Frequently Asked Questions

Is it really free ? Is there some limitations of any kind?
Why is it free?
I found a bug. Where can I submit it?
I have Vista and I cannot run XStudio, what's the problem?
Is it planned to have a better documentation in the future?
I'm getting an error when I start XStudio on Linux, what is the problem?
In my campaign, all tests are skipped (not executed), what is the problem?
XStudio is not yet localized for my language
Why do I get "#### Java Web Start Error" at startup time?
The "skin" of the GUI is weird on my system. How can I fix this?
How do I start coding my own launcher?
When I use the web package, my proprietary launcher does not appear in the combobox...
Since I updated XStudio my launcher is crashing or behaving weirdly. Why that?
I've got about my database: "(max = 255); Use BLOB or TEXT instead"
How do I get the log/traces of XStudio?
XStudio works fine in its standalone version but cannot make it work from the web what Am I doing wrong?
I'm getting an exception java.lang.IlegalArgumentexception: Null input buffer. What did I do wrong?
Using the web package an Invalid classpath is reported for the jdbc driver!
Many of my tests does not execute with message "Skipped (dependencies)". What does it mean?
I cannot create a configuration for my session
Many tests are skipped/not executed. Why that?
I just compiled my own launcher but it does not appear in the drop-down menu
I can't upload files bigger than 1MByte. Why that?
Where are my attachments downloaded?
How do I link directly requirements with tests?
I can run XStudio only form the server hosting MySql!
My JDBC driver is not recognized on MacOSX




Is it really free ? Is there some limitations of any kind?

Yes, it is free. No, there is no limitation in time or in features.


Why is it free?

Well, we believe in the model where a program is free and you pay only for the support if you want it. XQual is making money providing services and selling Commercial Support Licenses. Any serious company using XStudio professionally should purchase such commercial licenses.


I found a bug. Where can I submit it?

Any bugs can be reported through the dedicated forum. The community may answer to the question and help you on this. If you purchased a Commercial Support License, you can directly contact support@xqual.com to get an quick answer and/or bug-fix.


I have Vista and I cannot run XStudio, what's the problem?

Starting with Vista, programs are no longer allowed to write into the Program Files path. If a program attempts to write anywhere into Program Files, a permission denied error will occur. Unfortunately, XStudio writes all its data (i.e. xstudio.conf or bugtracking.conf) there.

There are 2 ways to workaround it:
  • 1) Preferred solution: Install XStudio on a folder with no security limitation (i.e. C:/Users/<your account>)
  • 2) Disable Vista's security features To do so, disable the UAC of the system. To do this, follow this procedure:

    • In the Control Panel, click User Accounts and Family Safety
    • Click User Accounts
    • Click Turn User Account Control off
    • Click on OK
    • When prompted, restart the computer. Note that the changes will affect all users on the computer
    • Re-install XStudio

If you still have problems running XStudio, copy the file xstudio.conf and bugtracking.confto:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Xqual\Xstudio\bin\


Is it planned to have a better documentation in the future?

Yes, the user guide will be improved in the future (even if it's already much better than most of all the other free test management tools on the market). But for now, the priority is still to adding new features. XStudio's users rarely need to read the documentation (even non-technical people) as it is very user-friendly and intuitive (which is not the case to the other free Test Management systems.


I'm getting an error when I start XStudio on Linux, what is the problem?

You need to have permission to write file in bin and exports folders. The easier is of course to run the program as root.


In my campaign, all tests are skipped (not executed), what is the problem?

You need to set all your tests as implemented. During execution, only implemented tests are executed.


XStudio is not yet localized for my language

It is very easy to localize XStudio. There is a quite simple procedure to add a custom localization described here.


Why do I get "#### Java Web Start Error" at startup time?

This means you updated your web package and overwritten your new (virgin) config files with the older ones. Most of the time it works but when some new parameters are added, it is not there anymore and the systems needs it. For instance, with version 1.3a4, a new parameter has been added in bugtracking.conf (used for TRAC integration): feature.bugtracking.urlxmlrpcserver=a_url if this parameter is missing you will get the error above.


The "skin" of the GUI is weird on my system. How can I fix this?

XStudio is a java application that will automatically apply to its GUI a look and feel returned by your OS. Nevertheless, on certain exotic (often linux based) GUI, the resulting skin is a bit weird. In this case, you can enforce XStudio to use the cross-platform look and feel. On the linux fat client, add the following option to the java interpreter:

-Dswing.systemlaf=com.sun.javax.swing.plaf.metal.CrossPlatformLookAndFeel

If you're using the web package, you can add the following entry in the xstudio.jnlp file:

<property name="swing.systemlaf" value="com.sun.javax.swing.plaf.metal.CrossPlatformLookAndFeel"/>

Under the resources node


How do I start coding my own launcher?

Writing a launcher is pretty simple:
  • you have some basic information here and the SDK is included in the XStudio package you installed. You can also download it separatly from here.
  • In this SDK, you have the source files of all the launchers and their build scripts
  • The best is to start by duplicating the random launcher. For this:
    • copy the folder src/com/xqual/launcher/random in src/com/xqual/launcher/xxx
    • rename src/com/xqual/launcher/random.xml in src/com/xqual/launcher/xxx.xml
    • copy and rename build/buildRandomLauncher.bat in build/buildXxxLauncher.bat
    • edit the build script buildXxxLauncher.bat and change
      • the variable JAVA_HOME to point to your JDK
      • the name of the launcher in the script XSTUDIO_LAUNCHER_NAME=xxx
  • Run buildXXXLauncher.bat
  • You should get a file xxx.jar in the bin folder... you compiled your first launcher!
  • From there, you can just edit the source code (src/com/xqual/launcher/xxx/CLauncherImpl.java) so that your launcher does exactly what you want. There are 4 methods to implement that are pretty comprehensive and self-explainatory. You can also modify the xxx.xml configuration descriptor if you wish.



When I use the web package, my proprietary launcher does not appear in the combobox...

If you use the standalone version, XStudio can find by itself the launchers availabale locally on the disk. However, it you're using the web package you need to povide the list of the launchers in the bin/launchers/launchers.xml file



Since I updated XStudio my launcher is crashing or behaving weirdly. Why that?

The launchers must be compiled using the SDK provided with the version of XStudio running. When you update XStudio, you need to recompile your launcher(s) using he new provided SDK (even if the sources were not modified) as there may have internal symbols incompatibilties.



I've got an error from MySql: "(max = 255); Use BLOB or TEXT instead"

You're using an old version of MySql you must upgrade to the latest version.



How do I get the log of XStudio?

With the standalone version of XStudio, a DOS box is automatically displaying the log.
Increasing the screen buffer size (Properties > Layout > Screen Buffer Size > Height = 9999) of the window is a good idea as the default value is pretty small.


With the web version, you need to activate the java console to get the log: Settings > Control Panel > Java > Advanced > Java Console > Display


XStudio works fine in its standalone version but cannot make it work from the web what Am I doing wrong?

If the standalone works fine, it means that the xstudio.conf is correct. However a few things can be checked before going to web deployment:
  • From the standalone install, ensure you're using a real name or a IP address for the parameter database_server. do NOT use localhost
  • Check in the xstudio.jnlp file that you're NOT using localhost either but the same name/IP address for the codebase attribute
  • Check you do not have extra leading or ending space in the parameter's values in xstudio.conf
  • Then, if the standalone version works fine (you can start XStudio, login and use it), you can just copy xstudio.conf to your web server install (overwrite the default one in the bin directory)
  • Copy the driver you're using in the standalone version to the web server as well (in bin/jdbc directory).
The same applies for bugtracking.conf.


I'm getting an exception java.lang.IlegalArgumentexception: Null input buffer. What did I do wrong?

This means you probably edited manually the xstudio.conf or bug-tracking.conf files and included plain text passwords. This is important to NEVER edit manually those files as all passwords fields must be encrypted by XStudio. If you edit manually a password you make the complete file corrupted and unreadable by XStudio.


To get back to a normal situation: uninstall and reinstall XStudio or edit manually the file and give the following value for all the passwords you manually edited: 0102030405060708A1A2A3A4A5A6A7A8. This of course corresponds to a wrong password but will make the configuration file valid again and XStudio will make you possible to change this password later through its GUI interface.


Using the web package an Invalid classpath is reported for the jdbc driver!

This probably means your local network requires using a proxy.
You need to activate it from the java control panel: Settings > Control Panel > Java > General > Network Settings


Many of my tests does not execute with message "Skipped (dependencies)". What does it mean?

There are 2 possibilities:
  • One test that is parent of many tests failed and you configured the session with the option "If a parent test has status Failed: Set child tests as not executed"
  • One test that is parent of many tests terminated with status Unknown and you configured the session with the option "If a parent test has status Unknown: Set child tests as not executed"
You can find this configuration setting in Campaign session > Configuration.


I cannot create a configuration for my session

Probably you forgot to set a launcher for the categories hosting the tests in your session.


Many tests are skipped/not executed. Why that?

There are several possible causes:
  • The tests are set as "not implemented" in XStudio
  • One test that is parent of many other tests failed and you selected the option: If a parent test has status failed: Set child tests as not executed (setting availabale in Session > Configuration)
  • One test that is parent of many other tests terminated with status "Unknown" and you selected the option: If a parent test has status unknown: Set child tests as not executed



I just compiled my own launcher but it does not appear in the drop-down menu

There are several possible causes:
  • You're using a standalone client: you probably did not copied the .jar and the xml of your own laucher to the launchers folder
  • you're using the web package: you need to ensure that the .jar and the .xml files of your own launcher are copied on the server in the launchers folder.
    In addition, you need to add your launcher to the launchers.xml file located on the server.



I can't upload files bigger than 1MByte. Why that?

MySql default configuration prevents from uploading files bigger than 1MByte.
To change this, edit the file my.ini and add the configuration parameter max_allowed_packet=100M in the [mysqld] section.


Where are my attachments downloaded?

When you click on the download or download and lock button, the files are download in your system temporary directory. On windows it is located in C:Documents and Settings<your account>Local SettingsTemp


How do I link directly requirements with tests?

It is not possible to link directly requirements with tests. The path is requirement <-> specification <-> test. However, there is an easy trick if you do not want to handle specifications. The trick is to create and link one specification for each requirement automatically:
  • Select a folder in the requirement tree
  • click on the "Generate specifications" button
For each requirements included in the folder, a specification will be created and linked 1-1. The only thing you have to do now is to link the specifications (hence the requirements) to the tests using the standard way.


I can run XStudio only form the server hosting MySql!

It is a MySql configuration issue.
The reason for this is that you're probably using the root user to connect to MySQL (by default, MySQL does give permission to root to connect only locally). You should create a new dedicated user having the permissions to connect from any remote location (and only to xstudio_db database).
  • Launch the MySQL Administrator tool on the system hosting the database server
  • Select the User Administration option
  • Right-click in the bottom left hand corner of the window and select Add new user
  • You can check that the temporary name of the user is "New user@any host"
  • Enter the credentials of this new user: name=xstudio and password=xstudiopwd
  • Select the Schema privilege tab
  • Click on the xstudio_db database item and grant all the rights to this user by pressing <<
  • Validate and exit the MySQL Administrator tool
  • Restart XStudio from the remote host and provide the new xstudio user credentials in the connection settings dialog


If you wish to keep on using the root user (it's not recommended), you can resolve the issue by executing the following actions:
  • Launch the MySQL Administrator tool on the system hosting the database server
  • Select the User Administration option
  • Right-click on the root user and select Add Host
  • Add the host name or IP address of the remote host to which you wish to allow connections
  • Validate and exit the MySQL Administrator tool
Once root has the appropriate privileges to connect from the specified host it should be possible to connect the MySQL Administrator client to the database server



My JDBC driver is not recognized on MacOSX

The jdbc driver must be copied in <Install dir>/xstudio.app/Contents/Resources/Java/bin/jdbc.




   
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