Miscellaneous - QF-Test

'Heading'

The string that should get displayed in the tree, a summary of the comment or the comment itself.

This attribute allows to use the following HTML-Tags italic Text, underlined text, <s>stroke text</s> and bold text in order to beautify the representation in the tree. Furthermore it is possible to specify a text color via a style="color:colorname" or the color="colorname" attribute (also in combination with the , , or tag).

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Variable name'

The name of the global variable to which the value is assigned (see chapter 6).

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'Local variable'

This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Default value'

The default value for the variable if the test is run non-interactively, the 'Interactive' attribute is not set or the 'Timeout' is exceeded.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Interactive'

Whether a dialog should be shown in which the value for the global variable can be entered. Ignored if the test is run non-interactively.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Description'

A short description to display in the dialog. If you leave this value empty, the description Value for <'Variable name'> will be used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Timeout'

An optional timeout value for the dialog. If the dialog is shown and the value is left unchanged for the specified period of time, the dialog is closed automatically and the default value is used. This avoids blocking a test that is started interactively from QF-Test and then left to run unattended.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Empty or > 0.

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Client'

The name of the Java process in which to wait.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'QF-Test component ID'

The 'QF-Test ID' of the 'Window', 'Component' or 'Item' to wait for.

The "Select component" button brings up a dialog in which you can select the component interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing [Shift-Return] or [Alt-Return], when the focus is in the text field. As an alternative you can copy the target node with [Ctrl-C] or »Edit«-»Copy« and insert its QF-Test component ID into the text field by pressing [Ctrl-V].

This attribute supports a special format for referencing components in other test suites (see section 23.1). Furthermore, sub-elements of nodes can be addressed directly without requiring separate nodes for them (see section 5.9). When using SmartIDs, you can address a GUI element directly via its recognition criteria. For more information, refer to SmartID (Preview) and 'Component' nodes versus SmartID.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'Timeout'

Time limit in milliseconds.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: >= 0

'Wait for absence'

If this attribute is set, QF-Test waits for the absence of a component or a sub-item. This is useful e.g. to ensure that a dialog has been closed or was never opened in the first place. If the component or sub-item remains visible for the whole time, a ComponentFoundException is thrown.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Variable for result'

This optional attribute determines the name for the result variable of the action. If set, the respective variable will be set to 'true' for a successful check or wait and to 'false' in case of failure.

Note If this attribute is set, the attribute 'Error level of message' is ignored and no error is reported. The attribute 'Throw exception on failure' always remains effective, so it is possible to set a result variable and still throw an exception.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Local variable'

This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Error level of message'

This attribute determines the error level of the message that is logged in case of failure. Possible choices are message, warning and error.

Note If the attribute 'Throw exception on failure' is set, this attribute is irrelevant and if 'Variable for result' is set this attribute is ignored.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Throw exception on failure'

Throw an exception in case of failure. For 'Check...' nodes a CheckFailedException is thrown, for 'Wait for...' nodes the respective specific exception.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Client'

The name of the SUT client process from which to query the data.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'QF-Test component ID'

The 'QF-Test ID' of the 'Window', 'Component' or 'Item' node that is to be queried.

The "Select component" button brings up a dialog in which you can select the component interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing [Shift-Return] or [Alt-Return], when the focus is in the text field. As an alternative you can copy the target node with [Ctrl-C] or »Edit«-»Copy« and insert its QF-Test component ID into the text field by pressing [Ctrl-V].

This attribute supports a special format for referencing components in other test suites (see section 23.1). Furthermore, sub-elements of nodes can be addressed directly without requiring separate nodes for them (see section 5.9). When using SmartIDs, you can address a GUI element directly via its recognition criteria. For more information, refer to SmartID (Preview) and 'Component' nodes versus SmartID.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'Name of the browser window'

This attribute has a dual use. If set to an existing name for a browser window, QF-Test waits for the document to load in that window. If the name is set but no browser window by that name exists, the search is limited to documents in new or not-yet-named windows. If the wait succeeds and a new document is loaded, the window name is assigned to the document's browser window. This is the only way to define a name for a popup window. Explicitly launched browsers can have their name set via the 'Name of the browser window' attribute of a 'Open browser window' node. You find a brief description how to handle multiple browser windows in FAQ 25.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Timeout'

Time limit in milliseconds.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: >= 0

'Stop loading if timeout exceeded'

If this attribute is set and the timeout is exceeded without a matching document finishing to load, QF-Test will cause loading to stop, either in all browsers or, if 'Name of the browser window' is set, the browser window specified therein. Result and exception handling are not affected by this attribute. If the timeout is exceeded the operation is considered a failure regardless of whether loading is stopped or not.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Variable for result'

This optional attribute determines the name for the result variable of the action. If set, the respective variable will be set to 'true' for a successful check or wait and to 'false' in case of failure.

Note If this attribute is set, the attribute 'Error level of message' is ignored and no error is reported. The attribute 'Throw exception on failure' always remains effective, so it is possible to set a result variable and still throw an exception.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Local variable'

This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Error level of message'

This attribute determines the error level of the message that is logged in case of failure. Possible choices are message, warning and error.

Note If the attribute 'Throw exception on failure' is set, this attribute is irrelevant and if 'Variable for result' is set this attribute is ignored.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Throw exception on failure'

Throw an exception in case of failure. For 'Check...' nodes a CheckFailedException is thrown, for 'Wait for...' nodes the respective specific exception.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Client'

The name of the SUT client process from which to query the data.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'File'

The target file for the downloaded.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid file name

'Timeout'

Time limit in milliseconds.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: >= 0

'Cancel download if timeout exceeded'

If this attribute is set and the timeout is exceeded without the download finishing the download is canceled.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Variable for result'

This optional attribute determines the name for the result variable of the action. If set, the respective variable will be set to 'true' for a successful check or wait and to 'false' in case of failure.

Note If this attribute is set, the attribute 'Error level of message' is ignored and no error is reported. The attribute 'Throw exception on failure' always remains effective, so it is possible to set a result variable and still throw an exception.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Local variable'

This flag determines whether to create a local or global variable binding. If unset, the variable is bound in the global variables. If set, the topmost current binding for the variable is replaced with the new value, provided this binding is within the context of the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node. If no such binding exists, a new binding is created in the currently executing 'Procedure', 'Dependency' or 'Test-case' node or, if there is no such node in the topmost node on the variables stack, falling back to the global bindings if necessary. See chapter 6 for a detailed explanation of variable binding and lookup.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Error level of message'

This attribute determines the error level of the message that is logged in case of failure. Possible choices are message, warning and error.

Note If the attribute 'Throw exception on failure' is set, this attribute is irrelevant and if 'Variable for result' is set this attribute is ignored.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Throw exception on failure'

Throw an exception in case of failure. For 'Check...' nodes a CheckFailedException is thrown, for 'Wait for...' nodes the respective specific exception.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Group'

The name of the group by which values of the ResourceBundle are referred to. The value of a definition of the form name=value in the ResouceBundle can be retrieved with ${group:name} (see section 6.5).

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty and should not contain special characters like ':' or '$'.

'ResourceBundle'

The name of the ResourceBundle to load. A little Java background is needed to understand this attribute.

The resources are read with the help of the Java method ResourceBundle.getBundle(). For this to work, a matching file with the extension .class or .properties must be located somewhere on the CLASSPATH. Use the fully qualified name for the file, including packages, with a dot ('.') as separator, but without extension or locale identifier.

Example: QF-Test comes with a German ResourceBundle in the file de/qfs/apps/qftest/resources/properties/qftest_de.properties, which is contained in the archive qfshared.jar. To load that ResourceBundle, set this attribute to de.qfs.apps.qftest.resources.properties.qftest and the 'Locale' to de.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must name a ResourceBundle on the CLASSPATH.

'Locale'

The main use of ResourceBundles is to provide data in different languages. This attribute determines, which version of a ResourceBundle is retrieved. The value must follow the ISO standard language_country_variant. Language is a two letter lowercase code like en for English, country a two letter uppercase code like US for American or UK for British English. The variant discriminates further but is rarely used.

As mentioned, QF-Test relies on the Java method ResourceBundle.getBundle() to load the ResourceBundle, which is described in detail in the Java documentation and works as follows:

To load a ResourceBundle named res for the locale en_US, Java first searches the CLASSPATH for a file named res_en_US.class or res_en_US.properties, then for res_en.class or res_en.properties and finally for res.class and res.properties. The less specific files are loaded even if more specific files are found, but only values not defined in the more specific files are used. That way you can define all English resources in res_en.properties and place only those that differ in res_en_UK.properties and res_en_US.properties.

Unfortunately Java has a "feature" that can lead to surprising results. If no specific file but only the base file res.properties is found, Java tries the whole process a second time, this time for the current default locale of the VM. As a result, if the current locale for QF-Test is German and you want to load English resources that are defined in res.properties and no res_en.properties exists, Java will load the German version from res_de.properties, even if you request the locale en. You can work around this be setting this attribute to the underscore '_'. In that case, only the base file res.properties is loaded.

To use the current locale of the VM, leave this value empty.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Empty or valid locale identifier.

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Group'

The name of the group by which values of the Properties file are referred to. The value of a definition of the form name=value in the Properties file can be retrieved with ${group:name} (see section 6.5).

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty and should not contain special characters like ':' or '$'.

'Properties file'

The file to load the Properties from. This can either be an absolute path name or a path relative to the directory of the current suite. In either case you should always use '/' as the separator for directories, even under Windows. QF-Test will translate this to the correct value for the current operating system.

The "..." button brings up a dialog in which you can select the file interactively. You can also get to this dialog by pressing [Shift-Return] or [Alt-Return], when the focus is in the text field.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must be an existing Properties file.

'File encoding is UTF-8'

Up to Java 8 the class java.util.Properties enforced a file encoding of ISO-Latin-1 for properties files. In Java 9 the default encoding is UTF-8. QF-Test supports both and uses the UTF-8 encoding if this attribute is activated and ISO-Latin-1 otherwise.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

'Run in Unit-Test Execution Environment'

Whether to execute the unit tests inside the SUT. If disabled a execution environment is setup for the tests.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Client'

The name of the SUT client process in which to execute the script.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Must not be empty.

'Source for the tests'

The source for the JUnit tests. This can either be an SUT script or Java classes that are loaded into the SUT.

'Script'

The script to execute.

Note You may use QF-Test variables of the syntax $(var) or ${group:name} in Jython scripts. They will be expanded before the script is passed to the Jython interpreter. This can lead to unexpected behavior. rc.lookup(...) is the preferred method in this case (see subsection 11.2.3.1 for details).

Note In spite of syntax highlighting and automatical indentation this attribute might not be the right place to write complex scripts. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which scripts can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button. Complex scripts can also be written as separate modules which can then be imported for use in this attribute. See chapter 46 for details.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid syntax

'Script language'

This attribute determines the interpreter in which to run the script, or in other words, the scripting language to use. Possible values are "Jython", "Groovy" and "JavaScript".

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'Test classes'

These are the classes that are executed. They have to be loaded with the defined classpath. They are executed as test steps.

Instead of address the classes by their full name regular expressions can be used.

Test classes can be found if they contain a JUnit 4 Test annotation, if they extend the JUnit 3 unit.org.TestCase or if they contain a RunWith annotation.

You can use one of the following regular expressions:

Regular expression	Explanation
**.MainTest	All MainTest classes in all packages.
de.qfs.test.*	All test-classes from the de.qfs.test package.
de.qfs.*.	All test classes from all sub packages of de.qfs.

Table 38.26: Possible regular expressions

NoteDuring the search of the test classes all classes in the given directory are loaded. The statement **.* loads all classes in the classpath and their static initializers. So this should be used carefully.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: The class has to be loaded.

'Classpath'

Files and folders to load for the execution of the Unit Test.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: The path has to be valid.

'Injections'

Injections enable working with Objects from QF-Test inside the tests.

Type	Description
String	QF-Test variables or direct values.
Component	Components of QF-Test.
WebDriver	WebDriver objects of the current browser.

Table 38.27: Injection types

Note The value of 'field' can be left empty. In this case the default value instance is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Object has to be available.

'GUI engine'

The GUI engine in which to execute the unit test. Only relevant for SUTs with more than one GUI engine as described in chapter 41.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: See chapter 41

'Name'

The name of a Unit test is a kind of short description. It is displayed in the tree view, so it should be concise and tell something about the function of the script.

Variable: No

Restrictions: None

'QF-Test ID'

At the moment the 'QF-Test ID' attribute has no meaning for this type of node.

Variable: No

Restrictions: Must not contain any of the characters '\', '#', '$', '@', '&', or '%' or start with an underscore ('_').

'Delay before/after'

These attributes cause a delay before or after the execution of the node. If a value is empty, the Default delay from the global options is used.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: Valid number >= 0

'Comment'

Here you can enter a comment that explains the purpose of this node. This is the preferred way of documenting the test-suite.

Note For detailed documentation, especially for 'Test-set', 'Test-case' or 'Procedure' nodes, this text area might not be the right place. There are many excellent editors that are much better suited to this task. The option External editor command lets you define an external editor in which comments can be edited conveniently by pressing [Alt-Return] or by clicking the button.

You can trigger a special behavior of some nodes using doctags, please see Doctags.

If you enter text in the comment field of a 'Component' node, the node will be considered as 'used' when you want to mark or delete unused components.

Variable: Yes

Restrictions: None

38.11
Miscellaneous

38.11.1
'Comment'

38.11.2
'Set variable'

38.11.3
'Wait for component to appear'

38.11.4
'Wait for document to load'

38.11.5
'Wait for download to finish'

38.11.6
'Load resources'

38.11.7
'Load properties'

38.11.8
'Unit test'