Home screens of the Test Automation Artifacts
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Main Article
At a high level, the home screen for all the test automation artifacts except the User-Defined Variables offer more or less the exact same functionality and look & feel. Here is a list of features the home screens offer :
- Creating new artifacts
- Find Specific Artifacts quickly by using a wide variety of Search, Filtering and Sorting Criteria
- Maintaining (updating) existing artifacts
- Inactivating existing artifacts
Creating Artifacts
You can start creating a test automation artifact by clicking on the 'Create' button on the top right hand side of the specific artifact's home screen.
Find Specific Artifacts quickly by using a wide variety of Search, Filtering and Sorting Criteria
Worksoft SaaS offers numerous many tools for you to efficiently and rapidly find test automation artifacts so that you can perform any operation you intend to perform on them. Please skip forward to the next section to read about maintaining existing test automation artifacts. Please continue reading this section if you want to know more about finding test automation artifacts.
Separate Tabs for Artifact Project-level Library and Personal (User-level) Favorites
For any test automation artifact (except User-Defined Variables) there are two distinct tabs:
- Library: This tab shows all the artifacts of a particular entity type that are available within a specific project the user is currently in the context of. All users that have access to a project will see the same exact list of artifact records because the Library is shared across all users that have access to that project.
- Favorites: This tab only shows a subset of the project-level artifacts of a particular entity type, if the user has marked any subset (up to a maximum of 100) as his/her own (personal) favorites. Each user can mark their own favorites based on which artifacts they are currently working on or frequently have to work on.
You can switch back and forth between the 'Library' tab or the 'Favorites' tab.
Please note that you will be able to further narrow down to specific artifact records by using, as applicable, searching, filtering and sorting of the users within any of the two tabs.
Searching for and Sorting Artifacts
Worksoft SaaS offers numerous criteria to search for a test automation artifact within the home screen of each of the test automation artifacts and many ways to sort the results of your search.
The search criteria as well as the sorting options can be accessed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon (with a plus sign inside) on the top right hand side of the screen (right below the 'Create' button. That icon when clicked expands the search criteria form.
The search criteria form when expanded can be collapsed by clicking on the magnifying glass icon (with a minus sign inside) on the top right hand side of the screen (right below the 'Create' button. That icon when clicked collapses or closes the search criteria form so that you can see more of your search results.
The search form is organized into several related logical groups:
- Test Automation Properties: This section has many attributes about the test automation artifact in context including but not limited to the Name of the artifact, description, status of the artifact, the parent artifact, labels assigned to or not assigned to the artifact, associated with or no associated with specific types of binding, specific events (type, date range/date, the user that performed the event/action on the artifact/entity. All artifact types have the same attributes (search criteria) as part of this section.
- Contained Components: This section allows you to inquire upon the components that make up a specific artifact type. For Test Scripts artifact type, the contained component is 'Test Instruction'. For 'Data Definitions' the contained component is 'Attributes'. For 'Data Files' it is data within rows. For 'Files' it is data within a file.
- Linked Entities: This section allows you to specify one or more records of one or more artifact types that are linked to the artifact in context of the user. For example, for Test Scripts, the linked entities are Data Definitions, Run Definitions, Test Scenarios and User-Defined Variables. The list of linked entities vary by artifact type.
- Environment & Secure Tunnels: This section gives you the ability to find test scenarios and run definitions artifacts that were executed against a specific set of environments and/or using specific secure tunnels.
- Testing Platforms: This section allows you to find test scenarios and run definition artifacts that are configured to execute on specific testing platforms (clouds, operating systems, device types, devices, web browsers).
- Sort Results By: Though not a search criteria, this sections offers various ways in which you can get the results of your search sorted. The default sorting is based on the reverse chronological order of the date of last modification (meaning the test automation artifacts that were most recently updated appear on the top of the results list). You can always change the sort order to one of the other options by opening the search form and changing the sort order in this section and clicking on the search button.
Filtering with a Artifacts' List
You can use filter along with a search or independent of the search.
You can access the filtering functionality by clicking on the funnel icon on the top right hand side, right below the 'Create' icon. You can click on the funnel icon to collapse the filter.
To clear a filter that you may have set, just click on the red and blue eraser icon on the extreme right of the filter entry field.
Collapsing a filter does not clear the filter, if you have populated the filter. You are expected to clear the filter first before you collapse it, if your intention is to clear and collapse the filter.
An important point that you note, however, is that for performance reasons, Worksoft SaaS implements "lazy loading" (also called "on-demand loading") of search results. It is is an optimization technique wherein instead of loading the entire test automation artifact list in one go as in bulk loading, results are loaded in increments as the user scrolls down the list. Worksoft SaaS loads 100 artifacts in each increment.
Filtering in Worksoft SaaS is performed only within the results loaded so far to the user's browser from the Worksoft SaaS backend. Therefore, unless the user scrolled through all the artifacts within the search results or if the number of search result records is less than 100, the filter may not include all the records you may be looking for.
If there are less than 100 test automation artifact records within your domain (or within your search results), 100% of the test automation artifacts will be loaded into your browser. In such a case, use of a filter will yield accurate results.
You can use filter along with a search or independent of the search.
Drilling Down from one Test Automation Artifact to other Linked Test Automation Artifacts
From the artifact listing, Worksoft SaaS allows you quick access to the names of all the linked entities and from that listing drill down to a specific artifact record within a new browser tab that opens within the same browser window.
Alternatively, a user can drill down directly from the count of the linked entities of a specific test automation artifact to the listing of those linked artifacts. If you choose to, you can do such a drill down onto a new browser tab.
Maintaining Existing Test Automation Artifacts
From the artifact listing (or the artifacts' search listing), Worksoft SaaS allows you quick access to frequent operations you may want to perform on the test automation artifacts, including but not limited to:
- Editing an Artifact: This option allows you to get into the edit mode of a test automation artifact that allows you to make changes to an artifact record.
- View Assigned Labels and Assigning/Correcting Labels: This option allows you to view the labels currently assigned and if and as needed assign new labels or make changes (corrections) to the currently assigned labels.
- Downloading: This option is only available to specific artifact types like test scripts, data files, data definitions and files. You cannot download test scenarios, run definitions and data filters.
- Cloning a Test Automation Artifact: This option allows you to clone a test automation entity.
- Viewing/Editing the Bindings for Test Scenarios and Run Definitions This option allows you to view and as needed edit the bindings (data files, data filters) of a test automation entity.
- Executing a Test Script, Test Scenario or a Run Definition: This option allows you to execute test scenario or run definition on one or more testing contexts (platforms) within one or more clouds against applications under test deployed into one or more environments.
After reading this you might want to read: