows the same pattern as the evaluation license. The difference is that a permanent key will be a node locked floating license. You will need as many licenses as there will be simultaneous users. The same key will work for all users as above. If there is an issue with a key please email keys@ics.com.
Documentation
Where is the documentation for Replay Xcessory?
The pdf versions of the documentation for Replay are installed on your machine during installation and can be found in the REPLAYHOME directory. The documentation is also available at: http://www.ics.com/support/docs/
Are there any tutorials or other aides to get started?
The Replay Xcessory installation provides a sample testsuite (this is the default testsuite at startup). This testsuite contains several test packages. The test packages contain test cases demonstrate sample functionality in Replay.
Common Evaluation Problems
The application under test is not Motif based
Replay Xcessory tests Motif applications. More specifically, Replay interacts with the application under test through the Xt library. Replay will not be able to identify widgets in your application unless they are motif based or at least based on the Xt library.
Replay is not installed on the same system as the application under test
Replay Xcessory needs to be installed on the same machine as the application under test. The reason is that Replay interacts with the application under test through shared memory (via the Xt library). If the AUT and Replay are not on the same machine this communication is not possible.
Birds Eye View of Replay Xcessory
Replay is a functional testing tool
Replay helps you test more code more often. Replay tests the validity and repeatability of actions taken within an application. It can be used by engineers for unit testing or by a testing group to validate and gain confidence in new releases. By catching errors early in the development process, Replay lowers the total cost of development. Load testing is planned for the future.
Replay is simple enough for non-programmers to use
Code is generated from user actions. This allows a user to interact naturally with their application to create test baselines. A baseline is a set of results against which future runs are compared.
Replay uses TCL as a scripting language
This is important because TCL provides the programmability and flexibility to test complex applications.
Replay automatically generates reports
Reports are automatically generated after each run. The reports are created from comparisons of baseline results (created when a test is recorded) and the results of subsequent runs.
Replay operates on objects rather than screen location
Replay operates on objects, not geometry, so that a change in a widgets size or location is not a problem. For example, if the position of an OK button moves from one iteration one iteration of your program to the next Replay will still be able to find the button and provide correct playback. This makes scripts more resilient.
There is support for batch operation
This means that users can do unattended playback. If a user wants to run tests overnight they would use the batch capability. Replay can automatically generate batch files from selected test cases.
Replay has context sensitive help
There is context sensitive help throughout Replay making it easy to find what you need.