The SmartPlant Test Tool does, in a simple manner, most of the things done by any tool enabled to work in an integrated environment. Therefore, it is useful not only as a test tool, but also as a model for enabling other tools to work in an integrated environment.
Operation
To work in an integrated environment, a design tool must communicate with the SmartPlant database and vice versa. The means of this communication are the SmartPlant Common UI DLL and the adapter DLLs.
The SmartPlant Test Tool, whose executable is EFTestTool.exe, is a test design tool enabled to work in an integrated environment. The SmartPlant Test Tool is analogous to Smart P&ID or Smart Instrumentation in its integration capabilities, but is simpler. The SmartPlant Test Tool communicates with the SmartPlant database using the SmartPlant Common UI and adapter DLLs to publish documents, retrieve documents, and do other tasks. The SmartPlant Test Tool creates the documents from the files in the Test document files directory.
Registration
The SmartPlant Test Tool uses the SmartPlant Common UI to register tool plants with SmartPlant Foundation plants. When the SmartPlant Test Tool does so, the Common UI passes back the information the SmartPlant Test Tool needs to relate a SmartPlant Test Tool plant to a SmartPlant Foundation plant and to connect to the Common UI in the future. The SmartPlant Test Tool stores this information in its own database (EFTestTool.mdb).