Retrieving data from the Environment object

This recipe will show you how to retrieve data from the Environment object, which is a kind of dictionary that stores key-value pairs. As we will see, unlike a regular dictionary, the Environment object stores two types of variables:

• Built-in
• User-defined

Built-in Environment variables give access to two types of information:

• Static data such as the OS, OSVersion, LocalHostName, SystemTempDir, ProductDir (where UFT is installed), ProductName, ProductVer (UFT version), UserName (the Windows login name), and several settings such as UpdatingCheckpoints and UpdatingTODescriptions. In addition, we can retrieve information about the current test, such as TestName and TestDir (the path to the current test(s) from the Environment object).
• Runtime data such as TestIteration, ActionName, and ActionIteration can be retrieved via the Environment object during runtime. The iteration number can be useful, for instance, when we need to perform an initialization procedure that should be done only once. In this case, the iteration number must be equal to the TestIteration parameter value.

Getting ready

Create a user-defined Environment variable named MyEnvParam (see the previous recipe, Storing data in the Environment object).

How to do it...

The following code shows how to retrieve either a built-in or a user-defined variable:

Print Environment("TestDir")
'Prints the Built-in TestDir (path) Environment variable to the console
Print Environment("MyEnvParam")
'Prints the User-defined MyEnvParam Environment variable to the console

How it works...

Similar to the workings of the Scripting.Dictionary object, by accessing an existing key, the Environment object returns its paired value.

See also

User-defined Environment variables can be stored in an XML file and dynamically loaded during the runtime session. Refer to the Using global variables (Environment) recipe of Chapter 8, Utility and Reserved Objects.