Purpose: Insert data table parameters into the test to run it several times
on different sets of data.
Iteration: Run the test on one set of data
Design-Time
Data Table: This is the sheet used to store the
data for the test, which is displayed at the bottom of the screen while
creating and editing the test. It has the same characteristics of Microsoft
excel spreadsheet that means can insert formulas within the cells.
Run-Time
Data Table: This is the sheet created by quick test
to hold live version of data table when you run your test. It is displayed in
the Test Results window.
There are two types of sheets within the Data Table—Global
and Action. You can access the different sheets by clicking the
appropriate tabs below the Data Table.
- Global Sheet data is available to all actions
in your test, which is mainly used to pass parameters from one action to
another.
- Action Sheet data available to only one action
in your test.
For example, suppose you
are creating a test on the sample Mercury Tours Web site. You might create one
action for logging in, another for booking flights, and a third for logging
out. You may want to create a test in which the user logs onto the site once,
and then books flights for five passengers. The data about the passengers is
relevant only to the second action, so it should be stored in the action tab
corresponding to that action.
By default, Quick Test automatically saves the test’s
Data Table as an .xls
file in the test folder. You can save the Data Table in another location and
instruct the test to use this Data Table when running a test.
Attach External Data Table: Specify a name and location for the data table in the resources tab of the
test setting dialog box.
Usage:
1. Run the same test with different sets of
input values
For example, you can test the localization capabilities
of your application by running your test with a different Data Table file for
each language you want to test.
- The same input information for different tests
For example, you can test a Web version and a standard
Windows version of the same application using different tests, but the same
Data Table.
Note: The column names in the external Data Table match the
parameter names in the test and that the sheets in the external Data Table
match the actions in the test.
Edit information in the table by typing directly into the
table.
Import data into Data Table from Microsoft Excel 95,
Excel 97, Excel 2000, tabbed text files (.txt), or ASCII format by using File
àImport from File Option.
Note: Microsoft Excel 2002 is not supported.
You can import data from a database by selecting a query
from Microsoft Query or by manually specifying an SQL statement.
To import data from a database:
1.
Right-click on the Data Table sheet to which you want to
import the data and select Sheet > Import > from Database. The
Database Query Wizard opens.
2.
Select your database selection preferences and click next.
You can choose from the following options:
o
Create query using Microsoft Query—Opens Microsoft Query, enabling you to create a
new query. Once you finish defining your query, you exit back to Quick Test.
This option is only available if you have Microsoft Query installed on your
computer.
o
Specify SQL statement manually—Opens the Specify SQL statement screen in
the wizard, which enables you to specify the connection string and an SQL
statement.
o
Maximum number of rows—Select this check box and enter the maximum number
of database rows to import. You can specify a maximum of 32,000 rows.
o
Show me how to use Microsoft Query—displays an instruction screen before opening
Microsoft Query when you click next. (Enabled only when Create query
using Microsoft Query is selected).
3.
If you chose Create query using Microsoft Query in
the previous step, Microsoft Query opens. Choose a data source and define a
query.
Specify the connection
string and the SQL statement and click Finish.
o
Connection string—Enter the connection string or click Create
to open the ODBC Select Data Source dialog box. You can select a .dsn file in the ODBC
Select Data Source dialog box or create a new .dsn file to have it insert the connection
string in the box for you.
o
SQL statement—Enter the SQL statement.
4.
Quick Test takes several seconds to capture the database
query and restore the Quick Test window. The resulting data from the database
query is displayed in the Data Table.
Note: Contrary to importing an Excel file (File > Import
From File), existing data in the Data Table is not replaced when you import data from a
database. If the database you import contains a column with the same name as an
existing column, the database column is added as a new column with the column
name followed by a sequential number. For example, if your Data Table already
contains a column called departures, a database column by the same name would
be inserted into the Data Table as departures1.
This enables to create contextually relevant data during
the test run.
Also formulas can be used as part of a checkpoint to
check that objects created on-the-fly (dynamically generated) or other variable
objects in the Web page or application have the values expected for a given
context.
Note: When ever you compare the values, must be of the same
type, i.e. integers, strings, etc.
To do this, you can use the TEXT and VALUE
functions to convert values from one type to another as follows:
·
TEXT(value) returns the textual equivalent of a numeric value,
so that, for example, TEXT(8.2)="8.2".
·
VALUE(string) returns the numeric value of a string, so that,
for example, VALUE("8.2")=8.2.
Quick Test provides several Data Table methods that
enable you to retrieve information about the run-time Data Table and to set the
value of cells in the run-time Data Table.
From a programming perspective, the Data Table is made up
of three types of objects—Data Table, Sheet (sheet), and Parameter (column).
Each object has several methods and properties that you can use to retrieve or
set values.
