3.0 CREATING A TEST CASE SPECIFICATION

3.1 Introduction

The Test Automation Framework has been designed to be driven by Test Specifications written in JSON file format, and should be a familiar format to most QA Engineers. As such, it should be easy and quick to get started with the Framework. However, if further assistance is required please refer to Andy Perrett.

In this section, we will look first at the format of the Test Specification tool, expand on the functionality available and then work through an example of how to use it to design an automated test of a web page (Demo to be done by Andy Perrett).

The Test Specification template has two sections: Header data and a table of Test Steps.

To launch the the "TAF Create Test Spec" double click the following file: create_test_spec.html

Figure 2: An example of an empty Test Specification from the create test spec tool

Figure 3: An example of a populated Test Specification from the create test spec tool

3.2 Header Information

The Header data consists of:

Project_ID - The identifier for the project i.e. name of the project. Test_ID - A unique identifier for the specification Test_Description - A brief, meaningful description of what is being tested

3.3 Test Steps

The Test Steps table has the following columns:

Test_Step - A unique, sequential number to reference each test step.

Test_Step_Description - A brief, meaningful description of the action required or the test being carried out in this step.

Test_Step_Function - This is a pre-defined list of functions available in the framework. These are described below. It is essential that only values from the pick-list are used.

Test_Step_Value – Most functions require one or two data values. In general, the first value is used to identify a particular element on a page. E.g. (Id or Xpath etc.)

Locator_Finder_Value - This is a pre-defined list of identifier methods used to specify what type of value is used in Test_Step_Value.

Test_Step_Value2 - A few functions require a second data value. This is usually an expected results value of a text item to compare against the value retrieved form the web app.

Locator_Finder_Value2 - This is a pre-defined list of identifier methods used to specify what type of value is used in Test_Step_Value2.

Screenshot - This is a flag to allow the user to specify if a screenshot is required for the test step

Skip_Test_Case - This is a flag to allow the user to specify if they would like to skip that test step

Note: Data fields underlined above are mandatory. The test specification will indicate the required values by highlighting the relevant cells green, when a Test_Step_Function is selected.