Note
This section may be difficult to understand
when you are a programming beginner. Then it may be better to
come back to it when you started writing procedures for your own tests.
In QF-Test there are many places where you can set a variable:
-
The test-suite node,
-
in test-cases and procedures as default or local variables,
-
as a parameter in a procedure call,
-
as a global variable and
-
as a command line parameter.
Now the question is: Which is the correct place for defining a variable?
And the answer is: It depends on the use-case.
Each level of the variable bindings has its own use-case:
- Procedure parameters
-
When you call the same procedure several times in a test-case and with different
values each time you should set the values via a parameter at a procedure call.
This is done by adding a row to the variable definitions table of a 'Procedure call' node
specifying the respective variable name and value.
- Local variables in a procedure
-
They are created in the
procedure and are deleted when the execution of the procedure finishes.
Use a local variable when you do not need it outside of the current
procedure. In procedures they are predestined for intermediate results.
- Local variables in a test-case
-
Variables local to a test-case are either created during execution of a test-case or
defined in the respective table in the details of the test-case node. They will be
deleted from the variable bindings table once the
test-case finishes.
Use them for values you want to refer to in several nodes of a test case and you
do not need outside of it.
- Global variables
-
Global variables are created at some point of the test execution and exist
until they are explicitly deleted or QF-Test is stopped.
They survive stops and restarts of test execution.
Use them for values that need to be accessible by all test-cases. A typical
example is the variable
client created in the 'Setup' node when
starting the application.
To get rid of them you need to either
exit QF-Test or select the menu item »Run«-»Clear global variables«.
- Command line parameters
-
In batch mode you may want to run test with various parameters. They are
valid throughout the batch run. A typical example would be the browser to be used.
- Test-suite variables
-
Test-suite variables can be referred to by all test-cases. Their usage is the
same as that of global variables. Only that they
can be overridden at batch execution by command line parameters, whereas
global variables cannot.
- Default values (Fallback stack)
-
You can define default values for variables of procedures, test-cases and
test-sets. In case you do not define a variable of the same name on a higher
level QF-Test will use the default value set.
