I have a cross-platform desktop application written in Xamarin.Forms that runs both in Windows and MacOS. I want to do some UI automation on top of that application.
After some research it seems like the most cross-platform friendly option is to use Something like Sikuli. As the default stack on our team is centered on the .NET stack we want to use SikuliSharp or Sikuli4Net to perform the automated UI tests.
However, despite of the fact that we've been able to run Sikuli4Net successfully on Windows, automating several flows so far. We have a dire situation on MacOS. Our team (myself included) doesn't have a lot (or maybe any) knowledge of Java applications.
I've installed the JDK 8, but was unable to run the tests in the same way we did on Windows. The code builds, but it seems like something in the environment is lacking.
With Sikuli4Sharp when starting the APILauncher like this:
launch = new APILauncher(true);
launch.Start();
I get the following error:
With SikuliSharp when trying to run a simple demo application on our software I have this error:
I have tried to set up the SIKULI_HOME environment variable using this answer as a reference, but still the same problem (and I did restart the console and IDE, even my machine).
When I run echo $SIKULI_HOME on the terminal I do get the directory that cointains the .jar files:
So I'm kind of lost about were to go from here. These problems made me unsure about being possible to run Sikuli4Net or SikuliSharp on MacOS environments. Is this the case? If not, what am I doing wrong?
as mentioned in the error message: sikuli-script.jar is missing.
You have to check on what version of Sikuli/SikuliX your SikuliSharp or Sikuli4Net are depending on.
In doubt you have to dive into the sources of those Net packages.
I need to create setup file for installation of these:
-Web app
-Win service
-Run some sql scripts.
I wanted to do all in one setup. For example I want to make method like CreateSetup and in that method to create setup file which will contain installation/run of above 3 things.
If you have some links or idea how to do it please share.
Thank you in advance.
If I come across some solution I will post it here for others as well.
It might very well be worth your while to sit down and learn WIX, it seems the preferred method of dealing with more complex setups. I haven't done the tasks outlined here, but I did mange to have an installer that set up an application on a Windows Mobile device.
Looking around a bit, it does seem you can install web applications: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/115036/Creating-WIX-Installer-for-ASP-NET-Web-Application
And a windows service: http://blog.tentaclesoftware.com/archive/2009/01/01/21.aspx
And run SQL scripts: How to run sql script to create database using Wix
It does appear you could even capture what is required to build a SQL string through the windows installer GUI, and use that to know where to run the SQL script, and set up any needed connection strings.
Richard of Last.fm over at metabrew has ported his apps to Erlang. It was also done by riak, couchdb and others. He mentions extracting the needed parts, or including the whole VM into the distribution. Main trait here is: the program does not require Erlang to be installed on the target machine.
So the question is, how do you, step by step, package an Erlang program into a windows (and, less important, linux) executable?
P.S. I've seen the SAE project, and I've read all the relevant questions here. None answer my question.
Create a portable version of Erlang (for example using method from this discussion group: Erlang on Windows from USB). The most important part in this exercise is the creation of the erl.ini file with correct paths which can be used to start Erlang from any desired location.
Create an Erlang release of your application and the release boot script. For instructions see Erlang documentation about releases.
Create a Windows command line script to boot your application. This will simply run Erlang with your boot script as the parameter (e.g. erl -boot someapp). Erlang will read the erl.ini file to load your application and system libraries from correct locations.
Create a Windows setup application with all the relevant parts packaged in:
the Erlang distribution
the erl.ini file with all the paths as variables to be filled in by the setup application
the release of your application (all the beam files and the boot script)
the command line script to boot the application using the boot script
How it should work from the Windows installer point of view:
Ask user where to install the application (or use some default location in Program Files)
Copy the Erlang distribution, your application and the boot script to the correct location
Update erl.ini and the command line script to use the chosen location
Create icons or autostart entries that will execute the command line script
Now when user clicks the icon or executes the command line script in another way they will in fact run Erlang from the custom location, which in turn will boot your application according to the Erlang boot script. This is just a general idea because the command line script should for example check if Erlang isn't already running when user starts the application for the second time, or it may need to be able to uninstall it.
I am writing an application using Delphi 2010. I would like to have my application start up when windows starts up. I need this to work in the latest versions of Windows XP, 7.0, and the latest servers.
Would storing it under the following key work, or do i need to do something else?
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
thanks for any help
That will only result in it starting when the user running the installation process connects. If you want it to start when Windows starts then try under HKLM.
Be aware that these Run key entries execute when a user logs on. To launch a task on startup, it's better to write windows services, which is quite easy to do in Delphi.
A little help on services: http://delphi.about.com/od/windowsshellapi/a/delphi-windows-service-applications.htm
Is there any quick way to, given an executable file, create a Windows service that, when started, launches it?
To create a Windows Service from an executable, you can use sc.exe:
sc.exe create <new_service_name> binPath= "<path_to_the_service_executable>"
You must have quotation marks around the actual exe path, and a space after the binPath=.
More information on the sc command can be found in Microsoft KB251192.
Note that it will not work for just any executable: the executable must be a Windows Service (i.e. implement ServiceMain). When registering a non-service executable as a service, you'll get the following error upon trying to start the service:
Error 1053: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.
There are tools that can create a Windows Service from arbitrary, non-service executables, see the other answers for examples of such tools.
Use NSSM( the non-Sucking Service Manager ) to run a .BAT or any .EXE file as a service.
http://nssm.cc/
Step 1: Download NSSM
Step 2: Install your sevice with nssm.exe install [serviceName]
Step 3: This will open a GUI which you will use to locate your executable
Extending (Kevin Tong) answer.
Step 1: Download & Unzip nssm-2.24.zip
Step 2: From command line type:
C:\> nssm.exe install [servicename]
it will open GUI as below (the example is UT2003 server), then simply browse it to: yourapplication.exe
More information on: https://nssm.cc/usage
these extras proved useful.. need to be executed as an Administrator
sc create <service_name> binpath= "<binary_path>"
sc stop <service_name>
sc queryex <service_name>
sc delete <service_name>
If your service name has any spaces, enclose in "quotes".
Many existing answers include human intervention at install time. This can be an error-prone process. If you have many executables wanted to be installed as services, the last thing you want to do is to do them manually at install time.
Towards the above described scenario, I created serman, a command line tool to install an executable as a service. All you need to write (and only write once) is a simple service configuration file along with your executable. Run
serman install <path_to_config_file>
will install the service. stdout and stderr are all logged. For more info, take a look at the project website.
A working configuration file is very simple, as demonstrated below. But it also has many useful features such as <env> and <persistent_env> below.
<service>
<id>hello</id>
<name>hello</name>
<description>This service runs the hello application</description>
<executable>node.exe</executable>
<!--
{{dir}} will be expanded to the containing directory of your
config file, which is normally where your executable locates
-->
<arguments>"{{dir}}\hello.js"</arguments>
<logmode>rotate</logmode>
<!-- OPTIONAL FEATURE:
NODE_ENV=production will be an environment variable
available to your application, but not visible outside
of your application
-->
<env name="NODE_ENV" value="production"/>
<!-- OPTIONAL FEATURE:
FOO_SERVICE_PORT=8989 will be persisted as an environment
variable to the system.
-->
<persistent_env name="FOO_SERVICE_PORT" value="8989" />
</service>
Same as Sergii Pozharov's answer, but with a PowerShell cmdlet:
New-Service -Name "MyService" -BinaryPathName "C:\Path\to\myservice.exe"
See New-Service for more customization.
This will only work for executables that already implement the Windows Services API.
I've tested a good product for that: AlwaysUp. Not free but they have a 30 days trial period so you can give it a try...
I created the cross-platform Service Manager software a few years back so that I could start PHP and other scripting languages as system services on Windows, Mac, and Linux OSes:
https://github.com/cubiclesoft/service-manager
Service Manager is a set of precompiled binaries that install and manage a system service on the target OS using nearly identical command-line options (source code also available). Each platform does have subtle differences but the core features are mostly normalized.
If the child process dies, Service Manager automatically restarts it.
Processes that are started with Service Manager should periodically watch for two notification files to handle restart and reload requests but they don't necessarily have to do that. Service Manager will force restart the child process if it doesn't respond in a timely fashion to controlled restart/reload requests.
You can check out my small free utility for service create\edit\delete operations. Here is create example:
Go to Service -> Modify -> Create
Executable file (google drive): [Download]
Source code: [Download]
Blog post: [BlogLink]
Service editor class: WinServiceUtils.cs
Probably all your answers are better, but - just to be complete on the choice of options - I wanted to remind about old, similar method used for years:
SrvAny (installed by InstSrv)
as described here:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-client/deployment/create-user-defined-service
I have another method, using the open-source library called Topshelf.
I used it in a c# project, but maybe its available in different programming languages.
Here's a video that explains how to use it a little.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64L-3HKuP0
The crux of this issue for a lot of people is that you can't install any old .exe as a service unless you use the old method that Tomeg used. I couldn't find the windows nt toolkit that's needed to get that to work.
I was stuck in a corner and this was my way out.