Training | Bret Pettichord

 
Scripting for Testers Preparations

 

We run the Scripting for Testers class on equipment students bring to class. This page provides details you’ll need to know before coming to class. All of the software we use in the class is open source. Anyone is welcome to download this software and try it out on their own.

Equipment Required

You will need a computer running Windows 2000 or Windows XP for this tutorial. We expect that most students will bring their own laptop, but we encourage students to pair up. You are welcome to share with a friend or another student.

(We have verified that this software can also run on Windows 98 and NT, but do not support these systems in the class. We have found that most machines still running these operating systems are either frustratingly slow or have other problems that we don’t have the time to deal with in class.)

Network Connections

We will have a standard wired/wireless network running in the classroom. We encourage you to bring an ethernet cable or a wireless card (802.11b) so you can connect to the network. We will host a web application on the network for you to test and will provide basic information and assistance for connecting to the network.

Many company-provided laptops include firewalls and other security software that may complicate your ability to attach to our network. We regret that we can no longer provide assistance with deactivating such software. We encourage you to contact your network administrator for help with this before you come to class. We can, however, help you run the web application on your own machine: you will actually be able to complete the classroom labs even if you can’t connect your machine to our network. Our server application requires no additional software.

Software Installation

These are the updated installation instructions for the May classes.

It’s best if you install the software before coming to class. We will, however, also bring CD’s contain the software to class.

Ruby

We are currently using this Ruby installer: ruby181-12.exe.

  1. Double-click this exe file to install.
  2. Select the default installation options (choose all options; install in c:/ruby).
  3. If you are installing as Administrator you don’t need to restart windows. Otherwise, you should.

IE Controller

You will need to install one Ruby library: iec.2004.054.0.zip

  1. Unzip this file into a new directory on your computer.
  2. Start up a command shell. (Start-> Run, enter “cmd”.)
  3. Change the current directory (cd) to the one you just created.
  4. Type “ruby install.rb”

(You can also install this by just double-clicking the install.rb icon in windows explorer. The problem with this method is that you won’t see any error messages.)

Scripting Class Materials.

You will also need the materials hosted on rubyforge.org: wtr/scripting101.tar.gz

  1. Extract the contents of this archive into your hard drive, to c:\scripting101.

Problems?

See c:/scripting101/doc/install.html for more information, including how to verify an installation.

If you have trouble with the installation, please come to class early and we’ll help you out.

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