Inside Macintosh: Apple Guide Complete / Part 2 - Building Guide Files

Chapter 6 - Testing Your Guide File

Verifying Coachmarks, Context Checks, and Event Functions

To make sure your guide file works as expected, you need to verify that coachmarks, context checks, and event functions perform as you intended under a variety of conditions.

When testing coachmarks, context checks, and event functions, have several applications open at once and switch between them often to verify that your guide file works as expected. Your user might perform steps out of order, and you need to allow for this possibility when you define your context checks for each panel.

Testing Coachmarks

If your guide file uses coachmarks, you need to verify, for each panel that specifies a coachmark, that the coachmark marks the desired item.

To begin, verify that the coachmark is directed to the correct application. For example, a menu coach designed to coachmark the File menu of your application should not coachmark the File menu of any other application.

Next, verify that the coachmark marks the desired item. For example, an item coach for an editable text item in a Global Changes dialog box should coachmark only that item. Verify that the coachmark marks the desired item when the dialog box is active, and verify that the coachmark isn't drawn when another window or dialog box is active.

Testing Context Checks

If your guide file uses context checks, you need to verify that the context checks work in any given condition of the user's environment. For example, if you define a context check that determines whether the user's dictionary is open, you need to test that the correct result is returned (and thus the appropriate panel displayed) when the dictionary is open and when it is closed.

Testing Event Functions

If your guide file uses event functions to perform an action for the user, you need to verify that the expected action occurs. For example, an event function that opens a dictionary for the user should both open the dictionary and make it the active document. By testing your event functions, you can also determine whether you have made an assumption that might not be valid given a particular user's environment.