Easily and quickly create manual test cases
The reasons for manual testing today are still varied: no money is allocated for test automation, there is a lack of understanding of the effort required to perform regression tests manually, or the resources/skills for maintaining test automation are not available.
The Damocles' sword of manual test case creation and execution loomed over me again a few weeks ago. The product in question is a new development that maps three long-running processes: one rather complex, one relatively simple, and one very simple. All three processes are controlled via business cases and tasks and include different types of participants. Depending on the participant type and age, different tasks are generated for completion. In my mind's eye, I saw hundreds of test cases flashing before my eyes, and the mere prospect of weeks of compiling test data, writing test cases, and creating test scenarios almost robbed me of sleep. But Gaby wouldn't be Gaby if she simply accepted a situation without question. And so, I set about taking a closer look at Jira Xray .
A short time later, I had found the magic word for my problems!
The magic word is: parameters !
The parameters are hidden behind an inconspicuous symbol, namely this one:
You can find it by first creating a test case and then clicking on the aforementioned symbol.
Before I get lost in the details, I would first like to show you the difference between test cases without parameters and test cases with parameters.
Difference between test cases with and without parameters
If we create manual test cases in the classic way, the testing of a business case with 5 people involved looks like this:
We create a separate test case for each participant and then execute it individually.
When we use parameters, we only have one test case instead of five. Nevertheless, the five different configurations are tested and individually evaluated during test execution.
Instead of manually creating hundreds of test cases, let's let Xray do all the work! Okay, maybe not all the work, but at least part of it.
Parameterizing test cases
If you have created a test case and clicked on data protection, you will be shown that no default data set has yet been defined. Now you can begin configuring it by clicking on ‹Create parameters›.
Parameters are defined for each test case . This means that you have to define the parameters anew for each test case you create
As shown in the illustration, you can define one type for each parameter.
- If you ‹Text› , you can enter any text for each iteration. The text must be entered anew for each iteration.
- If you ‹List› , then you have two options:
- Ad-hoc list: You can enter all the desired values in it and then reuse them in the individual iterations, but only in this one test case.
- Project list: You can use this value list across any number of test cases . You create parameter value lists in the Xray settings under Parameter Value Lists; you need administrator rights for this!
Even if you are using a project list, you can assign any name to the parameter in the test case itself, regardless of the naming in the parameter value list!
The columns for each parameter are very narrow and cannot be enlarged. If you have a project list, the parameter values are practically unreadable. Instead of selecting a value from the dropdown menu, you can type directly into the field; this will limit the selection to the desired value. Pressing the Enter key then selects that value.
Parameter names as placeholders in the test case
In the final step, we can now define the test case with the parameters.
When a test case is copied, the parameters and the iterations to be tested are also copied and can be reused or modified. It is also possible to export the parameters to a CSV file so that you can import them again in the next test case.
And what else I wanted to mention
- Note that you can insert a maximum of 20 parameters per test case!
- Using parameters for your test cases will make test case management easier, as the number of test cases will be significantly reduced.
- Unlike individual test cases, test coverage shows you how well the entire scenario under test functions. In our example, this is a business case with five different people/roles. However, make sure you only group scenarios into a single test case that make sense within the overall context. If we had additional business cases with other person/role combinations, it wouldn't make much sense to group them all under one test case. This also applies to regression testing.
- It's worthwhile to also add parameters to preconditions. Parameters can only be added to preconditions under ‹Steps›! If preconditions contain parameters, these parameters must in every single test case via ‹Record› in which the precondition is used.
With that in mind, I wish you "Happy Test Case Creation"!
