After you record a test, you can split it into smaller
tests. By splitting a test, you can create modular building blocks
of smaller tests and combine them to make bigger tests. The original
test is unchanged.
About this task
With the test-splitting capability, you can record a relatively
long scenario with many functional steps against an application and
then, in the editor, dissect the test into many smaller test segments,
which you can run in various orders in a schedule. The wizard determines
which variables need to persist among the split tests and creates
the linkage so that you do not have to write custom code.
Procedure
- In the Test Navigator, browse to the test and double-click
it. The test opens.
- Select one or more elements in the test for splitting into
a new test. You must select contiguous elements. You can
select elements, except for variable containers, that are immediate
children of the root node of the test.
- Right-click the selected elements, and then select Save
Selection As New Test.
- In the Save Selection as New Test window,
type a file name for the new test, and optionally provide a description
or comment for the split test.
- Select Also use description text for comment
at beginning of each test to add the Description/comment field
as a comment at the beginning of the split test.
- Select Mark the selection in the editor to
mark the selection in the original test with marks of the form [N-> where N is
a positive integer that corresponds to the number of saved selections.
For example, the first time you save a selection as a new test, the
selection in the original test is marked with this identifier:[1->.
If you save three selections, the original test is marked with these
identifiers: [1->, [2->,
and [3->.
- Click Next.
Selecting Mark the selection in the editor makes
it easier to split a test into multiple parts. The marks in the editor
are removed when you close the test. You cannot save marked test elements.
Right-click and select Clear Range to remove
the marks if you want to save the selected test elements again.
- Optional: On the next page of the Save
Selection as New Test wizard, examine the changes to be
performed as a result of the split. Typically, you leave Link
tests through variables and HTTP Specific Changes selected;
clearing these options might make a split test unusable or produce
unpredictable results. However, you can clear specific Link
tests through variables boxes if you do not want certain
data to be correlated between the tests.
- Click Finish.
Results
The new test is created from the selected elements. The
test variables that are created by splitting a test are listed in
the Variables Created by Split Test container
in the new test. For best results, open the Variables Created
by Split Test container in the new test and make sure
that the variables are created and assigned with values by a test
that is executed before the newly split test. For more information
on test variables, see About test variables and Declaring and assigning test variables.
The original test is marked if you select the Mark
the selection in the editor option. To remove the marks,
right-click the selected elements in the original test and select Clear
Range. You are also prompted to delete the new test. Click Yes to
delete the new test or No to preserve it.
Example
Be aware of the choices that you make when you split a test
and rearrange the split tests in a schedule. Assume that the visitIBM
recorded test contains the following actions:
- Logging on to a server.
- Creating an entry on the server and removing the entry.
- Editing an entry, validating that the change occurred, and restoring
the entry.
- Logging off of the server.
You want to split the test into four parts: Logon, Create, Edit,
and Logoff. You need to split the test four times.
- Open visitIBM and select the logon actions. Name the new test
Logon, which contains the Logon actions.
- Select the create actions. Name the new test Create.
- Select the edit actions. Name the new test Edit.
- Select the logoff actions. Name the new test Logoff.
You then create a schedule that runs virtual users selected from
a datapool. Each virtual user runs the Logon test, performs various
combinations of the Create and Edit tests, and finally runs the Logoff
test.
Be aware, however, that when you split the tests, the Create
test might have initialized variables that the Edit test uses. Therefore,
if you reverse the order during the run (that is, run the Edit test
before the Create test), make sure that the variables that the tests
share are initialized and set correctly.