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Article · 2 min read

QC & QTP How to schedule a recurring test set

Problem – Quality center's issue with running periodic test sets This has been a long standing issue with me and […]

Joe Colantonio

By Joe Colantonio

Founder, TestGuild · 30 November 2011 at 7:01 PM · Updated 29 October 2026 at 1:47 PM

QC & QTP How to schedule a recurring test set

Problem – Quality center’s issue with running periodic test sets

This has been a long standing issue with me and Quality Center. You can use QC to schedule a testset to run at a given time but the issue is when you need to have a testset run at a recurring time — say every day at 5:00 am.

Solution

To get testsets to run periodically you can use Vbscript with QC’s OTA API and Windows scheduler.

VBScript code needed to run test set in QC

First you need to setup a VBScript that calls the Quality Center’s testset that you want to run:

set tdc = createobject("TDApiOle80.TDConnection")
tdc.InitConnectionEx "http://qcURL/qcbin/"
tdc.login "yourUserName","yourPassword"
tdc.Connect "yourDomain","yourProject"

Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set TSetFact = tdc.TestSetFactory
Set tsTreeMgr = tdc.TestSetTreeManager
Set tsFolder = tsTreeMgr.NodeByPath("RootFormal TestsYourTestDirectory")
Set tsList = tsFolder.FindTestSets("Your TestSet name. This is case sensitive!")
 
Set theTestSet = tsList.Item(1)
Set Scheduler = theTestSet.StartExecution("")
Scheduler.RunAllLocally = True
Scheduler.run

Set execStatus = Scheduler.ExecutionStatus

Do While RunFinished = False
 execStatus.RefreshExecStatusInfo "all", True
 RunFinished = execStatus.Finished
 Set EventsList = execStatus.EventsList

 For Each ExecEventInfoObj in EventsList
  strNowEvent = ExecEventInfoObj.EventType
 Next

 For i= 1 to execstatus.count
  Set TestExecStatusobj =execstatus.Item(i)
  intTestid = TestExecStatusobj.TestInstance
 Next
Loop

Window’s Scheduled Tasks for Running Tests

Next you need to setup the windows scheduler to run at the desired time. See video for step by step instructions.

RunTestSet.exe – Another option

If you do not want to create your own VBScript to run your test sets you can also try an unsupported tool from HP – RunTestSet.exe.

RunTestSet is a VC++ console application that you can send command line options to in order to run a QC a test set. You can download RunTestSet and its documentation from HP or from https://testguild.com/downloads

About the author

Joe Colantonio

Joe Colantonio

Founder, TestGuild · Host, TestGuild Automation Podcast

Joe founded TestGuild in 2010 and has spent 27+ years in test automation. He hosts the longest-running automation-testing podcast (600+ episodes) and created Automation Guild, the premier online event for test automation engineers.

Joe Colantonio, founder of TestGuild

About the author

About Joe Colantonio

Joe Colantonio is the founder of TestGuild, an industry-leading platform for automation testing and software testing tools. With over 25 years of hands-on experience, he has worked with top enterprise companies, helped develop early test automation tools and frameworks, and runs the largest online automation testing conference, Automation Guild.

Joe is also the author of Automation Awesomeness: 260 Actionable Affirmations To Improve Your QA & Automation Testing Skills and the host of the TestGuild podcast, which he has released weekly since 2014, making it the longest-running podcast dedicated to automation testing. Over the years, he has interviewed top thought leaders in DevOps, AI-driven test automation, and software quality, shaping the conversation in the industry.

With a reach of over 400,000 across his YouTube channel, LinkedIn, email list, and other social channels, Joe’s insights impact thousands of testers and engineers worldwide.

He has worked with some of the top companies in software testing and automation, including Tricentis, Keysight, Applitools, and BrowserStack, as sponsors and partners, helping them connect with the right audience in the automation testing space.

Follow him on LinkedIn or check out more at his TestGuild profile .

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