Microsoft KB Archive/81188

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

Distinction Between FastTest and TestBasic for Windows
Last reviewed: October 19, 1994

Article ID: Q81188

The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Test for Windows, version 1.0

SUMMARY
FastTest (the Microsoft Test for Windows routines provided by including the file FASTTEST.INC into your script) is a set of prewritten TestBasic SUB and FUNCTION procedures. FastTest is intended to provide an easier transition to TestBasic for nonprogrammers. FastTest automatically handles many of the details and overhead of writing a test script for you, such as:


 * Logging results
 * Error and UAE trapping
 * Calling the Test DLL routines

The disadvantage of using FastTest is that it has a relatively high overhead compared to a custom script written using TestBasic, and the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs may be difficult to modify if you want to change the way they operate.

Microsoft recommends that you use FastTest for learning how to write Microsoft Test scripts or quickly creating minimal scripts, and then begin writing your own scripts in TestBasic for more complex or customized tests.

MORE INFORMATION
The file FASTTEST.INC contains mostly declaration and initialization code. The following files are also included (using the '$Include metacommand) into FASTTEST.INC:

FTESTKEY.MST FTESTLOG.MST FTESTUTL.MST MSTEST.INC WNAPIDEC.INC The files FTESTKEY.MST, FTESTLOG.MST, and FTESTUTL.MST are the actual code for the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs (the source code for xEnter, for example, can be found in FTESTKEY.MST). MSTEST.INC is needed to support the TestBasic code in the three script files (the code makes calls to the Test DLL routines), and WNAPIDEC.INC is a small include file that is needed to support some direct Windows API calls made in the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs.

Although FastTest routines are, in general, easier to use then writing the code yourself in TestBasic, FastTest does require a large amount of overhead code (a total of six include files), which makes FastTest scripts, even minimal ones, take considerably longer to parse than TestBasic scripts. FastTest is also difficult to modify, because there are global variables and other interrelationships between the FastTest SUBs and FUNCTIONs.