▶️ You can find a tutorial on how to manage channels on our Youtube channel.

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Tests performed with Agilitest are created from scripts that open channels to communicate with the application under test. Agilitest allows you to open multiple channels on multiple devices.

In an Agilitest-generated ATS script, there is always one active channel at any given time, and all actions are directed to that channel.

In Agilitest there is a distinction between actions to manage channels in ATS scripts and the channel management menu in the editor to perform graphical element capture operations.

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Start a channel

All tests must start with a channel start action.

To do this, click on the channel action in the action menu

Then, click on "Start channel".

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The "Start channel" action allows you to select the application that Agilitest will launch for you.

Here are the possibilities:

Browsers

You can select between these browsers : MsEdge, Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Opera, IE and Safari.

Chrome will be selected by default. 

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You can also use special values to open a web browser.

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You can also connect an account to your browsers.

To do that, click on the key button to enable authorization and enter your id and password.

You can add executable arguments to your start channel actions by clicking on the last button.

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Examples: 

“Private” argument, 

Or “headless” argument

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All options used by Chromium drivers can be executed.

https://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/ 

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Application

You can either open the file explorer of your machine or the desktop.

You can also use special values in the enter text section.

You can also select a more specific application installed in your machine with the file button.

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And you can add arguments to the Application start channel.

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You can add a shortcut of another application.

To do that, go to the Agilitest settings

Then, click on Edit configuration in the ATS Settings.

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This will open the ATS Properties of your project. 

In the application section of your properties, add the name and the path to your application.

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🔶 Warning

If you use this and execute your test on other machines, the ATS properties file must also be on the other machine.

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Process

It is also possible to open a channel to a process already existing in your operating system.

To do this, Start a channel with a Process > Start process 

Then, enter a command line corresponding to a process or click on the file button to select an executable file.‍‍

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You can also start a channel with the Attach to Process action.

To do that, in the start channel action, select Process> Attach to process.

To attach to a process, you must enter keywords that exist in the process command line.

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Example: 

You can use Process Explorer to access the command line of your applications.

Then you need to select some key words of the selected application.

Window

You select to open a Window either with the Window ID or with the Window title.

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To open a Window ID you need to enter the NativeWindowHandle of a running window.

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The NativeWindowHandle is not a permanent value, it will change each time the window will be open. 

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To retrieve the NativeWindowHandle, you need to open a Desktop channel and retrieve the  NativeWindowHandle property of an existing window.

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To open a Window title you need to enter parts of a title of a running window.

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UWP application

UWP is one of many ways to create client applications for Windows that run on Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices, and can be combined with other platforms.

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To start a UWP application channel you need to enter the Windows UWP app ID.

You can use special values in the enter text section.

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Here is the Microsoft documentation about UWP Applications : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/get-started/universal-application-platform-guide

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Mobile

To start a Mobile channel you need to enter the access point of the Mobile in the MobileStation server.

You can also click on the button to load a llthe connected devices to AtsMobileStation.

You can use special values in the enter text section.

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To learn more about AtsMobileStation : www.agilitest.com/documentation/mobile-station

Web Service

You can either open a Web Service using a Standard URL (http) or a Secure URL (https).

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For either of them you need to enter the beginning of the web service URL.

After that, all your calls from this channel will be entered relatively to this URL.

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You also have 3 buttons that are options that you can add to start your channel.

• Launch channel with ATS record proxy
• Enable “Basic” authorization
• Accept cookies on this channel

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Example:

When you are going to do a REST or SOAP webservice and you enter https://mywebservice.com/api

The link of the webservice REST will be https://mywebservice.com/api/getListItems

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SAP

To open a SAP channel you need to be connected to a server.

You will need to enter details of the SAP server which are displayed in the SAP log on: the name of the connection, the customer number (i.e. the associated mandate number) and possibly the language (EN/FR/...).

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To learn more about how to connect to a SAP server : www.agilitest.com/documentation/connecting-to-a-sap-server

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Rename your channel

Next, it is best to rename the channel you have opened so that it can be referenced in the following actions.

To do this, click directly on the “Start channel” action

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Then enter the name you want to give to your channel.

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It is possible to open multiple channels in a same script.

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Switch channel

The "Switch channel" action allows you to switch from one channel to another opened channel identified by its name.

From this action, all the following actions will be directed to the specified channel in the "Switch channel" action.

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🔸 Warning

Starting a new channel means that it will activates it directly.

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You can also use the channel management menu to change the active channe.

To do this, click on the blue check mark next to the channel name to make the channel active

However, switching channel in the channel management menu will not figure as an action in your script.

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Close channel
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Closing a channel tells Agilitest that this channel will no longer be used during this test, and will close the application.

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You can also close the current channel from the run management panel in the Agilitest editor.

To do that, click on the “Close” button

Or the “Stop” sign on the channel line

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🔸 Warning

You should not close your channel manually directly from the application. Agilitest is not intrusive (no plugin), it has no way of knowing that you have closed an application directly by the actions of the operating system (Example: by clicking on the cross of the application window).

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Channels management menu

The channel management menu allows you to manage the different input channels of the actions when debugging tests.

The channel management menu is located on the left, under the project explorer.

It has several icons with the following functions:

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Capture button

This action is only available if you have already opened a channel. It allows you to enter the capture mode and select the elements on which to perform actions.

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Close button

This action allows you to cleanly close an open channel, i.e. close the application and tell Agilitest that it is closed.

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Play button

This action starts a complete execution from the current action. If you use the play button to an action that can not be executed, you will receive an error message.

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🔶 Warning

In Agilitest, all scripts can be subscripts of other scripts. In the editor, it is impossible for Agilitest to determine the start of a test, so you must indicate which action you want to start your test with in the editing and debugging phases.

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Next button

This action executes the selected action and moves to the next action. You can therefore execute your test in sequence, step by step. This action is equivalent to the execution action of each action displayed to the right of the current action in the editor.

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Parameters button

This action displays a sub-menu for selecting the current execution parameters in the editor.

• Animate: This allows you to replay the test by animating the actions performed.

Example: mouse movement, clicks, text entry, etc...

• Visual report: The visual report has the same result as the animation, but in the form of a video report: an ATSV file (ATS Video) is generated in the /target/reports directory. It is not necessary to put the replay in animation mode to get the visual report.
• XML Report: Agilitest will produce a test execution report in XML format (actions.xml), as well as a set of images corresponding to the screens that were visited by the test. These elements are stored in the directory /target/report/>test_name>. They can then be manipulated to produce three levels of execution reports as well as a pdf report using JASPER. The production of an XML report activates the generation of a visual report.
• Run in reduced mode: This allows you to hide the Agilitest editor during the test execution, and thus better see the application under test.

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💡 Tip

The reduced mode is very useful if you use Agilitest on a single screen.

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Potential problems

Channel opening failures

What to do if the Agilitest editor won't open a test and capture a channel?

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If this is a JDK problem, then :

• Verify that Java has been installed and that its version is compatible with Agilitest (version 14+)

It can be installed directly from the Agilitest "Configurations" menu in the top right-hand corner of the editor.

Click on the "Download" button to download the latest version of Java directly from Agilitest

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If the problem is with the drivers and/or libraries:

This means that a file is blocked by the firewall or antivirus software. In this case there are two possible solutions:

1. Regenerate drivers and libs files

• Repeat the operation, making sure that the blocking does not recur (temporary neutralisation of the antivirus).
• Close Agilitest
• Go to your computer's user folder to manually delete the "drivers" and "libs" folders.

• Open Agilitest again to force a regeneration of the files with the latest versions available in SAAS

         2. Download packages manually to deploy them yourself

• Via the "Settings" menu, download the zipped Drivers and Libraries package

• The "ats.zip" archive will be automatically downloaded via your default browser.
• Unzip this "ats.zip" archive containing the "drivers" and "libs" folders into your own user folder.
• C:\User\”Your_Account”\.actiontestscript

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If the problem persists, you can contact our support team at support@agilitest.com or directly via Slack.

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Open a channel with plugins

When you start a browser channel with Agilitest, the channel will be without plugins, without history, accounts, etc…

This simulates the use of a real user visiting your application for the first time. This is why a channel started by Agilitest does not load extensions by default.

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There are several ways of achieving the behaviour you want, the simplest being to create a user profile and define this user profile when the channel is started.

Or, there is also the option of adding elements to your ats.properties file.

See the official documentation: www.actiontestscript.com

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