Articles Tagged 'io'

Articles
Running Rapise GUI Tests with Jenkins

Recommended approach is to use SpiraTest and RapiseLauncher designed for this task. In some cases it is not an option and we need to execute a test directly. 

Note: this manual is out of date. Please refer to the new one for Jenkins 2.440 instead.

Identifying Number of Product Level Risks

One of the frequent questions that the product or project teams face is knowing the number of risks across the risk breakdown structure.  This risks identified metric not only helps with the team's ability to ensure their commitments are met but also increase the confidence that the product or project team is managing the project effectively. This article addresses how to report this metric.

Creating a Report of Test Results by Configuration Including Inline Graph

We had a customer that was looking to display a table of the different test configurations that were tested and looking to display the results of all the test cases in a test set / release by configuration. Ideally they wanted an small inline bar graph as well. Using the custom reporting functionality of Spira, this is possible.

How to switch between applications in a Mobile test

Sometimes mobile testing scenarios involve interactions with built-in applications installed on a device. For example you may need to open Messages, locate SMS with a one-time code and use it in your application.

iOS Testing Hints (Personal Team)

This is the second part of the iOS Testing Hints series. It describes how to configure real device testing if you dp not have a paid membership with Apple Developer.

iOS Testing Hints (March 2024 version)

Most complex part in Mobile testing is connecting to a simulator or device. In this article we describe steps necessary to configure the testing environment.

Note: In brackets we specify versions of software components we used at the time of writing this article.

Re-Using Test Logic [obsolete]

It is common for test scenarios to share similar pieces of functionality. A good example of such sharing is login logic. This guide outlines ways in which you can share such logic to avoid having repeated code in your tests.

This article is obsolete. To find out about re-using test parts, modules and page objects please refer to Rapise 8.0: how to use Page Objects/Modules.

How to fix Jira synchronization issues - mapping errors

Sometimes when integrating Jira with Spira, you might receive errors that refer to artifact mappings, statuses, or even users. This can happen  even if the synchronization status is marked as ‘Success’ and highlighted in green. In this article we have combined certain synchronization errors that might appear while configuring integration with Atlassian Jira.

Using Rapise Mobile with Browserstack

BrowserStack supports automated browser testing via Selenium and Appium on real iOS and Android devices.  Learn how to configure Rapise to connect to Browserstack via Appium.

Retrieving requirement associations

This article describes how to retrieve artifact's associations due to the dependency type that become challenging.

Testing mobile applications built with Ionic framework

Ionic is an open source UI toolkit for building performant, high-quality mobile apps using web technologies — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This means that being mobile, Ionic applications are web applications by nature. And it is much more convenient to test them via WebDriver rather than Appium. Requires Rapise 8.1+.

Order of Database Table Deletes when Projects Deleted in Spira

Some of our customers wanted to know that we delete the data in the SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, and SpiraTeam tables when we delete a project.
This article outlines that approximate order of the data being deleted

Fixing "The maximum recursion 100 has been exhausted" error in Spira 5.0 and 5.1

Customers running Spira v5.0 or v5.1 may experience an issue where the system will let you create test case folders that point to one of their children as parent. This causes an infinite loop which will break the system. This article provides a solution to fix the issue (though we recommend upgrading to v5.4 to prevent it happening in the future).

This article is obsolete.
The infinite loop issue was fixed in later versions of Spira.

Why are Months in Czech & Slovak Cultures Sometimes Shown in Roman Numerals

When running Spira or KronoDesk on certain versions of Windows, when using the Czech or Slovak culture settings (or using Server default when Windows is installed in those languages) you may get unusual formatted dates.

This article is obsolete.
There is a new Style Guide for Czech and Slovak - can be found here: https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/5/7b57e4a1-d299-4238-9997-f3ac51d6f763/ces-cze-StyleGuide.pdf

Upgrading SpiraTeam v4.1 from older version fails due to .NET 4.0 check failing

Sometimes when running the SpiraTeam v4.1 installer to upgrade from an older version of SpiraTeam (same also applies to SpiraTest and SpiraPlan) you will get the error message:
You must install the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.30319 even though .NET 4.0, 4.5 or 4.5.1 is installed.

This article is now obsolete.
Current framework requirements listed here.

Fixing I/O request taking longer than 15 seconds SQL Server errors

If you ever see the following message in the Application Event Logs on your SQL Server database server:
SQL Server has encountered X occurrence(s) of I/O requests taking longer than 15 seconds to complete on file [Path to either your database's MDF or LDF files]
It can often mean that the Size/Shrink settings for the database files are not correct for the size of database. This articles suggestions some techniques for fixing this error message.

This article is obsolete.
The error was most common for SQL Server 2008/2008R2 editions and indicates SQL Server I/O Bottlenecks, as well as serious problems with your storage hardware you need to fix. These SQL Server editions are no longer supported.

Self-referential test step linking in SpiraTest can cause .NET exceptions

If you ever receive the following error message:

Faulting application name: w3wp.exe, version: 7.5.7601.17514, time stamp: 0x4ce7afa2
Faulting module name: nlssorting.dll, version: 4.0.30319.1, time stamp: 0x4ba21c2f
Exception code: 0xc00000fd
Fault offset: 0x0000000000001ef9
Faulting process id: 0x1208
Faulting application start time: 0x01ce67177b5b877f
Faulting application path: c:\windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\nlssorting.dll
Report Id: 5ef990e5-d30e-11e2-863b-005056b1010f

This article is obsolete.
Currently used versions of .NET do not cause the same exceptions since the new framework implemented resolves that legacy bug.

Writing Custom Reports for SpiraTeam v2.3 - v3.2

This articles describes how to write custom reports in SpiraTest, SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam. It also can be used to modify the layout and styling of the various built-in reports.
This information applies to the following versions of Spira:

  • v2.3
  • v2.3.1
  • v3.0
  • v3.1
  • v3.2

This article is obsolete. To create a new report it is not currently necessary to populate the tables, all applicable tables are already populated and available as ‘views’. To find more about available custom report tables, getting started tutorial, information about using dynamic tokens in reports, custom reports, custom graphs, OData (SpiraPlan only), please refer to our documentation here.

How to retrieve incidents associated with a requirement using Custom Reports

Sometimes you may need to get the list of incidents associated with a requirement but that can be challenging in case an implicit association exist.
This article can help you to get these associations.

Migration to New Atlassian Centralized Administration - Impact to Integrations

Beginning on February 15, 2024 and continuing into March, Atlassian will be migrating its customers to a new, centralized user management experience called Atlassian Administration. These changes will change the default permissions and roles in Atlassian's products. These changes may require you to update your permissions to ensure the integration between Jira and SpiraTest works uninterrupted.

How to fix Jira DataSync error codes – 400, 401, 404 and 500

Sometimes during the Jira plugin configuration to sync with Spira, you might get an error that is not self-describing and the errors do not point to an obvious solution. In this article we provide guidance on how to resolve some common synchronization errors with specific error codes (400, 401, 404 and 500)

How to resign a third-party .ipa file to run it on a real iOS device

You may receive an .ipa file from a development team or download one published by a third-party vendor. In order to create and run automation scripts using a real iOS device you need to resign the .ipa file with your provisioning profile and development certificate. Learn how to do it from this article.

IIS Application Pool Identity and Windows Integrated Security

When using Spira or KronoDesk on a separate web and database server, the easiest configuration is to use SQL Server authentication to connect between the web server and database. However that means hard coding a password in the web server (in the Web.config file). So in this article we explain how to use Windows Integrated Authentication instead.

Troubleshooting Eclipse IDE Plugin Installation on Eclipse 2022-12

When you are installing the Spira plugin for Eclipse on workstations running Eclipse 2022-12, sometimes it won't install because of missing/invalid dependencies. This article provides information on fixing this issue and also how to deploy the fixes for customers where their Eclipse instance is not able to download packages from the Internet.

Forcing the SpiraTeam On-Premise Git Provider to Update

When you integrate SpiraTeam or SpiraPlan installed on-premise with an external Git source code repository, Spira has to maintain a copy of the Git repository locally. Sometimes you need to refresh this Git repo manually if an update did not complete. This article explains the process

How to Migrate a SpiraTeam Database from On-Premise to Cloud

This article explains the process for making a backup image of your "on-premise" SpiraTeam (or SpiraTest, SpiraPlan) instance and preparing it so that it can be sent to Inflectra to host on our cloud environment. This can happen when you have been using SpiraTeam on-premise, but now want to migrate to the cloud.

Test Set Execution Status Not Updating When I Run Test Cases

Sometimes customers will contact us regarding questions as to why the execution status indicator of their test sets is not being updated (i.e. everything still looks as not run) even after running some of the test cases. This article explains why this might be the case and provides solutions.

Requirement - Test Step Traceability Report

Of the unique needs of a requirements and test management system when working in the Defense industry, specifically when designing, building, and testing mission systems, is the ability to link individual test steps to the requirements.  This article provides you with a custom report to use to display such a traceability matrix.

Releases and Iterations - What Rolls Up?

Customers sometimes contact us with questions about how the Releases and Iterations in Spira work, specifically what kinds of data (test status, task progress, etc.) roll up from an iteration to a minor release, and from a minor release to a  major release. Also they want to know whether iterations are included when you filter by release. This article provides some clarifications.

Preventing DesktopDataSync from Going to Sleep

This article is kindly provided by one of our customers - Boris - who has been using the Desktop Data Sync and JIRA to integrate his on-premise JIRA instance with a cloud instance of SpiraTeam.

Which artifacts can be shared across projects?

By default, all projects are completely self-contained; artifacts in one project can only be linked or associated with artifacts in the same project.  However, there is a way for the project admin to selectively allow other projects to access artifacts in the current project.  (Administration -> Project Associations)

The cross-project functionality is being introduced gradually.  As of Spira version 6.0, it applies only to requirements, test cases, tasks (SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam), and incidents.

This article explains how and where the artifacts from another project can be used.

Receiving database constraint error when trying to execute a test case or test set

If you are trying to run a test case or test set and you receive the following error:

Messages:
   Database constraint violation occurred [APPLICATION.Business.EntityConstraintViolationException]
   An error occurred while updating the entries. See the inner exception for details. [System.Data.UpdateException]
   Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint 'XPKTST_ARTIFACT_CUSTOM_PROPERTY'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object 'dbo.TST_ARTIFACT_CUSTOM_PROPERTY'.
The statement has been terminated. [System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException]

Then this article provides the solution for you.

Setting up a test scenario in which different steps need to be performed by different people

Sometimes you want to test a process which requires a handoff between departments and would involve different testers to complete the full range of functionality. This article describes how to set that up, using a test set.

Changing SQL Servers or Updating Server Names

The steps to perform when needing to move the database to another SQl Server, or when changing the DNS name of your SQL Server.

Synchronizing JIRA 5.0+ with Spira version 4.x

The plugins listed on our website for integrating with JIRA are compatible with the latest major version (5.0 at time of writing) of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam. This article provides older versions of the JIRA data-synchronization plugin for customers that are using older versions of Spira.

How to Install a SpiraTeam Database from our Cloud Servers Locally

This article explains the process for taking a SpiraTeam (or SpiraTest, SpiraPlan) backup image from Inflectra's cloud servers and installing it on a local "on-premise" instance of SpiraTeam. This can happen when you have been using SpiraTeam in the cloud, but now want to host it locally.

Setting up Incident Workflow Transitions and Notifications

A workflow is a predefined sequence of incident statuses linked together by “workflow transitions”.  Incident statuses and workflow transitions are highly configurable. This article gives an overview of workflow transitions.

Running Queries Using SQL Server Management Studio

During the course of investigating a technical support issue for SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk , the need may arise to run a query against your Microsoft SQL database. To do so, you will use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. If you did not install this when you installed SQL, you can install it from the original source.

Creating a report to display test cases with execution counts in Spira v4.2

This articles describes the steps to create a custom report that displays a table of test cases with the following fields:

  • Test Case ID
  • Test Case Name
  • Last Execution Date
  • Last Execution Status
  • Number of Test Runs
How do I migrate data from a trial installation of Spira or KronoDesk to the production one?

This is a common need, since you may have installed SpiraTest, SpiraPlan,  SpiraTeam, or KronoDesk  on a workstation to evaluate its capabilities and now need to install it on a production server for real use, but you don't want to lose all your existing data.

How to email everyone in the system

This article explains how you can use a custom report to get a list of all the email addresses of the users of a Spira installation:

How do I move my SpiraTest/Plan/Team database to another server

This article describes the process and steps for moving your SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam database from one computer to another.
The article will refer to SpiraTeam, but it applies equally to the other products.

SpiraTeam & KronoDesk - Common Installation Questions

Our web-based products: SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam and KronoDesk make use of the Microsoft IIS web-server and Microsoft SQL Server database platforms.
This KB article explains some of the more common error messages that can occur after installing one of our products and the steps to remedy them.
Article was initially written specifically for versions v3.0 - v4.2 of Spira and versions v1.x of KronoDesk, but some of the issues applicable to the recent versions as well.

Data Synchronization with JIRA - What Synchronizes

A customer recently had some questions about what synchronizes between Spira and Jira, so we thought that this article would help clarify things.

How to find Rapise activation code that is used on a machine

In your Customer Area on Inflectra website you have a list of Rapise activation codes. To find out which code is used on a specific machine follow these simple steps. 

Where to find Rapise installation logs

In rare cases Rapise installation fails. There may be different reasons for this including AV software, security configuration or corrupted Windows system. To help Rapise team to find out the root cause you may zip and share Rapise installation logs.

How to master a dynamic locator with RVL

There are situations when object location attribute  depends on the object data and it is not possible to record/learn all such objects in advance.  In this case it may be convenient to calculate object location at playback time using FormatString and SetLocatorOpts actions of the RVL global object.

Is it Possible to Automate an iOS Web App using Rapise?

Yes, in general, Rapise can automate most web applications using mobile Safari running on iOS (either on a real or simulated device). However there are some limitations.

This article is obsolete. The recommended way of testing Web applications is to record tests on a desktop browser via Selenium-based profile and then execute using Mobile profiles. See How to run a cross-browser test on a mobile device for more details.

Is it Possible to Automate an iOS App Store App using Rapise?

We often get asked this question: "We have Rapise and want to automate a native iOS app that is available on the application store", can we do it?

Converting Recorded Steps into Functions/Scenarios

You have recorded some basic test scripts in Rapise, and now you want to easily extract the steps into a reusable function that can be called from the main test script. This article explains how you can do this for both RVL and JavaScript based tests.

Jumping to the Definition of a User Function

When you have a user defined function in Rapise, you sometimes want to jump to it.

Running nightly tests with RapiseLauncher on VM with RDP

It is common to use UI tests with RDP connected to remote VM. By default this works only while RDP window is open and client is connected. On disconnect remote session gets locked and UI becomes unavailable for the test. This topic covers a workaround.

How to store Rapise tests in Git and run them with SpiraTeam

In some cases it is convenient to store tests in the same Git repository where source code of an application under test is located. For example, if you are using Visual Studio Team Services.  From this article you will learn how to execute Rapise tests stored in a Git repository with SpiraTeam and leverage the power of SpiraTeam reporting and analysis features.

This article is obsolete. There is much simpler approach with use of RapiseLauncher Extension for Azure DevOps.

How to run cross-browser and mobile tests on Sauce Labs?

Sauce Labs allows users to run tests in the cloud on different combinations of browser and OS versions as well as mobile devices and emulators. Learn how to configure Selenium and Mobile profiles in Rapise to enable connection to Sauce Labs services.

Requires Rapise 5.3+

Working with WPF and UIAutomation Structures

It is a common situation that desktop applications written using Microsoft Windows Presentation Framework (WPF) will have complex layouts including tabs, splitters and panels having custom grids and tables inside. This article provides help in dealing with such situations, including how to dynamically find items.

Rapise - Cannot Find AllLibraries.json file during Recording/Playback

When recording or playing back a test script on a new PC you may get an error message that Rapise cannot find the path to "AllLibraries.json".This article provides instructions on how to fix the issue.

Reading the Details of Files on the Windows File System

In the KB62 article - Accessing Files using Rapise we explain how to access the names, versions and locations of files on the Windows file system. One customer asked - can we verify any file details other than version. This article provides sample code for accessing other information.

Note: if you have Rapise 5.5+ then you may simply use File.Info action.

Reading an Object's State

Sometimes it is necessary to examine the state of an object. For example, determine if Toggle Button is pressed or not, Radio/Check Button is checked or not, etc. This guide describes a couple of different ways of achieving this.

My Actions are Not Recorded

By design Rapise tries to record user activity on the highest possible level. This makes recorded actions more readable and universal. However that sometimes means that certain actions that a user performs won't be automatically picked up. This guide explains ways to handle situations when a specific user activity is not recorded.

How to Use Sub-Tests and Common Objects with REST Web Service Tests

It is often useful to have a common set of code libraries and objects that can be reused amongst multiple tests. With Rapise this can be done by creating a common test and then including it into the other actual tests. However due to the way REST web service tests are stored, there are some slight changes needed to handle REST services. This articles describes the process.

Note: if you have Rapise 8.0+ there is a simpler way, just create a module for REST service calls.

Testing Silverlight Applications

When testing Silverlight applications, you may find that Rapise fails to recognize the objects in the Silverlight app using the UIAutomation library. When using the Rapise Spy Tool, the  whole app is identified as a single window. The objects such as a dropdown, buttons etc. inside the silverlight app are not individually recognized.

My Actions are Not Recorded

By design Rapise tries to record user activity on the highest possible level. This makes recorded actions more readable and universal (often several lower-level user actions are combined)

Rapise uses a heuristics to distinguish meaningful activity from low level actions. In some cases this leads to a result that some user activity is not automatically recorded (for example, a mouse click before entering  text in a box). There is a broad range of available UI platforms and libraries. The variety of graphical widgets makes user interface robust and beautiful. Rapise tries to recognize as much objects as possible. However this range is growing and there are always widgets that are not being recorded.

Anti-Virus Software and Test Automation

Anti-virus software is very sensitive to test automation tools. This is normal, because test automation tools usually do API, keyboard and mouse hooking to be able to record and playback user actions.

How are Global Functions stored and recalled?

Q: We need to call many common functions from a common library frequently.

Why is My Flex application recorded as mouse clicks?

A Flex application requires some instrumentation to be ready for testing. By default Flash player has security restrictions preventing Rapise from accessing the application contents. Please, check the this help topic to learn more about Adobe Flex testing.

This article is obsolete. Flex support was removed from Rapise.                

Working with HTML XPath

When testing web applications you will often need to use XPath to query the browser DOM for elements based on the scenario under test. This guide explains how you can use XPath queries with Rapise to make your browser testing more flexible and adaptive to changes on the screen.

Passing Test Parameters

There are many different ways of passing test parameters to Rapise from an external system. This guide describes the different ways of passing parameter values to Rapise.

Accessing Files and I/O functions using Rapise

Sometimes using Rapise you need to access files on the Windows filesystem, either for testing purposes, or to object test data stored in a flat CSV, TSV or text file. This sample illustrates how you can access the File System using Rapise and the Windows FileSystemObject (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa242706(v=vs.60).aspx).

Alternatively you may also use File global object.

Dynamically changing object locators for WPF/Silverlight applications

Sometimes you will have controls in a WPF or Silverlight application which use dynamic lists. Depending on certain settings, the widgets in the list will appear in different places. This means that a learned Rapise object which works fine if its in the original ListBox[0] location position is not found during playback when it's displayed in another position, e.g.  ListBox[1] or [2].

Unlike the XPath option with web testing, Rapise doesn't currently allow regular expressions (Regex) in locators stored inside the Objects.js file. This article describes a way around the problem.

This article is obsolete. Rapise supports regular expressions in UIAutomation locators since version 6. Read this article for more details.

How to successfully include and use common functions and objects

It is often useful to have a common set of code libraries and objects that can be reused amongst multiple tests. With Rapise this can be done by creating a common test and then including it into the other actual tests. This article describes the process.

This article is obsolete. To get information on how to use common  functions and objects across test cases please refer to Frameworks (recommended, requires Rapise 8.0+) or Legacy Frameworks (requires Rapise 7.0+) topics.

Creating a Risk Register at Portfolio Level

A customer recently asked how to get a list of all risks across all projects within a portfolio. This article explains how to create such a report.

How to upgrade Rapise to a newer version

Rapise is evolving product and we release new versions of it from time to time. If you plan to upgrade your copy of Rapise follow these simple steps.

Troubleshooting the Data-Synchronization between SpiraTest and Jira

This article describes some basic troubleshooting steps that you should take when the data-synchronization service between SpiraTest and another bug tracker (in this example Jira, but much of this also applies to other data syncs) does not appear to work correctly.

What is Copied when an Artifact is Cloned

Several customers had questions about the "copying of  artifacts", specifically looking for information about which linked data and dependent data elements are copied. In this article we clarify this information.

Code Completion of Native JavaScript Objects

Rapise has built-in code completion logic that lets it suggest the available list of functions for a specific object. However since JavaScript is fundamentally an un-typed language, for the code completion to work, there are some tips and tricks that you can use.

Rapise Tips, Tricks & Workarounds when Testing Dynamics AX 2012

During the evaluation of Rapise 5.2 for Microsoft Dynamics AX testing, a customer collected the following tips and tricks from our support team (thanks Maxime!).

What's Migrated from Jira into Spira?

We have a migration tool that makes it easy to move from Jira (cloud, server and data-center editions) to Spira (SpiraTest, SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan editions). This article provides some more information on exactly what is migrated in each module.

Dynamically Clicking on a Desktop App Button Sample (MS-Word)

We had a customer request for a sample that demonstrates how to click on buttons in a desktop application (in this case a plugin for Microsoft Word) where instead of having to learn each of the buttons individually, you can learn the button container and then loop through the buttons using a Rapise RVL Map.

How to encrypt Spira login credentials when using the DataSync Service

When you use Inflectra's DataSync Service with your on premise installation of Spira, the credentials are stored in a config file. By default, these credentials are not encrypted to help users troubleshoot the connection. This article explains how to encrypt the credentials, to increase security.

Get Area ID from Microsoft Azure DevOps (ADO)

In order to synchronize SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, or SpiraPlan with Microsoft Azure DevOps (ADO) formerly known as Microsoft Team Foundation Services (TFS) you may need the IDs of the Areas inside ADO. This article describes how you can get this from cloud instances of ADO where you do not have access to the database.

Connecting the ALM 11.5 Migration Tool to HP ALM Without Using IE

When you want to migrate your requirements, test cases, defects and other data from HP/Micro Focus ALM to SpiraTeam, you will need to make sure you have all of the ALM client components installed. However the ALM Components are normally loaded using the insecure Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) web browser. To avoid needing to use this browser, you can use the Micro Focus ALM Client Launcher instead. This article explains how.

How to load Chrome browser extensions via Selenium profile

If you need specific browser extensions for running web tests you may specify them in Selenium profile.

Integrating Spira On-Premise with KronoDesk - Add Incident Request Fails

We had a customer that was integrating Spira that was hosted on-premise with a cloud instance of KronoDesk. When they used the feature to log the incident in Spira from a KronoDesk ticket, the incident was created in Spira, but the information did not reflect back in KronoDesk, and an error message was displayed.

Adding Document Version to Test Case Attachment Grid

We had a customer that was looking to add the current document version to the grid of attachments shown in the standard Test Case Detailed report. This article explains how you can easily add this field.

Jira Server 9.0 and Later Breaking API Changes

For performance reasons, Atlassian has made breaking changes to the Jira Server API in version 9.0 (and later). This means that is you are using the Spira data synchronization plugin for Jira Server, you need to download the most recent version from our website. This also affects Jira Data Center.

Note: this does not affect Jira Cloud.

How to Change Web Application Name in IIS

Spira (SpiraTest, SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan) and KronoDesk all use the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) web server. A common need is to be able to change the IIS application name / virtual directory. For example, you may need to rename "SpiraTest" to "SpiraTeam" after you have upgraded your edition.

SpiraTeam and KronoDesk - Upgrade Questions

One of the benefits of using Inflectra software is that you get unlimited upgrades for the first year and as long as you maintain an active service plan. This articles describes the process for upgrading your installation of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk to the latest version. It also answers many common questions about the process.

Synchronizing On-Premise Spira Sync with Microsoft Azure DevOps (TF400324)

Recently (starting in March 22nd, 2022, but later for some customers) Microsoft removed support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 endpoints. If you are using an on-premise version of Spira, or a cloud version that uses an on-premise data-synchronization utility, you may get the TFS error: TF400324

Company's Firewall Blocking Spira HTTPS Traffic

We had a customer that was using a VPN / Firewall to access our cloud instances of Spira. Most firewalls simply pass through the HTTPS traffic on port 443 unaltered. However some more stringent ones actually decrypt the HTTPS traffic, inspect the packets and then re-encrypt it for the user. In one case, this was causing an ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED error.

How do I upload my existing Git repository?

We have been asked several times by customers - how do they migrate an existing Git repository to TaraVault (either self-hosted or hosted by another provider)? This article explains the process.

Troubleshooting Emails Not Being Received from Spira or KronoDesk

Sometimes when you use Spira or KronoDesk and perform actions (e.g. assigning bugs, test cases, etc.) email notifications are not received correctly. This article provides some common reasons and solutions

Building a Spira Web Farm with IIS Servers

This document contains an overview of how to setup and configure SpiraTest, SpiraTeam or SpiraPlan in a load balanced web farm scenario. It contains links to additional information from Microsoft, and community resources related to the scenario.

Fixing the 'The URL-encoded form data' is not valid. Error

Sometimes when you have very large pages of data in the administration screens inside Spira you may receive an error due to exceeding the default number of allowed form elements posting back data. This article provides a fixed for the issue.

Upgrading Spira Editions - What is The Process?

Customers often ask us about the process for upgrading from SpiraTest to SpiraTeam / SpiraPlan or from SpiraTeam to SpiraPlan. In this article we address some of the common questions for both cloud and on-premise customers.https://spiradoc.inflectra.com/Spira-Administration-Guide/System/#license-details

Creating a Graph of Automated vs. Manual Test Execution Durations

Sometimes you will want to get an idea how fast your manual and automated tests are taking. You can use the custom graphing feature to create a custom graph for this.

How to Install the Chrome and Firefox Extensions Offline

By default,  when you want to use Rapise to record and playback web tests using either Chrome or Firefox, you simply go to the appropriate web browser "store" and install the extension directly from the store. However sometimes you are testing web applications on a machine with no Internet Connectivity.

Installing Rapise Browser Extensions without Internet Access

Normally you can install the add-ons for Chrome and Firefox directly from the browser's app store (just search for Rapise). This is the easiest option, and avoids the need to run the browsers in developer mode.

UIAutomation2 Locator

Rapise 6.3 includes an experimental feature - new UIAutomation2 locator for UIAutomation based desktop testing. Rather than specifying a path from the element tree root to the element this locator relies on built-in ability of UIAutomation to search for elements based on property values.

Integration with Jira Cloud/Server - Atlassian has depreciated use of passwords

When you are integrating Spira with Jira cloud (hosted by Atlassian) and Jira server (locally hosted) you need to to connect to Jira using a login and Jira API Key. Previously (prior to June 3rd, 2019) you could also use a Jira login and password, that is no longer allowed by Atlassian.

Using SpiraTeam Data Synchronization with TFS on a 64-bit system

SpiraTeam is designed to work on both 32-bit and 64-bit systems, taking advantage of the extra memory and power available if you have a 64-bit operating system. However Microsoft's Team Foundation Server (TFS) - part of Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) - only runs in 32-bit mode. Therefore when using our integration there are a couple of steps you need to perform.

Using Rapise Mobile with a Cloud Device Farm

Rapise connects to mobile devices (iOS and Android) using the standard Appium mobile device testing API (similar to Selenium WebDriver for web browsers). This articles describes how you can use Rapise to connect to a mobile device farm using the Appium mobile device profiles inside Rapise. We use Kobiton as an example.

Entering Mathematical Equations into Requirements

We had a customer ask us what was the recommended way to enter mathematical equations into a requirement in Spira. There are a couple of options depending on several factors:

  • You want to do it 100% natively in Spira, vs. using an external tool with Spira
  • How complex the equation is
  • Does the equation need to be editable after the fact
Defaulting Your System to use TLS 1.2 for .NET Applications

As you move your web applications (such as SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk) to newer encryption protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2, you will need to make sure the client applications are configured to use the latest version of TLS. Specifically applications using Microsoft .NET may not use the latest version by default.

Fixing 'Access is denied' and 'Invalid Login' error messages with Perforce Integration

When you use the Perforce Provider for Spira you may sometimes run into a Windows folder permission error. This is due to the Perforce API running as a specific user that does not have access to the Windows temporary profile storage area.

Architecture Diagrams for SpiraTest, SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan

A customer recently asked us for some diagrams that illustrate the logical system and application architectures for use in their documentation of the system. We thought these diagrams might be useful for our other customers.

HP ALM Migration Custom Field Import Errors

When you are running the import from HP / MicroFocus ALM into Spira, you sometimes come across error messages that look like the following:

Error "The field <RQ_USER_17> cannot be used with requirement type <Non Functional>"

How do I get the System Names of Microsoft Azure DevOps Custom Fields

When you integrate Spira with Microsoft Azure DevOps (formerly known as Team Foundation Server or TFS) you have the option of matching up the custom properties in Spira with the user defined fields in Azure DevOps. This guide explains how you get the 'system names' for custom vs. standard fields.

Sample Project Baseline Custom Reports

The latest version of SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan (v6.5.2) has support for creating and managing project baselines. In this initial release there are no standard reports built into the system for viewing baselines and the changes that have occurred. This article we provide some custom reports you can use until the next version is released.

Connecting the HP ALM 11.5 Migration Tool to HP ALM

When you want to migrate your requirements, test cases, defects and other data from HP ALM to SpiraTeam, you will need to make sure you have all of the HP ALM client components installed.

How to automate the testing of TinyMCE Rich Text Boxes using Rapise

DEPRECATED
Method described in this article does not work any more because browser security has changed since 2015. Now it is not possible to directly access client side JavaScript model. We have a new article that explains how to automate TinyMCE

https://www.inflectra.com/Support/KnowledgeBase/KB541.aspx

 

When you have a rich text box in a web application, the process for recording a test and playing it back will be different to a standard HTML plain text box. When you are using the popular TinyMCE rich text box you have more options to automate it by using its special client-side JavaScript API.

How to automate the testing of Rich Text Boxes using Rapise

When you have a rich text box in a web application, the process for recording a test and playing it back will be different to a standard HTML plain text box. This is because the browser actually uses a separate IFRAME and HTML document for the editable rich text box. This article explains the process for recording/playing back such a test.

Why Does Rapise Use DoXXXX Naming for Methods

A customer asked us why Rapise uses Pascal Case names for the various operations, functions and properties, as well as the reason why operations are prefixed with a "Do" action name.

Integration with Jira - Basic auth with password is not allowed on this instance

If you are integrating Spira (SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, or SpiraPlan) with Atlassian Jira, you may get this error message if you have not updated the integration for a while:

Basic auth with password is not allowed on this instance

About Rapise ImageFinder

Sometimes the goal is to find specific image on the screen. It may be special symbol, map pointer or an icon. This topic contains ImageFinder and sample test demonstrating its capabilities.

Links in Jira to Spira no longer visible in new Jira UI

One of the features of the Spira synchronization service for Atlassian Jira is that it automatically adds relevant links to the user story and issue pages in Jira to make it easier to navigate from Jira back to SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, or SpiraPlan. Some users have reported these links are no longer visible.

How to specify Selenium or Appium capabilities which are not available through Rapise UI?

From this article you will learn how to pass additional parameters to Selenium or Appium target, even if they can not be specified in a profile.  This recipe can be also used to override parameters of a profile right from a test code.

Requires Rapise 5.3+

Using CheckObjectExists(xpathOrObjId) to See if Web Object Exists on Page

This articles describes how you can use the Navigator.CheckObjectExists(...) action to see if an element exists on a web page and how it differs from the Global.DoWaitFor / DoWaitForProperty actions that are described in another article.

Global.DoWaitFor vs Global.DoWaitForProperty

The most commonly used synchronization option to make Rapise wait until the application under test (AUT) is ready is the Global.DoSleep action. However having just a sleep may cause an unnecessary delay because we have to consider the maximum wait interval and it may be much less on average. Rapise includes some additional synchronization options for more fine grained control of the test case flow.

What is Migrated by the TestRail Migration Tool?

We have had some questions asked about the TestRail migration tool. This KB provides some additional information about what is migrated and how the artifacts relate between SpiraTest and TestRail.

Inspecting custom UI control with UI Automation Spy

UI Automation is a default technology for testing desktop applications on Windows. If your application is not .NET or Java then  Rapise will turn on UI Automation library during recording. If some elements in your application are not recognized or there are issues with playback of recorded steps then most likely your application is using custom UI controls. You may inspect those controls and send information to Rapise support team to get recommendations on how to proceed with testing.

How to move a Spira or KronoDesk installation to another Server

Sometimes it is necessary to move a SpiraTeam, SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk installation to another server, without wanting to lose all of your data. This KB will guide you through the steps of transferring the install over, and optionally upgrading the application. This guide will walk you through the recommended steps when needing to move both the application and database to new servers.

When creating a release, an error states that the version number has already been used.

Sometimes, when you try to create a new release, a error message says that "You need to choose a Version Number that's not already been used." But you cannot find a release with that version number.

How to deal with custom UI Automation controls

This article is for those who test a desktop application via  UI Automation library.  Since desktop applications are frequently built using UI controls from different vendors  and the number of such controls available on the market is pretty big (> 1k)  - Rapise may not have out-of-the-box support for some controls in your application.  For such cases Rapise offers a low level API to navigate UI Automation tree of elements inside an application and read/write element properties. In this tutorial we'll show how to use this API and quickly add minimal support for a custom control.

How to check if a web dropdown element has specific option or not

If a test needs to verify existence or absence of a specific option in a dropdown you can do it via a simple function presented below.

Extracting the tickets and attachments from a KronoDesk cloud instance

Sometimes customers want to download their list of tickets and file attachments. This article explains how to read the data that we provide.

How to organize custom code in User.js

Every test has a User.js file and it is a place to put custom code and functions. This code must follow a few rules.

Sometimes You See "Multiple controls with the same ID" Error after Migrating Projects

You can use the Spira Project Backup & Migration Tool to move projects between one instance of SpiraTest and another pretty easily. However there is a known issue that can sometimes occur if you have deleted custom properties.

Integrating Spira with a Cucumber-Based Java Automation Framework

Many of our customers are using SpiraTest / SpiraTeam with their own in-house test automation framework. In this article we explain how you can use our REST API and/or our sample jUnit code to integrate your own framework easily with Spira.

Enable TLS 1.2 in Internet Explorer 8, 9 or 10

If you have disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 encryption protocols on your IIS web server, you may run into issues accessing the web interface of Spira or KronoDesk from older versions of Windows and/or IE.

Troubleshooting Rapise Install

If you install Rapise on non-vanilla system, e.g. old workstation with a lot of other software, especially with anti-virus and development tools, it may end-up in a state when some components are not registered  successfully and some files are blocked.  In this article we describe symptoms and ways to cure.

SVN Repository Stops Indexing With Error "Only one usage of each socket address"

When SpiraTeam or SpiraPlan is connecting to a Subversion (SVN) repository running on Windows Server, sometimes the Windows server will not close connections fast enough, causing the cache build to fail.

How to migrate or downgrade a SQL Server database to a lower version

This post shows you how you can migrate or downgrade a SQL Server database from one version to a lower or earlier one. E.g. 2016 to 2014, 2014 to 2012, 2012 to 2008 etc. This can be useful if you maintain a heterogeneous environment of SQL Server instances and you have a backup from a newer version that needs to be hosted onto an older version. This happens to us quite a bit when customers installed a trial on SQL Server Express (latest version) and we need to host it on one our cloud servers.

How to relearn an object

If an object can not be found at playback and it is obvious that object location has changed because of application update (differs from the case when location is dynamic!) then the best way to fix the test is simply relearn the object.

SpiraTeam Visual Studio Explorer AddIn gives error on Installation for VS2017

When trying to install the Add-In SpiraTeam Explorer for Visual Studio for VS2017, the install may fail, or prevent installation due to an error.

iOS Testing Hints

Most complex part in Mobile testing is connecting to a simulator or device. In this article we describe steps necessary to configure the testing environment.

Note: In brackets we specify versions of software components we used at the time of writing this article.

SpiraTest - GitLab Integration, What Synchronizes?

When you use SpiraTest with GitLab, the synchronization plugin synchronizes some fields unidirectionally and other fields bidirectionally. To clarify the details, this article illustrates which fields are synched and in which directions.

Integrating with TestComplete - What Filename to Use?

When you are integrating TestComplete (from SmartBear) with SpiraTest and RemoteLaunch, you need to map the test case in SpiraTest to the matching test script in TestComplete. This article provides more details.

Rapise Start Page Layout Does Not Display Correctly

Sometimes when you first install and open Rapise, the Start Page does not display correctly. This article explains the cause and solution to fix the issue.

How To Build A Custom Data Sync Solution

We provide the source code for a number of the data sync solutions we provide (eg Jira). This gives customers the ability to tweak the precise behavior of the sync to their specific business needs. The open source code does not run in isolation and this article explains how to make sure you have everything you need to build and test your custom code.

TeamCity Spira Plugin Does Not Save Global Settings

When you are first using the SpiraTeam plugin for JetBrains TeamCity, you may run into the issue where the settings for TeamCity are not being saved correctly.

Using RemoteLaunch in Immediate Execution Mode

We sometimes get contacted by customers that are not sure about the two ways that RemoteLaunch can be used - in normal scheduled polling mode, and when you immediately execute a test set from the SpiraTest UI. This articles explains the two modes in more detail.

Display Intellisense for ActiveX and .NET Objects

Sometimes when you are using Rapise, you have to use external ActiveX or .NET objects to perform specific actions. You can get Rapise to display intellisense for those objects.

How do I Recover a Deleted Project in Spira?

Most of the artifacts in Spira are "soft deleted", i.e. they are simply marked with a deleted flag, and can be recovered easily by a project administrator using the Project History Changes option to review the changes, filter by deletes and revert the change. However when a system administrator deletes a whole project, it physically deletes the project and cannot be undone.

RPA Features of Rapise

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is well suited for processes that are clearly defined, repeatable and rules based. With Rapise you can create software robots that can do boring repetitive tasks and free employee time for more creative work.

Below you will find a brief description of RPA tasks that Rapise can do.

 

Rapise Doesn't Launch Because of Missing Windows Fonts

If you don't have some of the standard Window fonts installed (e.g. Courier New), when you try and launch Rapise, it will fail to open correctly. This article provides information on the problem and solution.

Using SpiraTeam with Visual Studio Online

When using SpiraPlan, SpiraTest or SpiraTeam with Microsoft Visual Studio Online instead of a local installation of Microsoft Team Foundation Server there are a couple of differences in the integration configuration that you will want to be aware of. This article describes those differences.

How do I use TaraVault On-Premise?

If you are using SpiraTeam and SpiraPlan on-premise, and are looking at our TaraVault cloud-hosted code management service, this article explains what TaraVault is, and how you can have the same functionality on Premise.

Integrating SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam Hosted with JIRA On-Demand

This article describes the steps in integrating a hosted instance of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam with Atlassian's JIRA On-Demand (hosted). We recommend using our cloud hosted data synchronization service that means you don't need any special tools or downloads to use both products together. Let us do the work for you!

Migrating from Subversion to Git

If you want to migrate your TaraVault Subversion repositories from Subversion (SVN) to Git, to take advanced of the superior merging and branching functionality, as well enabling your teams to work in a distributed manner, this KB article explains the steps to perform the migration, whilst keeping your commit history and branches.

List Files from Folder in RVL

Sometimes it is required to have list of files from some folder. Here we demonstrate how to get this list and how to iterate through it in RVL.

Fixing the database when you have incidents linked to values from other projects

The incidents in Spira are able to have customizable incident types, statuses, priorities and severities. This means that each project has unique IDs for the various attributes. Sometimes when you incorrectly load in data using our Excel Add-In, you can link incidents to attributes from other projects. This article describes the problem and the solution.

Using RVL Loop to generate sequence of file names

We show how to do data generation for test scenario using RVL Variable loop in Rapise. This sample shows how to produce a sequence of filenames: FILE1.txt, FILE2.txt, FILE3.txt and so on.

Troubleshooting the "The Pipe is being Closed" Error during Rapise Installation

Sometimes when you try and install Rapise, you will see the error message "The Pipe is Being Closed", this article provides some solutions for this message.

How to run a cross-browser test on a mobile device?

Let's assume you have a cross-browser test which was created on desktop and can be successfully executed on any desktop browser (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari). You want to execute this test on your mobile devices or emulators. Learn how from this article.

Requires Rapise 5.3+

How to integrate Rapise and Elasticsearch

Rapise is a test automation platform for desktop, web and mobile applications. It is designed for building automated and manual end-to-end UI tests and fits any TestOps infrastructure.

Elasticsearch is a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine capable of solving a growing number of use cases. As the heart of the Elastic Stack, it centrally stores your data so you can discover the expected and uncover the unexpected.

From this article you will learn how to integrate Rapise and Elasticsearch together.

How to integrate Rapise with Jasmine BDD Framework

Jasmine is a behavior-driven development framework. If you want to test UI with Rapise in a behavior-driven way learn how to tie Rapise and Jasmine together.

How the Test Set Execution Status is Calculated in Spira 5.0+

One of the limitations in SpiraTest and SpiraTeam v4.x was that for performance reasons we could not handle test sets with very large numbers of test cases and that the system was not able to display the counts of the test cases and the execution status for test set folders.

iRP-100: Rapise Fundamentals Certification

This article enumerates the different skills you need to be self-certified at the training course: Rapise iRP-100 fundamentals. The article includes the list of skills in a readable format as well as a downloadable spreadsheet that you can fill out.

iKD-100: KronoDesk Fundamentals Certification

This article enumerates the different skills you need to be self-certified at the training course: KronoDesk iKD-100 fundamentals. The article includes the list of skills in a readable format as well as a downloadable spreadsheet that you can fill out.

iSP-100: Spira Fundamentals Certification
This article enumerates the different skills you need to be self-certified at the training course: Spira iSP-100 fundamentals. The article includes the list of skills in a readable format as well as a downloadable spreadsheet that you can fill out.
Inflectra Training Certifications
This article contains a sample spreadsheet that describes each of the course modules for being trained on our products:
  • SpiraTeam
  • Rapise
  • KronoDesk

Please download the spreadsheet and use to help self-certify your skills and competency with our products.

How to enable assembly bind failure logging (Fusion) in .NET
Sometimes when using RemoteLaunch with a specific plugin (e.g. Selenium), you may get an error such as:

Could not load file or assembly 'WebDriver, Version=2.44.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

The way to debug this kind of error message is to enable Microsoft .NET Fusion Logging to get more information as to which dependency could not be loaded. This article explains how to turn this on.
How do I create a new Spira plugin for a bug-tracker
We have many different plugins available for different bug-tracking tools (see https://www.inflectra.com/SpiraTeam/Downloads.aspx) however there may be cases where you need to integrate SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam with a bug-tracker we do not currently support. This article explains the process for writing such a plugin.
How do I provision new TaraVault projects?
Since TaraVault is an add-on feature to either SpiraPlan or SpiraTeam (hereafter just 'Spira') you use the Spira web interface to handle the provisioning of new TaraVault projects. This articles explains the steps.
How do I upload my existing Subversion repository?
Inflectra can automatically upload your Subversion repository from your current self-managed copy or from another provider. We accept Subversion dump files (as produced by the "svnadmin dump" command) either uncompressed or compressed as ZIP, GZIP, or BZip2.
DOORS Import DXL Runtime Error
Sometimes when you are using the SpiraTeam Importer for IBM Rational DOORS, you will get a DXL Runtime Error. This article explains the cause and provides the appropriate solution.
Migrating from Cloud/Hosted Trial to On-Premise
We sometimes get customers that have signed up for a hosted/cloud trial of our products but want to migrate their trial data to an on-premise installation for production use (instead of just having us move it to our production cloud servers). This article outlines the process for such a migration.
Where is my Subversion URL?
TaraVault allows you to create as many projects as you like. Each project has its own source code repository (Subversion or Git) and its own linked Spira project. Therefore, each project has its own source code URLs for the relevant repository type.
Enabling Windows Installer (.msi) Trace Logging
Sometimes when installing our products you get error messages during the installation and it's necessary to provide Inflectra support personnel with detailed trace/logging information so that they can better support you. This article describes the steps necessary to enable Windows Installer (.msi) trace logging.
How to resolve WScript.CreateObject: Could not connect object errors

Sometimes when you install Rapise on a computer that had a previous version of Rapise installed, when you try to record and/or playback a test you get the following error message:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Inflectra\Rapise\Engine\Player.js WScript.CreateObject: Could not connect object.

This article describes the steps to correct the error.

MSDTC Causing Issues Creating Requirements & Use Cases on Spira 4.1
If you are running Spira v4.1 and you have the situation where you cannot create requirements or use case steps, please read this article for instructions on how to fix the issue.
WebPart Error on Reports Page After Upgrading from v3.2 -> v4.0

After upgrading from v3.2 to v4.0 you may receive this error message when you access the Reports home page on certain projects:

PageLayout:: OnError:
Cannot deserialize the blob of personalization data associated with the current page.
Parameter name: data [System.ArgumentException]
The serialized data is invalid. [System.ArgumentException]
Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: enumType [System.ArgumentNullException]

This article describes the solution to fix this issue.

Installing SpiraTest, SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam v3.x on SQL Server 2012
When installing Spira on SQL Server 2012 (any edition) using Windows Authentication, you may receive an error message "Cannot Create User" (or similar) during the installation. This is because of a configuration change in SQL Server 2012 (as opposed to earlier versions). This article explains the step needed to prepare SQL Server 2012 for installing Spira v3.x. Newer versions of Spira will not need this step as the installer has been updated.