Extract text between Tags

Here is the function, useful for extracting strings from xml files:

string ExtractString(string s, string tag)
    {     
      var startTag = "<" + tag + ">";
      int startIndex = s.IndexOf(startTag) + startTag.Length;
      int endIndex = s.IndexOf("</" + tag + ">", startIndex);
      return s.Substring(startIndex, endIndex - startIndex);
}

Example of call:

string initial = "<Create>Text to retrieve</Create>";
textToRetrieve=ExtractString(initial,"Create");

Result:
The value of textToRetrieve will be "Text to retrieve".

UFT - API Testing save test steps results

In UFT you might need to save the results of a step for further use, or see the results in the generated reports.
Here are some useful options:

1. Write to test Output Properties:
CodeActivity<x>.Output.PropertyName = "string property value";

2. Write to test profile:
CodeActivity<x>.Context.TestProfile.SetVariableValue("variable name","variable value");

3. Write to Output Console:
this.CodeActivity<x>.Context.UserLogger.InfoFormat("some string you want to see");

4. Write to generated Report after Run.
this.CodeActivity<x>.Report("some string you want to see");

C# - Get Computer Name

string hostName = Environment.MachineName;
string name = System.Net.Dns.GetHostName();
string name1 = System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation.ComputerName;
string name2 = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("COMPUTERNAME");

UFT - Return formated Date

I needed to get current date in this specific format: 2013-07-10T10:03:45.285+03:00
then, make it available for future activities, so here is what I did:

1. Created a Custom Code activity "GetTodayDate".

2. Added a Result Output Property.
Name: Result
Type: String

3. Go to Events Tab -> Create a default handler... for ExecuteEvent

4. Add following code:

public void CodeActivity22_OnExecuteEvent(object sender, STActivityBaseEventArgs args)
        {
            string date = XmlConvert.ToString(DateTime.Now,XmlDateTimeSerializationMode.Local);                               
            CodeActivity22.Output.Result = date;
        }

5.  Result:

6. Now I can link the Result and use it in future activities.

UFT - Postgres on Windows via ODBC

For API testing in UFT (HP Unified Functional Testing) you might need to connect to a Postgres database.

1. For this you need to get an ODBC driver for Postgres:
http://www.postgresql.org/ftp/odbc/versions/msi/
2. Install it.
3. Go to %systemdrive%\Windows\SysWoW64 and add the Driver.

4. In UFT go to Data pane -> New Data Source -> Database and add database info.