Understanding operators and built-in String functions in VBScript

In the previous article we discuss on defining a variable, different types of variables in VBscript . In this article we will discuss on various operators and built in string functions in VBScript as are frequently used in QTP.

Let us start by discussing different types of operators. Operators are broadly classified into 
- Logical Operators
- Arithmetic operators
- Comparison Operators

Logical Operators - Logical Operator are used to perform logical operations and returns boolean value as true or false based on the inputs provided and operator used.

Logical Operator used are Not ( Not True = false)
And (Returns true if both A and B are true, false otherwise)
OR(Returns true if either of A or B is true)
xor ( returns false if either of A or B is true)

Arithmetic Operators - We have been performing arithmetic operation from the day we start our education. So this is easy.  The various arithmetic operators in VBScript  are +(addition), - (subtraction), *(multiply), /(division), 
\(integer division, return the quotient), 
mod (a mod b, gives the remainder on dividing a by b),
^(exponential function).
Of the Operators , defined above , + is used to concatenate two strings also.

Comparison Operators are used to compare two variable . Example of comparison Operators are =(equality), <>(Inequality), <(Less than ), <(greater than), <=,>= ( greater than or equal to). To Compare strings, we can use strcomp function.

We have discussed the various operators used in VBScript.Now let us discuss on various string functions that are inbuilt in vbscript and are useful to work with strings

Instr function - This function returns the location of first occurrence of one string within another string. 
str1 = "This is testing blog on VBScript testing"
str2 = "testing"
iLoc = Instr(1,str1,str2,0)
msgbox iLoc

Syntax is InStr([start,]string1,string2[,compare]). start and compare are optional parameters with default value as 1 and 0(binary compare)

Instrrev function - This function returns the location of first occurrence of one string within another string. While Instr starts search from start of string,In Instrrev The search begins from the end of string. But the location returned is from start of string.
str1 = "This is testing blog on VBSCRIPT testing test"
str2 = "testing"
iLoc = Instrrev(str1,str2,-1,0)
msgbox iLoc

Syntax is InStrRev(string1,string2,[start,][compare]). start and compare are optional parameters with default value as -1(end of string) and 0(binary compare)

LCase(string) converts string to lowercase
Ucase(string) converts to uppercase.

len(string) returns number of character in a string.

Left, right and mid are used to return specified characters from the string starting from left,right, and middle of string
str3 = left(str1,10)
str4= right(str1, 10)
str5 = mid(str1,5,10) 

LTrim,RTrim and trim are used to remove spaces on the left, right or middle of a string
str6 = trim(str1)

strComp compares two string and returns value as 0 if both string matches.
blncomp = strcomp(str1,str2[,compare])

space(number) returns the space character returned times as provided in the argument.

String(number, character) returns a string with character repeated number of times as provided in the arguments.

VB Script tutorial - Variables, Constants and Arrays

VBScript is used extensively with QTP for creating test script. With articles on VBScript, I will try to explain the VBscript and refresh the concepts for my self knowledge.
In VBscript, variables of all the data types are declared with the same data type called as variant


A variable can be defined as Dim abc. We may or may not need to define the variable explicitly. If we require every variable used must be defined. we need to provide option explicit.
Using Option explicit is a good practice as it keeps a check on the variables used in the script. 

Some Important point to note about variable declaration are :

• Variable for all the data type are defined as dim in vbscript

• VBScript is not case sensitive, therefore variable abc and ABC are the same.

• If Option explicit statement is defined, each of the variables used in the vbs file must be declared before use.

• A variable must start with alphabet and should not exceed 255 characters

• We can define variable everywhere in the script but it is best to define all the variable at the start of the function or script for better maintenance of variables

• We can ignore standard naming convention by defining the variable within square bracket but should avoid this.

• Multiple variable can be defined as Dim abc,def,qrtin 

We can also define an array variable, to store a set of values in a variable. An array can be one dimensional or multidimensional;'' For e.g. in below example we define the fixed size array, on trying on resize the array, it gives us error.
dim arra(5)
An array can be defined as dynamic array, we can resize the array then, below code explains how to create a dynamic array. Preserve is used to preserve value 
dim arrad() '' define a dynamic array variable without size provided
An variable defined at a function level can be used within the function in which it is defined. A variable defined at script level, can be used across the functions within the script. 
const abcd = 3

Option explicit
dim abc
abc = 3
msgbox abc



Dim [1Test 231]
[1Test 231] = "I have defined a variable not starting with alphabet and having a space in between"
msgbox [1Test 231]

An array can be a fixed size array defined as dim arra(5) , this will store 6 elements, but once defined the array size can not be modified. 


redim arra(3) 
arra(0) = 54 
msgbox arra(0)


redim arrad(3) '' Using Redim, we can define the size of the array. 
arrad(3) = 75  
redim preserve arrad(5) '' we use preserve the values stored on existing array using preserve as shown here. In this example we resized the array size to 5 and preserved the original value stored in array.
msgbox arrad(3)
We can also create multiple dimension array as dim arram(4)(5)(6).

In QTP, we can also define environment variable to be used across the actions.

Another type of variable in constant. A constant variable does not change its value once defined. Also value cannot to assigned to a constant post declaration of constant and its value

abcd = 43
msgbox abcd

Converting an existing project in Selenium to Maven Project in Eclipse

Maven can be integrated with eclipse IDE to manage build and deploy selenium or any java project in eclipse. In this article we will discuss on first step in Setting up existing project to maven project.

Installing Maven plugin in eclipse is simple and takes around thirty minutes to install. Below are simple steps to install maven plugin in eclipse.

• Open eclipse and click on Help>Eclipse Marketplace

• Search for maven in eclipse marketplace. Install Maven integration for Eclipse
• Once maven is installed, restart eclipse.
•  Go to workspace and right click on the project and click on configure as shown in screenshot below
• Click on Convert to Maven Project.
• A pop up to create a new Maven POM will appear.

• Click on finish. A POM file will be created automatically.

You can set project dependencies in the POM file POM stands for "Project Object Model". It is an XML representation of a Maven project held in a file named pom.xml.

Once the project is set as maven project, we can perform various action in Project using maven as shown in screenshot below. We can also add selenium dependencies in the POM to manage selenium artifacts , which will be explained in next articles.