Overview

Learn how to create detailed, consistent execution instructions with conditional expected results for your manual testing efforts. 

With Xray Test Case Designer Scripts feature, you can quickly transform optimized test data like this

… into customizable scripts. You can even add automatically generated Expected Results to your steps if you want to.

Remember Mad Libs?


Creating Auto-scripts in Xray Test Case Designer is similar to that. Instead of adding adjectives and nouns into pre-formed sentences, however, you’ll be more like the author of the Mad Libs sentences themselves. You need to:

  1. Create sentences containing execution instructions that will be common to most of the test scripts and
  2. Identify “spaces” to indicate where Xray Test Case Designer should “fill in the blanks” you’ve left with test data appropriate for each scenario.


First, navigate to the Scripts -> Manual Auto-Scripts screen and (optionally) add instructions to be completed before execution for all these scenarios begins. (i.e. the details in the "Start" field have to be common across the board).

Next, click on the “pencil” icon to enter instructions for your first test step. Alternatively, you may click the text already present for the step. Enter detailed instructions for a tester for each step. For now, type Mad Libs-like sentences, as shown below with blank lines to indicate where Values are to be inserted.

As shown above, for example, you will want to type the words that will remain the same from test to test and leave 3 blanks (one for each place that Values will change from test to test):

  • One blank for the class,
  • One blank for the destination country, and
  • One blank for the origin country.

Next, replace those blank lines with the appropriate Parameter names.

  • Highlight the first blank line


  • Confirm that the Parameter Name to be inserted is in the Parameter Name drop down list (adjust if necessary)


  • Press “CTL-Y” on the keyboard (or the “Insert” link if you prefer)

    You’ll notice when you’re entering and editing your Auto-Scripts that sentences probably look strange, with the words inside the curvy brackets { } not "reading" well within the structure.  The trick is to think about what your steps will look like when the names of the actual Values will be inserted into each sentence. As soon as you save each step, sanity prevails - you will see the “normal” sentences you’ve constructed (with Coach as the example below).

  • Press “CTL-Enter” on the keyboard (or the “Add/Save” link)

    The words that are the same between tests are in normal text. Words that change from test to test (the Values you entered on the Inputs screen) are shown in bold.

  • Rinse and repeat for the other blank lines

Don’t forget to save each step before you add your next one! Thankfully, Xray Test Case Designer notifies you under the last edited step that there are unsaved edits. Click on different test cases at the bottom half of your screen (preview section that mirrors Scenarios screen) to see how your script steps will change. Finally, in the “Finish” section you may want to add some instructions that will appear only once at the end of all of the scenario scripts.

Incorporating “Parameterized expected results” into your plans

In the tests shown above for example, we might want to include this Expected Result every time the necessary values appear together in a test case:

When a customer flies to India, make sure the special "Incredible India" discount is applied.


In the Scripts -> Manual screen, find the specific test step you want to add your Expected Result to and highlight it

Hover over the Step that you want the Expected Result to appear with.

Click on “Add Expected Results.”

You’re setting up a simple “when / then” rule here. Note that you’re not restricted to rules with just 1 positive condition - you could also create a rule that reads “IS NOT” (click on “is” between dropdowns to switch the rule type).

If WHEN selection is blank, the expected result from THEN field will apply to that step in all test cases, regardless of the test data.

Lastly, you can put parameter names with { } syntax inside the THEN statement – this is typically valuable in the validation use cases where the step would say “Enter X as {X}” and the expected result would say “Validate the X is shown as {X}”. Parameter names do not have to match, in case you have already included actual expected results on the Parameters screen. In such cases WHEN conditions are often left blank.

Important Usage Tips and things to know about the Expected Results feature

1. This feature is a partial solution for straightforward Expected Results. It primarily exists so that you won’t have to manually type many, simple expected results. It is not designed to handle especially complex rules that you might have.

2. Be sure you understand the similarities & differences between Xray Test Case Designer Expected Results in the automated screen and Expected Outcomes in the “Forced Interactions” feature. There is a big, yet subtle, difference:

  • Expected Result in Manual Auto-Scripts takes the scenario data table as “read only” precondition and generates the “Then” content ONLY IF the conditions are satisfied (i.e. “reactive approach”).
  • Expected Outcome in Forced Interactions guarantees that the test conditions to satisfy it will be included in the Scenarios table at least once (i.e. “proactive approach”, which may cause the increase in the number of test cases).
  • If you want to define an Expected Result that requires 3 or more specific Values to appear in a single test script (and you’re creating pairwise sets of tests), use the “Forced Interactions” feature or higher algorithm strength to guarantee the scenario is included in your suite. Then use the Manual Auto-Scripts feature to document the Expected Result for export.

Xray Test Case Designer Automate can leverage that last column on Forced Interactions directly as an internal variable.

If you want to define an Expected Result that requires 2 or fewer specific Values to appear in a single test script (and you’re creating pairwise sets of tests), use the Manual Auto-Scripts feature without additional prep work.