In this blog, we are going to talk about some changes in Coded UI extension (CUIT) classes in Vs2013 Update 2.  In VS2013 Update 2 we enhanced the Coded UI Test extensibility model to support plugins built for Windowless controls including controls in Modern Apps.

In case you are new to CUIT extension, we strongly suggest you go through the following series of blogs to understand the basic and advance topics regarding coded UI extension before you read this blog. 

This blog will be helpful if you find that your CUIT extension is not working and more specifically failed to find the control/element in the application. 

Why and what change? 

The main reason of making these changes was basically on two aspects. One to enable CodedUI testing for Windows Store Apps and Second was to make it more robust in working with existing wide range of controls.   

A new set of extensibility API’s have been exposed by CUIT to deal with usage of an AutomationElement as a parameter instead of window handle when querying a plugin for support. This would enable plugin writers to provide support primarily for Windowless controls and   ease in the support for extending control specific support 

In VS2013 , we have a class called UITechnologyManagerProxy.  Extension plugins are recommended to override this and customize their technology manager behavior. This is an abstract class.   

This class UITechnologyManagerProxy provides a couple of new methods explained below. 

• ConvertToExtensionElement 
• GetControlSupportLevel(System.Windows.Automation.AutomationElement element) 

  ConvertToExtensionElement 

  This method is used to convert core element to extension element.

  All plugins extending this proxy technology manager must implement this and create a simple conversion with copy of core technology element and extension manager. 

Example from one of my CUIT extension code 

 public override IUITechnologyElement ConvertToExtensionElement(IUITechnologyElement coreElement) 

       
{             

       
if (coreElement.ControlTypeName.Equals("Header")
&& coreElement.Name.Equals("View")) 

          
{ 

               
return new RibbonTabHeader(coreElement);   // RibbonTabHeader is my class which is
inherited from UITechnologyElementProxy 

         
}                

             
return coreElement; 

       
} 

 public override IUITechnologyElement ConvertToExtensionElement(IUITechnologyElement coreElement)  

{ 

 ExtensionTechnologyElement extensionElement = new ExtensionTechnologyElement(); 

 extensionElement.ExtensionTechnologyManager = this; 

 extensionElement.CoreTechnologyElement = coreElement;  

 return extensionElement; 

 } 

Note:  ConvertToExtensionElement is used to convert the given element of another technology to new element of this technology manager. This is used for operations such as switching between hosted and hosting technologies 

GetControlSupportLevel (AutomationElement element) 

We have added this new override method in UITechnologyManagerProxy class. This method takes AutomationElement as a parameter. This gives us more details about element which you want  CUIT framework to recognize.  In other override of GetControlSupportLevel, we take a IntPtr Window Handle and get the class Name from it to identify the control.  

Though GetControlSupportLevel (intPtr) was working fine in most of the cases, we came across scenarios where it fails to get right support level filled up. Adding a support for AutomationElement makes the method more robust.  With WindowHandle as a parameter, Windowless control specific support was not possible and that’s where AutomationElement helps identify such windowless controls.

People often gets confused with the article below in setting up ASP.NET profiler data diagnostic in load testing.

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd504817.aspx

Here is how you can enable it:

1. First thing is install test agent on the web server from where you want to capture ASP.NET profiling.

       2. In .testsetting file in role, you have to add two roles, one as "web server" and another as TestExecutionRole (it is just a name, you can give any name).

       3. Web server role is for your ASP.NET server, and TestExecutionrole is for all other agents where your test execution will happen. 

       4. Now for TestExecutionRole, add attribute with value same as TestExecutionRole.

       5. Similarly for web server role, add attribute with same value as "webserver".

       6. Now go to test in menu -> Manage Test controllers.

       7. In the dialog box, it will show you all the agents registered with the controller.

       8. For each of the agent, click properties and assign the attribute name and value according to the role they play.

           So for test agent on ASP.NET server, give the attribute name and value as webserver.

           And for all the test agents, in properties, give the attribute name and value as TestExecutionRole

      9.  In data and diagnostics tab in testsettings file, you will see both the roles "web server" and "TestExecutionRole"

     10. For "web server", enable ASP.NET profiler.

Now, You are all set and ready to capture ASP.NET profiler.

Content written by: Deepak Mittal, Support Escalation Engineer

Content reviewed by: Teodora Stanev, Senior Escalation Engineer

If you run the load test and you abort it in between, then result does not show the correct information.

Symptom

Visual Studio Load Test losing transaction timings issue if abort the test.

Resolution

1) In C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\QTAgent *.exe.config            

Add

<add key="StopTestRunCallTimeoutInSeconds" value="600"/>

<add key="DataCollectorCleanupTimeoutInSeconds" value="600"/>

in <appSettings> section.

Caution: There are several QTAgent*.exe.config files. Hence, to be safe; please update these entries in all the following config files:

QTAgent.exe.config

QTAgent_35.exe.config

QTAgent_40.exe.config

QTAgent32.exe.config

QTAgent32_35.exe.config

QTAgent32_40.exe.config

2)  Restart the TestAgents.

3) On Controller side, there is a config called “AgentCleanupTimeout” present in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\IDE\QTController.exe.config, which controls the timeout from controller side. Please set this value to 1000.

Written by: Deepak Mittal, Support Escalation Engineer

Reviewed by: Teodora Stanev, Senior Escalation Engineer

Launch Visual Studio 2013 from the taskbar and open Team Explorer. Connect to Team Project that has the build definition specified in this blog.

 

Select the Builds tile.

Right-click on the build definition in my case this is RMWebAppReleaseTemplate and select the Edit Build Definition option.
Select the "Process" Tab.

Select the ReleaseDefaultTemplate.11.1.xaml template.

Scroll down to the Release section of the build process parameters and set the Release Build parameter to ‘True’. Both the build definition and Release need to be configured in order to allow a build to trigger a release.

Save the build definition and start a new build.

Wait for the build to finish and then select the View Log link.

If you scroll down through the activity log, you should see the steps that have to do with Release.

Launch the Release Management Client and navigate to Releases | Traffic Overview.

Note that the "Release via Team Build" release path now shows that another deployment is in process in the DEV stage.

NOTE: Once a build triggers a Release you cannot delete this build because it is mark as "Retain Indefinitely"

1. Defining a Release Path for running Automated Tests as part of Release

Prerequisites:

Visual Studio Ultimate, Premium, or Test Professional (version 2010 or up) to code the automated tests.
Matching version-test environment configured including the following components:
Test Controller - attached to the team collection that you will run team build.
Test Agent/s associated with the test controller and installed on the deployment server.
MTM test environment associated with the Test Controller and Test Agent.

• Navigate to Configure Paths | Release Paths and double-click on the "New".
• Change the name of release path to be "Release Path for Automated MTM Tests" and one deployment stage: Test.
• On the TEST stage, specify:
• Environment
• Acceptance Step: Approver
• Deployment Step: Owner
• Validation Step: Validator

Save & Close the newly created Release Path.

2.  Defining a component for running Automated Test as part of a Release

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Components and double-click on the "New".
• Change the name of the component to be "MTM Automated Coded UI Test/s”.
• Under the Source Tab - Select "Build with Application".

• Under the Deployment Tab - Select "MTM Automated Tests Manager" tool.

• Save & Close the newly created Component.

3. Configuring a Release Template for running Automated Tests as part of a Release

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Release Templates and then double-click on the "New" button.

The new template "Properties" Dialog pops up.

• Change the name of the new template to "Template for MTM Automated Tests" 
• Change the Release Path to "Release Path for Automated MTM Tests",
• Select the Build Definitions for your Coded UI tests,
• Unselect "Can Trigger a Release from a Build?”
• Click "Create" Button.

The release template designer has a toolbox with control flow building blocks, servers, custom components, and a bunch of other actions and tools to help with deployment.

• Rick click on the "Components" and select "Add".
• The available components dialog box pops up.
• Select the "MTM Automated Coded UI Test/s" and click on "Link". This deployment server has the Test Agent installed in addition to the Deployment Agent.
  

• The first stage should be selected.
• Drag and drop inside the "Deployment Sequence" the following:
  • From the Servers Node:
  • ServerName( the deployment  server name)
  • From the Component node:
  • "MTM Automated Coded UI Test/s" component.

  You should have the following:

• Collapse all and select the "MTM Automated Coded UI Test/s" component.

Examine the variables that you need to provide:

Save & Close the newly created Release Template.

There are 3 main steps required to trigger Release from Team Build:

•    Defining a Release Path
•    Defining a Component
•    Configuring a Release Template

1. Defining a Release Path for triggering a Release from Team Build

• Navigate to Configure Paths | Release Paths and double-click on the "New".

• Change the name of release path to be "Release via Team Build" and add two deployment stages: DEV and PROD.

NOTE: The selected Release path must have the first stage's "Acceptance Step" set as Automated for the release template to support triggering a Release from a Team Build.

On each stage, specify:
•    Environment
•    Acceptance Step: Approver
•    Deployment Step: Owner
•    Validation Step: Validator

Save & Close the newly created Release Path.

2. Defining a Component for triggering a Release from Team Build

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Components and double-click on the "New".
• Change the name of the component to be "Web Site via Team Build Files”.
• Under the Source Tab - Select "Builds with application”.
• Under the Deployment Tab - Select XCopy Deployer Tool.
• Save & Close the newly created Component.

3. Configuring a Release Template for triggering a Release from Team Build

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Release Templates and then double-click on the "New" button.

The new template "Properties" Dialog pops up.

• Change the name of the new template to "Release Template Web App via Team Build".  
• Change the Release Path to: "Release via Team Build".
• Select "Can Trigger a Release from a Build?".
• Select the Build Definition you want to use to trigger the Release.
• Click "Create" Button.

NOTE: You cannot select Build definition that is being used in different release template.

The release template designer has a toolbox with control flow building blocks, servers, custom components, and a bunch of other actions and tools to help with deployment.

Rick click on the "Components" and select "Add". The available components dialog box pops up. Select the "Web Site via Team Build Files" and click on "Link".

The first stage is selected. For simplicity, we are going to use the same Deployment Sequence like the one in  this blog.

Save & Close the newly created Release Template.

• Defining a Release Path
• Defining a Component
• Configuring a Release Template

1.Defining a Release Path with multiple deployment stages for deploying Web Application as part of a Release

• Navigate to Configure Paths | Release Paths and double-click on the "New".
• Change the name of release path to be "Release Path Web Deploy Demo One Stage" and add 4 deployment stages: DEV, QA, TEST and PROD.

Please note that the available stage types can be defined under Administration -> Manage Pick Lists -> Stage Type

On each stage, specify:

• Environment
• Acceptance Step: Approver
• Deployment Step: Owner
• Validation Step: Validator

Save & Close the newly created Release Path.

2. Defining a component for deploying Web Application as part of a Release

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Components and double-click on the "New".
• Change the name of the component to be "Web Site Files".
• Under the Source Tab - Select Builds Externally -> UNC Path to Package.

NOTE: We are going to be using for all four-deployment states the same source files.

• Under the Deployment Tab - Select XCopy Deployer Tool.
• Save & Close the newly created Component.
  
  
  

3. Configuring a Release Template for deploying a Web Application as part of a Release.

• Navigate to Configure Apps | Release Templates and then double-click on the "New" button. 

The new template "Properties” dialog pops up.

• Change the name of the new template to "Template Web Deploy Demo”

• Change the Release Path to: "Release Path Web Deploy Demo".

• Unselect "Can Trigger a Release from a Build?”

• Click "Create" Button.

The release template designer has a toolbox with control flow building blocks, servers, custom components, and a bunch of other actions and tools to help with deployment.

• Rick click on the "Components" and select "Add". The available components dialog box pops up.

• Select the "Web Site Files" and click on "Link".

For the purposes of this demo, the deployment sequence is relatively simple to help illustrate the concept.

Drag and drop inside the "Deployment Sequence" the following:

• From the Servers Node:
• ServerName (the deployment server name)
• From the Component node
• "Web Site Files" component
• From IIS actions:
• Create Application pool
• Create Web site

You should see the following Deployment Sequence:

Select the Collapse All button so that we can dig into the example deployment sequence starting at a higher level of detail.

The collapsed view shows just the ServerName (the deployment server name), which means that all deployment tasks will occur on this server. If you look at the Toolbox, you will notice that there is a Servers node. This toolbox node shows all servers available to the environment configured for the currently selected stage.

Expand the ServerName(the deployment server name), node. In summary of the details to follow, the general deployment sequence:

• Web Site Files  - copying the web site files from a network share to the deployment server
• Create Application Pool - creating the application pool on the deployment server
• Create Web site -  creating the web site the deployment server

Expand the "Web Site Files" Node.

For the purpose of this demo, we will use the same web site files to create all four-deployment stages of the web site.

You can create this action by dragging and dropping the "Web Site Files" component.

Expand the Create Application Pool node. This creates the specified site application pool.

Expand the Create Web Site node. This creates the specified site in IIS.

All stages of this demonstration release template have an identical structure, although with different parameters.

Note: In case that all stages have a similar structure, you can copy and paste elements from one stage to another. You can even copy the entire deployment sequence from one stage to another. In case that some servers are not available on the target stage, you will be prompted to replace those servers with available ones.

Save & Close the newly created Release Template.

 Problem Description:

Recently while working with the customer, found two unique issues with profiling the application   with visual studio 2012.

a.  Vsperfcmd.exe was throwing below error while profiling:

Error: VSP 7008: ASP.net exception: "The web site could not be configured correctly; getting ASP.NET process information failed. Requesting 'localhost:10803/VSEnterpriseHelper.axd' returned an error:Unable to connect to the remote server"

Solution:

We found that customer was having another application running on IIS which was creating lucene files. These files are used for search index on the application. Profiler try to modify the web.config files for the application. 

However, these lucene files were blocking the editing of the web.config files. In can you have an application creating lucene files, please stop those applications first and delete the files and then run the profiler again. These files will be named like this: lucene-abcd111112222-write.lock

b. While running the profiler for an asp.net application from visual studio,We get the following error:

web.config file is already in use by another process.

Solution:

As mentioned in above point (a) that profiler try to modify the web.config file for the application for which you want to run the profiler. With visual studio 2012, it is always suggested to use IISExpress instead of using casini. To know more about IISExpress:

 www.iis.net/learn/extensions/introduction-to-iis-express/iis-express-overview

Written and Reviewed by:

 Deepak Mittal

 Support Escalation Engineer, Visual Studio ALM INDIA/EMEA Team

Problem Description:

When you run your data driven unit tests in virtual machine environment with MTM, you may get below errors:

The unit test adapter failed to connect to the data source or to read the data. For more information on troubleshooting this error, see "Troubleshooting
Data-Driven Unit Tests" (go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=62412) in the MSDN Library. Error details: ERROR [IM002] [Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified.

 Resolution:

There are few things to look at:

1. If you are running your test in 32 bit mode, then you will have to install 32 bit version of excel.
2. Then based on the connection string defined in your test for excel connectivity, you need to create DSN(Data Source Name) in virtual machines.
3. Also, we need to make sure that the path of the excel should be proper in your connection string in the test.

Once these things are taken care, everything will come up fine. Hope this will be of immense benefit for testers community.

Written and Reviewed by:

Deepak Mittal

Support Escalation Engineer, Visual Studio ALM EMEA Team