Defining categories and category relationships

In the category editor, you can define categories and category values for your project. You can also define relationships between categories. By assigning categories to artifacts, you can set up a hierarchical directory structure that keeps you organized and helps you find individual artifacts. You can also create new global categories or promote existing test artifact categories to global ones. Global categories apply to a selection of or to all artifact types.

1. Open the category editor for a type of test artifact.
   For example, you might open the category editor for test plans.
   1. In a project, click the Administration icon () on the banner, and then click Manage Project Properties.
   2. From the list of properties on the left, expand Artifact Categories and select the test artifact to define categories and category values for.
2. Click the Create icon ().
3. Type the name of the new category and then click Save. You can resize the Categories pane to view the categories, subcategories, and their values.
4. Expand a category in the tree view.
5. Add a category value to the expanded category by clicking the Create icon ().
6. Type the name of the new category value.
   For example, you might add a specific release value, such as R 3.0, as the category value for the Release category.
7. Optional: Create a dependency relationship by using subcategories.
   When you create a subcategory, you create a parent-child relationship between two categories.
   1. Select a category to add a subcategory to, and then click the action icon next the category name. Click Create Sub-Category.
   2. In the window that opens, select the category from the list and click OK.
   3. Assign values to the parent category and the subcategory.
      1. Assign values to the parent category and the subcategory by selecting them and clicking the Create icon.
      2. In this example, the Release subcategory has values of 1, 2, 3, and 4 as shown in the following image.

         

      3. Select a subcategory, click the action icon next the subcategory name, and then select Edit Subcategory values.
      4. In the Edit Subcategory values window, select the values to associate with the selected category. In this example, Version 1.0 is assigned with values 1, 2, and 3 of the Release subcategory, as shown in the following image.

         

   After you click OK, the subcategory is nested under the category.

   Note: You can define up to three levels of nested categories; for example, Version > Release > Milestone. If you define three levels, you must explicitly associate values with the second-level category. If you do not associate values with the second-level category, when users try to assign the categories in a test artifact, no options are available. In the Version > Release > Milestone example, you first define the categories, subcategories, and values. Then, you must click each of the values that are defined for the Release category to associate them with the values in the Milestone category. The following image shows the nested categories and their values:

   By default, the Category editor displays the categories in a full view. The full view includes categories, subcategories, and their values.
8. Optional: View the categories in hierarchy view by clicking the Switch to hierarchy view icon (). You can use the hierarchy view for these tasks:
   • View the hierarchy between categories and their subcategories and also view the associated values in the Values pane. If you have large number of values that are associated with categories, use the hierarchy view to improve the performance of the Category editor. The value actions that are relevant for categories are provided in the hierarchy view. The following image shows the hierarchy view of the Category editor:

     

   • Create or edit values for a category. In the Values pane, click the Create Value icon () and add values to the category. To create category values in bulk, in the Create Value dialog box copy and paste a list of values that are delimited by newlines in the Name field. For example,
     • value1
     • value2
     • value3
   • View the values that are associated with a category. Click the View Associated Values icon () to view the subvalues that are associated with a category value. Create or add new subvalues to a category value. For example, the following image shows the subvalues that are associated with category value 1:
     

     Note: By default, the Category editor displays the categories in a full view. If many values are detected (more than 100), the Category editor page automatically switches to the hierarchy view. You can still view the categories and their values in the full view, but the performance might be affected, and the category values might take more time to load in the editor.
9. Optional: Specify an external URI to identify a category across QM projects.
   1. Select a category.
   2. Click the down arrow and click Edit.
   3. Type the External URI.
   4. Click OK.

   Within a project, you might use an external URI for each category. If another project has an equivalent category, use the same external URI of the equivalent category to ensure consistency across QM projects. Jazz Reporting Service (JRS) uses the external URIs to map categories that are equivalent to each other. Equivalent categories might have different names or enumeration values across QM projects, but if you assign the same external URI to these equivalent categories, they are treated equally when you create reports across QM projects. It avoids the need to set filters for each of the categories when you create reports across QM projects. To specify the external URIs, use the following format:

   [scheme:][//authority][path][?query][#fragment]

   For example:

   "http://xyz.com/path?validate=how"

   For more information, see Integrating external data sources with LQE and Report Builder.
10. Optional: Define which categories are required.
    When you make a category that is required, users must select a value for that category when they complete the Summary section of a test artifact.
    1. Select a category.
    2. Click the down arrow and select Define as Required.
    A small asterisk is added to the name of the category.

    Note: Required fields are enforced when test artifacts are created and modified. Required fields are not enforced when artifacts come from external tools, such as the automated test execution adapters and the Microsoft Excel plug-in.
11. Optional: Define a category as multivalued.
    By making a category multivalued, you enable more than one value to be selected when a user completes the Summary section of an artifact.
    1. Select a category.
    2. Click the down arrow and select Define as Multivalued.
    A small icon is added to indicate that the category is multivalued.
12. Optional: Set a category value as the default value.
    1. Select a category value to define as the default value.
    2. Click the down arrow and select Set as Default.
    You can change the default value by clicking Remove as Default and making another value the default value.
13. Click Save.