Scheduling Tests for Automatic Execution in the Foreground

Until now, eCATT test cases could only be scheduled for execution in the background. This meant that test cases that required the SAP GUI for their execution were excluded from job scheduling. With the Foreground Scheduler transaction STPFE it is possible to schedule test cases controlling the UI for automatic execution (the commands are currently SAPGUI, GETGUI, CHEGUI, REFEXT, and SENDEXT).

To be able to schedule test cases for automatic execution, you must be registered at the Foreground Scheduler and have activated test execution. Proceed as follows:

1. Start the Foreground Scheduler transaction STPFE.

2. Select Register to register your user ID once with the test system in which you want to execute the eCATT tests.

3. Then choose Activate Testing to activate the Foreground Scheduler for your user. After activation, the STPFE transaction checks every 60 seconds if any jobs have been created for execution in the foreground. The scheduled jobs can also be monitored in transaction STPFE (see 'Result' section below).

After you have registered yourself in transaction STPFE at the Foreground Scheduler and have started the test execution, you can schedule test cases in the Test Workbench for automatic execution in the foreground as shown below:

1. Start transaction STWB_2 and select the required test plan.

   Note

   You also have the option of scheduling test cases using the report RSTWB_BATCH_EXECUTE.

2. Then choose Test Packages or Status Overview.

   A new window is displayed showing the status overview for the selected test plan.

3. Choose  Goto  Automatic Test  Schedule .

   The system displays the Scheduling dialog box.

4. Make the following selections on the Scheduling dialog box:

   1. Using the input help select all test packages that you want to execute with the selected test plan.

   2. To copy the process status to the Test Workbench, choose the option Copy Status to TWB.

   3. Select the Execute Test in Foreground option. You can also assign a job name if you choose.

      Note

      You can only select the Execute Test in Foreground option if you have used transaction STPFE to register yourself as a Foreground Scheduler user, as described in the 'Prerequisites' section.

   4. Choose Execute.

5. In Start Time dialog box schedule the job for immediate, once, or periodic execution. This dialog box is part of traditional SAP job scheduling, see Specifying job Start Conditions.

6. If you are scheduling multiple independent jobs with very long runtimes (> 1 hour), we recommend starting transaction STPFE several times. Alternatively, you can use the function module ECATT_SET_SCHEDULER_JOB_TIME to increase the maximum wait time until the start of a job for the whole system. To do this, the user needs the role SAP_ECATT_ADM ("eCATT Administrator").

You have scheduled test cases for automatic execution in the foreground. You have the following options for job monitoring:

• You can monitor the jobs using the traditional SAP job overview. You can jump to the job overview directly by selecting  GoTo  Own Jobs . You can reach this overview also using the job selection transaction that you either open using transaction SM37 or using  GoTo  Automatic Test  Job Selection .

• You can also monitor the jobs executed by the Foreground Scheduler in Foreground Scheduler transaction STPFE. After they have been executed successfully, the jobs have the status F (Finished). By double-clicking the log ID you can jump directly to the log.

  Note

  Note that jobs with status F are no longer displayed when you call transaction STPFE again.

Job data that is no longer required can be deleted using report RS_TESTPROXY_DEL_EXECUTIONS. It makes sense to regularly schedule this report in the background to delete data.