SmartBear TestComplete Changelog

What's new in SmartBear TestComplete 15.62.2.7

Mar 7, 2024

Improvements:
Upgraded the OpenSSL library in our installation application folders from version 1.1.1 to version 3.0.12 LTS.
Advancements in the Keyword Test Editor for VisualTest keyword test operations.
Added support to detect Windows 11 search bar and Start button.
Integration of Upgraded Google Vision API OCR Models.
Bug fixes:
Fixed the issue where TestComplete would not record tests for Printer Dialog on a screen resolution with different scales and on multiple screens.
Addressed problems with invalid capabilities being exchanged between TestComplete and local Appium.
Fixed the issue with displaying multi-line alert messages.
Addressed the delay issues while using ObjectSpy with OCR operations.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.61.1.7 (Jan 31, 2024)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.60.7.0 (Jan 12, 2024)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.58.2.7 (Nov 15, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.55.53.7 (Sep 12, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.54.3.7 (Aug 8, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.53.2.7 (Jul 7, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.52.2 (Jun 6, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.51.4.7 (Apr 28, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.50.3.7 (Apr 4, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.49.6.7 (Mar 1, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.48.1.7 (Jan 20, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.47.4.7 (Jan 9, 2023)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.45.31.7 (Dec 1, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.44.11.7 (Oct 4, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.43.1.7 (Sep 8, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.42.9.7 (Aug 2, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.41.9.7 (Jul 1, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.40.421.7 (Mar 17, 2022)

Licensing improvements:
We’ve updated the ID-based licensing subsystem to support licensing in private networks. That is, you can now activate and use TestComplete on computers that have no access to the SmartBear license servers available on the Web. To make the product work in such environments, you need to convert your Fixed User or Floating ID-based license to an offline one on the SmartBear Licensing Portal and then activate that offline license in your network in a special way. For complete information, see Licensing in Private Networks.
Name mapping UI improvements:
For mapped web and mobile objects identified by selectors, the Name Mapping repository now shows:
The type of the selector: CSS or XPath. When adding a new selector, you can specify its type. You can also change the type of selectors created by the test engine.
A brief description that explains how the selector works.
Full support for sharing test results:
Starting from TestComplete version 15.30, you can publish test results to our online storage to share them with your teammates. See Sharing Test Results.
In previous product versions, sharing test results was in Beta. Starting from the current 15.40 version, we provide full support for this feature. The following improvements have been made:
If your tests run in unattended mode, for example from the command line or a CI/CD system, you can automate sharing test results by using new command-line parameters: /ShareResults, /SharedResultsName, and /SharedResultsExpireIn.
Now you share test results from TestExecute as well.
TestComplete test adapter for Azure DevOps improvements:
The TestComplete test adapter has a new option that controls how it searches for tests to run: either in the Execution Plan of your TestComplete test projects or among their project items
Specifying how to search tests to run in Azude DevOps
You can use the latter approach to run tests by tags and tag expressions:
Running tests in Azure DevOps by tags
To learn how to configure the test adapter, see Enable support for TestComplete tests step description.
The test adapter now can pass additional command-line arguments to TestComplete or TestExecute that run tests on the test agents. You can use it to set project variable values when running tests in your Azure pipelines
Mobile testing improvements:
The overall performance of mobile tests running in device clouds has been improved.
The performance of simulating text input and pressing physical buttons on mobile devices has been improved.
Other improvements:
Qt 6 support. Now, you can create, record, and run automated tests for Qt 6 applications.
Support for the latest browser versions. You can create, record, and run automated web tests in the following browsers:
Chrome 99
Edge Chromium 99
Firefox 98

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.31.374.7 (Feb 10, 2022)

Mobile testing improvements:
Easier connection to BitBar device clouds. We have simplified the dialogs in which you select BitBar mobile devices to make the connection to them more straightforward.
Filtering BitBar devices by their physical location. When connecting to a mobile device provided by BitBar, you can select the region where the device is located physically.
You can also add a preferred device location to the rules that TestComplete uses to search for replacement mobile devices.
Quicker reconnection to BitBar devices. By default, when a mobile device provided by BitBar is disconnected, it is automatically restored to its initial state. While the device is being restored, it is unavailable. Now, you can use the new Keep the device available for quick reconnection option to command BitBar not to restore the device immediately and keep it available for some time (up to 60 seconds). This way, you can reconnect to the device quicker.
To prevent accidental turning off or restarting Android devices provided by BitBar, we have removed the On/Off button from the TestComplete Mobile Screen window. To restart a tested application on such devices, you can use the Restart application command, or the Disconnect and Reconnect commands available on the Mobile Screen window toolbar.
Support for iOS 15.3. If your mobile tests rely on the legacy (non-Appium) approach to mobile testing, you can now create and run automated tests on this iOS version.
If an error occurs when installing a tested iOS application to a device connected to your computer locally (legacy mobile support), TestComplete now shows coherent error messages.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 support improvements. We have significantly improved object recognition and name mapping for Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications. Now, TestComplete generates more robust recognition criteria for objects in these applications making automated tests for them more stable.
Support for the latest browser versions. You can create, record, and run automated web tests in the following browsers:
Chrome 98
Edge Chromium 98
Firefox 97
Desktop testing improvements:
.NET 6 support. You can record and run tests for applications created with .NET 6.0, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
Other improvements:
TestComplete supports integration with Zephyr Squad. It enables you to automate Zephyr test cases by assigning TestComplete tests to them. Previously, Zephyr Squad had been known as Zephyr for Jira. TestComplete UI has been updated to match the actual product name. To learn more about integration, see Integration With Zephyr Squad.
If any issue occurs during TestComplete installation or a reboot is required, the installation process will handle the unexpected events smoother.
We’ve fixed several issues reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.30.355.7 (Jan 19, 2022)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.20.341.7 (Dec 16, 2021)

Web testing improvements:
AI-based "self-healing" mode for cross-platform web tests. Now, when a cloud-based web test fails to find an element on a web page, it will use an AI-based algorithm to find a similar, "replacement", element and continue running. This also works for local web tests that use XPath selectors and CSS selectors to find web elements.
Running web tests in headless browsers. If you have the Intelligent Quality add-on for TestComplete, you can make your web test faster and more stable by running them in headless browsers on a local computer in parallel
You do not need to install and configure drivers to manage headless browsers — the add-on will do all the work automatically. You do not need to open an interactive user session for such tests either.
Enhanced optical character recognition (OCR) support in cross-platform web tests. In web tests, you can record user actions over web elements based on the text they render on the tested web page. This can be helpful when simulating user actions over web elements that TestComplete cannot access by other means, for example, canvas or svg elements.
You can also run such OCR-based tests in desktop and mobile versions of web browsers in remote environments managed by the CrossBrowserTesting.com device cloud.
Improved CEF support. Starting from this version of TestComplete, you can use a new approach for testing CEF applications — by using the Chrome DevTools Protocol. This approach eliminates the limitations of the existing script-injection-based approach.
So far, the new approach is available for CEF version 88.
The script-injection-based approach is still available, and your existing tests will stay valid. However, we’d recommend that you use the new approach for testing. To learn how to migrate your existing tests to the new approach, see Exposing CEF Applications.
You can test web applications running in Firefox even with the Site Isolation security enabled out-of-the-box. You no longer need to disable Site Isolation manually before creating and running tests.
Support for the latest browser versions. You can create, record, and run automated web tests on the following browsers:
Chrome 96
Edge Chromium 96
Firefox 95
Other improvements:
You can search for keyword test operations most suitable for the task you need to accomplish by typing a short task description or key words in the Search box of the test editor
When mapping objects in Oracle Forms applications, TestComplete generates clearer and shorter aliases for the objects. New names do not include intermediate objects (for example, containers, scroll boxes, draw panels).
User forms now have the ColorTheme property. You can use it to set the color theme, for instance, Light or Dark, of your user forms.
We’ve fixed several issues reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 15.0.379.7 (Oct 12, 2021)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.93.312.7 (Sep 16, 2021)

Mobile testing improvements:
Automatic device replacement. The mobile tests to be run in the BitBar device cloud support a new configuration setting. You can use it to command the test engine to find a replacement device if the target device is not available for some reason. This way, your test will not fail but will run on another similar device.
Support for iOS 14.7: If your mobile tests use the non-Appium mobile support, you can now create and run automated tests on this iOS version.
The Device object has two new methods to check whether the virtual keyboard is visible or not, and to hide this keyboard, if needed.
Web testing improvements:
Easier update of CSS selectors. If your tested web application has been changed, you may need to update the XPath expressions and CSS selectors that the test engine uses to recognize web objects. Now, you can do this quickly by pointing to the needed object on the screen. TestComplete will replace the existing XPath expressions and CSS selectors with the actual values the target web object has.
Using optical character recognition in web tests running in device clouds. Now, you can use optical character recognition (OCR) to identify objects in web tests running in desktop web browsers in remote environments. This way, your tests can interact with web elements that TestComplete cannot recognize by other means. For instance, your tests can recognize the contents rendered by canvas elements and simulate user actions over them.
New Electron support. This version of TestComplete introduces a new approach for supporting Electron applications — by using the Chrome DevTools Protocol. The new approach eliminates the limitations of the previously-used approach.
That previously-used approach is still available, all your existing tests will remain valid. You can use it to create tests, though we’d recommend using the new approach.
To make your existing tests support the new approach, all you need to do is to modify the way your tested Electron application starts. See About Testing Electron Applications With TestComplete. The way TestComplete recognizes objects in Electron applications and simulates user actions has not changed, therefore, no other modifications for your tests are needed.
We’ve improved internal subsystems supporting the Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications. The tests have become more stable. Also, you can now record and play back hover actions and clicks on images correctly.
Support for the latest versions of web browsers: Firefox 92, Chrome 93, Edge Chromium 93
Other improvements:
We’ve improved the performance of test scripts that run from keyword tests, for example, by the Run Code Snippet operation.
We’ve also improved the product installer to eliminate issues that might occur during the installation if the reboot was required.
We have fixed several issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued support:
The Borland Database Engine developed by Embarcadero has been deprecated. Therefore, the support that TestComplete provides for the engine is deprecated as well. It will be removed in one of the future releases. We don’t recommend using it in your tests. To access databases, use Microsoft ADO.
Support for earlier builds of iOS 13 has been removed from TestComplete. Now, TestComplete supports only iOS 13.6 and 13.7.
Our records say that the GUI Explorer tool has been rarely used, so we have removed it from the product.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.91.341.7 (Jul 6, 2021)

Mobile testing improvements:
Better support for timeouts when working with devices in the BitBar cloud:
TestComplete 14.91 introduces the New command timeout option that specifies the time that mobile devices will wait for TestComplete commands until disconnection. This option helps you ensure that your testing session closes automatically even if your test is terminated.
The devices are no longer disconnected on timeout unexpectedly while you are exploring your tested application in the Object Browser or Object Spy.
Now, the test engine doesn’t terminate tests running in the BitBar cloud on timeout unless you set that timeout in the bitbar_testTimeout property in capabilities.
Support for iOS 14.6. If your mobile tests rely on the legacy (non-Appium) mobile support, you can now create and run automated tests on this iOS version.
Web testing improvements:
New option – Latest version available – for selecting a Firefox or Chrome version for web tests running in the CrossBrowserTesting cloud. It helps you be sure that your tests run on the up-to-date browser version and frees you from updating your test settings every time a new browser version is released.
You can find it in the Generate Run Code dialog and in the Run Remote Browser or Remote Browser Loop operations in your keyword tests:
Selecting the latest available version of a web browser
Improved recording of mouse actions on the canvas web elements: now the recorder includes coordinate data into the recorded events. Previous versions of the product might skip coordinates in certain cases.
Support for Firefox 89. You can now create and run tests on this web browser.
Other improvements:
We’ve improved internal algorithms for simulating user actions on third-party controls in systems with high DPI values (higher than 100%). This has made test runs even more stable on these systems.
The scripting engine of TestComplete now uses Python version 3.8.10. This version includes fixes for several security issues reported in earlier Python versions.
Also, TestComplete now uses Node.js version 10.
We have fixed several issues reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.90.432.7 (Jun 7, 2021)

Mobile testing improvements:
You can orchestrate parallel runs of your mobile tests in the BitBar device cloud or on mobile devices controlled by a private Appium server easier, by using the Execution Plan editor of your TestComplete project.
The Mobile Screen window of TestComplete now shows both the list of connected mobile devices and the list of recently used devices.
TestComplete now can capture images during parallel test runs on mobile devices managed by BitBar and local Appium. This can help explore the behavior of tested applications if a test fails.
By default, capturing images during parallel test runs is disabled. Use the new Capture images during parallel test runs option to control this behavior and enable and disable capturing images when needed.
Support for iOS 14.5.1. If your mobile tests rely on the legacy (non-Appium) mobile support in TestComplete, you can now create and run automated tests on this iOS version.
Web testing improvements:
You can use project and project suite variables to specify the URL of a tested website when orchestrating your parallel web test runs in the Execution Plan editor.
If you use the Remote Browser Loop operation to run your web tests in remote environments, now you can configure the operation to execute its child operation in one of the supported web browsers on a local computer. This may be helpful if you want to verify your web test in a local environment before running it in remote browsers or if you want to debug your web test. This is easier than modifying your entire loop to run it in a local browser.
Support for Google Chrome 91.
Microsoft Dynamics support:
You can now create, record, and run automated tests for Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications accessed via web browsers. See Testing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Applications.
SAP GUI support enhancements:
TestComplete now detects whether controls in SAP GUI have dynamic identifiers and generates identification properties that ignore the dynamic parts. This helps make automated tests for SAP GUI more reliable.
This makes creating automations easier.
Support for SAP GUI version 7.70.
In previous TestComplete versions, it was possible to create automations for SAP GUI using only properties and methods that TestComplete provided for all onscreen objects. In this version, TestComplete provides extra methods and properties for the following SAP GUI controls:
GuiButton
GuiCheckBox
GuiTextField
GuiCTextField
Other improvements:
Recommended system requirements have been updated. We recommend that you use TestComplete on the 64-bit version of the Windows 10 operating system. We also recommend that you have 16 GB of RAM or more and 1920 × 1080 or higher screen resolution on your TestComplete workstation. See System Requirements.
TestComplete projects now have a new Repaint window before capturing image option. If the option is enabled (by default), TestComplete will command the system to redraw windows before the test engine captures their image. This can help avoid various window rendering issues and improve the reliability of image comparison in TestComplete.
We have fixed several issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued support:
Support for some earlier versions of iOS has been removed from TestComplete. Now, it supports only the latest build of version 12 — 12.5.
If you need support for other iOS 12 versions, please contact our Customer Care team.
The legacy non-Chromium version of Edge has reached the end of life in March 2021. The Windows 10 April 2021 Update replaces it with the new Chromium-based version automatically. Therefore, we are deprecating support for the non-Chromium Edge in TestComplete.
We won’t run tests for this browser, and we don’t guarantee that your web tests will run in this browser correctly. We won’t provide any bug fixes for it.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.81.217.7 (May 4, 2021)

Run mobile tests in parallel:
You can increase your mobile testing efficiency by running tests in Appium-based device clouds in parallel. You can orchestrate the parallel test runs directly from your TestComplete tests by using the Parallel.RunMobileTests method. See Running Mobile Tests in Parallel for details.
Changes in cross-platform web tests:
The Parallel.RunEnvironments method has been replaced with Parallel.RunWebTests. Use it instead to run cross-platform web tests in parallel. RunEnvironments is still supported for backward compatibility.
The Environments parameter of the new RunWebTests method can take an array of JSON objects rather than an array of strings.
Overall improvements
We have improved the performance of mobile tests running in environments provided by BitBar and private Appium servers. Now, it takes less time for Test Visualizer to capture screenshots of the tested mobile application that reduces the overall test run time.
We continue improving our internal algorithms to make tests for SAP GUI applications more stable and reliable.
The Name Mapping repository shows the Extended Find check box only for those objects for which it is relevant, like objects in desktop applications or web objects mapped by properties provided by TestComplete. The check box is hidden for objects to which it is not applicable, for instance, web objects mapped with XPath expressions or CSS selectors.
Editing of keyword tests has become a bit handier. Now, when you change parameters of keyword-test operations by typing them in the Value cell, the test no longer freezes trying to locate the underlying tested object.
The popularity of JScript and DelphiScript has been declining rapidly during the last few decades. Starting from this TestComplete version, we no longer recommend that you use these languages to create new tests. These languages are now hidden from the Create New Project wizard by default.
We’d suggest that you use JavaScript or Python. Basically, it is the way to go when it comes to selecting a scripting language. They are stable, reliable, and you can always reach for any necessary support on them online.
We don’t remove JScript and DelphiScript, they are still available in TestComplete. All your existing projects that use them will remain intact and fully functional. You can continue using these languages to create new tests, though we do not recommend this. See Selecting the Scripting Language.
We’ve fixed several issues reported by our customers.
Support for recent versions of web browsers:
Google Chrome 90.
Mozilla Firefox 88.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.80.627.7 (Apr 13, 2021)

Enhanced cloud-compatible mobile testing:
The previous version of TestComplete introduced a new mobile testing approach that makes it possible to create and run mobile tests on devices controlled by cloud providers, like BitBar, or by a local Appium server. Version 14.8 improves this new approach significantly:
You can now create cloud-compatible mobile tests faster and easier by recording user actions.
You can easily connect to mobile devices from keyword tests by using the new Run Remote Device operation.
You can also connect to mobile devices from the Mobile Screen window or when you start test recording by clicking Record Test on the TestComplete Start Page.
If you use BitBar-cloud devices, you can specify tested mobile applications when you are creating a new project. This makes it easier to deploy these apps to the device during test runs. See Adding Applications to the List of Tested BitBar Applications.
All these changes have made the previous mobile testing approach obsolete. You can still use it to run mobile tests on devices connected to the TestComplete computer (via ADB or iTunes). For new tests, we recommend using the new cloud-compatible approach. You can switch between approaches by using the Mobile support type property of your TestComplete project.
Smarter web testing:
If it is your tested web application that resides behind a proxy or a firewall, see Access Web Applications Behind a Firewall.
Device Cloud add-on is no longer needed for cross-platform tests. We’ve migrated the cross-platform testing functionality from the Device Cloud add-on to the Web module. This makes the add-on unneeded, and we’ve removed it from the TestComplete bundle.
Easier parallel test runs. We no longer provide TestExecute Lite as a standalone utility. You can run your cross-platform web tests in parallel by using TestComplete and regular TestExecute. To orchestrate parallel runs, use the Parallel object in your tests or use the Execution Plan of your project.
The TestComplete test adapter for Azure DevOps no longer allows orchestrating parallel runs. You can do it directly from your TestComplete projects.
Better object recognition and object mapping in web applications (for instance, in Salesforce):
TestComplete uses more descriptive mapping objects for web page elements (date pickers, icons, buttons, and others).
Also, TestComplete now recognizes and maps combo box items by their contents.
When mapping radio buttons, TestComplete groups buttons that belong to the same radio group.
Support for proxies in cross-platform web tests. Now, if a TestComplete workstation is running behind a proxy, cross-platform web tests can access the target device cloud correctly. They will use the workstation’s system proxy settings. In previous TestComplete versions, cross-platform web tests can only access the device cloud directly.
New Salesforce Support plugin:
The new Salesforce API script extension helps you work with Salesforce resources directly from TestComplete tests. The extension provides the Salesforce script object that enables you to perform common operations over Salesforce objects and to send SOQL queries.
The extension is not part of TestComplete. You can get it for free from its GitHub repository: https://github.com/SmartBear/testcomplete-salesforce-extension
Overall improvements:
More flexible BDD tests. The new Stop the entire Scenario Outline if any example fails project property helps you control the behavior of the Scenario Outline run when an error occurs in one of the examples.
Support for Electron 11. You can create, record, and run automated tests for Electron-based applications created with Electron version 11.0.0.
Improvements in SAP GUI support. We’ve improved internal algorithms to make tests created for SAP GUI applications even more stable.
Support for user-defined parameters in SessionCreator. If you run your tests via the SessionCreator utility, you can now use its new command-line argument /arg to pass the custom parameters to TestComplete.
Better Execution Plan view. For easier configuration, we’ve put settings that are specific to parallel runs to a special panel in the Execution Plan editor.
Support for recent versions of web browsers:
Google Chrome 89.
Mozilla Firefox 87.
The Execution Plan editor:
Our records say that a sample project that demonstrates how to create tests for Xamarin.Forms applications was rarely used. We have moved it from the product installation to the additional sample package that you can download from our website.
The TestComplete installer now suggests sending the installation log to the SmartBear Customer Care Team for issues that occur during the product installation.
We’ve also fixed a number of issues reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.74.437.7 (Mar 1, 2021)

Mobile testing in device clouds:
You can now create and run tests using mobile devices located in device clouds, like BitBar, or in private clouds managed by your local Appium server. In other words, you can test mobile applications on a wide range of devices without purchasing and connecting them to your test machines physically.
The script editor has a special new wizard to help you generate the script code for connecting to the device cloud.
If needed, you can also connect to your mobile device cloud from TestComplete’s Object Browser.
Orchestrating parallel test runs:
You can now orchestrate parallel runs of your cross-platform web tests visually, directly from the Execution Plan editor of your project (to add this functionality, we’ve reworked the editor UI and moved some columns to the new Properties panel).
The editor’s drop-down lists have the environments provided by the CrossBrowserTesting.com cloud.
SAP support:
You can now create, record, and run automated tests for SAP GUI (Front-End) applications for Windows. See Testing SAP GUI.
Web testing:
You can now parameterize XPath expressions and CSS selectors used to locate mapped objects with data from external data sources like Excel sheets or .csv files. You load data from these data sources through project variables of the DB Table types.
TestComplete now identifies combo box controls by their label and description (the aria-labelby and aria-describedby attributes respectively). It can also recognize radio button controls by their contents. This makes object recognition in web applications (for instance, in Salesforce) more reliable.
Support for Mozilla Firefox 86.
More mobile testing improvements:
Support for iOS 14.4: You can now create and run automated tests on this new version of iOS.
Overall improvements:
The test log has the new Time With Children column that shows the time spent on running a test operation along with its child operations (if any):
Note that the column is hidden by default. Add it to the test log panels by right-clicking the column header area and selecting Field Chooser from the context menu.
We’ve updated the format of TestComplete project files that store baseline data of database checkpoints (.tcDBTable.dbt). In previous versions, the files stored data in a binary format. Now, they use the XML format, which makes merging easier. When you open a legacy project in the new TestComplete version, it will suggest converting files to the new format. See Migrating Projects Created in Earlier Versions for more details.
The Name Mapping engine now generates clearer aliases for OracleForms objects. The new names are based on the object class name and caption (if they are available) and do not include redundant prefixes and indexes.
The TestComplete installation runs significantly faster now.
We’ve fixed a few issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued support:
We are going to declare the end-of-life of the Network Suite functionality in one of the future TestComplete releases. We do not recommend that you use it for orchestrating test runs. For this purpose, we’d suggest using a third-party CI/CD system. See Migrating Distributed Tests to CI/CD Systems for details. If you develop and run web tests, you can also try the Execution Plan of your TestComplete project.
TestComplete no longer supports Firefox version 79–82.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.73.382.7 (Feb 26, 2021)

Web testing enhancements:
Smarter SmartBear Test extension installation. You no longer need to exit Chrome during the TestComplete (or TestExecute) installation or update for the SmartBear Test Extension for Chrome to be installed correctly. This means that the installation (or update) process is no longer disrupted, and you can start recording or running tests in Chrome right after the installation is over.
Notes:
You may need to reload a web page that has been opened in Chrome during the installation for the test engine to be able to access it.
This change doesn’t apply to Edge Chromium at the moment.
Smarter object recognition in web applications. TestComplete can now identify text area and input box controls by their labels. This makes object recognition in web applications (for instance, in Salesforce) more reliable and makes the recognition criteria easier to understand.
Full support for Chromium-based version of Edge. In previous versions of the product, this support was in Beta.
Support for recent versions of web browsers:
Google Chrome 88.
Mozilla Firefox 85.
Mobile testing enhancements
Support for Android 11 (API Level 30).
Note: Playing back gestures on Android 11 devices is currently unavailable.
Support for iOS 14.3. You can now create and run automated tests on this new version of iOS.
Testing iOS applications created with the latest Xcode release – version 12.3.
More
You can now automate testing of .NET and WPF applications created with .NET Framework version 4.8.
If some test item failed, the test engine can rerun it. TestComplete now groups results of these reruns under one node in the test log. Expand that node to view the results (the small red icon next to the node indicates that it has child items – results of reruns).
For Python script tests, TestComplete now uses the Python engine, version 3.8.7. This version includes a few security improvements relative to version 3.6 that TestComplete used before. Also, in your scripts, you can now use syntax features that the new engine version introduces (for example, assignment expressions). See Python - Specifics of Usage. To learn more about versions of the Python engine, see their documentation at python.org/doc.
Starting from this TestComplete version, the Disable DWM before capturing image option is off by default in all new projects. The option affects the way in which TestComplete captures screenshots on operating systems that use the Aero theme (for example, Windows Vista).
If you create or run your tests on such an operating system and need to have the DWM disabled for the image comparison to work correctly, turn on the option in your project manually. For more information on the option effect, see Capturing Images When the Aero UI Theme Is Active.
We have fixed several issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued support:
Flash Player has reached the end of life on December 31, 2020. Modern browsers block Flash and Flex contents on pages. This makes support for Flash and Flex applications in TestComplete deprecated. We will remove it in a future release.
We no longer run tests for these technologies and do not guarantee your tests for Flash and Flex apps will work correctly. We will not provide any bug fixes for them.
Support for the Edge-based WebBrowser control (non-Chromium version) is deprecated. We’ll remove it from the product in one of the future releases.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.72.408.7 (Dec 23, 2020)

Test run improvements:
It is easier to configure test runs now. We’ve renamed the Test Items page, where you define the tests to be run, to Execution Plan and moved it from the project editor to the project tree. You can find it directly below the project node in the Project Explorer
Web testing improvements:
Now, by default, all new projects use XPath expressions and CSS selectors for object location. This makes all web tests you create in these projects cross-platform-compatible. If you need to create “old” web tests for some reason, clear the Use XPath expressions ... check box in the Create Project wizard when creating a project.
Web test recording performance has been improved. For the Chrome browser - significantly.
We’ve also improved mapping algorithms. TestComplete now automatically excludes insignificant intermediate objects from the Name Mapping tree. This makes the generated mapping names shorter and easier to understand. This also makes mapping criteria more reliable and helps the test engine find objects faster.
More:
Support for iOS 14.2. You can create and run tests for iOS applications running on this operating system.
Support for recent versions of web browsers:
Google Chrome 87.
Mozilla Firefox 84.
Better support for Windows Store applications. Previous TestComplete versions could search for an application process using a wrong ID. This could happen if the tested Windows Store application did not have the DisplayName value set in its properties. Now, TestComplete uses the correct ID for the search. However, this fix may affect your existing tests. You may need to update them or change the Name Mapping conditions to find your tested Windows Store app correctly.
We’ve also fixed a few issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued support:
The Web Testing option Use CSS pixels for scaled pages has become obsolete. It is on by default (this helps your tests work better with scaled and long pages), and we would recommend keeping it on forever. We are going to delete this option in one of the future releases. If your tests rely on the off state of this option, you will need to update them.
The obsolete support for CrossBrowserTesting (the Environments node and related features) has gone. We declared it deprecated in TestComplete 14.40, and now have removed it completely:
The Environments node is no longer available in TestComplete projects. If you have project suites created in earlier TestComplete versions, the node will be removed from them when you open them in the new TestComplete version.
The same will happen to the test logs created during these test runs. They will be removed from your projects when you open the projects in the new TestComplete version.
The /cbt command-line option is no longer supported.
The RunEnvironmentManager and RunCrossBrowserTesting methods have been removed from the TestComplete Library (used to control TestComplete tests via COM).
To run web tests in CrossBrowserTesting environments, use the Device Cloud add-on. To learn more, see About Cross-Platform Web Tests.
TestComplete no longer supports CEF3 version 1750.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.61.276.7 (Sep 22, 2020)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.50.274.7 (Sep 8, 2020)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.50.943.7 (Jul 15, 2020)

Web testing enhancements:
TestComplete can now recognize web objects by using CSS selectors and XPath expressions. The recognition string can include parent objects, if needed, as well as attributes, the content or position of the target element:
This approach brings your web tests to the next level:
It makes your recorded tests suitable for cross-platform web testing. If you decide to test on various environments, the adoption will be easy and quick.
XPath and CSS selectors are commonly used in web development, so they are easier for web developers and QA engineers to understand compared to the criteria used by previous TestComplete versions.
Finally, the test engine provides multiple recognition options for the same object which makes the recognition more reliable and prone to changes in the tested web pages (see below).
To enable the new mode, select the Use XPath and CSS selectors for web objects check box when creating a new test project:
The new 'Use XPath and CSS selectors for web objects' check box in the New
Project Wizard:
Click the image to enlarge it.
Note: This setting replaces the Cross-platform web tests check box that was added in TestComplete 14.4. If you are going to create cross-platform web tests, you must select the new check box.
The new recorded tests contain mapped object names as the tests created in earlier TestComplete versions did. However, the mapping criteria are new:
New Name Mapping criteria:
As you can see, TestComplete offers several recognition options. If one of them stops working (for example, because of changes in the tested web app), TestComplete will use the next option on the list. See also Name Mapping - XPath Expressions and CSS Selectors.
If you don’t use Name Mapping, the recorded tests will contain the object names with the FindElement(…) method in them. This method uses the CSS selectors and XPath expressions as a parameter:
The FindElement method in recorded tests
You can also see new names in the Object Browser. Here you can also pick the selector that provides better object recognition:
Using the FindElement method to locate objects in Object Browser
To enable the new naming mode for your existing projects, select the check box in the Open Applications > Web Testing > General options of your project:
The new 'Use XPath and CSS selectors for web objects' option in project properties
The option affects only new tests you will record. Existing web tests will continue running with existing Name Mapping aliases.
The FindElement(…) method that the test engine uses for naming web elements was introduced in TestComplete version 14.4. It was part of the Device Cloud add-on and was intended for creating cross-platform web tests. In version 14.5, we have moved this method to the Web module and made it available for all web tests, regardless of whether they are cross-platform or not.
The same happened to the “accompanying” WaitElement(…) method. It has also been moved to the Web module and is now available for all web tests.
Improved cross-platform web tests:
The new Run Remote Browser and Remote Browser Loop operations help you create cross-platform web keyword tests. The Run Remote Browser operation starts one browser in a remote environment, and Remote Browser Loop helps you iterate test commands in remote environments. See Iterate Through Remote Testing Environments.
You can select the remote browser and operating system for the test run in the operation properties:
Operation Properties dialog:
You can also specify additional parameters for your cross-browser tests, if needed. The new Operation Properties dialogs have a special tab for this:
Additional Capabilities tab of the Operation Properties dialog:
The Generate Run Code for CrossBrowserTesting dialog that you use to create cross-platform script code also has a similar new tab:
Updated Generate Run Code dialog:
Smarter Excel support:
The new Excel scripting object and new Excel keyword-test operations make it easier to work with Excel files in your tests:
The object has methods and properties to read and change cell values and to iterate through cells.
The new Excel group of keyword-test operations includes operations for reading and writing data to cells, and for adding new rows to Excel sheets.
New Excel checkpoints help you compare Excel sheets during your tests. This checkpoint is available in keyword tests as the new Excel Checkpoint operation and, in script code, as the new Files.stored-Excel-file.CheckExcelWorksheet(…) method. See Validating Data in Excel Files.
What is wonderful about these new features is that they don't require Excel to be installed on your computer. They don't need special “drivers” for their work, nor they use the Excel COM engine. For complete information, see Working With Excel Files.
The new functionality doesn’t affect the existing features for working with Excel files: DB Table variables and the DDTDriver object. However, these features don't use the new engine so far and still require Excel to be installed on test machines.
More
New OnStartTestCase and OnStopTestCase events help you perform specific actions when test case execution starts or ends. For example, you can create an OnStopTestCase event handler to send test results to almost any test management system. See Integration with TMS for an example.
New supported platform and browser versions:
iOS 13.5.0 and 13.5.1
CEF 83.0.4103 and earlier
Chrome 83
Firefox 78
Edge 83.0.478.61 – the Edge version based on the Chromium engine (support is in beta at the moment)
The criteria that the Web Audits checkpoint uses to audit web pages have been updated. As a result, some Web Audits checkpoints in your tests that used to pass, might start failing. You may need to update checkpoint properties to let your tests pass or, better, ask your development team to update the tested web app to meet the new improved criteria.
TestComplete adds a new event type – KDT Breakpoint Hit – to the Windows sound scheme. You can use it to set a custom sound for when keyword test execution is paused on a breakpoint. See Sounds for TestComplete Events.
The TcxEditStyle object (used in User Forms to control the style of UI elements) has two new properties: TextStyle and TextColor. Use them to specify the color and font style of controls’ text.
We have also fixed a number of issues reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.40.1539.7 (Mar 31, 2020)

Cross-platform web testing:
TestComplete 14.4 introduces the new cross-platform approach to web testing. You can now record (or create manually) web tests in one of the supported browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Internet Explorer – and then run these tests in a wide range of other browsers, including those that you don’t use for test creation, like Opera and Safari. These browsers can work on various platforms, both Windows and non-Windows ones: macOS, Linux, Unix, or mobile Android and iOS.
To create cross-platform tests, you start a new TestComplete project and select a new check box in the Create Project wizard:
What's New in TestComplete 14.40: New recording mode
Click the image to enlarge it.
You can then record a web test as you would normally do this.
To address web elements, new tests use CSS selectors and XPath expressions rather than Name Mapping items. This makes these tests browser- and platform-independent:
What's New in TestComplete 14.40:
Recorded cross-platform web test
You can run these cross-platform tests on your local computer or in a device cloud that has Selenium Grid installed. You connect to the cloud and run tests there directly from within TestComplete. The device cloud can be –
A private hub with Selenium Grid configured.
Selenium Grid provided as a service by CrossBrowserTesting.com.
Selenium Grid provided as a service by any other third-party provider (for example, Sauce Labs or Testing Bot).
If you use the CrossBrowserTesting device cloud, you can easily connect to the needed device from TestComplete. TestComplete offers the new Run Remote Browser operation to do that from keyword tests:
What's New in TestComplete 14.40: Run Remote Browser operation
In script tests, you can use a new wizard to generate the needed code automatically:
What's New in TestComplete 14.40: Generate run code for CrossBrowserTesting wizard
You can copy the generated code and paste it into your script tests.
The new functionality is implemented by the new Device Cloud add-on. It is available in TestComplete Trial for evaluation; as for the commercial version, it is licensed separately from TestComplete.
For complete information on the new web testing approach, see About Cross-Platform Web Tests.
Cross-platform web tests in TestComplete:
New ML-based grid validations
TestComplete includes new machine-learning algorithms to recognize tabular controls and extract data from them. This helps you validate the data of any tabular controls, including custom versions of grid controls and tables rendered in charts or in PDF files. In other words, now you can validate the data of those grid controls for which TestComplete doesn’t provide special test objects.
To do this, you use table checkpoints that are clever enough now to recognize tables by their images (the checkpoints support optical character recognition). When creating a table checkpoint, you specify a screen area that has tabular data, or you can allow TestComplete to detect that area automatically. TestComplete will recognize the table, obtain its columns and rows, and verify its data by comparing it with a baseline copy:
What's New in TestComplete 14.40: Specifying a screen area containing the tabular data that a table checkpoint will verify
ML-Based Grid Validation:
For complete information, see Working With Grid Controls.
Jira integration improvements:
Now, in TestComplete, you can create issues of any type supported by your Jira project. Previous versions created items of the Bug type only.
For this purpose, we’ve updated the Create Jira Issue dialog. Now you can specify all the fields needed to create an issue of the selected type, including the custom fields.
Earlier, the Create Jira Issue dialog was implemented by a script extension. Now, it has become part of TestComplete.
We also created a new JiraSupport script extension that enables you to create and update Jira issues directly from test scripts. The extension appends the Jira scripting object to TestComplete. It has special methods for creating and updating Jira issues. You can find the extension in our GitHub repository.
Smarter self-healing:
The self-healing functionality now uses improved AI-based algorithms to find a replacement object by its image (earlier, it sought for similar objects by their properties). See Self-Healing Tests for details.
These new algorithms use code implemented by the Intelligent Quality add-on. So, starting from version 14.40, we offer the self-healing functionality as part of that add-on.
BDD improvements
Now, you can command TestComplete to treat each Scenario Outline Example as a separate test case. To do this, you use the new project setting. When it is on, the test log shows the results of each Outline Example as test case results:
Results of executed BDD examples
Click the image to enlarge it.
Also, the project’s Error handling > On error property now affects each example separately during the test run.
Web testing improvements
Smarter mapping of web objects. Now, TestComplete does not map intermediate web objects (like DIVs) by their text content if this can make the mapping criteria unstable.
Support for the recent versions of web browsers:
Mozilla Firefox 74.
Google Chrome 80.
Support for CEF3 79.0.3945 . You can now create and run tests against desktop applications using this and earlier versions of the Chromium Embedded Framework control.
Support for Electron 8. You can now create, record, and run automated tests for Electron-based applications created with Electron versions 8.0 - 8.1.
In addition, support for Electron versions 6.1 and 7.1 has been introduced.
Mobile testing improvements
Android testing
The AndroidDevice object has a new AndroidDevice.DoubleTouch method to simulate a double touch of the device screen at specific screen coordinates.
iOS testing
TestComplete introduces support for iOS 13.3.
Xamarin.Forms
Now, in your tests, you can access and interact with controls residing in containers created with the Rg.Plugins.Popup plugin for Xamarin.Forms applications.
Overall improvements
Improved support for source controls. We’ve updated the format of TestComplete project files to make automatic and manual merging clearer and easier.
Smarter password support. During test recording, TestComplete now automatically saves the entered passwords to project variables of the Password type and doesn’t display these values in recorded tests. This allows you to keep passwords secure during testing. See Working With Passwords and Other Sensitive Data for details.
The new Log category of project settings. The project settings that control the test log have been moved to the new Log category. This category also includes the new “Treat each example in Scenario Outline as a separate test case” option (see BDD improvements above).
New supported controls. TestComplete now recognizes the following control types and enables you to use special methods and properties to work with them. During test recording, it records user actions on these controls as calls to the special methods:
JavaFX PasswordField
DevExpress PasswordBoxEdit
Better UX of the Name Mapping Template dialog. The dialog box that you use to create a Name Mapping template now has a new special option to specify whether to use a regular expression for a property or not. Earlier, you could do this only by typing the regexp: prefix.
Script editor improvements:
You can now Ctrl+click the name of a project, project-suite, keyword-test, or network-suite variable in script code to jump to the visual variable editor quickly.
You can now quickly scale the editor font by holding CTRL pressed and rotating the mouse wheel.
The editor has a better look and feel.
TestComplete now uses a brand-new UI theme. You can also switch to the old theme if you like.
Better performance. Now, TestComplete starts faster.
Network Level Authentication is no longer needed to open remote user sessions when you run distributed tests from TestComplete, when you run tests by using the TestComplete Jenkins plugin, or when you open user sessions by using the SessionCreator utility.
The Stop test item value of the Playback > On Error, Playback > On warning, and Playback > On object recognition error project properties has been renamed to Stop current item.
The Stop test item value of the On error test item property has been renamed Stop current item.
These properties now affect individual tests that were run by tags and individual examples of a scenario outline. If during a test run, a test matching a tag (or tag expression) fails, the test engine will proceed to the next matching test. Similarly, if during a test run, some scenario outline example fails, the test engine will proceed to the next example.
We’ve fixed a number of issues reported by our customers.
Discontinued Support
Starting from version 14.4, we discontinue support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 10. We will not run tests for this browser and will not provide patches or bug fixes for issues related to it. You still will be able to run web tests in that browser, but we do not guarantee they will work correctly.
The integration with CrossBrowserTesting.com provided via the CrossBrowserTesting project item has become obsolete. This item is no longer added to new project suites automatically. You have to add it manually if you need to.
To run your automated web tests in multiple remote environments provided by CrossBrowserTesting.com, use the new cross-platform web testing approach. See About Cross-Platform Web Tests.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.30.3743.7 (Dec 3, 2019)

Azure DevOps integration improvements
You can link TestComplete test items to test cases in Azure DevOps faster and easier. The new filter box in the Choose Test Case dialog helps you quickly find the test case to which you will link an item.
You can unbind TestComplete test items from Azure DevOps test cases directly from within the TestComplete UI. Earlier, you could do this on the Azure DevOps side only.
Now, you can also easily unbind your TestComplete project from an Azure DevOps team project. This will prevent TestComplete from showing you notifications when the team project is unavailable. Note that this “unbind” command doesn’t remove associations between test cases and TestComplete test items on the Azure DevOps side. So, if you re-bind the projects later, or if you clone your team project and bind the TestComplete project to the cloned team project, the associations will remain and will work fine.
When you are configuring a Visual Studio Test task to run TestComplete tests, if your TestComplete project suite has several projects, you can now select a project whose tests you want to run.
Now, you can choose the test runner – TestComplete or TestExecute – to be used on the TestComplete Test Adapter. You can get the new version of the Test Adapter from the Microsoft marketplace, or you can install it from a computer in your local network. See Install TestComplete Test Adapter Extension.
AI-based “self-healing” tests
TestComplete 14.3 introduces an improved test-run mode to make your tests resistant to object recognition issues. In previous versions of TestComplete, when the test engine failed to find a window or control, it posted an error message to the log and often stopped the test or the entire run. So, you had to fix errors and re-run failed and unexecuted tests later.
The new run mode improves the situation dramatically. Now, when the test engine fails to find a window or control, it uses a special AI-based algorithm to find a similar window or control in the application and continues running your tests using that similar object. This enables your tests to work to the end. The test engine also posts a warning message to the log to let you know about the replacement and about new recognition properties used. The message gives you a clear idea of what to change in object recognition properties in the Name Mapping repo (we don’t change these properties automatically to avoid confusion in case of possible false recognition).
The new approach makes your tests more resistant to object recognition errors, saves the time needed to re-run failed and unexecuted tests, and helps you fix recognition issues easier. Just don’t ignore warning messages in the test log!
The new “self-healing” approach is Beta so far and is off by default. If you want to try it, enable it in the Tools > Options > Engines > Name Mapping dialog. If you run tests from the command line, then to enable the new mode, use the new /SelfHealing command-line option. TestExecute and SessionCreator also has this option.
Web testing improvements
Support for Electron 7. You can now create, record, and run automated tests for Electron-based applications created with Electron version 7.0.0.
Support for the recent versions of web browsers:
Mozilla Firefox 70.
Google Chrome 78.
Version 14.3 includes special support for the --disable-renderer-accessibility command-line option of Google Chrome. You can put this parameter to the Chrome command line to streamline test performance. The effect is especially noticeable in testing large web pages with lots of web elements.
BDD improvements
Version 14.3 can send results of individual BDD scenarios to test cases located in external test management systems like Azure DevOps and Zephyr for Jira. To do this, link your BDD scenarios to external test cases on the Test Items page of your project. Note: This will not affect your existing projects with BDD scenarios that are already included in the project’s list of test items. To link those BDD scenarios to external test cases, you will have to re-create the test items to be able to mark them as test cases.
Mobile testing improvements
Android testing
Support for Android 10 (API Level 29).
After installing a mobile application on an Android device, you can see system requests to grant that app the permissions to use this or that resource on the device. These requests require user action and prevent automated tests from running smoothly. With TestComplete 14.3, you can grant all the needed permissions automatically. You can do this in the following ways:
In Keyword tests – by using the new GrantPermissions parameter of the Install Package operation.
In script tests – by using the new GrantPermissions parameter of the PackageManager.InstallPackage method, or by setting the AndroidTestedApp.GrantPermissions property before calling the AndroidTestedApp.Run method.
In the TestedApps editor – by selecting the new “Grant all permissions listed in the application manifest after the package installation” check box.
TestComplete will grant permissions when installing the application package on a device.
iOS testing
TestComplete 14.3 includes support for the following devices, iOS versions, and applications:
iPhone 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, and iPad Air 3. Now, you can record and run tests for iOS applications running on these devices.
iOS 13.0 - 13.2.
iOS apps created with Xcode 11.
Overall improvements
The “Unexecuted” metric on the Summary page of the test log now includes only those test cases whose execution has not started because the project run was interrupted. It no longer includes disabled test cases.
Now, the indicator that TestComplete shows during a test run displays the name of the executed test item and the project that contains that item.
We’ve also fixed a number of bugs reported by our customers.
Discontinued Support
TestComplete no longer supports iOS version 10.x, as well as the iPhone 5, iPad Mini 1, and iPad 4 devices.
TestComplete no longer supports Objective-C and Swift applications created with Xcode 8.
TestComplete no longer supports Open Applications created in Visual C++ 6.0.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 14.00 Build 317.7 (Feb 4, 2019)

BDD support:
TestComplete 14 offers support for BDD tests. You can create, automate and run BDD tests from TestComplete along with other tests of your project.
To help you manage BDD tests, TestComplete offers the new Scenarios project item. It is a collection of feature files included in your test project:
BDD scenarios in TestComplete
You can write feature files in TestComplete, import them from HipTest, or load them from a file on your hard drive (this can be, for example, a feature file you created for Cucumber or any other projects).
Feature files should be written in Gherkin. TestComplete includes the new Gherkin editor (see the image above) that supports the language syntax and recognizes both English and native-language Gherkin keywords. The editor also has a special menu item to generate script functions for test steps and to help you automate scenarios faster.
For complete information on creating, automating and running BDD tests, see Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) With TestComplete.
HipTest integration:
HipTest is a cloud-based testing platform for software development and software delivery teams. It helps all the members of your team – QA engineers, developers, managers, subject matter experts and others – create, maintain and run BDD tests for their products.
TestComplete 14 introduces built-in support for HipTest. It enables you to import feature files from your HipTest project, automate them and run automated BDD tests from within TestComplete. You continue creating and editing your test scenarios in HipTest, and TestComplete will automatically update the imported scenarios with their newer versions from HipTest before your open your project or run a test in TestComplete. If you change an imported scenario in TestComplete and save the changes, TestComplete will automatically forward them to HipTest. Moreover, TestComplete will automatically post the results of the automated test run to your HipTest project, so you will be able to see them along with other test results in HipTest.
Web testing improvements:
With TestComplete 14, you can create automated tests for web applications that use the following Web Components technologies:
Shadow DOM. Now your web tests can interact with web elements belonging to open Shadow DOM trees.
Custom Elements. You can record and simulate mouse clicks, keystrokes and other user actions on custom elements.
Version 14 also introduces support for the recent versions of modern browsers and technologies:
Mozilla Firefox 62, 63, 64,
Google Chrome 71,
Microsoft Edge 44, and
Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF) version 3.3578.1860.
One more thing that affects web testing with TestComplete: Windows 10 October 2018 Update introduced a new behavior of the Edge browser. When you close the browser, the browser’s process is not terminated, it remains in the system.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 12.60 Build 5545.7 (Sep 19, 2018)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 12.50 Build 4142.7 (Apr 10, 2018)

Support for Electron Applications:
You can now create and run automated tests for Electron-based desktop applications. TestComplete recognizes individual controls in these applications and provides access to their native methods and properties. It also recognizes control types and offers special methods and properties that help you simulate user actions on the controls and get their data.
To test Electron applications, you should launch them as tested applications from within TestComplete or your test. For details, see Testing Electron Applications.
Xamarin.Forms Support:
With version 12.5, you can create and execute tests for Xamarin.Forms applications running on Android or iOS devices. TestComplete recognizes individual controls in these applications and makes their native methods and properties available to your tests. Also, it provides control-specific methods and properties to help you simulate various test actions on these controls in your tests. See Supported Xamarin.Forms Controls.
In order for the test engine to be able to reach application controls, you need to compile Xamarin.Forms applications in a special way. For complete information, see Testing Xamarin.Forms Applications.
VideoRecorder Extension:
The new VideoRecorder script extension enables you to record video files for your automated test runs. These videos help you understand what happened in the system during the playback and find the cause of an error faster. We announced this extension some time ago in our TestComplete Community, and decided to repeat this news now for those users who missed it for some reason.
The extension is not bundled with TestComplete. You can get it for free from its GitHub repository:
Script extensions are script-based plugins for the TestComplete and TestExecute open architecture. Learn more about them and extend the products the way you like.
Overall Improvements:
Support for Java 10:
You can now use TestComplete to create, record and run automated tests for Java applications created with Java 10.
JavaFX 10 applications are also supported.
TestComplete recognizes individual controls in Java 10 applications and provides access to their native members. Also, it provides test methods and properties that are specific to the control type and that help you simulate user actions on them with ease.
You can call methods of Java 10 classes from your scripts.
Testing of Android applications created with Java 10 is not currently supported.
Using existing masks in region checkpoints. Based on our customers’ feedback, we have restored the possibility of using existing masks for new region checkpoints.
Smarter source control support:
We have changed the format of project files and the algorithms of opening and saving these files to avoid merge issues that might occur when you get project files from or put them to source controls.
The Get Project from Subversion Repository dialog now remembers the values entered in the Repository Path and Location fields last time. So, you will not have to enter these values again when you retrieve your projects from SVN next time.
Enhanced WPF support:
Support for attached properties in WPF applications. TestComplete can now expose attached properties of WPF objects, so you can see these properties in the Object Browser and use them in your tests. To access attached properties, use the Attached-Property-Provider_Property-Name syntax, for example DockPanel_Dock. TestComplete only shows attached properties with non-default values (explicitly defined in the application source code). Attached properties with default values will be hidden, however, you still can use them in your tests. Using several attached properties with identical names, even with different namespaces and assemblies, is not supported.
Table checkpoints for WPF ListViews. Now you can create table checkpoints for a WPF ListView control working in the GridView mode. In earlier versions of the product, the Table Checkpoint wizard treated WPF ListView controls as list boxes, and the wizard reported only one column in the control that was always called Items. In TestComplete 12.50, this limitation has gone, and you can create table checkpoints for WPF ListView controls in the same way you do this for other tabular controls.
Note that the table checkpoints you created for WPF ListView controls in earlier versions of TestComplete are incompatible with the new functionality. So, in version 12.50, you need to update the table checkpoints for these controls.
Support for Chrome 65 and Firefox 59. You can now create automated functional web tests on pages opened in the recent versions of these web browsers.
Support for the latest available CEF version. You can now create and run automated tests for applications using Chromium Embedded Framework version 3.3282.1741 and earlier.
Support for Infragistics UltraComboBox. TestComplete now recognizes a new control in tested .NET applications – Infragistics UltraComboBox version 2017 Vol. 1. You can use test methods and properties that are specific to combo boxes to simulate user actions on these controls.
Improved code refactoring:
The new Find Usages command in the Code Editor context menu helps you quickly find all the occurrences of a variable, function or object in your script code.
The former Rename Variable and Rename Function commands of the Code Editor context menu have been replaced with a single Rename command. This command is context-specific. It works in the same way the former two commands did. It is applied to function calls or variable names depending on whether you call it for a function or a variable.
Smarter Close methods. The default timeout of the Process.Close() and Browser.Close() methods has been increased from 3,000 to 60,000 milliseconds. The method now also checks for the “Do you want to save the changes?” window and similar ones, and stops waiting for the process to exit, if any.
Easier work in the Name Mapping editor. You can modify aliases of your tested objects in the Name Mapping repository easier. Use the new Exclude Items command to remove unnecessary intermediary levels from the Aliases tree. If the removed alias has children, they will remain in the tree and will move one level up. The mapped objects associated with the alias will also remain in the repository.
Better Catch operation. The Catch keyword-test operation can now return information on the error that occurred in the Try block.
To improve the Firefox performance during test recording and test runs, TestComplete can now configure some of the Firefox settings automatically when you run the browser from your test or when your test opens a web page in Firefox. See the Browser Settings section in the Preparing Firefox for Web Testing topic.
Checkpoint improvements:
When you create a property checkpoint by using the Checkpoint wizard, on the Select Data to Check page of the wizard, you can select one of the suggested properties.
The list of the suggested properties that the Quick Checkpoint menu shows now includes indexed properties (properties that provide access to an array of values by their index).
When you create a property checkpoint and switch between the Basic and More Properties pages of the wizard, the selected property no longer loses focus.
When you create Quick Checkpoints, the icon is now displayed below the mouse pointer rather than next to the top right corner of the red frame that highlights the current object. This makes selecting an object easier, especially when you are selecting a complex object that consists of several objects.
The property checkpoints now post more detailed messages to the test log. If the checkpoint’s baseline value or actual value or both include special characters (for example, r (carriage return)) the checkpoint result message will show those characters distinctly.
TestComplete now supports Qt controls version 5.9.
Mobile Testing Improvements
More info on Wi-Fi connections to Android mobile devices. Version 12.5 offers the new Device(…).Connections(…).WifiInfo object that provides information on the Wi-Fi connection between your computer and a mobile device. The object includes properties that return the device’s IP and MAC addresses, connection speed, network SSID and other data.
Support for Android 8.1 (API Level 27). Now you can create and run automated tests on devices running this version of the Android operating system.
Support for iOS 11.3. You can create and run tests for iOS applications running on this operating system.
Support for iPhone 7 plus, 8, 8 plus and X, and iPad mini 3 and 4.
Updated Test Log View:New Time Diff log column. The test log has the new Time Diff column that displays the time difference between messages in the log. This helps you determine how much time passed between messages during the test run
Summary information in exported test results. Test results exported in the HTML, MHT and XML formats now include summary information on the test run. The information includes the start time of the test run, the end time, the test duration, the number of warnings and errors and the name of the computer where the test was run.
Filtering exported results. You can filter test results exported in the HTML or MHT format by the message type by selecting the needed message type on the log toolbar.
In addition, you can filter the results by their content by typing the needed text in the Search edit box. The log will show only those messages that contain the typed text
Scripting and Debugging Improvements:
JavaScript in TestComplete now supports arrow functions.
The debugger panels and dialogs (Watch List, Locals, Inspect, Evaluate) now support Python tuples and lists.
If the number of the following items is large, the debugger panels and dialogs now group them by 100 for more convenient presentation:
Python tuples and lists
JavaScript arrays and typed arrays
Arrays returned from COM objects (SAFEARRAY objects)
Changes in Cross-Browser Testing Support:
We have renamed the Environment Manager project suite item to CrossBrowserTesting to make this feature clearer and easier to find. The command-line arguments and scripting methods that are responsible for running tests in the CrossBrowserTesting.com cloud have also been renamed
More:
New command-line arguments to help you manage plugins of the Desktop, Web and Mobile product modules easily. These options are helpful if you are using a Floating license. Specify the modules you are going to use in order not to consume the licenses of other modules accidentally:
TestComplete has the new EnableModule command-line option. Use it to enable or disable plugins of the Desktop, Web or Mobile module on TestComplete startup.
The TestComplete installer has the new Desktop, Web, and Mobile command-line options. Use them to install only the plugins that match the Desktop, Web and/or Mobile modules. You can use these options when installing TestComplete in silent mode.
The TestComplete installer uses a newer InstallShield version. When installing TestComplete in silent mode, you can use the /clone_wait argument of the InstallShield command line to wait for the installation to complete. See Installing TestComplete in Silent Mode.
Improved Report Generator utility:
You can use the Report Generator utility to monitor mobile applications running on Android and iOS devices connected to your computer.
You can now select applications for monitoring easier.
Improved merging of Name Mapping data. When you are merging Name Mapping files in TestComplete, the latter also merges item images.
Updated structure of sample projects. Now, TestComplete includes only a few basic sample projects. The other samples are organized into a separate package that you can download from the https://support.smartbear.com/downloads/testcomplete/samples/ page of our website. See TestComplete Samples.
Version 12.5 includes a few UI changes:
Updated Start page.
New icons of toolbar and menu items.
The last step of the Create New Project wizard now shows only JavaScript and Python for selection. We hope this will decrease confusion and help new users select the most popular languages. To view the complete list of supported languages, click More languages.
The Send WM_CLOSE option of the Playback > On unexpected windows group of project options has been renamed to Send the close command to reflect the test engine actions better.
We have fixed a number of bugs reported by our customers.
Discontinued Support
Since version 12.5, we stop supporting Microsoft Internet Explorer 9. We will no longer run tests for this browser and will not provide bug fixes for it. You will still be able to run web tests using Internet Explorer 9, but we do not guarantee these tests will work properly.
TestComplete no longer supports iOS version 8.x.
TestComplete no longer supports Objective-C and Swift applications created with Xcode 5 and 6.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 12.41 Build 2879.7 (Oct 30, 2017)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 11.30.2298.7 (Mar 8, 2016)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 11.11.1064.7 (Sep 22, 2015)

New in SmartBear TestComplete 11.10.1005.7 (Sep 17, 2015)

Web Testing Improvements:
Microsoft Edge support. Now you can create and run automated tests for web and RIA applications running in Microsoft Edge. This is the newest browser from Microsoft, which was introduced in Windows 10.
Support for Edge is similar to support that TestComplete provides for other browsers. TestComplete “sees” Edge as a Browser process, and the web elements in Edge have the same hierarchy, names and properties as they have in other browsers. The updated parameters and constants of keyword-test operations and scripting methods let you specify Edge as your current browser for testing.
Testing in Edge has some specifics. One of the most notable ones is addressing browser dialogs. The Open File, Select Folder, and other dialogs are children of the PickerHost process, not the Edge process. You need to configure your cross-browser tests to handle these dialogs properly. For more information on this and for a sample workaround, see Handling Browser Differences. To learn more about Edge specifics, see Considerations for Web Testing.
In addition, we recommend that you prepare your Edge web browser for testing as described in Preparing Edge for Web Testing before running tests in it.
Updated Chrome Extension. The TestComplete Chrome Extension now uses the Native Messaging API instead of the Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI), which Google announced as obsolete. This change allows your web tests to continue working in Chrome 45 where NPAPI extensions are disabled. Using the new extension does not require that you update your tests or test environments. All you need to do is to install TestComplete 11.1.
Support for recent browser versions. TestComplete 11.1 supports the most recent versions of popular browsers: Chrome 45, Internet Explorer 7-11, Firefox 36-38, Opera 31.
Support for new CEF versions. You can now test web applications that use the following versions of the Chromium Embedded Framework control:
1.1364.1123 (CEF1) and 3.2272.2077 (CEF3)
iOS Testing Improvements:
TestComplete supports creating and running tests on iOS 8.4.1.
New Supported Controls, Technologies and Applications:
Support for Atlassian JIRA 6.4.7. With TestComplete 11.1, you can add issues to Atlassian JIRA version 5.0 - 6.4.7 directly from TestComplete's UI.
Also, now TestComplete uses the JIRA REST API to work with JIRA databases.
HP Application Lifecycle Management Quality Center 12 support. You can run TestComplete tests from HP Quality Center version 12. See TestComplete Connector for HP Quality Center.
JavaFX Testing: Support for SubScene controls. TestComplete 11.1 recognizes SubScene controls and their child objects in JavaFX applications. You can record and play back user actions on these controls, as well as access their native methods and properties.
Support for jQuery UI. TestComplete provides support for the recent versions of jQuery UI controls: 1.11.1, 1.11.2, and 1.11.4.
Changes in Keyword Tests:
Earlier versions of TestComplete allowed specifying more parameters in a keyword test call than the test actually used. In some cases, especially in large projects with multiple QA engineers involved, this could cause an unwanted test behavior and made it difficult to find the cause of an issue.
Now TestComplete checks keyword test parameters more thoroughly. If it detects differences in the number of parameters or parameter names during the test run, it posts a message notifying you about this to the test log. You can then double-click this message to quickly jump to the problematic test command and update it.
More Improvements:
TestComplete now returns a new exit code – 1001 – if there is not enough free hard drive space to start the TestComplete process.
The default timeout in the Process.Close method has been increased from 2 to 3 seconds (it takes some “typical” tested applications more than 3 seconds to close).
A number of bugs have been fixed.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 11.0.644.7 (Aug 1, 2015)

Enhanced Source Control Integration:
TestComplete 11 offers a completely reworked integration with source control systems. Now you can work with the following source controls directly from TestComplete: Git, Subversion (SVN), Mercurial.
Like earlier versions of TestComplete, version 11 also supports source controls based on the SCC API (for example, Visual SourceSafe, ClearCase or CVS).
Note for Subversion users: To use the new SVN support, migrate your projects and project suites bound to SVN from legacy SVN support to new Subversion support as described in Migrating From Legacy SCC API Providers. Otherwise, TestComplete will use legacy SVN support functionality.
Python Scripting:
You can select Python as a scripting language for your TestComplete project.
You can record and write test scripts in Python.
In your Python scripts, you can use the same TestComplete scripting objects, methods and properties that are available for other supported languages.
You can debug Python scripts with TestComplete’s built-in debugger.
You can use Python script statements in your keyword tests.
And so on.
TestComplete 11 supports Python version 3.4.
The Python modules are included in the TestComplete installation package. You do not have to download and install them separately.
Windows 10 Support:
With TestComplete 11, you can record and run automated tests for Windows Store applications and for regular applications on Windows 10 running on computers with the x86 or x64 architecture.
We have tested Windows 10 support features on Microsoft Windows 10 Insider Preview, which is the latest available version of this new operating system.
The Edge browser is currently not supported. We are working to introduce support for it in one of the nearest minor updates.
Windows 10 on ARM-based devices is not supported.
To test web applications in Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10, you need to disable multiple processes in Internet Explorer.
Visual Studio 2015 Support:
You can now test applications created with Visual Studio 2015. Also, TestComplete 11 integrates with Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. This means that you can integrate TestComplete tests into your Visual Studio test projects and plans, manage and run TestComplete tests using Microsoft Test Manager and Visual Studio, run TestComplete tests as part of your MSBuild runs, run Visual Studio unit tests from your TestComplete projects.
RAD Studio XE8 Support:
TestComplete 11 supports testing Delphi and C++Builder applications created with Embarcadero RAD Studio XE8. Version 11 supports both 32- and 64-bit XE8 applications. You can record or write script and keyword tests for these applications, simulate user actions on controls, verify applications’ data with checkpoints, and use other TestComplete features for automated tests creation.
Mobile Testing Improvements:
Added support for Android 5.1.1 (SDK 22).
Added support for the most recent iOS versions –iOS 8.2 and iOS 8.3.
Automating iOS maps and pins. TestComplete 11 recognizes MapView and AnnotationView controls in iOS applications that use Apple Map Kit. With this, you can now record and simulate actions with maps and pins in MapKit-based applications.
Web Testing Improvements:
Support for new browser versions. You can now test web applications in Mozilla Firefox 38, Google Chrome 43 and Opera 30.
Qt Support Improvements:
Version 11 introduces support for Qt 5.0 - 5.4.2 applications. 5.4.2 is the most recent Qt version at the moment. The TestComplete 11 installer includes modules that provide support for these Qt versions.
Smoother web test recording.
Overall Improvements:
JScript 5.8. TestComplete 11 uses the JScript engine version 5.8. So, you can now use all the features this version provides, including support for JSON.
Enhanced Jenkins integration. The TestComplete Support plugin for Jenkins sports several improvements:
Now you can use the TestComplete Test step as a substep for other build steps.
You can use Jenkins variables to configure the TestComplete Test step’s properties.
The TestComplete Test step can generate test reports in the MHT format.
The test step can also generate and publish JUnit-style test reports.
The test results have the new Start Failed status. This status is displayed when the test fails to start, for example due to connection issues.
Built-in performance counters. TestComplete 11 introduces new keyword test operations and scripting methods that let you easily time your test execution. This will help you analyze your script or keyword test performance and eliminate bottlenecks.
Using aligned structures in DLL calls. The new DefineTypeWithAlignment method allows you to create aligned structures for DLL function calls.
Support for Windows Store applications is enabled by default now. Earlier versions of the product asked for your confirmation to enable this support.
The Test Items page of the project suite editor has now a new toolbar. It can be used to create a new project or change the project execution order in your tests.
In the JUnit Test and TestNG Test editors, the Run the following tests option was renamed to Run the following test classes to avoid confusion.
A number of bugs have been fixed.
Controls Support:
Better test object recognition. TestComplete 11 includes an improved object-recognition algorithm that makes test recording and playback more stable.
Better ambiguous object recognition. When TestComplete 11 recognizes an object ambiguously, it posts a warning message to the log and then searches for the needed object. When the object is found, the test continues.
TestComplete 11 adds support for the following Telerik controls for WPF:
Telerik RadComboBox
Telerik RadGridView
TestComplete 11 introduces support for the recent versions of the following controls:
Developer Express 14.2.6 controls for Windows Forms
Developer Express 14.2.4 controls for WPF
Developer Express 14.1.5 controls for VCL
Infragistics NetAdvantage 2014 Vol. 2 for Windows Forms and WPF
Syncfusion Essential Studio 12.4
Telerik RadControls Q1 2015
TMS AdvGlowButton version 2.1
Installation Process Changes:
Streamlined installation. The TestComplete and TestExecute installation wizards have been simplified. Now you can install the products easier and faster.
The format of TestComplete and TestExecute installation packages has been changed (this may be important if your test environment is configured automatically). The installation package supports new command-line arguments that let you specify the TestComplete modules to skip during the installation. The -aq command-line argument is no longer supported.
Changes in TestComplete COM Automation:
To control TestComplete via COM on Windows 8 and later operating system, both TestComplete and your client COM application must have the same privilege level. By default, TestComplete now uses the extended privilege level (uiAccess = true), so, most likely, you will need to update the uiAccess value in TestComplete’s or your application’s manifest file.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.60.3387.7 (Mar 11, 2015)

Ready! API and SoapUI Automated Test Support:
Now you can launch your Ready! API and SoapUI tests from within TestComplete. Using this new functionality, you can easily combine your API tests and web functional tests into one test battery.
The supported versions include Ready! API 1.0 and later, and SoapUI and SoapUI Pro 5.0 and later. For complete information, see Integration With Ready! API and SoapUI.
Jenkins Integration:
Now you can run your TestComplete tests directly from your Jenkins builds. SmartBear provides a special plug-in for Jenkins that enables you to run your automated tests on any test machine (node) as part your Jenkins build and deployment processes. This way, for example, you can automate the launch of your TestComplete regression tests as part of nightly builds, or run specific tests for the “final” builds of your application. See Integration With Jenkins.
Mobile Testing Enhancements:
iOS Testing
Testing iOS hybrid applications. iOS hybrid applications use the UIWebView and WKWebView controls to display web pages as part of their user interface. With TestComplete 10.60, you can create and run automated tests for these applications. TestComplete detects embedded web pages and recognizes web elements on them, so your tests can work with both native iOS controls and web elements.
Automatic instrumentation of iOS Swift applications. In earlier TestComplete versions, you could prepare your Swift applications for testing with Xcode IDE only. With version 10.60, you can instrument your iOS Swift applications using TestComplete’s wizards and dialogs.
Android Testing:
Support for applications instrumented in Android Studio. Earlier, you could instrument your Android applications from within TestComplete, or in the Eclipse IDE. Now you can also instrument them in Android Studio.
Support for Embarcadero RAD Studio XE 7:
Now you can create and run automated tests for 32- and 64-bit Delphi and C++Builder applications created with Embarcadero RAD Studio XE7.
Support for Recent Browser Versions:
TestComplete 10.60 supports creating and running web tests on the following web browser versions:
Chrome 40
Firefox 33-35
Opera 27
Internet Explorer 7-11
Flash and Flex Testing Enhancements
Support for Apache Flex 4.14. TestComplete supports the most recent release of Apache Flex - 4.14.
Support for embedded ActiveX Flash Player. A desktop application can use the ActiveX Flash Player component to display Flash and Flex movies as part of the application’s UI. TestComplete can now recognize individual objects in such movies and provide access to their methods and properties. See Testing Desktop Applications With Embedded Flash Player.
Overall Improvements:
Posting bugs to Bugzilla from the test log. In earlier versions, to post an error report to Mozilla Bugzilla, you had to create an issue-tracking template. In addition to this functionality, you can now easily post bugs to Bugzilla directly from the test log:
TestComplete Test Log: the Post Defect to Bugzilla menu item
Easier navigation in the test log. TestComplete’s test log contains new toolbar items that help you quickly jump back and forward in the history of log views. The new functionality greatly simplifies the analysis of test logs that contain lots of records:
Automated testing with TestComplete: New commands in the test log's toolbar
Auto-correcting Name Mapping repositories. Name Mapping files can be corrupted if they are modified outside of TestComplete. This can happen, for example, if somebody changed the file in a text editor, or if two file versions were merged by a source control system.
If TestComplete detects that the Name Mapping repository is corrupted, it tries to restore the data automatically and displays a message box informing you about the issue. If you get such a message on TestComplete startup, we recommend that you view the change log to make sure the recognition properties have been modified properly.
Assistance in license recovery. As TestComplete licenses are bound to the hardware of the License Manager PC, they become unavailable if the hardware is changed, damaged or is not functional for some other reason. TestComplete now includes the new License Recovery wizard that will help you resolve licensing issues that occur in these cases.
Automatic creation of reports by using the Report Generator utility. You can use the Report Generator utility to automatically generate a report with a dump file and event logs after the traced application closes. Just run the Report Generator with the -generate-report command-line argument.
Installing plug-ins from the command line. Now, you can install and uninstall TestComplete plug-ins by using the /install and /uninstall command-line arguments. These arguments also work for TestExecute. The new functionality simplifies the way in which you configure TestComplete and TestExecute for running, for example, on remote computers. For detailed information on the arguments’ format, see TestComplete Command Line.
Object-driven testing is back. Based on the user feedback, we have restored the ODT project item in TestComplete 10.60. The item was removed in version 10.40.
Note, however, that this project item is deprecated. Please avoid using it when creating new tests.
A number of bugs have been fixed.
New Scripting Methods and Properties:
TestComplete provides the new FindEx and FindChildEx methods that are common for all test objects. The new methods are similar to the existing Find and FindChild methods. You can use them to find windows and controls in tested applications and in the system.
The new methods have an additional parameter that lets you specify a timeout for the search. See the method descriptions.
Now you can use the new WorkFolder property to specify a working folder for your tested Java applications from scripts.
The NameMapping scripting object now contains the new TimeOutWarning property. You can use it to prevent TestComplete from posting the Search for a Mapped Object Took Too Much Time warning to the log.
The AQtime scripting object contains the new ClearResults method. You can use it to clear the profiling results that AQtime collected while your tests were preparing the tested application for the test (for example, the needed dialog boxes were opened), and get profiling results from the application when running specific tests against it.
New Supported Control Versions:
TestComplete version 10.60 introduces support for the following control versions:
JQuery Mobile 1.4.5
Ext JS 5.1.0
TAdvStringGrid 6.0.2

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.50 (Mar 11, 2015)

Selenium Support:
In TestComplete 10.50, you can run your Selenium tests from within TestComplete. Support for Selenium tests is implemented through the following unit testing frameworks: JUnit, TestNG, PyUnit, Ruby, PHPUnit and NUnit. You add Selenium tests created with these frameworks to your TestComplete project and run them as part of your test project. For complete information, see Integration With Selenium.
Unit Testing Enhancements:
TestComplete 10.50 introduces support for the JUnit, TestNG, PyUnit, Ruby, PHPUnit and NUnit frameworks. You can now run unit tests created with these frameworks along with other TestComplete tests. To run Java unit tests, you can now use Maven.
iOS Testing Improvements:
Support for iOS 8.1 - 8.1.1. Now you can create and run tests on iOS 8.1 and 8.1.1.
Support for Swift applications. You can now record and play back tests on Swift applications with TestComplete. Also, TestComplete recognizes individual controls in Swift applications letting you get values of controls’ internal properties and call control-specific test commands. That is, you can test Swift applications using all the features that TestComplete has been providing for Objective-C applications.
Support for Xcode 6.1. TestComplete now supports applications created with Xcode 6.1.
Automatic instrumentation of iOS applications. Before testing your iOS applications with TestComplete, you need to prepare them for this by compiling them in certain way. In earlier versions, you could do this on a Mac computer with the Xcode development tool installed. TestComplete 10.50 simplifies this process a lot.
Now you do not need a Mac computer with Xcode. You can prepare your application on your test machine. TestComplete 10.50 includes a new wizard that helps you pass through the instrumentation steps. You can use it when adding your iOS module to the project’s list of tested applications, or any time later. You can also use TestComplete programming objects to instrument your iOS application from script code. For details, see Instrumenting iOS Applications in TestComplete UI.
Automatic instrumentation works for Objective-C iOS applications created in Xcode and for iOS applications created with Xamarin. As for Swift iOS applications, currently, you can instrument them in Xcode only.
Android Testing Improvements:
Auto-instrumenting Xamarin applications. Formerly, you had to instrument your Xamarin Android applications by using Falafel Xamarin Bridge for TestComplete. In TestComplete 10.50, the instrumentation procedure for Android applications has been improved, and now you can instrument your Xamarin applications in the same way you prepare other Android applications - by using TestComplete’s wizards or scripts. In other words, Xamarin Bridge is no longer needed.
At that, applications compiled with Falafel Xamarin Bridge stopped working. This happened because the Bridge uses outdated Test Agent library code, which is incompatible with newer TestComplete versions.
We recommend that you exclude Xamarin Bridge from builds, and instrument your Xamarin Android applications in TestComplete.
Web Testing Enhancements:
Exposing CEF-based applications’ objects. Now TestComplete can automatically recognize web pages and controls displayed in Chromium Embedded Framework applications. You no longer need to instrument these applications in advance. See Exposing CEF-Based Applications.
Support for new browser versions. You can now test web applications in Chrome 39, Firefox 24-33 and Opera 25.
The Page method now returns an empty stub object, when the specified web page was not found. In earlier versions, the method returned an empty value (Nothing in VBScript, null in JScript, C++Script and C#Script, nil in DelphiScript). If you compare the method result in your tests against null (nil or Nothing), then you need to change your tests.
Overall Improvements:
Manual Testing is back. Based on customer feedback, in TestComplete 10.50 we reinstated the Manual Testing project item that was removed in version 10.40.
Easier update installation. TestComplete automatically detects new patches and minor updates on start and lets you install them with a single mouse click. See Checking for Minor Updates and Patches. Earlier you had to download appropriate modules from the web site.
Enhanced Bugzilla support. Now you can submit bug reports to Bugzilla ver. 4.2 and 4.4 from TestComplete.
We have also fixed several bugs reported by our users.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.40 (Mar 11, 2015)

iOS Testing Enhancements:
Support for iOS 8 and Xcode 6. Now you can record and run tests on iOS devices working under iOS version 8 and created with Xcode version 5 or 6.
Support for iOS 7.1.2. TestComplete now supports testing applications running on iOS version 7.1.2.
Visualizer for iOS tests. Now, TestComplete captures Visualizer screenshots for iOS applications during the test recording and playback. These screenshots help you better understand what actions your test performs and what happens in the application during the testing.
Access to GPS and sensor data. You can now access sensor data of your iOS devices in automated tests. This enables you to create tests for applications that use GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope and other sensor data. See Geolocation Testing and Getting Data From Mobile Device Sensors.
Tracking and setting screen orientation from tests. TestComplete version 10.40 offers a new keyword-test operation – Set Device Orientation – and introduces two news methods of the iOS Desktop object – SetOrientation and GetOrientation – to help you change the device’s screen orientation in tests. This enables you to create automated tests that check whether your iOS application handles changes in the screen orientation properly. See Simulating Screen Rotation.
TestComplete also detects screen rotations during test recording and inserts the appropriate test commands into the recorded test.
Automatic screen scrolling. TestComplete can now automatically scroll the device screen if the control, on which your test simulates an action, is out of the screen border. Earlier, you had to insert special scroll commands into your tests to reach the needed controls.
Earlier, TestComplete versions recorded user actions only on one iOS application. Now, you can record tests against two or more iOS applications: you start recording with one application, then run another by selecting a toolbar item in TestComplete’s Mobile Screen and continue recording your actions on the other application.
iOS test recording now supports conditional Name Mapping and Name Mapping templates.
Android Testing Enhancements:
Testing Android hybrid applications. You can now create and run automated tests for hybrid Android applications (these applications use the WebView control for displaying web pages). TestComplete identifies the embedded web pages and recognizes web elements on them, so your tests can simulate user actions on both native and web elements. See Testing Hybrid Mobile Applications.
Application instrumentation from tests. You can now instrument your applications during the test run by using new methods and properties of the AndroidTestedApp object. For more information, see Instrumenting Android Applications From Scripts.
Mobile Screen improvements. The Mobile Screen now has buttons for changing the screen orientation of Android devices. These buttons are especially useful for testing applications on Android devices like Ambrane and EAFT tablets that report their screen orientation incorrectly.
The Device Keys operation and the Keys scripting action can now simulate text input with special keys like Ctrl, Shift, numeric keyboard keys and others.
Version 10.40 includes a new operation –Set Device Orientation– that lets you easily change the screen orientation of your Android device from keyword tests.
Image-based tests recorded on Android 4.3 and 4.4 applications now use object images rather than whole screen images.
However, for non-instrumented Android 4.0-4.0.2 applications, TestComplete now records image-based tests using screen coordinates. You can create image-based tests with object images manually.
Support for the Chromium Embedded Framework:
You can now create and run automated tests for desktop applications that use the Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). TestComplete supports native (C++, Delphi and other), .NET and Java desktop applications that use CEF1 and CEF3 (both 32-bit and 64-bit). See Support for Chromium Embedded Framework.
Web Testing Enhancements:
Support for 64-bit Chrome. You can now record and play back web tests using the 64-bit version of Google Chrome. The 64-bit version of Chrome is currently available in Beta for Windows 7 and 8 users.
Support for the most recent browser versions. You can now test web applications in Chrome 37, Firefox 24–32 and Opera 24.
Support for jQuery Mobile. You can now record and play back object-specific actions and checkpoints for jQuery Mobile controls. For details, see Supported jQuery Mobile Controls.
Support for Sencha Ext JS 5. Version 10.40 introduces support for the latest version of Sencha Ext JS controls – 5.0.
Enhanced support for Sencha Touch. TestComplete now ignores dynamic identifiers in Sencha Touch applications, making tests and object identification more robust. See Handling Dynamic Identifiers in Web Applications.
Support for Embarcadero RAD Studio XE6:
You can now automate testing of 32- and 64-bit Delphi and C++Builder applications created with Embarcadero RAD Studio XE6.
Name Mapping Improvements:
We've updated the Name Mapping file format and made it more friendly to external merging tools and source control systems. Formerly, the file contents could easily get broken during merging. Now the file format supports this operation better.
The new file format is incompatible with previous TestComplete versions. After you save your project in TestComplete 10.40, you will be unable to open it in earlier TestComplete versions (10.30, 10.20 and others). This may cause issues for those of your colleagues who have not upgraded to TestComplete 10.40 yet. We recommend that all your team members upgrade to the new version.
New Supported Controls:
TestComplete version 10.40 introduces support for the following controls:
Windows Forms controls by Telerik: RadPageView, RadListControl, RadDropDownList, RadScrollablePanel, DocumentTabStrip.
Developer Express 14.1 controls for Windows Forms.
Syncfusion 11.4 controls for Windows Forms.
Other Enhancements:
The support for the CollabNet Subversion 1.8.x. source control is added.
The Regions, Objects and Files objects now log errors for incorrect parameter values. You can turn error logging on and off using the PostErrorsToLog property of these objects.
Now you can use the new Process.SaveDumpToFile and Process.SaveDumpToLog methods to create memory dumps (minidumps or full dumps) at any time during the test run. These dumps can help application developers track down the cause of incorrect application behavior, hanging or crashes. See Creating Process Dumps During a Test Run.
You can now remove Visualizer images from the test log that you are going to send via e-mail. To do this, just clear the “Save Visualizer images” check box in the Send Log via E-mail dialog that TestComplete displays before sending the message.
Fixed a number of bugs reported by our customers.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.30 (Mar 11, 2015)

iOS Testing Improvements:
Recording tests for instrumented iOS Applications. Now you can record tests against instrumented applications on iOS devices. For details, see Recording iOS Tests.
Support for new iOS versions. TestComplete 10.30 introduces support for iOS versions 7.1 and 7.1.1.
Support for 64-bit iOS applications. Now you can use TestComplete to test both 32- and 64-bit iOS code.
Android Testing Improvements:
Automatic instrumentation of Android applications. To create object-based tests for Android applications, you need to prepare your Android application for testing. You do this by compiling the application with the PatchServices library that is included in TestComplete.
Version 10.30 simplifies this process. Now TestComplete can automatically add the library to your .apk file. It can do this when you are adding an application to the Tested Applications list of your TestComplete project, or any time later. For details, see Instrumenting Android Applications in TestComplete UI.
The Test Visualizer now captures screenshots for Android Open applications during test recording and test run.
TestComplete now uses an improved image-capture algorithm for image-based tests. Due to Android specifics, earlier versions of TestComplete could capture incorrect color data on Android emulators and virtual machines. The new algorithm always captures the correct colors.
The “new” images that TestComplete captures now differ from the images that it added to the image repositories earlier. So, your existing image-based tests can fail when you run them on Android virtual machines or emulators. To avoid issues, you need to change image comparison parameters or recapture the images, or you can resort to using object-based tests. See Possible Issues for details.
The AndroidDevice object that corresponds to Android devices has new properties and methods:
AndroidDevice.Desktop.GetOrientation, AndroidDevice.Desktop.SetOrientation and AndroidDevice.Desktop.ResetOrientation – Let you get the Android screen orientation and simulate screen rotation.
AndroidDevice.GPS.GPSEnabled – Lets you enable or disable GPS on Android devices from automated tests.
AndroidDevice.GPS.AllowMockLocations – Lets you turn on and off the device’s Allow mock locations setting from your geolocation tests.
AndroidDevice.Connections.BluetoothEnabled and AndroidDevice.Connections.WiFiEnabled – Enable and disable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections on the device.
AndroidDevice.CurrentLocaleName and AndroidDevice.ChangeLocale – Let you get and set the device’s current user interface language. You can use them to check whether your Android application recognizes the language used on the device properly and whether the language has changed.
Changes in support for Android controls:
The ZoomIn and ZoomOut methods of zoom test objects have the new Count parameter that specifies the number of simulated touches. Using this parameter, you can use one test command to simulate multiple touches on the zoom control.
The wPosition property of the number picker object has been renamed to wValue. The NumberPicker.wPosition property is still supported for backwards compatibility.
New Variable Type - Password:
TestComplete 10.30 supports a new variable type, Password, for keyword-test, project and project suite variables. You can use variables of the new type to store passwords and other sensitive data in your test projects and use them in tests unrevealed. For detailed information on using the new variable type, see Working With Passwords and Other Sensitive Data.
Web Testing Improvements:
Version 10.30 introduces support for the most recent version of the Firefox, Chrome and Opera web browsers. Now, you can create and run tests for Chrome 35, Firefox 24-29 and Opera 12.16 and 21.
Extended Support for Third-Party Controls:
Added support for the latest version of Telerik RadControls for Silverlight, ASP.NET and WinForms - Q1 2014.
Added support for jQuery UI versions 1.10.3 and 1.10.4.
Changes in the Licensing Subsystem:
Now you can deactivate product licenses directly from the TestComplete IDE. The License Activation wizard has been renamed to License Management, as now you can use it both to activate and deactivate licenses.
Now you can deactivate and move product licenses up to ten times (in previous versions of the product, it was possible to do this only three times).
Keyword Testing Improvements:
You can now specify file names in operation parameters using the File Name value type rather than just a string. This lets you browse for the needed file on your computer or local network.
The Keyword Test editor has new context menu commands - Go to Test and Go to Script Code. Use them to open the tests called by the Run Script Routine and Run Keyword Test operations.
Other Improvements:
The new aqObject.EmptyObject property lets you get a null object in any supported scripting language.
Now you can rename test items and test item groups on the Test Items page of the Project editor by using the Rename command of the Test Items page’s context menu.
The Smart variable names setting has been removed. Now, during test recording, TestComplete always generates variable names that match the object types.
The Always start a new test setting option has been removed from TestComplete. Now TestComplete always creates a new test when you start recording by selecting the Record Keyword Test or Record Script command from the Test | Record menu or from the Test Engine toolbar.
A number of bugs have been fixed.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.20 (Mar 11, 2015)

Recording Tests for White-Box Android Applications:
TestComplete now records object-based tests for white-box Android applications. Previous versions of the product recorded image-based tests that use controls’ images to find these controls on the device screen. Object-based tests recognize controls by their properties rather than images, use control-specific commands and work out-of-the-box on all screen resolutions and orientations. In addition, TestComplete maps control names automatically during the recording, so you do not have to do this manually before creating tests.
TestComplete records object-based tests for instrumented Android applications (that is, for those that were prepared for testing). Image-based recording is still available for black-box (non-instrumented) code.
iOS Testing Improvements:
TestComplete 10.20 supports creation of tests for iOS applications running on iPod touch devices with iOS ver. 6.x and 7.0–7.0.x.
Extended support for iOS controls:
New wItem and wSection properties of the iOS TableViewCell objects provide a reliable way to address them. These objects are now also mapped by these properties, making your actions over table views position-independent.
The iOS ScrollView, iOS TableView and iOS TextView objects contains three new method (Back, Next, ScrollToPage) and new properties (wPage, wPageCount) that let you simulate user actions on these controls working in paging mode.
Support for New Development Tool, Browser and Control Versions:
Support for new browser versions. TestComplete version 10.20 offers support for the most recent releases of the Chrome, Firefox and Opera web browsers. Now, the list of supported browsers includes –
Mozilla Firefox 24-28
Google Chrome 34
Open Software Opera 12.16 and 20
Support for Java 8 and JavaFX 8. Now, you can use TestComplete to create tests for Java 8 and JavaFX 8 applications.
Support for Adobe Flash 13, Apache Flex 4.12 and Adobe AIR 13. Now you can use TestComplete to test applications created with the most recent versions of Adobe Flash, AIR and Apache Flex.
Support for the following web control versions:
Google Web Toolkit ver. 2.6.0
Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) ver. 3.12.0 - 3.15.0
Other Improvements:
When checking for updates, TestComplete now also checks if new patches for the Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers are available.
TestComplete 10.20 sports usability improvements in the test log, informative messages and dialogs.
A number of bugs have been fixed.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.10 (Mar 11, 2015)

iOS Testing:
TestComplete 10.10 extends mobile testing and introduces support for testing iOS applications:
You can create and play back tests for iOS applications running on real iOS devices like iPhones and iPads with iOS versions 6 and 7.
TestComplete recognizes individual objects in tested iOS applications and provides access to native methods and properties of these objects.
TestComplete also recognizes popular iOS controls (table views, data pickers, and others) and supplies specific methods and properties that help you easily simulate various user actions on these controls.
You can include your tested iOS applications into the TestedApps collection of your TestComplete project. This will simplify the automated deployment and start of these applications on the iOS devices.
There are lots of other changes in various wizards, panels and scripting objects that provide support for testing iOS applications.
Enhanced Support for Android Testing:
Launching Tested Android Applications. Now you can run tested Android applications added to the Tested Applications collection of your project directly from the Mobile Screen window’s toolbar.
TestComplete includes the new FileSystemManager object that provides a scripting interface to the file system of connected Android devices. Using the methods of this object you can easily transfer files to and from the device and manage files and folders on the device.
Support for New Web Browser Versions:
TestComplete 10.10 offers support for the most recent version of Chrome and Opera - Chrome 33 and Opera 19.
Changes in the Licensing Subsystem:
In earlier versions of the product, it was impossible to activate several licenses on the same License Manager PC, because the new license data could overwrite the existing data. Now, the License Manager supports activation of several license keys on the same machine. It merges the new and existing license data, when possible. For example, if you activate a TestComplete (or TestExecute) Floating User license on a computer where another Floating User license is already activated, the License Manager will automatically merge the existing and new license data. You can also activate a TestComplete Node-Locked license for an individual module (Desktop, Web or Mobile) on the computer that has an activated Node-Locked license that does not include this module yet.
However, in certain cases, the merge is impossible. For instance, it is not allowed to activate a Node-Locked license if a Floating User license is already active and vice versa.
More Improvements:
Support for Axosoft OnTime 2014. TestComplete version 10.10 introduces support for the most recent version of Axosoft OnTime. Now you can submit defects to Axosoft OnTime 2014 directly from the TestComplete IDE.
The Select Current Device dialog, which is used for connecting to mobile devices, has now a new button that lets you call the Mobile Troubleshooter directly from the dialog. This will help you resolve connection problems faster when they occur.
A number of bugs have been fixed

New in SmartBear TestComplete 10.0 (Mar 11, 2015)

Android Testing:
TestComplete version 10 introduces support for testing mobile Android applications. You can record and play back tests for mobile applications running on physical devices, Android virtual machines and emulators. TestComplete includes new project items, dialogs and wizards, new keyword-test operations, a new tested application type and dozens of new scripting objects to support creating, maintaining and running these tests.
You can easily create powerful tests that will perform the following:
Simulate touches, long touches, swipes, keystrokes and other events on Android devices.
Simulate gestures (multi-touch events).
Simulate pressing physical (on-device) buttons.
Deploy Android applications to and run them on devices – all with just one test command.
Mock GPS locations and test geolocation applications.
Retrieve and check data of various sensors (like an accelerometer).
Verify the state and data of an application’s internal objects.
TestComplete can access native objects, methods and properties of Android applications to help you create even more powerful tests.
Mobile Web Testing:
With TestComplete 10, you can test your web applications and web sites for cross-platform mobile compatibility without needing the actual mobile devices. You can record mobile web tests using a mobile browser emulator on your desktop computer, and play back the tests against different mobile browser profiles.
TestComplete includes predefined mobile browser profiles for Apple iPhone, iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia and Blackberry devices. You can define additional mobile browser profiles with different screen sizes, orientations and user agents to better match your target mobile audience.
The mobile web testing capabilities are similar to those for regular web applications. The only difference is commands that launch or enumerate the browsers.
You can launch a mobile browser emulator from tests using the Run Virtual Browser keyword test operation or the VirtualBrowsers.Item(...).Run scripting method.
You can run a test against multiple mobile browsers using the Virtual Browser Loop operation in keyword tests or the for loop in scripted tests.
The VirtualBrowsers scripting object provides information about mobile browser profiles used in the test project.
You can add the mobile browser emulator to Tested Apps to quickly open your mobile website at design time.
New Supported Technologies and Applications:
Support for Windows 8.1. Now you can record and run your tests on Windows 8.1 to ensure that your applications work correctly with this version of the Windows operating system.
Testing Windows Store Applications. TestComplete 10 introduces support for testing Windows Store applications. You can record and play back tests for these applications on Windows 8.1, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.
Support for Microsoft Visual Studio 2013. TestComplete now supports integration into Visual Studio 2013 and Team Foundation Server 2013. This means that you can --
Add and run your TestComplete tests as part of test projects created in Visual Studio 2013.
Plan and run your TestComplete tests by using Visual Studio 2013 Microsoft Test Manager.
Run your TestComplete tests as part of team builds managed by Team Foundation Server 2013.
Create work items and post bug reports to the Visual Studio 2013 Team Foundation System database directly from TestComplete.
Support for Embarcadero RAD Studio XE5. Now you can automate testing of applications created with Embarcadero RAD Studio XE5, including both 32-bit and 64-bit applications
Support for .NET Framework 4.5.1. You can now automate testing of .NET and WPF applications that use the latest version of .NET Framework.
Support for JavaFX ver. 2.2.45. TestComplete now supports testing of applications created with JavaFX SDK ver. 2.2.45.
Web Testing Improvements:
Support for Internet Explorer 11. You can now record and run web tests in Internet Explorer 11 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions).
Note: Only the desktop version of Internet Explorer 11 is currently supported. The Modern UI (Metro) version is not supported.
Support for Opera 17-18, Chrome 31, Firefox 24-26. TestComplete 10 extends the family of supported web browser versions with the recent Opera versions based on the Chromium engine, and the most recent versions of the Chrome and Firefox browsers.
New property for getting labels. Use the new ObjectLabel to get the labels of web controls easily. The label is a text that is displayed on a control (for example, on a button) or text that is displayed next to that control (for example, the label of an edit box). The labels help you understand what data this or that control contains. They can also be used for name mapping.
Now, when you record a test on a web page that is already open in your web browser and the first action you perform on the page is inserting a checkpoint, TestComplete automatically inserts a test command that opens the web page before the checkpoint is called in the recorded test.
Enhanced Flash and Flex Testing:
Support for Apache Flex 4.11.0. TestComplete now supports the new recent release of Apache Flex 4.11.0. See Testing Flash and Flex Applications.
You can now test Flash and Flex applications in Google Chrome, Opera and Apple Safari.
Automatic FlashInjector installation. You can now quickly install TestComplete’s Flash and Flex testing module, FlashInjector, into Flash Player directly from TestComplete UI. Also, a project setting was added to automatically install FlashInjector at the beginning of the test recording or playback.
Easier configuring Flash Player trusted locations. You can now specify trusted files and folders for Flash Player in your test project settings. TestComplete adds them to Flash Player trusted locations when FlashInjector is installed from tests or the TestComplete UI.
The new OnActionScriptException event lets you handle Flash and Flex application exceptions exposed by the debug version of Flash Player.
Extended Support for Third-Party Controls:
TestComplete adds support for the recent releases of popular third-party UI libraries and controls:
Developer Express ExpressBars v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express ExpressEditors v2012 vol 1.3, v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express ExpressNavBar v2012 vol 1.3, v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express ExpressQuantumGrid v2012 vol 1.3, v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express ExpressQuantumTreeList v2012 vol 1.3, v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express ExpressVerticalGrid v2012 vol 1.3, v2012 vol 1.5, v2012 vol 2.2, v2013 vol 1.2.
Developer Express XtraBars ver. 2013.1.4, 2013.1.7, 2013.2.5.
Developer Express XtraEditors ver. 2013.1.4, 2013.1.7, 2013.2.5.
Developer Express XtraGrid ver. 2013.1.4, 2013.1.7, 2013.2.5.
Developer Express XtraNavBar ver. 2013.1.4, 2013.1.7, 2013.2.5.
Developer Express XtraTreeList 2013.1.4, 2013.1.7, 2013.2.5.
Syncfusion Essential Studio ver. 11.3.0.30.
Infragistics NetAdvantage 2013 Vol. 2.
Telerik RadControls for WinForms 2013.2 (Q2 2013) and 2013.3 (Q3 2013).
Google Web Toolkit ver. 2.5.1.
Scripting Object Improvements:
ProjectSuite Object Improvements. Now, you can get properties of projects in the current project suite via the new TestItems property of the ProjectSuite object. It provides a scripting interface to project suite’s test items specified on the Test Items page of the Project Suite Editor.
Options Object Improvements. Now, you can get or change Test Visualizer options via the new Options.Visualizer object. It provides a scripting interface to options displayed in the Visualizer section of the Properties page of the project editor.
New TestComplete Packages:
Formerly, we sold TestComplete Standard and Enterprise editions. These were different packages that included a different set of plug-ins and, therefore, offered a different set of features. In version 10, we reorganized the testing features into several modules to better address the needs of our customers. We do not use the Enterprise and Standard editions anymore.
Now, each license includes TestComplete Platform (the IDE and common testing features) and one or several modules– Desktop, Web or Mobile – that provide support for specific application types.
More Enhancements:
Now, you can activate TestComplete (and TestExecute) licenses on physical Microsoft Hyper-V Server machines and physical Microsoft Windows Server 2008 machines with the Hyper-V role installed.
Now, you can use the Bind Visualizer frames to SCC option to configure TestComplete to automatically add Test Visualizer data associated with your tests to the source control.
TestComplete 10 includes an updated and redesigned Name Mapping wizard. It makes the name mapping procedure easier and faster.
Added a horizontal scrollbar to the Project Explorer for easier viewing of long project item names.
When you rename tested applications, keyword tests or image repository items in your project, TestComplete now prompts to automatically update your keyword tests that refer to the renamed items.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 8.20.538.7 (May 7, 2011)

Flash and Flex Support Enhancements
Enable Flash and Flex automated testing without the need to recompile. Previously, to enable a Flash or Flex application for automated testing with TestComplete, developers had to compile the application in a special way (for example, with TestComplete’s FlexClient.swc library included). Now, TestComplete can dynamically embed the testing library into SWF files on the fly, so that you can test Flash and Flex applications without re-compiling them for testing. This can be done in any of the following ways:
Install the debug version of Adobe Flash Player and configure it to automatically embed the testing library into all SWF files. For more information, see Testing Flash and Flex Applications with FlashInjector.
Load the tested application via a special wrapper web page that is included in TestComplete. For more information, see Testing Flash and Flex Applications with Runtime Loader.
As these approaches do not require any changes in the tested Flash or Flex application, you can test the application’s release version, that is, the version that will be shipped to customers.
TestComplete 8.20 introduces new techniques for testing Flash applications that provide better automation capabilities. Namely:
TestComplete now identifies all the objects inside Flash applications and shows the complete object hierarchy.
TestComplete now provides access to native (internal) properties of Flash objects. This allows you to enhance your tests so that they write and read values directly to and from Flash objects. You can also use native object properties with Name Mapping for more robust object identification.
The above-mentioned improvements are achieved by using Flash applications together with TestComplete’s new Flash testing library. This library can be either embedded dynamically into an application (in this case, no changes in the application are required), or pre-compiled into the application - whatever suits your needs best. For more information, see Testing Flash Applications.
General Enhancements
TestComplete now also runs on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded Standard 7. This enables you to automate testing of applications designed for Windows Embedded-powered thin clients, consumer electronics and specialized devices and thoroughly verify custom device images.
Enhanced project wizard. The Create New Project wizard has been improved to include additional options for selecting Test Visualizer settings for the project. Also, scripting language selection options have been re-designed for better assistance in choosing a language.
Easier adding of several objects to Name Mapping. The Map Child Objects command in the Name Mapping editor now lets you quickly add the selected child objects to your Name Mapping scheme by automatically mapping them using the default settings. This saves your time as you do not have to manually select identification properties and values for each object. (Nevertheless, you can modify them at any time later, if needed.)
Auto-updating projects created in previous versions of TestComplete during a silent test run. When you run a test project created in a previous version of TestComplete from the command line in Silent mode, TestComplete can now automatically update the project files to the current format. To enable this, use the /ForceConversion command-line argument. See TestComplete Command Line for details.
Java API access has been improved to better support interacting with third-party Java frameworks.
On Windows 7 and Windows Vista, the licensing subsystem’s dialogs and messages now use the Aero visual style for more consistent user experience.
The test selection dialog now displays custom descriptions specified for keyword tests.
Other Changes
TestComplete no longer supports Windows 2000, as it has reached Microsoft’s end of support.
The Named User license type has been renamed to Node-Locked. The actual functioning of this license type has not changed. The change concerns only the license name, as Node-Locked better reflects the nature of the license type -- it is restricted to a single machine the license is issued for, not a single user. For more details, please refer to the updated EULA (http://www.automatedqa.com/about/eula/license-agreement/).
Previous versions of TestComplete had one specific issue that concerned the Flex Tree control support. In previous versions of TestComplete, if the Tree control had a root node that was collapsed, the tested object that corresponded to this node was a child object of the control’s object. If the node was expanded, the control’s test object got a child helper object - ListBaseContentHolder. This helper contained all the tree nodes, including the root node (that is, the root node changed its position in the object hierarchy).
TestComplete version 8.20 does not create this helper object, and all the test objects that correspond to tree nodes are always children of the control’s test object. That is, the issue has been fixed, and this may require changing your tests.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 8.10 (May 7, 2011)

Support for Microsoft Silverlight 4 Applications
Support for Microsoft Silverlight 4 has been improved, particularly in the area of object recognition and simulation of user actions with Silverlight controls.
Now, you can test Silverlight 4 applications in both black-box mode and white-box mode. To test these applications in white-box mode (that is, to make them “Open” for the test engine), you need to process them with a special utility that is included in the TestComplete package. After that, the test engine will be able to access internal objects, methods, properties and fields of your Silverlight application. You can also get access to classes and static members defined in all assemblies included in the Silverlight 4 application package. See Silverlight Open Applications.
Silverlight objects exposed by TestComplete are now marked with the icon in the Object Browser panel.
TestComplete 8.10 includes a number of scripting objects that simplify simulating user actions on Microsoft Silverlight 4 controls. See Supported Microsoft Controls.
For more information on support for Silverlight 4 applications, see Testing Silverlight 4 Applications.
Support for Adobe AIR Applications
TestComplete now provides support for HTML-based and Flex-based out-of-browser Adobe AIR applications. You can test AIR applications in both black-box mode and white-box mode. TestComplete allows you to make AIR applications “Open” by compiling them with special files included in the TestComplete package. If you do this, the test engine will get access to all internal objects, methods and properties of AIR applications so that you can make calls to their internal methods and properties in your tests. See Testing AIR Applications.
Support for Other Applications, Technologies and Controls
Improved support for Adobe Flex applications. Support for Adobe Flex has been improved for specific cases when WMode = transparent is set. That is, now, there is no need to set this parameter to window.
Java 7 support. TestComplete 8.10 supports Java SE 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions), that is, it allows testing Java applications that run on the latest version of the Java platform.
Support for Embarcadero RAD Studio XE applications. TestComplete now supports Delphi and C++Builder applications developed in Embarcadero RAD Studio XE, so now, you can test software created with the latest Delphi and C++Builder technologies.
Support for Qt ver. 4.7.0. TestComplete 8.10 supports white-box testing of applications that use Qt library ver. 4.7.0. The modules that provide support for earlier versions of the Qt library can be downloaded from our web site:
http://www.automatedqa.com/downloads/testcomplete/qt-modules/
Support for Sybase PowerBuilder 12 .NET applications. Now, you can use TestComplete to test applications created with PowerBuilder .NET 12.0. These applications are “Open” for your tests by default, so the test engine can access their internal methods, properties and objects.
Integration with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Test Agents. Now, you can run Visual Studio test projects extended with TestComplete projects remotely using Microsoft Visual Studio Test Agents.
Support for Atlassian JIRA 4.1. Now, you can use TestComplete to create issues in the Atlassian JIRA 4.1 database directly from the test log. For this purpose, use the Add Bug to JIRA Database dialog.
AQtime 7 support. TestComplete now integrates with the latest version of AutomatedQA’s profiling tool named AQtime 7. So, you can use AQtime’s new and enhanced profilers to profile your applications during the testing and to perform coverage testing. Also, to let you set up AQtime 7 from test scripts, the AQtime7 object and the AQtimeIntegration.AQtime7 property have been added. For more information, see Integration With AQtime and Coverage Testing.
Improved support for XAML browser applications (XBAPs). Now, you can access the root page object of your XBAP application by using a new Process.Page("path_to_xbap") method. You can then access other objects, except for pop-up windows, as children of the root page object. This allows you to create simpler and shorter tests. Like in previous versions, all the objects are also available at their previous places in the object hierarchy.
Improved support for Developer Express controls. TestComplete now supports more Developer Express VCL controls. For more information, see Supported Developer Express Controls.
Support for Adobe Flex DataGrid controls. TestComplete 8.10 includes a new FlexDataGrid test object that lets you easily simulate user actions on Adobe Flex DataGrid controls in your application.
Improved support for Syncfusion controls. TestComplete 8.10 introduces extended support for .NET Windows Forms controls that are included in Syncfusion Essential Studio 2010 Vol. 3.
Extended support for MFC controls. TestComplete 8.10 includes new scripting objects that provide extended support for the following MFC controls and let you easily simulate user actions on them: GridCtrl (CGridCtrl), MenuButton (CMFCMenuButton), StatusBar (CMFCStatusBar) and EditBrowseCtrl (CMFCEditBrowseCtrl).
Support for the WPF Ribbon release version. Earlier versions of TestComplete supported the CTP version of the WPF Ribbon control. TestComplete 8.10 introduces support for the release version of this control (WPF Ribbon, ver. 3.5.40729.1, July 2010).
Load Testing
The load testing subsystem has been dramatically improved and now includes the following new features:
Run-time monitoring and server-side counters. Now, you can view detailed information about the load test progress and performance of the tested host at run time. The Execution Progress tabbed page of the LoadTesting editor indicates an individual progress state of each station and of every virtual user that takes part in the load test.
The Runtime Graphs tabbed page displays various server characteristics during the run: CPU load, memory consumption and many others. This helps you better understand how the server behaves during the load test.
The page can plot several server performance metrics on a timeline. The graphs are fully customizable. You can choose the metrics for monitoring from an extended set of available metrics provided by the server’s operating system (Windows, Linux) and the web server (IIS and Apache).
Variables providing dynamic values for request parameters. Simulating requests with different parameter values has become a lot easier now that TestComplete provides load testing variables. The variables serve as a data source of form fields and query string parameters, such as user names, passwords, product IDs, search terms, and so on. You can bind variables to request parameters so that each virtual user plays back a request using a different set of values instead of the same recorded values. This enables you to better simulate real-life users and achieve more realistic load testing behavior. For more information on using variables in request parameters, see Load Testing Variables.
Easier modifying of request parameters. The Load Testing Task editor now provides table-like editors for parameters held within GET and POST requests. This makes it easier to view and modify the parameters and helps you avoid typos. See Modifying Request Variables.
Request-specific data selectors. In earlier versions, data selectors that extracted values from responses and automatically inserted these values into subsequent requests were defined globally for the entire recorded traffic. Now, they are defined for individual responses in the traffic and can be managed on the Data Selectors pane in the Load Testing Task Editor. As a result, now, it is easier to identify responses where dynamic parameters are introduced, as well as to manage data selectors that are applied only to a specific response. For more information, see Handling Dynamic Parameters.
When you open a load test created with an earlier TestComplete version in TestComplete 8.10, it analyzes responses in the recorded traffic and automatically converts its existing Auto-Updated Page Parameters settings to the new Data Selectors format.
Think time. TestComplete now allows you to customize the think time for requests in the simulated traffic to better adjust the load on the tested web server. You can view the recorded think time of your load tests in the Think time column of the Load Testing Task editor and quickly change the values of specific requests, as well as the values of all the requests in a task. For more information, see Changing Think Time.
Grouping requests by pages. Requests displayed in the Load Testing Task editor can now be grouped by the pages they correspond to. This helps you understand the sequence of pages accessed during the test and makes it easy to see which resources (style sheets, scripts, images, and so on) correspond to specific pages.
Request indexes. The Requests table in the load testing log contains a new Global Index column. It holds requests' unique IDs within the simulated traffic, which you can also see in the Load Testing Task editor. You can use these values to identify specific requests when analyzing load testing results and during the load test debugging.
License System Update and General Enhancements
License system update. The License Manager and the license key activation procedure have been simplified and better automated. The new license activation wizard streamlines typical cases of the activation process by guiding the user through the required steps, for automated and manual activation. The wizard is included in both TestComplete 8.1 and the standalone License Manager utility.
Test Data Generator. Using the built-in data generating functionality, you can easily create a set of arbitrary data for your tests. The generated data can be saved in the form of Excel worksheets or TestComplete’s Table variables and then used in data-driven and load tests. You can not only fill in the entire tables, but also automatically populate individual columns of Table variables. See Using Data Generators.
Auto-running tested applications on recording. TestComplete 8.10 can now automatically launch tested applications when the recording starts. You can specify this in a new Autorun column of the TestedApps and WinCETestedApps editors and in the Create New Project wizard.
Test Visualizer improvements:
Now, TestComplete supports updating Visualizer frames from the test log. The context menu of the test log’s Actual Image panel has a new item - Update Visualizer Data. It lets you easily update Visualizer frames with images captured during the test playback. See Updating Visualizer Frames.
Now, when you are updating Visualizer frames from screen, TestComplete also updates information on methods and properties of objects shown in the image.
Test Visualizer offers new modes for updating frame data during the test run. See Project Properties - Visualizer Options.
New run modes. TestComplete 8.10 extends the list of supported run modes with three new modes:
Web - Used for running and testing web pages as well as Flash, Flex and Silverlight applications.
Java - Used for running and testing Java code in the form of .jar and .class files.
AIR - Used for running and testing Adobe AIR applications.
See Run Modes.
Changes in web testing. In order for the test engine to be able to simulate user actions on web pages correctly, the zoom ratio of the tested web page must be set to 100%. To prevent problems that occur when this requirement is not met, TestComplete 8.10 automatically sets the zoom ratio to 100% on the tested web pages:
Now, when you start recording a test on a web page, TestComplete automatically changes the page’s zoom ratio to 100%.
Also, the Page.ToURL and Page.NavigateTo methods that are used to navigate to web pages in tests now automatically set the zoom ratio of the destination page to 100%.
Improved support for Perforce source control system. Now, TestComplete’s source control integration subsystem supports Perforce 2009.2 and Perforce 2010.1.
Updated Create New Project wizard. The Create New Project wizard has been improved. It includes special pages and dialogs for easier adding tested applications to your project. The pages of the previous wizard that were not used frequently have been removed. All of these will help novice users to start working with the product faster.
Improved Code Completion. The Code Completion window of the Code Editor now displays local script variables defined in the currently edited routine and the routine’s parameters.
Easier troubleshooting:
Now, if users try to record tests on Flex or Silverlight applications that are not prepared for TestComplete, the latter displays balloons that warn the users of this and suggest to prepare the application for testing. This will help novice users not to miss important steps.
TestComplete now detects when test run errors are caused by specific user session states (such as locked sessions, disconnected Remote Desktop sessions, and so on) and automatically adds appropriate troubleshooting information and solutions to the test log. This helps testers diagnose causes of test failures and eliminate them more easily.
Generating dump files for tested applications. Now, you can easily generate a dump file for the tested application’s process, if it hangs or crashes during the test run, by using a new Dump Generator utility shipped along with TestComplete (\Bin\aqDumpGenerator.exe). You can then send this dump file to our Support Team manually via e-mail. Dump files generated with this utility contain a memory dump, information about threads running in the application process, CPU registers, modules used by the process, the call stack, and other information that can be useful for developers. If the problem with the tested application is caused by TestComplete’s improper behavior, information from such a dump file can help the TestComplete Development Team to find the exact cause of the problem and solve it faster. To better learn how you can use this helper utility, see Generating Dump Files With Dump Generator.
Performance improvements. Now, it takes less time to open large project suites over the network and to clone existing test projects.
Keyword Testing
Using Table variables for data-driven testing. Keyword test variables of the Table type can now be used as a data source for data-driven tests. Using the new Data Generator functionality (see above), you can easily generate the entire tables of test data or populate tables’ individual columns.
Disable and enable operations. Now, you can disable and enable individual operations in your keyword test. This allows you to exclude operations from or include them into the execution flow without removing and restoring them. You enable and disable operations by using a new Enable/Disable Operations item of the keyword test editor’s context menu. This functionality is very similar to commenting and uncommenting script lines. See Enabling and Disabling Operations.
Improved Keyword Test editor:
The keyword test editor now displays the contents of Table variables below the test contents. This lets you easily view the tables’ data and modify it. See Keyword Test Editor - Test Steps Page.
The keyword test editor now highlights the comment text. This makes it easier to distinguish among comments of different operations. You can specify the highlighting color in the new Keyword Test Editor - Highlighting Options dialog.
TestComplete includes a new options group - Keyword Test editor | Highlighting. It allows you to customize highlighting settings that are used for a keyword test’s operations and categories. For more information, see Keyword Test Editor - Highlighting Options Dialog.
The Description column of the Keyword Test editor now contains a more detailed text on the appropriate checkpoint’s effect while a test is run.
Now, the set of commands available in the context menu of the Keyword Test editor at run-time differs from that which is available at design time. At run time, TestComplete hides design-time commands to allow you to quickly find the needed one.
Now, if you add a new operation to your keyword test, TestComplete shows you exactly where the operation will be inserted within your test. So, if you move the mouse cursor, the operation’s further location is also changed.
New operation for property comparison - TestComplete 8.10 adds a new Compare Properties operation to the Checkpoints category that enables you to verify the value of the tested object’s property as part of your keyword test.
Improved Edit Parameters dialog. The Edit Parameter dialog that is used to alter operation parameters includes a number of improvements:
In TestComplete 8.10, the dialog has a new Object Property mode that lets you easier select properties of on-screen objects.
The On-screen Action operation’s wizard now contains the Quick Search box that helps you search for the needed property or object faster.
If you choose the Code Expression mode, you can use the Code Completion functionality to enter the script snippet into the Value box. This prevents mistakes in the entered code and lets you input code faster.
If you enter a code snippet into the dialog, it now automatically checks the script syntax on exit.
The dialog now displays a brief description of the selected Mode. This description helps novice users quickly understand what this or that mode does.
Checkpoints
Easier analysis of comparison results:
If a region comparison fails, TestComplete posts a link that opens a new Calculate Region Checkpoint Parameters dialog to the test log. This dialog analyzes the comparison parameters and, if the images slightly differ, calculates recommended values for the checkpoint parameters that will allow the test engine to treat the images as equal during the next run.
The same functionality is also implemented for file checkpoints: a link in the test log invokes a new Calculate File Checkpoint Parameters dialog that analyzes the file checkpoint’s parameters and calculates recommended values for them. If you use these values, the test engine will treat the files as equal when comparing them next time.
TestComplete 8.10 also includes a new File Comparison Results pane, which visually represents the file difference.
Log messages posted by the region and file checkpoints now have a link to documentation. This helps novice users faster understand why the compared images and files differ.
Improved mechanism of specifying checkpoint parameters. Now, you can use sliders to specify the Pixel Tolerance and Color Tolerance parameters of region checkpoints.
Now it is easier to specify a mask for image comparison. A mask lets you easily exclude variable parts of an image from a comparison. The Create Region Checkpoint wizard now contains a new Edit Comparison Mask page that assists you in specifying the needed comparison mask.
Now DBTable and Table checkpoints can use empty tables as the baseline data. DB Table and Table checkpoints now can store empty tables (databases or query results) and then use them as the baseline data for a comparison.
Property checkpoints now post more detailed messages to the test log.
Name Mapping
Using nested object properties in name mapping templates. TestComplete now supports using nested object properties, such as NativeClrObject.Name or NativeWebObject.id, in name mapping templates. This allows you to add these properties to the default identification properties for the objects being mapped.
Improved mechanism of storing mapped objects’ information. TestComplete 8.10 introduces some enhancements in the way it stores information about methods and properties of mapped objects:
The Store Code Completion information option is now project-specific and available in the Name Mapping category of project properties. This allows you to better adjust member information stored for mapped objects in individual test projects.
The Store Code Completion information option has a new additional value, Brief. It means that TestComplete will save information only about basic methods and properties. These are the methods and properties that you can see in the Basic View of the Object Browser and Object Spy.
If your Name Mapping file's size became very large due to the object member information stored in it, you can now easily remove this information and reduce the file size. To do this, simply set the project’s Store Code Completion information option to None and save the changes.
The meaning of the StoreCodeCompletionInfo parameter of the AddNamedChild method has been changed. Now, if this parameter is True, TestComplete looks at the project’s Store Code Completion information property to determine whether to save the object member information and the amount of information to store.
The Conditional Mode check box in the Name Mapping editor is now read-only. To enable or disable conditional mapping of an object, double-click it and use the ensuing wizard. For more information, see Using Conditional Mapping Criteria.
Distributed Testing and Network Suite
New script method to copy projects to remote computers. TestComplete 8.10 includes a new Host.CopyProjectToSlave method providing a convenient way to copy slave projects from master hosts to slave hosts in scripts.
The NetworkSuite object has a new SynchPoints property that provides access to the collection of synchronization points defined in the current project. To access a specific synchpoint within the synchpoint collection, you can use the following syntax: NetworkSuite.SynchPoints.synchpoint_name. The returned object contains the WaitFor method that pauses the test run until other projects reach this checkpoint. That is, to synchronize projects, you can use code like NetworkSuite.SynchPoints.synchpoint_name.WaitFor() rather than NetworkSuite.Synchronize("synchpoint_name"), which was used in earlier versions. The new approach lets you avoid test malfunctions caused by misprints in the synchpoint name.
New and Modified Scripting Functions
The TableVariable object has a number of new methods and properties that allow you to work with variables of the Table type from scripts and iterate through the table’s rows.
The aqBinaryFile object has a new WriteByte method that allows you to convert a Variant-compatible value to a byte value and write it to a binary file.
The aqString object now has a new FindLast method that allows searching for the last occurrence of a substring within the specified string.
The aqFolderInfo object has a new SetAttributes method that allows you to set the attributes of the specified folder.
The aqFileSystem object has two new methods, MapNetworkDrive and DisconnectNetworkDrive, which allow you to map a remote network folder to a local drive and unmap it when needed.
TestComplete provides a new ManualTests program object to access manual tests added to a project from scripts. Now, mtsa constants are defined in the ManualTests object. The corresponding mtsa members of the ManualTesting object have become obsolete and are supported only for backward compatibility.
The ExtendedMessageAsPlainText property of the LogAttributes object is now True by default.
Testing Windows Mobile Applications
The way PDA support is installed on Windows mobile-based devices has changed. Now, TestComplete checks whether PDA support is installed (for TestComplete 7.x - 8.0). If it is installed, the existing files are not uninstalled during the installation of PDA support for TestComplete 8.10. To uninstall the obsolete files, you can use the device’s control panel.
The PDA Controller panel is called easily. Now, you can quickly activate the PDA Controller panel if it is hidden. To do this, click the Show PDA Controller button on the Recording toolbar.
Miscellaneous
Test log improvements:
Now, if the Show log on pause option is enabled, TestComplete automatically shows the test log on pause and highlights the log message which was posted last.
The Remarks panel has been renamed to Additional Information.
Now, TestExecute has a new command-line parameter, test, which allows running individual tests provided by TestComplete test projects.
Changes in the DLLAccess plug-in. In general, to call a DLL function from script, you have to write script code that forms a function definition. Now, this is not necessary provided that the DLL is compiled with debug information. In this case, the DLLAccess plug-in takes the function definition from debug information. If your tests create a function definition, this definition will overwrite the definition which the test engine creates from the debug information. See Calling Functions From DLLs - Overview.
Now you can copy the text displayed in the Step Description dialog (the Manual Testing subsystem) to the clipboard.
When opening TestComplete 7 projects, TestComplete 8 automatically enabled the Test Visualizer functionality for these projects. In certain cases, this might cause performance slowdown for converted projects. In version 8.10 this behavior has been corrected and now the Visualizer is not switched on automatically.
The structure of TestComplete plug-in modules has been changed: plug-ins that solve related tasks (like support for third-party controls) have been united into one physical module. This has reduced the number of files in the TestComplete installation folder.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 8.00 (May 7, 2011)

Test Visualizer
Test Visualizer. The Visualizer subsystem has been dramatically improved. Now TestComplete automatically captures screenshots during test recording and playback and lets you see what happens with your tested application during test recording and running.
The images that were captured during test recording are shown in a new Test Visualizer panel below the recorded keyword test or script routine. These images illustrate test actions that the recorded commands performed and simplifies the analysis of the recorded test.
During test execution, TestComplete also captures image for the test commands and posts both the “recorded” and “playback” images to the test log. This feature helps you see what happened to your test application during the test run and find the difference between the expected and observed state of the tested application, window or control by highlighting the differences in red. This feature significantly saves the time and energy needed to resolve issues that occur during a test run.
Another benefit of the Test Visualizer is that it enables you to add new operations to your keyword tests by selecting the desired object from recorded images and without having the tested application running. This feature helps you modify your keyword tests easier and faster.
For more information on the new functionality, see Test Visualizer.
Overall Improvements
Easier and faster creating of data-driven tests. TestComplete version 8 has several improvements that simplify data access and implementing data-driven approaches:
A new type of project, project suite and keyword test variables -- DB Table. These variables provide access to data stored in database tables and queries, Excel workbooks and CSV files.
A new keyword test operation -- Data-Driven Loop.
A new Make Data-Driven Loop command in the context menu of the keyword test editor.
These new features reduce the time and effort needed to create data-driven tests and simplifies them into three steps:
In the keyword test editor, select the operations to be data-driven.
Choose a new Make Data-Driven Loop item from the context menu.
Use the ensuing wizard to specify the data source and quickly replace hardcoded parameter values with data stored in that data source.
For detailed instructions, see a new Data-Driven Testing With Keyword Tests tutorial.
Basic and Advanced view modes. Now TestComplete panels and windows that list objects’ methods and properties can display object members in two modes: Basic and Advanced. The Basic view displays the most frequently-used and important methods and properties of tested objects. The Advanced view displays all the available methods and properties of tested objects. The views help you easily find the needed properties or methods faster and concentrate on the task you perform, but not on the search of the needed methods and properties. You can switch between these modes by clicking the links in the member list header in TestComplete’s panels and dialogs. See Basic and Advanced View Modes.
Smarter image comparison. TestComplete now supports the BMP, PNG and TIFF images containing alpha channel (the data describing per-pixel transparency) and performs the comparison and search operations taking the pixel’s alpha value into account.
Besides, the Picture.Compare, Picture.Find, Picture.Difference and Region.Check methods now have two extra parameters that adjust image comparison. The ColorTolerance parameter allows to compare images that have different color tones, for instance, a window’s layouts in different color schemes. The Mask parameter excludes certain areas from comparison.
These comparison enhancements are helpful when comparing images that contain backgrounds or semi-transparent regions like in the Windows Aero theme.
Easier test authoring when the tested application is not running. When automatic name mapping is used, TestComplete now stores information about major methods of the mapped objects. This results in a more convenient test authoring experience, as it enables you to add keyword test operations that use these methods, select these methods from Code Completion while editing scripts and see the method description and parameter names even when your tested application is not running or the tested object is not available in the application at the moment.
Focus on the tested applications. A new Record user actions on tested applications only option allows to ignore actions performed over the application unless it is added to the Tested Applications or WinCE Tested Applications collection of your project. This feature let you automatically ignore actions that you perform on non-tested applications during recording and concentrate only on tested applications.
Enhanced test playback indicator. TestComplete’s indicator now has buttons that allow you to pause and stop test execution at any time.
Search improvements. The Quick Search box in TestComplete 8 panels now contains a list of recently sought-for entries. Also, the sought-for text in the entries found is now highlighted in yellow, to visually indicate the text position (like in Microsoft Outlook).
Easier monitoring of changes in watched values. The Watch List and Locals panels have been improved: if the value of a monitored variable, parameter or expression has changed during debugging, the panels will highlight this value in red. This feature lets you easily see which values are changed when you are stepping through your tests.
Improved freeze diagnostics and integration with AQtrace. If an application was processed with AQtrace, then TestComplete will command AQtrace Reporter to generate error reports for access violations and every time it detects the application hangs. In this case, TestComplete will post the problem details to the test log, terminate the tested app and stop the current test. TestComplete also automatically detects whether AQtrace Reporter generated an error report, and if it did, TestComplete posts an error message with a report link to the test log.
Running an individual test from the command line or via COM. A new command-line argument /test (or /t) has been added to let you run a specific test (for example, a keyword test) by its name. For details, see TestComplete Command Line. TestComplete’s COM automation interface has also been extended with a new method to run individual tests -- Integration.RunTestByName.
More stable external function calls. TestComplete now loads libraries that contain routines called by your test into a helper hosting process, tcHostingProcess.exe. As a result, fatal errors that may occur in those libraries only causes the hosting process to shut down, while the main TestComplete process stays alive and can continue running the test.
Faster communication with Microsoft Visual Studio Team Foundation. TestComplete’s Team Foundation integration has been optimized so that connections to Team Foundation servers take less time.
Support for New Platforms and Technologies
Visual Studio 2010 Support. TestComplete version 8 continues AutomatedQA’s trend on integrating with Visual Studio features and services and supports version 2010 of this popular Microsoft IDE. The integration means that you can --
Run your TestComplete projects from MSBuild projects.
Make your TestComplete tests part of Microsoft Visual Studio team builds.
Post test results as work items to Visual Studio issue-tracking system directly from TestComplete’s test log.
Run unit tests created in Visual Studio from your TestComplete projects.
See Integration With Microsoft Visual Studio for more information.
Support for .NET Framework 4. TestComplete 8 adds support for the latest version of Microsoft .NET Framework -- version 4. You can now effectively automate testing of .NET application that target the .NET Framework 4 as well as enhance your automated tests using the appropriate .NET classes and assembly functions.
Support for Windows Mobile 6 series. TestComplete 8 can be used with PDAs running Windows Mobile 6.1, 6.1.4 or 6.5 to perform automated testing of mobile applications. See below for a complete list of Windows Mobile support improvements.
Access to Java API. TestComplete 8 provides your automated tests with direct access to the Java API and allows you to use Java classes in your automated tests. You can set up the desired class paths and classes in the project’s Java Bridge properties and access the classes and their members from your tests through the JavaClasses object. In addition, TestComplete lets you access packages and classes loaded into arbitrary Java applications through the JavaRuntime child object of the application process. This way, for example, you can easily use your legacy testing utilities written in Java or enhance your tests using Java library functions. For more information, see Calling Functions From Java Classes.
More issue-tracking system integrations. TestComplete 8 introduces integration with AutomatedQA Software Planner, Atlassian JIRA and Axosoft OnTime, which enables testers to post defects to these systems directly from the TestComplete UI. Defects can be submitted along with the test results and system information to help you better keep track of your automated testing process. See Exporting Test Results.
Calling functions from 64-bit DLLs. TestComplete 8 enables you to enhance your tests using functions from 64-bit DLLs, just like you call 32-bit DLL functions. For details, see Calling Functions From DLLs.
Checkpoint Enhancements
Checkpoints are now easier to use. The scripting methods that are used to perform comparison actions have been unified. For instance, to compare images in previous versions of TestComplete, you used the Regions.Compare method, while to compare database tables you called something like DBTable.dbtable1.Compare.
Now each Stores element (file, image, table and others) contains a new Check method that compares the element with other data. That is, script code that is used to perform comparison is less dependent on the data type: to compare two images or to verify database table data, you can now call Regions.image_name.Check and DBTables.dbtable1.Check correspondingly.
The new Check methods have fewer parameters than the Compare methods (some rarely used parameters have been removed), so we expect you to be able to create checkpoints with these new methods even faster. Existing Compare methods are available too and you can continue using them in your tests.
The described changes caused changes in the user interface: the checkpoint creation wizards have been unified and simplified. This lets you create checkpoints easier and helps beginners understand the concepts of the product faster.
More comprehensive property checkpoint results. The property checkpoint results that are posted to the test log now contain more details which include: the tested object name, the name of the property that was checked, the expected property value and the actual value.
New scripting method to perform property checkpoints. In scripts, property checkpoints are now recorded using the new aqObject.CheckProperty method, which produces more detailed output in the test log than the aqObject.CompareProperty method.
Checkpoint wizards have been simplified and unified; rarely-used parameters have been removed from them.
The object checkpoint wizard now displays the image of the selected object in addition to its name, in order to help you understand what object is going to be checked.
Web Testing Improvements
Improved support for dynamic web controls. Earlier versions of TestComplete recorded only mouse clicks and keystrokes which you performed during test recording. The OnMouseHover events were not recorded and you had to insert the HoverMouse method call into the recorded test in order for the test engine to simulate the recorded user actions properly.
Now TestComplete detects that mouse hover actions that cause changes in the contents of the tested web page and automatically records calls to the HoverMouse method for them. This feature frees you from inserting these calls manually and simplifies working with menu items that pop up a submenu on mouse hovering (without clicking). For more information, see Testing Dynamic Web Pages.
More stable test runs. Some web pages change recognition attributes of tested web elements. This prevented a recorded test from playing back correctly, so you had to change the test in order for TestComplete to be able to run it. TestComplete 8 is able to detect the described changes and to recognize the needed web elements correctly, so that you can playback the recorded tests without modifying them.
Better support for JavaFX. In previous versions, the refresh of a web page containing a JavaFX applet resulted in TestComplete no longer recognizing JavaFX-specific objects in the applet. TestComplete 8 correctly handles this situation and continues providing access to the applet’s objects.
Support for Firefox 3.6. TestComplete 8 adds support for the latest version of the Firefox web browser for functional testing of web applications.
Firefox 1.5 and 2.0, however, are no longer supported for web testing, as these browser versions reached end-of-life.
Network Suite Improvements
Opening user sessions automatically. TestComplete 8 automatically logs onto remote computers participating in the distributed test and frees you from having to open user sessions on them yourself. The user sessions are automatically opened when you verify or run the network suite. For more information, see Opening User Sessions on Remote Computers.
Due to this enhancement, the user name, password and domain must now be provided for all remote computers specified in the master project.
Easier user account management. TestComplete 8 provides an easier way to specify common domain names, user names and passwords for multiple hosts. Instead of duplicating these values in the host properties, you can set them in a single place -- the Network Suite Properties page in the master project. This allows you, for example, to quickly set or change a common user account used when logging into all of the remote computers, specify a common domain that different user accounts belong to and much more.
Viewing the Remote Desktop Window. Remote Desktop windows are now displayed on the Run State page of the network suite editor and are opened automatically when a user session is opened on the corresponding remote computer.
The GUI tests run via the Remote Desktop do not fail if the Remote Desktop is minimized or closed during the test run. For more information on this, see Running Tests via Remote Desktop.
Restarting remote computers from the master computer. When using TestComplete on a master computer, you can now easily restart remote computers participating in the distributed test. To do this, use the Reboot command that has been added to the Hosts editor. For more information, see Rebooting Hosts.
Better support for remote computers with concurrent user sessions. TestComplete 8 offers improved support for Windows editions that allow concurrent user sessions, such as Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. In earlier versions, in order to run tests on a remote computer that could have multiple user sessions opened, you had to either close all opened user sessions on that computer or modify some registry settings for the user account that was used to run the test. This limitation no longer exists, as TestComplete now automatically opens the necessary user sessions on the remote computers.
TestComplete Service replaces tcrea. The Network Suite Remote Agent (tcrea.exe) functionality has been moved to the TestComplete Service. Now, to perform distributed testing, you should make sure that the TestComplete Service is running on remote computers that participate in distributed testing.
Name Mapping Improvements
Conditional mapping criteria. TestComplete 8 introduces a more powerful and flexible way to map application objects. Now you can specify the mapping criteria as a compound conditional expression containing object properties and values. Each expression in this criterion can check a specific identification property value against a certain condition, such as Equals, Not equals, Greater than and so on. Multiple expressions can be grouped and combined using the logical AND and OR operators to let you specify the required and optional conditions. Some examples of conditional mapping criteria are:
(WndClass = "#32770") AND ( (WndCaption = "Open") OR (WndCaption = "Select File") )
(ObjectType = "Table") AND (ChildCount > 12) AND (ChildCount < 15)
This way, conditional mapping criteria enable you to define multiple possible values for an identification property, define a range of possible values for numeric identification properties, specify several different combinations of identification properties, and so on.
You can toggle between simple and conditional mapping modes while mapping objects, or in the Name Mapping editor. For more information, see Using Conditional Mapping Criteria.
Creating name mapping templates at design time. In earlier TestComplete versions, you could only define new name mapping templates while mapping objects. Now you can do this at design time, using the Add Template context menu command of the Name Mapping editor. For details, see Creating, Editing and Deleting Name Mapping Templates.
Refreshing Name Mapping from GUI. The toolbar of the Name Mapping editor includes a new Refresh command that refreshes the mapped object references to the appropriate objects in the tested application. This command is useful when the tested application changes dynamically so that the same mapped name corresponds to different objects at different times, and makes it possible to correctly identify the currently matched object. That is, this command is a design-time counterpart of the RefreshMappingInfo scripting method that can be used during the test execution.
Improved presentation of search/replace results. When searching and replacing values in the Name Mapping editor, if the match is found in both the object’s mapped name and description, the Search/Replace Results panel now contains individual entries for both matches. In previous versions, the results included only one entry.
Mapped object deletion made easier. In earlier versions, TestComplete provided two commands for deleting an object from Name Mapping: Delete, which also deleted the child objects, and Exclude, which preserved the child objects and moved them one level up. To make the deletion procedure more clear, TestComplete 8 unifies the delete commands into a single Delete command that can function both ways and asks you how to handle the child objects. The Exclude command was removed.
Quick object highlighting. The Highlight on Screen command available in the context menu of the Name Mapping editor is now also on the editor’s toolbar, so that you can highlight mapped objects in running applications even quicker.
Keyword Testing Improvements
Test parameterization made easier. The new Data-Driven Loop operation and Make Data-Driven Loop command of the context menu lets you parameterize your tests with external data faster and easier. See above.
New operations for file and image comparison. TestComplete 8 adds the Compare Files and Compare Pictures operations to the Checkpoints category that enable you to compare arbitrary files and images as part of your keyword test.
Easier conversion of keyword tests to scripts. Now you can convert keyword tests to scripts with one click. For this purpose, just select the Convert to script context menu item. You can do this while editing your keyword test or directly from the Project Explorer panel by right-clicking the KeywordTests node. For more information, see Converting Keyword Tests to Scripts.
Better commenting of keyword tests converted to scripts. When converting a keyword test to a script, TestComplete can now insert the operation descriptions as comments in the resulting script code. These additional comments can help testers learn scripting to understand and analyze the resulting script code.
Easier editing of checkpoint operations. To modify existing checkpoint operations, TestComplete now uses special wizards (like those used while adding the checkpoints) rather than the generic Operation Parameters dialog.
File and image checkpoint changes. In TestComplete 8, the File Checkpoint and Region Checkpoint operations only verify files and images against the baseline versions kept in the project’s Stores collection, like other checkpoints do. To compare arbitrary files and images, use the new Compare Files and Compare Pictures operations instead.
When you open a TestComplete 7 project with keyword tests in TestComplete 8, it automatically converts the File Checkpoint and Region Checkpoint operations to the new format or, if it they cannot be converted, replaces them with the equivalent Compare Files and Compare Pictures operations.
Test Log Improvements
HTML log messages. Now you can post HTML message to the test log along with test messages. The HTML format can be applied to the extended message that is displayed in the test log’s Remarks panel. For more information, see Posting Messages to the Log.
Also, the LogAttributes program object contains a new ExtendedMessageAsPlainText property that lets you specify whether the extended text of a test log message will be displayed in the HTML format or as plain text.
Limiting the number or event messages to store in the log. The test engine posts an event method to the test log for each user action that was simulated. By default, the test engine logs all event messages. If you run large tests these messages significantly increase the test log size and makes it harder to analyze the test results.
TestComplete includes a new Store last … events project property that specifies the number of last event messages that will be stored in the test log when an error message is posted to the log. Using this property you can limit the number of event messages to be stored in the log and store, for instance, only 50 of the last event messages that were posted before an error message was posted to the log. This will decrease the overall log size, but leave enough information to find the cause of an error (if it occurs).
You can find the new property in the Playback group of the project’s properties.
UI improvements. The user interface of the test log window sports a number of improvements:
The View | Desktop | Restore Default Docking command of the main menu now restores the docking of log panels (in previous versions, it did not).
The log panels now have a minimal size limit in order to prevent possible resizing problems.
TestComplete now stores the position and size of the log panels.
Scripting access to the status of log items. When parsing test logs from scripts, you can now use a new LogItem.Status property to determine the status of log items.
Improved Manual Tests Support
Easy import of manual test instructions. TestComplete simplifies the migration of manual tests to automated test. Version 8 offers a new special wizard that helps you import manual test instructions from Microsoft Word, Excel or text files into project elements of the manual test type. Using the new wizard greatly decreases the amount of editing tasks you need to perform after importing. For detailed information, see Importing Manual Tests Into TestComplete
Replacing manual tests with keyword tests. TestComplete 8 provides you with the possibility to automate existing manual tests by converting the entire test or its individual steps to keyword tests. During the conversion TestComplete displays the manual test instructions on screen and offers you to record the appropriate operations.
After the test is done, TestComplete adds the recorded keyword test into the project, so that you can view or modify it. The original manual test is left unchanged.
If you converted only some substeps of a test, TestComplete replaces the instructions for these steps with a link to the recorded keyword test.
For more information, see Converting Manual Tests to Keyword Tests.
Running keyword tests from manual tests. Now you can use keyword tests as test steps in your manual tests to automatically perform some helper actions that are not necessary to be done manually. It is possible to specify an existing keyword test to be executed during a manual test run or you can convert an existing manual test step that contains instructions in the HTML or XML+XSL format to a keyword test that will perform the actions described by these instructions. For more information, see Using Keyword Tests in Manual Tests.
Load Testing Improvements
Request simulation result criteria. When a web server responds to a request, it sends some code that indicates the response type. Earlier versions of TestComplete considered that the request was successful only if the server returned response code 200 or 302. In TestComplete 8 you can now control which response codes are acceptable for individual HTTP requests. Using a new Custom Log Criteria table of the Task Editor you can specify possible response codes for requests. TestComplete will compare the actual response codes with these values and decide whether the request is simulated successfully or not. For further information, see the Handling Server Responses section of Analyzing Load Testing Results topic.
Complex load testing tasks. TestComplete 8 introduces this new type of load testing tasks in order for the virtual users to be able to run multiple HTTP tasks per test, or repeat the same task several times. The word “complex” here means “compound”, not “complicated”. See Assigning Multiple Tasks to Virtual Users for details.
Convenient management of workstations. The updated Stations editor allows you to view and set properties of all workstations in one place, rather than modify each station separately as it was in previous versions of the product.
A number of UI improvements:
TestComplete now displays the status of load tests in the playback indicator.
The LoadTesting Project Item, Load Test and Stations editors now have toolbars that simplify how you work with the editors and load tests.
Besides the load test results, the load testing log can include script logs of the load test event handlers. If the event handlers do not post any log messages, their logs are empty. In previous versions, these empty logs were still displayed in the load testing log. TestComplete 8 does not include them in order to simplify the result view.
Virtual user licenses. The TestComplete license does not control virtual users any more and TestComplete Enterprise no longer includes 5 virtual users by default. Virtual users are now controlled by a special license that is purchased separately from TestComplete and TestExecute licenses.
Enhanced Windows Mobile Support
Support for Windows Mobile 6 series. TestComplete now offers support for Windows Mobile 6.1, 6.1.4 and 6.5 to help you automate testing of applications designed for Windows Mobile 6-powered devices.
Automated deployment of arbitrary files on PDAs. TestComplete 8 enables you to automate the process of deploying configuration files, DLLs and other files required by the tested Windows Mobile application onto PDAs. For this, the Parameters column in the WinCETestedApps editor has been extended to provide a GUI for specifying the files to be deployed along with the tested application’s executable. You can also manage files to be deployed directly from your automated tests -- add and remove individual files to the list, change the source and destination paths and so on -- using the WinCETestedApp.AppName.SimpleParams.Files object.
Enhanced automation of low-level actions on PDAs. TestComplete 8 introduces an easier way to automate low-level actions on Windows Mobile-based devices from keyword tests and scripts. In addition to calling external low-level procedures from your tests, you can now add keyword test operations or script statements that would directly perform the necessary low-level actions by calling the appropriate methods of the new WinCELLPlayer object. This way, individual low-level operations and sequences can be included and configured as part of your keyword tests and scripts, making it easier to view or understand the entire test.
Converting WinCE low-level procedures to scripts. You can now quickly convert low-level procedures that target Windows Mobile-based devices to their equivalent script routines. This allows you to add programming logic to your low-level tests, ehnance them using flow control statements and parametrize them in a more flexible way. For more information, see Parameterizing Low-Level Procedures.
Capturing PDA screenshots. The Actions toolbar in the PDA Controller panel includes a new button that lets you quickly capture the screen images of the connected Windows Mobile-based device.
Improved file system navigation in PDA File Manager. The PDA File Manager panel now displays drive buttons instead of the drop-down drive list, so that you can change the current drive quicker. Also, it now keeps track of the folders you opened and provides buttons for navigating the folder history, which lets you easily get back to the previously selected folder.
Extended Support for Controls
New method for changing text in edit controls. TestComplete 8 provides a new method that allows you to change text in an edit control -- SetText. The new method has the same effect as the wText property assignment, but reports the results to the test log, which is useful during test result analysis or test troubleshooting.
Text input into single-line text boxes is now recorded using the SetText method instead of the wText property or Keys method. Those who want to record text input using the Keys method should use the Record text input into simple editors as option (you can find it in the Recording Options dialog).
Improved support for Developer Express controls. TestComplete 8 introduces extended support for WinForms, WPF and ASP.NET Developer Express controls that are included in the DXperience library version 2010.1.4.
Searching records in Qt table widgets. A new FindRow method has been added to the QtTableWidget test object, which allows you to easily locate specific records in Qt table widgets as part of your test.
Getting minimum and maximum values in Qt widgets. The QtSpinBox, QtDoubleSpinBox and QtDateTimeEdit test objects have been extended with the wMin and wMax properties that allow you to obtain and verify minimum and maximum values accepted by Qt spin box and date time editing widgets.
Changes in Scripting and Objects
Enhanced DelphiScript engine. The DelphiScript engine in TestComplete 8 has been improved and some former restrictions and specifics of the DelphiScript usage no longer exist. The following improvements in DelphiScript have been made:
Enumeration support in DelphiScript. DelphiScript now includes the Enumerator function that enables enumeration of items in a collection in a way similar to using the For Each statement in VBScript, Enumerator object in JScript, C++Script and C#Script or the for each statement in Delphi 2005 and later. This function makes it possible, for example, to enumerate collections provided by the FileSystemObject Windows object or process data returned by WMI queries.
Support for Unicode. Now, DelphiScript as well as other scripting languages supported by TestComplete are Unicode-compatible. That is, DelphiScript can be used to test multi-language Unicode applications. See Testing Unicode Applications With TestComplete for more information.
No unit size limitations. In earlier TestComplete versions, the size of a DelphiScript unit could not exceed 1 Mb. This limitation no longer exists, so you can now format, document and otherwise organize your DelphiScript code as you wish.
Calling web page scripts using the DOM model. In addition to the Tree, Tag and Hybrid web tree models, DelphiScript now supports calling scripts on web pages tested using the DOM model.
New debugging requirements. Debugging DelphiScript scripts now has the same requirements as other scripting languages supported by TestComplete. For example, you must have a script debugger installed on the computer in order to debug DelphiScript code. For more information on requirements for script debugging, see Debugging Tests - Requirements.
Extended support for WMI. The WMI object has been extended with new methods that allow you to manage processes, services and environment variables on the local or remote computer. For more information about the new methods, see the object description.
Changing language for non-Unicode programs from tests. When testing a multi-language non-Unicode application, the currently used language must be specified in the Language for non-Unicode programs setting in the Control Panel in order for the application to correctly display text in that language. TestComplete 8 enables you to automate changing this setting as part of your test by using the new aqEnvironment.LanguageForNonUnicodePrograms property. This way, you can batch test multiple localized versions of your application under test with no manual intervention required.
File system object improvements:
Getting file name without extension. You can now easily extract the file name without the extension from a path string using the NameWithoutExtension property or the aqFileSystem object contains a new GetFileNameWithoutExtension method.
Recursive search for files and folders. An additional parameter has been added to the aqFileSystem.FindFiles and aqFileSystem.FindFolders methods that lets you control whether TestComplete should search for the specified files and folders in the subfolders of the base folder.
Handling collisions during file renaming. The aqFileSystem.RenameFile, aqFile.Rename and aqFileInfo.Rename methods have an additional optional RenameOnCollision parameter that controls the methods’ behavior if a folder already contains a file with the specified name and lets you resolve file name collisions.
Better support for 64-bit values of disk drive properties. The type of the aqDriveInfo.FreeSpace, aqDriveInfo.SerialNumber, aqDriveInfo.TotalSize, aqFileInfo.Size, aqFolderInfo.Size properties and the return value of the aqFile.GetSize method were changed from Decimal to Double for better support of 64-bit values.
More flexible ways to perform common file and folder operations. The aqFileInfo and aqFolderInfo objects have been extended with methods and properties that allow you to check the file and folder existence and to delete the underlying file or folder. Unlike their generic analogs defined in the aqFileSystem object, the instance methods and properties do not need you to specify the file or folder name as they retrieve it from the appropriate aqFileInfo or aqFolderInfo object.
Extended support for 64-bit platforms:
Retrieving environment variables specific to 32-bit and 64-bit environments. TestComplete 8 provides an improved version of the aqEnvironment.GetEnvironmentVariable method that obtains environment variable values. When used on a 64-bit version of Windows, this method now allows you to get variable values defined in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments; the desired bitness specified using the appropriate method parameter. For example, this way you can determine locations of the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the Program Files folder for use in your automated tests.
Obtaining 64-bit COM server paths. The new aqUtils.GetCOMServerPath method has been added and allows you to get COM server paths from your automated tests. Under 64-bit versions on Windows, you can use this method to locate both 32-bit as well as 64-bit COM servers.
The BuiltIn.GetCOMServerPath method became obsolete and is now supported for backward compatibility only.
Easier usage of Find methods in scripts. The Find, FindChild, FindAll and FindAllChildren methods now support native JScript arrays in the input parameters. As a result, using these methods in JScript, C++Script and C#Script to locate test objects by property values is now easier as there is no need to convert the input arrays to the safe array format.
Specifying registry access mode. When working with the system registry through the Storages.Registry object, you can now specify whether to access the registry in the read-only or read-write mode. The read-only mode enables your automated tests to read values from the registry even if TestComplete is running under a limited user account (for example, if it is running without administrator privileges on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista with UAC turned on).
Getting active keyboard layout. You can now determine the keyboard layout currently used in a specific window from your tests using the aqEnvironment.GetKeyboardLayout method.
The Files.CalculateHashValue method is deprecated in this release. To define the difference between the files being compared that is allowed for a file checkpoint to pass, use the AllowedDifference parameter of the File.Check method.
The vt_NNN constants that specify possible data types of DLL function parameters are now available as global constants only. In previous versions, they were also available as the Consts object properties.
User Form Enhancements
Property selection wizard component. A new dialog component has been added -- TSelectObjectProperty. This component provides a wizard where the user can select an object and its property (while creating a property checkpoint). You can use this component in your script extension to provide users with the ability to select an object property to be used in your custom checkpoint or keyword test operation.
Emulating speed buttons. TcxButton controls now have the SpeedButtonOptions property that lets you make a push button look and act as a speed button (line Delphi TSpeedButton controls). Unlike usual push buttons, speed buttons can have two states: normal and pressed, as specified by the button’s SpeedButtonOptions.Down property. For example, you can use such buttons as an alternative to check boxes.
By setting the same non-zero SpeedButtonOptions.GroupIndex value for several buttons, you can make them work together as a radio group, so that when a user presses one of these buttons, the previously pressed button is released. This way, you create toolbars on your form.
Easy toggling of caption and glyph visibility in buttons. Using the new PaintStyle property of the TcxButton controls, you can easily control the visibility of the caption and glyph in a button.
Drawing a line next to label text. TcxLabel controls now have the Properties.LineOptions property that allows you to draw a line next to the label text.
Customizing spin buttons in time edit controls. TcxTimeEdit controls how have the Properties.SpinButtons property that lets you control the visibility and position of the control’s normal and fast spin buttons.
Also, the new Properties.Increment and Properties.LargeIncrement properties allow you to specify custom increment and fast increment values for portions of a time value.
New progress bar styles. TcxProgressBar controls include a new Properties.Marquee property that enables you to create marquee progress bars that indicate general activity rather than the completion progress.
In addition, the Properties.BarStyle property provides new options that let you display Windows Vista-style progress bars with animated highlight effects.
Hints for buttons in edit controls. Now you can specify hints to be displayed for buttons in TcxButtonEdit controls using the button’s Hint property. This way, you can provide users with quick help information on the purpose of buttons embedded into the edit control.
Script Extension Improvements
New LogAction element. The script extension engine now supports a new LogAction element that makes it possible to create custom extensions for exporting test results. TestComplete adds items for these extensions to the test log’s toolbar. This lets users create custom exporting procedures which can be called by a single menu item. For instance, they can create extensions for exporting a test log to those issue-tracking systems which TestComplete does not support by default.
TestComplete includes a new script extension that demonstrates this functionality - this is a new menu item that lets users easily submit work items and test logs into the Atlassian JIRA and Axosoft OnTime issue-tracking systems. See Using LogAction Elements.
New Options element. The script engine also supports a new Options element that simplifies storing extension’s data between TestComplete sessions. See Storing Script Extensions Data.
Importing script extension form files into TestComplete projects. Now you can import existing forms from script extension form files (.aqfrm) into a TestComplete project. For more information, see Using Forms in Script Extensions.
Changes in the Object Browser
The Object Properties window has been renamed to Object Spy. The object selection controls have been moved to the top of the window and look similar to the checkpoint wizards.
The Fields and Events tabbed pages are not displayed if the object does not have any fields or events.
A new Show Object in Name Mapping command added to the context menu of the Object Browser allows you to quickly jump to the corresponding mapped object in the Name Mapping editor.
The following commands have been removed from the context menu as they were rarely used:
Display Hexadecimal Numbers -- To toggle between decimal and hexadecimal display format for numbers, use the new Display numbers in hexadecimal format setting in the Engines - General Options.
Sort Categories -- To change the display order of object member categories, use the new Categories sorting setting in the Object Browser Options.
Object Properties -- To open the Object Spy window use the Display Object Spy item on the Tools toolbar.
Copy to Script -- Use the Copy command instead.
Process Filter and GUI Explorer -- Use the Process Filter and GUI Explorer commands on the Object Browser’s toolbar.
Other Changes
The Recording toolbar and the playback indicator have a new exciting look under Windows Vista and later operating systems.
The Record button of the Recording toolbar now blinks during test recording to indicate that TestComplete is in the recording mode.
The Open File and Save File dialogs used throughout TestComplete now contain links to your Default project folder and the TestComplete Samples folder in the My Places bar. This improves your productivity by taking you directly to your working folder where you regularly open and save files. This way you can also quickly access sample TestComplete projects.
In TestComplete 8 you will experience performance improvements while working on test projects containing many references between script units.
TestComplete now adds indexes to MSAA objects with the same name in order to provide a basic way to distinguish between them.
Earlier, versions of TestComplete included the When referring to a non-existing object setting. It specified whether the test engine displayed an error message box or posted an error to the test log when the test tried to call a method or a property of a non-existing object. This option has been removed. Now, TestComplete always post an error message to the test log.
The Images setting that resided in the Engines - General Options dialog has been moved to the project level. You can find it in the General group of project properties. Scripting access to these properties is still provided by the Options.Images property for backward compatibility.
The Store Object Properties dialog has been improved. Now it contains less edit fields, if you called it to save properties of only one process, window or control.
The Simple version of the Create New Project dialog now contains only the Project name and Location fields. The Language field was removed and is now available in the Classic mode only. The default language that TestComplete uses for new projects is specified by the Default language setting.
In the Classic mode of the dialog, the Finish button is now also available on the first page, so you can quickly create the project based on the selected template without having to configure the project items.
The Advanced folder of the Project Explorer no longer contains the Stores project item by default. Now when you add the Stores item to the project, it appears under the project node.
The Debug Services options have been moved to the project level. You can find them in the root group of the project properties.
Undocked panels now have the Maximize and Minimize buttons. The ability to maximize separate panels is helpful when organizing TestComplete’s layout on multiple monitors.

New in SmartBear TestComplete 4.29 (Dec 21, 2006)

New Features
Support for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.
Improved filters in the test log.
Bug Fixes
An error occurred when a DelphiScript routine was trying to access a multi-dimensional array defined in another unit.
In certain cases, TestComplete named the process of a tested application as "System Process" (that is, it did not use the name of the application's executable).
An error occurred if a DelphiScript project was run with a Visual Studio TestComplete test.
TestComplete could crash when the user was editing DelphiScript code in TestComplete's script editor.
Changes made to project properties of the MSAA Open Applications group could be applied only after script recording.
The contents of manual tests storing step instructions in the XML XSL format were exported incorrectly.
TestComplete hung when attaching to a process in which a thread was paused.
TestComplete hung when it was playing back a script over Eclipse IDE or when the user was browsing Eclipse IDE windows in the Object Browser.
TestComplete was unable to "see" some methods of .NET objects that reside in managed modules loaded into an unmanaged process.
TestComplete incorrectly recorded user actions over applications created with Oracle Forms 6i (JInitiator 1.3).
Using issue-tracking templates could cause memory leaks. This has been fixed. Also, the performance of the issue-tracking subsystem has been improved.
Changing properties of the ContentDisposition object (HTTP load testing) could corrupt the whole request structure.
The AQtime and MSAgentDemo sample projects have been updated.
TestComplete could not simulate a double-click if the Vizualizer's Enable before playback option was enabled.
It was possible to sort the contents of the Call Stack panel.
In certain cases, TestComplete window caption included the scrollbar position.
The error message posted to the log in case the Objects.Compare method failed contained the name of the stored object itself instead of the name of the corresponding element of the stored collection.
Sometimes, the TestItems.Current.Iteration property returned a wrong value.
The ODT editor could display changes in Classes and Data incorrectly.
It was impossible to change the value of an ODT object from an array to a string.
TestComplete formed indices of Open Application objects incorrectly.
TestComplete could display incorrect structure of Visual Basic Open Application objects.
The ClickItem action of Web objects worked incorrectly.
It was possible to choose the AddRef and Release methods of Visual Basic ActiveX application objects as unit tests.
TestComplete could crash a Visual Basic application with ActiveX controls.
Under Windows Vista, TestComplete could treat a Visual Basic Open Application as non-open.
TestComplete could crash when working with Visual FoxPro applications.
The performance of scripts that work with Open Applications and Web pages has been improved. Now such scripts work faster.
The BuiltIn.RaiseEvent method applied to an object of a tested application could crash the application.
TestComplete hung up when working with certain web pages.
A number of crash dumps reported by customers.