Silk Test Workbench

Replaying a Visual Test on a Large Site

You may encounter performance problems when running a visual test on a large site when using xBrowser. In order to avoid this, set the option Playback > Results > Visual test > Control capture to No.

Message boxes display in the background when a script plays back (31314)

If you include a message box statement, such as MsgBox ("Hello") in .NET script, it displays in the background when you play back the script.

Include MsgBoxStyle.MsgBoxSetForeground in the MsgBox statement to have the message box display in the foreground. For example:
MsgBox ("Hello", MsgBoxStyle.MsgBoxSetForeground)

Installer fails to install SQL Server Native Client and register Silk Test Workbench as a COM server

If the operating system performs an automatic update or the user initiates a Windows update during or before installation of Silk Test, the installer fails to install SQL Server Native Client and register Silk Test Workbench as a COM server.

Both of these problems affect Silk Central Test Manager (SCTM) integration, since SCTM uses the native client driver installed by SQL Server Express to create Silk Test Workbench DSNs. Furthermore, SCTM needs Silk Test Workbench registered as a COM server in order to use its COM interface for automation.

Choose one of the following solutions:
  1. Do not install Silk Test while running a Windows update.
  2. Ensure that Windows updates do not install automatically on your machine.
  3. Install any pending Windows updates prior to installing Silk Test and reboot the system before installing Silk Test.

Modifying the hot key combination to include multiple modifiers causes additional keys to be recorded

If you configure a hot key for insert verification or start/stop record that contains multiple modifiers, occasionally the modifier press key action is recorded. For instance, if you specify a hot key combination of Alt+Ctrl+F9, Alt may be recorded as a press key action instead of being ignored as part of the hot key combination. This is a problem during playback because the appropriate release key actions are missing.

Manually remove the actions related to the modifiers, or only use one hot key modifier.

Data Source Names (DSNs) do not work on 64-bit systems

A 64-bit DSN for SQL Server or Oracle cannot be used with Silk Test Workbench. To create a DSN for a 64-bit machine, click Start > Silk > Silk Test > Administration > Data Sources (ODBC) and create a 32-bit DSN. You can also use the WOW64 tools located at C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\odbcad32.exe.

Silk Test Workbench requires a network adapter to start

A network adapter must be available on the machine on which Silk Test Workbench is installed to enable the communication between Silk Test Workbench and the Open Agent during the start of Silk Test Workbench. If no network adapter is available, a "Failed to connect to OpenAgent" error occurs. Other clients, such as Silk Test Classic and Silk4J, do not require a network connection to start.

Ensure that a network adapter is available before starting Silk Test Workbench.

SQL Server Express might not install on Windows Vista SP1 machines

On Windows Vista SP1 machines, ensure that the full version of .NET 3.5 SP1 is installed if you plan to install SQL Server 2008 Express. To install the full version of .NET 3.5 SP1, download it from the Microsoft Web site.

Identify from Screen Preview creates an incorrect object map item for a migrated database

After a database is migrated from Silk Test Workbench 2010 to Silk Test Workbench 2010 R2, using the Identify from Screen Preview creates incorrect object map items.

Use the Update Screen command to recapture the screen before using Identify from Screen Preview.

When a child script is called from a parent script, the child script can access the object map out of scope

If a parent and child script reside in different projects and use different object maps, the child script runs successfully even though the object map is out of scope for the child script.

Since the script runs successfully, there is no resolution necessary. However, this behavior will not work in future releases.

When multiple users attempt to simultaneously edit the same asset on a SQL 2008 database, issues with the asset locking mechanism might occur

To test for the problem, open an asset, like a visual test, for editing in the Silk Test Workbench. While the asset is open, attempt to open the same asset from a different instance of Silk Test Workbench. If the problem occurs, either the second instance of Silk Test Workbench will be able to simultaneously edit the same asset, or the second instance will receive a message with incomplete data. The user name and machine name will both be blank.

In SQL Server, allocate database admin rights to the SQL database users that use that database.

Unexpected error while exporting assets in a SQL database

The unexpected error, Conversion failed when converting from Character string to Unique identifier, occurs when exporting assets in a SQL database.

Import the exported database and press OK if any error messages occur. The import finishes successfully and the assets are available for use.

Unexpected behavior while using an Access database

Compact the database using the Silk Test Database Maintenance tool. Click (in Microsoft Windows 7) Start > Programs > Silk > Silk Test > Administration > Database Maintenance or (in Microsoft Windows 10) Start > Silk > Database Maintenance. Then, open the database and click Tools > Compact Database.

Silk Test Workbench with UAC enabled during configuration cannot connect to an SQL Server

You cannot connect to an SQL server during configuration, when you are using Silk Test Workbench without administrator rights, and with UAC enabled.

To connect to the SQL server during configuration, you have to start Silk Test Workbench with the Run as administrator option.

Silk Test Workbench might crash when the connection to a remote SQL database is lost

When you are using a remote SQL database, and that database disconnects from Silk Test Workbench, for example because of a server restart, Silk Test Workbench might crash when trying to communicate with the database.

To reconnect with the database, restart Silk Test Workbench.

The replay of a visual test might get very slow if the Control capture option is set

Set the Control capture option to No to improve playback performance.

Microsoft Windows 7 Classic theme: Screen Previews of visual tests might contain the Recording window

Screen previews of visual tests which are recorded on a Microsoft Windows 7 machine with the Classic theme might contain the Recording window. To record visual tests in Microsoft Windows 7 without the Recording window, do not use the Classic theme.

Renaming an asset without updating references

When renaming assets that are referenced by other assets, ensure to also update the references. If you do not update the references directly, you cannot simply rename the asset back to the original name and then update the references by renaming the asset again, because Silk Test Workbench will not prompt you to update the references.

If the asset that you want to rename is a .NET script, and the referencing asset is a visual test from which the .NET script is called, you can workaround this issue by saving the visual test. This will cause Silk Test Workbench to find the .NET script again and to set everything up correctly to update asset references.