step controls help to design and structure test plans. They offer various functionality such as variable assignment, control structure or data source definition.

General controls

Set

Sets a value to a variable, which can then be accessed throughout Plans and sub Plans. Combined with the power of groovy, almost anything can be achieved in a Set node.

</div>


<div class="admonition-content">

Variables scope: The variable defined with a set control are scoped to the block.
For instance, if a variable is defined inside the root node, it will be available to following nodes and their child nodes. However, if it is defined inside a child node “A”, the variable won’t be available to the ancestors and siblings of “A”.

Properties

Key : the name of the variable where step will write to
Expression : a string or a groovy expression to be interpreted (with groovy evaluation enabled)

Examples

Properties

There is no specific property using this control with natural language, see below example for usage.

Examples

// Set - City to Basel
Set City="Basel"
// Echo - City
Echo City
// Set - City to Bern
Set City="Bern"
// Echo - City
Echo City

Not yet documented.

Echo

Used to print data in the report nodes of a plan, mostly for debugging or information purposes

Properties

Text : the data you want to display (can be a groovy expression if Groovy mode is toggled)

Examples

Properties

There is no special property in natural language.

Examples

// Echo - Hello World !
Echo "Hello World"

Not yet documented.

Sleep

Causes the thread to sleep

Properties

Duration : the amount of time to sleep.
Unit : ‘ms’ for milliseconds (default), ’s’ for seconds and ’m’ for minutes.
Advanced :
Release Tokens : release tokens reserved in current session (details).

Examples

Properties

Duration : the amount of time to sleep.
Unit : ‘ms’ for milliseconds, ’s’ for seconds and ’m’ for minutes.
ReleaseTokens: (optional, default is false) release tokens reserved in current session (details)

Examples

// Sleep control with a duration of 3 seconds
Sleep Duration=3 Unit="s"
//Optional parameter 'ReleaseTokens' (false by default)
Sleep Duration=100 Unit="ms" ReleaseTokens=true

// Simplified syntax (ReleaseTokens option and Groovy String interpolation not supported)
Sleep 100ms
Sleep 1m
Sleep 1h

Not yet documented.

Script

Executes any arbitrary groovy code. The script context is local, which means that variable used in the script control cannot be accessed externally by other nodes.

Properties

Script: the groovy code to be executed

Examples

Properties

There is no special property in natural language.

Examples

-
// Script - A custom script
Script 
result = 5 + 7;
-

Not yet documented.

Check

Asserts the given expression, useful for validating the output of the parent node.

Properties

Expression : the expression to be asserted

Examples

This control is not supported using natural language.

Not yet documented.

Assert

Validates the output of a keyword execution.

Properties

Output attribute : the key containing the data needed for verification
Operator : the type of verification.
Expected value : the value you want to check against

Available operator values are :

equals : asserts true if the specified output attribute value and the expected value are strictly equals
begins with : asserts true if the specified output attribute value begins with the expected value
contains : asserts true if the specified output attribute contains the expected value
ends with : asserts true if the specified output attribute value ends with the expected value
matches : asserts true if the specified output attribute value matches the expected value (regular expression can be used as expected value)

Examples

Properties

There is no specific property using this control with natural language, see below example for usage.

Examples

 // FindCity
FindCity

// Assert - City equals "Basel"
Assert City = "Basel"
// Assert - City begins with "Basel"
Assert City beginsWith "Basel"
// Assert - City contains "Basel"
Assert City contains "Basel"
// Assert - City ends with "Basel"
Assert City endsWith "Basel"
// Assert - City matches "Basel" (regex)
Assert City ~ "Basel"

Not yet documented.

Export

Give the possibility to export the execution attachments to a specific location on the step Controller.

Properties

Values : has to be “report.attachments” with groovy evaluation enabled
File : the file or directory path where to export the attachments
Prefix : prefix to be prepended to the exported file names
Filter : regular expression to use in order to filter files to export on their name

Examples

This control is not supported using natural language.

Not yet documented.

Control Structure

Sequence

Guarantees the ordering of the child nodes, as displayed in the tree. Idea is to group nodes defined to be executed together.

Properties

Continue sequence execution on error : specify if the sequence should continue until its end if an error occurred within
Pacing : minimum execution time for the whole sequence to be executed (in milliseconds) as a Long

Examples

Properties

ContinueOnError : <true|false> specify if the sequence should continue until its end if an error occurred within
Pacing : minimum execution time for the whole sequence to be executed (in milliseconds) as a Long

Examples

// Sequence - Order Keywords execution
Sequence ContinueOnError = true Pacing = 1000l
    // MyFirstKeyword
  MyFirstKeyword
  // MySecondKeyword
  MySecondKeyword
End

Not yet documented.

If

Only executes the child nodes if the condition is met.

Properties

Condition : the expression evaluated to know if the content of the node is executed

Examples

Properties

No condition for this control used with natural language. See below example for usage.

Examples

If 1==1
  Echo "Condition met"
End

Not yet documented.

Switch / Case

Same as in any programming language, this 2 controls work in combination.

Switch property

Expression : the expression to switch on to

Case property

Value : the value to be potentially matched

Examples

This controls are not supported using natural language.

Not yet documented.

Synchronized

Guarantee thread safety within a test block by synchronizing all threads on the entire Test Execution. Additionally, by using the lock name and the global lock properties, you can synchronize threads across different blocks and test executions.

Properties

Lock name: the name of the lock, leave empty if you want this lock to synchronize on this plan node
Global lock: select this check-box if you want this lock to be global across all the executions

Examples

Properties

LockName: (optional) when unspecified, synchronization happens on this plan node
GlobalLock: (optional) set this property to true if you want this lock to be global across all the executions

Examples

Synchronized LockName="myLockName" GlobalLock=true
  // MyFirstKeyword
  MyFirstKeyword
  // MySecondKeyword
  MySecondKeyword
End

Not yet documented.

For

Creates a For loop at execution time and iterates through its children

Properties

Start : the initial value of the for loop
End : the final value of the for loop (exit condition)
Increment : the increment value at the end of each iteration
Counter variable (handle) : the name of the variable containing the value of the iteration counter
Number of threads : the number of threads to use in order to parallelize the loop (i.e the execution of the children)
Maximum number of failures : the number of failures before the loop is stopped. If empty, the loop is never stopped

Examples

Properties

Start : the initial value of the for loop
End : the final value of the for loop (exit condition)

Examples

// For - display counter value
For 1 to 10 
  // Echo - counter value
  Echo counter
End

Not yet documented.

While

Iterates over the node content until the condition is not met

Properties

Condition : a groovy condition to be evaluated at the beginning of each iteration
Post Condition : a groovy condition to be evaluated at the end of each iteration
Pacing: : minimum execution time in ms for the node content to be executed as an Long
Timeout : stop the control execution after the defined value as a Long (serves as a security)
MaxIterations : stop th control execution after the define amount of iterations (serves as a security)

Examples

Properties

Condition : a groovy condition to be evaluated at the beginning of each iteration. Please mind the “|” surrounding the condition expression.
Post Condition : a groovy condition to be evaluated at the end of each iteration. Please mind the “|” surrounding the condition expression.
Pacing: : minimum execution time in ms for the node content to be executed as an Long
Timeout : stop the control execution after the defined value as a Long (serves as a security)
MaxIterations : stop the control execution after the define amount of iterations (serves as a security)

Examples

-
// While
While 
  Condition=|!"Hello World !".equals("Goodbye World !")|
  Pacing=1000l
  Timeout=5000l
  MaxIterations=5
-
// Echo - Hello World
Echo "Hello World"
End

Not yet documented.

Keyword calls

CallKeyword

Technical node used as part of keyword invocation. Can be used explicitly in order to template keyword calling, due to exposure of the “name” input.

Properties

Same as in a regular Keyword call, but a name should be set in order to tell step which Keyword needs to be called. Used in conjunction with groovy, this can provide a powerful mechanism for Keyword Call templating.

Examples

Properties

Limitations

You can only have String variable using natural language (i.e boolean, numbers and date are not supported). You can however use the Groovy String interpolation to resolve variable value directly in a String. Application prefixed keywords syntax is supported as well as Application / Keyword having spaces in their name, thus the keyword call needs to be double-quoted when using plain text (see example below).

Examples

// CallKeyword - MyFirstKeyword
MyFirstKeyword location="Bern" date="01.07.2019" contact="${John Doe}"
// My Application -> My Second Keyword
"My Application.My Second Keyword"

Not yet documented.

Session

Guarantees that the same session will be used for every child node’s execution (very important for stateful keywords which rely on a certain state as an initial condition). The session control also provide to Keywords the ability to share objects.

You may use keywords which will be executed on different token’s type (i.e. java, .net,…) in the same session control. This implies that one token per type will be reserved. Also, consider that sharing objects between keywords of different type is not supported.

Properties

Keyword routing : optional, for affinity patterns using selection criteria

Examples

Properties

Keyword routing : optional, for affinity patterns using selection criteria (see below example for usage)

Examples

// Session 
Session key1=value1 key2=value2
  // InitWebDriver - And put it into session
  InitWebDriver
  // NavigateToUrl - But first get the driver from session
  NavigateToUrl
End

Not yet documented.

Plan calls

CallPlan

Used to invoke a plan from within another plan

Properties

keys & values : the plan you want to invoke, as for Keywords and CallKeywords, CallPlan can be used for templating Plan executions.

Examples

Properties

The only property exposed at the moment is the plan name to be called, passing inputs is not supported in natural language yet.

Examples

-
// Call Plan - mySubPlan
Call plan "mySubPlan" 
-

Not yet documented.

PlaceHolder

Used to execute plan chunks passed from another plan. In conjunction with a plan call, this will be used to defer and delegate the execution of children nodes to another plan. The placeholder needs to be placed inside the target sub-plan as a positional marker. The delegated nodes should be set as children of the sub-plan’s node within the parent plan.

Properties

There is no specific property configurable for this control.

Examples

Main plan echoing the counter value while the for loop incrementing the counter is defined in a sub-plan as a placeholder :

Execution results :

This control is not supported using natural language.

Not yet documented.

Functional Testing

TestCase

Specific container for a group of nodes, will activate the top-level panel in the execution view for high-level test case execution monitoring.

Properties

Simply wrap your Test Plans with a test case

Examples

Properties

Simply wrap your Test Plans with a test case

Examples

 TestCase
// MyFirstKeyword
MyFirstKeyword location="Bern" date="01.07.2019" contact="${John Doe}"
End

Not yet documented.

TestSet

Used to group up TestCase’s as a single unit and executing them in parallel

Properties

Simply wrap your TestCase’s with a TestSet controller, parallelism is derived from the global variable tec.execution.threads

Examples

Properties

Simply wrap your TestCase’s with a TestSet controller, parallelism is derived from the global variable tec.execution.threads

Examples

TestSet 
  TestCase
  // CallKeyword - MyFirstKeyword
  MyFirstKeyword location="Bern" date="01.07.2019" contact="${John Doe}"
  End
  TestCase
  // CallKeyword - MySecondKeyword
  MySecondKeyword 
  End
End

Not yet documented.

Load testing

ThreadGroup

Starts multiple threads which will execute the node content in parallel

Properties

Number of threads : the number of threads to be started in parallel
Number of iterations per thread : how many times the node content should be executed per thread
Pacing : defines a fixed time window in milliseconds, as an Integer, in order to better control the number of keywords executed per time unit (and so that throughput remains independent from keyword execution time)
Rampup : the ramp-up value is designed to be automatically divided by the number of threads to start them progressively and “spread” them out evenly, it represents the total duration of the ramp-up phase. If the ramp up value is left empty, then it will default to the pacing value (all threads will be spread out evenly but started “quickly”, i.e in one single pacing period).
Start offset : the duration in ms to wait before the Rampup starts as an Integer
Maximum duration : the maximal execution time in ms for the whole thread group as an Integer

Examples

Properties

Threads : the number of threads to be started in parallel
Iterations : how many times the node content should be executed per thread
Pacing : defines a fixed time window in milliseconds, as an Integer, in order to better control the number of keywords executed per time unit (and so that throughput remains independent from keyword execution time)
Rampup : the ramp-up value is designed to be automatically divided by the number of threads to start them progressively and “spread” them out evenly, it represents the total duration of the ramp-up phase. If the ramp up value is left empty, then it will default to the pacing value (all threads will be spread out evenly but started “quickly”, i.e in one single pacing period).
Offset : the duration in ms to wait before the Rampup starts as an Integer
MaxDuration : the maximal execution time in ms for the whole thread group as an Integer

Examples

-
// ThreadGroup
ThreadGroup 
  Threads=5
  Iterations=5
  Pacing=5000
  Rampup=1000
  Offset=100
  MaxDuration=25000
-
  // Echo - Hello World
  Echo "Hello World"
End

Not yet documented.

TestScenario

Usually used to parallelize the execution of multiple ThreadGroups or ‘sub’ plans. Note that all children of a test scenario are executed in parallel independently from their type.

For instance, simply place ThreadGroups as children of the TestScenario to start them in parallel.

Properties

There is no special property for this control.

Examples

Properties

There is no special property for this control.

Examples

TestScenario
  -
  // First ThreadGroup
  ThreadGroup 
  -
  // Echo - Hello World
  Echo "Hello World"
  End
  -
  // Second ThreadGroup 
  ThreadGroup
  -
  // Echo - Goodbye World
  Echo "Goodbye World"
  End
End

Not yet documented.

Data driven controls

DataSet

Used to iterate over rows of data in a table (the table itself can be stored in a database, a file, etc) and can be of different format (json, csv, excel, etc)

Common Properties

Source type : define the source type object. Values could be : Excel, CSV, SQL, Flat file, Directory, Integer sequence, Json String, Google Sheet V4
For write : define if the data source will be used to insert values
Iterator handle : define a variable pointing to the current row
Reset at end : define if once arrived at the end of the data source, the iterator handle should be reinitialized to the first row

Excel properties

Excel file : the path to your source file
Worksheet : the worksheet name in your source file (if blank, the first one in your sheet will be selected)
Headers : check this box if your columns have header

Example

CSV properties

CSV file : the path to your source file
Delimiter : the delimiter used in your CSV file

Example

SQL properties

Connection string : the string used to connect to your database. For example, using jdbc to connect to a MySQL database on localhost : “jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbname”
Driver class : the driver full class name. For example, using jdbc for MySQL : “com.mysql.jdbc.Driver”
Query : the SQL query to perform against your database to retrieve the data
User : the username to connect to your database
Password : the password to connect to your database
Primary write key : the primary key to use in case you want to write back to your database

Flat file properties

Flat file : the path to your source file

Directory properties

Directory : the path to your directory

Integer sequence properties

Start : value starting the sequence
End : value ending the sequence
Inc : increment value for the sequence

Json String properties

Json string : the JSON document representing your data. The document has to represent of table of values with headers first, and then rows. For example :

{ "pagename" :
    ["Consulting", "Products"],
  "url" : 
    ["https://www.exense.ch/solutions",
      "https://www.exense.ch/products"]}

Google Sheet V4 properties

Service Account Key File : the path to your service account key file. Refer to Google documentation about service account key file creation.
File Id : the Google Cloud unique identifier of your file. It can usually be extracted from the URL locating your file in the Cloud.
Tab Name : the name of the tab to use in your source file (if blank, the first one in your file will be selected)

Common Properties

SourceType : define the source type object. Values could be : excel, csv, file (for Flat file) or folder (for Directory). Other source type are not supported yet.
File : the path to your source file
ForWrite : define if the data source will be used to insert values
IteratorHandle : define a variable pointing to the current row
ResetAtEnd : define if once arrived at the end of the data source, the iterator handle should be reinitialized to the first row

Excel Properties

There is no specific property configurable for Excel sheet in natural language.

Examples

-
// DataSet - from Excel sheet
DataSet 
  SourceType = "excel"
  File = "myFile.xlsx"
  IteratorHandle = "myRow"
  ForWrite = true
  ResetAtEnd = true
-

CSV properties

There is no specific property configurable for CSV file in natural language.

Examples

-
// DataSet - from CSV file
DataSet 
  SourceType = "csv"
  File = "myFile.csv"
  IteratorHandle = "myRow"
  ForWrite = true
  ResetAtEnd = true
-

File properties

There is no special property for “File” type in natural language.

Examples

-
// DataSet - from Flat file
DataSet 
  SourceType = "file" 
  File = "myFile.txt"
  IteratorHandle = "myRow"
  ForWrite = true
  ResetAtEnd = true
-

Folder properties

There is no special property for “Folder” type in natural language.

Examples

-
// DataSet - from Directory
DataSet 
  SourceType = "folder"
  File = "/myFolder"
  IteratorHandle = "myRow"
  ForWrite = true 
  ResetAtEnd = true 
-

Not yet documented.

ForEach

Creates a ForEach loop based on a collection and iterates through the child nodes.

Common Properties

Source type : define the source type object. Values could be : Excel, CSV, SQL, Flat file, Directory, Integer sequence, Json String, Google Sheet V4
Number of threads : the number of threads to use in order to parallelize the loop (i.e the execution of the children)
Maximum number of failures : the number of failures before the loop is stopped. If empty, the loop is never stopped
Row handle : define a variable pointing to the current row

Excel properties

Excel file : the path to your source file
Worksheet : the worksheet name in your source file (if blank, the first one in your sheet will be selected)
Headers : check this box if your columns have header

Example

CSV properties

CSV file : the path to your source file
Delimiter : the delimiter used in your CSV file

Example

SQL properties

Connection string : the string used to connect to your database. For example, using jdbc to connect to a MySQL database on localhost : “jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/dbname”
Driver class : the driver full class name. For example, using jdbc for MySQL : “com.mysql.jdbc.Driver”
Query : the SQL query to perform against your database to retrieve the data
User : the username to connect to your database
Password : the password to connect to your database
Primary write key : the primary key to use in case you want to write back to your database

Flat file properties

Flat file : the path to your source file

Directory properties

Directory : the path to your directory

Integer sequence properties

Start : value starting the sequence
End : value ending the sequence
Inc : increment value for the sequence

Json String properties

Json string : the JSON document representing your data. The document has to represent of table of values with headers first, and then rows. For example :

{ "pagename" :
    ["Consulting", "Products"],
  "url" : 
    ["https://www.exense.ch/solutions",
      "https://www.exense.ch/products"]}

Google Sheet V4 properties

Service Account Key File : the path to your service account key file. Refer to Google documentation about service account key file creation.
File Id : the Google Cloud unique identifier of your file. It can usually be extracted from the URL locating your file in the Cloud.
Tab Name : the name of the tab to use in your source file (if blank, the first one in your file will be selected)

Common Properties

SourceType : define the source type object. Values could be : excel, csv, file (for Flat file) or folder (for Directory). Other source type are not supported yet.
File : the path to your source file
Threads : the number of threads to use in order to parallelize the loop (i.e the execution of the children)
RowHandle : define a variable pointing to the current row
MaxFailedLoop : the number of failures before the loop is stopped. If not set, the loop is never stopped

Excel Properties

Worksheet : the worksheet name in your source file (if blank, the first one in your sheet will be selected)

Examples

-
// ForEach - row in excel sheet
ForEach 
  SourceType = "excel"
  File = "C:/myFile.xlsx"
  Worksheet = "myWorksheet" 
  Threads = 1 
  RowHandle = "myRow"
  MaxFailedLoop = 2
-
  Echo myRow.myColumn
End

CSV properties

Delimiter : the delimiter used in your CSV file

Examples

-
// ForEach - row in file
ForEach 
  SourceType = "csv"
  File = "/home/myFile.csv"
  Delimiter = ";"
  Threads = 2 
  RowHandle = "myRow"
-
  Echo myRow.myColumn
End

File properties

There is no special property for “File” type in natural language.

Examples

-
// ForEach - row in file
ForEach 
  SourceType = "file"
  File = "C:/myFile.txt"
  Threads = 2 
  RowHandle = "myRow"
-
  Echo myRow.myColumn
End

Folder properties

There is no special property for “Folder” type in natural language.

Examples

-
// ForEach - file in folder
ForEach 
  SourceType = "folder"
  File = "/myFolder"
  Threads = 2 
  RowHandle = "myRow"
-
  Echo myRow.myColumn
End

Not yet documented.

Asynchronous Testing

RetryIfFails

Retry mechanism with grace period

Properties

Max retries : number of retries if child nodes execution fails
Grace period (ms) : duration to wait in ms after a failed attempt
Timeout : maximum execution time in ms for the whole execution retries
Advanced :
Release Tokens : release tokens reserved in current session (details)
Report only last iteration: when enabled, only the final iteration will be reported and persisted

Examples

Properties

MaxRetries : number of retries if child nodes execution fails
GracePeriod : duration to wait in ms after a failed attempt
Timeout : maximum execution time in ms for the whole execution retries
ReleaseTokens: (optional, default is false) release tokens reserved in current session (details)
ReportLastTryOnly: (optional, default is false) when enabled, only the final iteration will be reported and persisted

Examples

RetryIfFails MaxRetries=3 GracePeriod=5000 Timeout=30000
// CallKeyword - MyFirstKeyword
MyFirstKeyword location="Bern" date="01.07.2019" contact="${John Doe}"
End

//Same example with all properties
RetryIfFails MaxRetries=3 GracePeriod=5000 Timeout=30000 ReportLastTryOnly=true ReleaseTokens=true
// CallKeyword - MyFirstKeyword
MyFirstKeyword location="Bern" date="01.07.2019" contact="${John Doe}"
End

Not yet documented.

WaitForEvent

Wait for a specific event to be receive by the controller. Event can be identified by an eventId or a couple group/name. By default, this control will listen to the local step controller but a remote one can be specified in its remote properties.

Properties

Event selection criteria: either select event by id or by group and name (name is optional)
Event Id: the ID of the event to wait for
Event Group: the event group to wait for
Event Name: the event name to wait for
Polling settings : adapt the polling frequency and control optionally the maximum wait time
Polling frequency (ms): the interval to poll the event broker in ms as a Long
Max number of polling: stop waiting for the event after the define amount of iterations (serves as a security)
Maximum wait time (ms): stop waiting to the event after the defined value as a Long (serves as a security)
Remote broker settings: to be used when the events are not stored in the local controller
Remote URL: the step remote controller URL where to listen to an incoming event
Remote User: the step remote controller username to use for connection
Remote Password: the step remote controller password to use for connection
Advanced:
Release Tokens: release tokens reserved in current session (details)

Examples

Properties

EventId: the ID of the event to wait for
Group: the event group to wait for
Name : the event name to wait for
PollingSpeed : the interval to poll the event broker looking for the event in ms as a Long
Timeout : stop waiting to the event after the defined value as a Long (serves as a security)
MaxIterations : stop waiting for the event after the define amount of iterations (serves as a security)
ReleaseTokens: (optional, default is false) release tokens reserved in current session (details)

Examples

-
WaitForEvent 
  Group="eventGroup"  
  Name="eventName" 
  PollingSpeed=1000l 
  Timeout=5000l 
  MaxIterations=5
-
// Set - myEvent
Set myEvent=report.getEvent()
// Echo - myEvent
Echo myEvent

Not yet documented.

You will find more details on the event broker API and how to effectively use the “WaitForEvent” artefact here.

Composite Keywords

Return

Used within a Composite Keyword, set the Composite output to the returned value(s).

Properties

No property. Just enter key values as you’d like them to be available in the output of a regular keyword.

Examples

Note

This control is not available as natural language as Composite Keywords cannot be created using natural language yet.

Not yet documented.

Advanced control options

Release Tokens

This advanced option is currently available on controls entering a waiting state, namely:

Sleep
RetryIfFails
WaitForEvent

The option only has an effect when executed inside a session control and must be used with caution. Its main purpose is to release the agent tokens currently reserved by the session when entering an idle state.