TestComplete’s keyword tests let even inexperienced users visually create automated tests with ease. In TestComplete version 8.10, keyword tests have had several improvements:

• Enabling and disabling keyword test operations. Now you can easily exclude desired operations from the test without deleting them. For example, you may want to run your test once without some operations, and then you will need the test to include all the removed operations again. For this purpose, you just need to select the operations to be temporary excluded from the test in the Keyword Test editor, right-click them and choose Enable/Disable Operations from the subsequent context menu:
  

  After that, the disabled operation will be marked with the grey color (by default):

  

  These operations will be excluded from the test until you include them back. To include desired operations to the test, select these operations in the Keyword Test editor and select Enable/Disable Operations from the subsequent context menu.

• Highlighting keyword tests operations. Now you can highlight a desired operation (or all the operations that belong to the specified category) in the Keyword Test editor with the desired color. To specify these colors, TestComplete options now include a new Keyword Test editor | Highlighting group:
  

  

  Using options of this group you can customize highlighting of the keyword test operations as you like.

• Improved checkpoint operations descriptions. The Description column of the Keyword Test editor now provides you with more information on the appropriate checkpoint’s effect while the test is run. It can be very useful for novice users to understand what actions are performed by the appropriate checkpoint operation.
  
  
• Improved Keyword Test editor. Now TestComplete highlights the insertion point when you are adding a new keyword test operation to your test. This feature helps you visually determine exactly where the inserted operation will be added.
  

  

• Edit Parameter dialog improvements. This dialog assists you in specifying values for the desired operation’s parameters. The main improvements of this dialog are:
  
  
  • The dialog now contains a short description corresponding to the selected Mode. This description helps you choose a desired parameter mode to help you test
    faster.
    

    

  • The dialog now contains a new Object Property mode that assists you in specifying the property of the desired object (onscreen object, process or name mapping item) as the value for the operation’s parameter. For this purpose, select Object Property from the Mode drop-down list:
    

    

    To specify the object to which the property belongs, click the ellipsis button in the Value field and select the object via the ensuing wizard.

  • The Code Expression mode now provides you with the Code Completion window shown in the Value field. This feature prevents mistakes in the specified code and lets you create more reliable tests.
    

    

  • TestComplete now automatically checks the syntax when you enter script code as the parameter for some operations (Run Code Snippet operation, for example) or as the value for the parameter in the Code Expression mode.

   

  We hope this
  article contains information that will help you create more powerful keyword tests with TestComplete. If you haven’t used TestComplete yet, download and try it for free.