Test execution preferences

You can customize the test execution behavior in your environment by configuring user and system preferences that are related to test execution.

Preferences for test execution are available in these locations:
  • Click the User Profile (User Profile menu) icon in the banner, and then click My Preferences for Engineering Test Management. Click the Execution section, and select any of these options:
    • During Manual execution, confirm before applying verdict to all remaining steps
    • Do not show animation during Apply all action
    • Associate Manual script by default when creating keywords
    • Ask for confirmation when a manual step is marked fail
    • Automatically block the Test Case Execution Record when associated with defects
      Note: If Automatically block the Test Case Execution Record when associated with defects option is enabled and you associate a defect with the step result during manual test script execution, the defect is considered as a blocking defect. Engineering Test Management does not verify the blocking points for the test case result. It is not the same if you mark a defect as blocking defect from the test case result editor whether Automatically block the Test Case Execution Record when associated with defects option is enabled or not. You cannot mark a defect as blocking defect if the blocking point is zero.
    • Close the script execution page automatically on completion of execution
    • Update Test Suite Result points and verdict when Test Case Result is modified: Select Ask to ask users if they want to recalculate the test suite result weight when they update the test case result. Select Yes to recalculate the weight automatically or select No to specify that test suite result points must not be recalculated when test case result points are updated.
  • Click the User Profile (User Profile menu) icon in the banner, and then click My Preferences for Engineering Test Management. Click the Adapters section, and select any of these options:
    • Automatically select an available adapter during execution
    • Show warning when an unresponsive adapter is selected to execute an automated script
  • Click the Administration (Administration) icon in the banner, and then click Manage Project Properties. Click the Execution Preferences section, and select any of these options:
    • Disable Apply All functionality for manual tests: Enable this option to force testers to apply a result to each statement individually in a manual test. When this checkbox is cleared, a tester can assign the same verdict to the remaining statements by clicking Apply All, and then selecting a verdict.
    • Execute manual test script steps in any order: Enable this option to execute manual test scripts steps in any order during the execution of manual test scripts. By default, you can execute manual test scripts steps in sequential order. When you select this checkbox, you can execute them in any order.
    • Allow steps to be added and deleted, and the Description and Expected Results columns to be updated during manual test script execution: Enable this option to update manual test script steps during test script execution. You can edit the Description and Expected Results columns of the step and add new steps or delete existing steps during execution.
      Note: You must have permissions to add, edit, or delete steps during execution. Enable these permissions in the Permissions section by clicking Manage This Project Area.
    • Show the previous step results when executing the same test case execution record: Enable this option to view the previous verdicts of a step when you run the same test case execution record. You can view the three previous verdicts.
    • Disable pre-populating the summary and description of a new defect with the related test script information: Enable this option to create a defect with blank Summary and Description fields.
    • Select the Modify execution variable values checkbox by default in the Run Test Case and Run Test Suite dialog boxes: Enable this option when you want to make it mandatory for the tester to review or modify the execution variable values before the test starts.
    • When a new test execution record is created, make the development items from the associated test case blocking defects: Enable this option to add all development items that are associated to the test case as blocking defects to the generated test case execution records.
    • Unblock the test execution record when all the associated blocking defects are resolved: Enable this option to automatically mark test case execution records that were blocked as Non-blocking after all blocking defects that are associated with the test case execution records are resolved.
    • Unblock the test execution record when a build contains fixes for all the associated blocking defects: Enable this option to automatically mark test case execution records that were blocked as Non-blocking after a build that contains fixes for all blocking defects that are associated with the test case execution records.
    • During a test suite execution, automatically select a test script that is associated with the test case if the user does not set a default test script: Enable this option to automatically determine the default test script for a test suite step during the test suite execution in the following scenarios:
      • The test suite step does not have a default test script.
      • The existing default test script is archived or removed from the associated test case of the test suite step.
      The automated test script with the highest ID (when the associated test case contains both automated and manual test scripts) or the manual test script with the highest ID is selected as the default test script.
    • During a test suite execution, automatically select an automated test script that is associated with the test case if the user sets a manual test script: If the associated test case contains both automated and manual test scripts, and the tester sets a manual test script as the default test script for the test suite, enable this option to automatically select an automated test script as the default test script during the test suite execution. The automated test script with the highest ID is selected as the default test script.
    • If a test suite is executed by an execution schedule, exclude test suite steps that do not have associated scripts: Enable this option to exclude test suite steps with no associated test scripts during a scheduled test execution. When you create an execution schedule, you must have an associated test script for each step of the test suite. You can archive the associated test script later or remove it from the test suite step. If this property is enabled, those steps are excluded while the test suite is running from an execution schedule. No execution request or result is created for that step.
    • Automatically assign executor as owner to test case and test suite execution record if owner is not assigned
    • Enable Channels: Enable this option to make channels available in the project. You must log out and back in for this change to take effect.
    • Automatically create Test Case Execution Records whenever a Test Suite Execution Record is created: Enable this option if you want Test Case Execution Records to be created when a Test Suite Execution Record is created. Enabling this feature allows for better workload estimation during test planning. By default, Test Case Execution Records must be created individually or when a Test Suite Execution Record is run.
    • Set the rolled-up result as the current execution result for test cases and test suites: Enable this option to set the result of the roll-up operation as the current result of the execution record.
    • When test case executions are canceled or stopped, set unexecuted steps as Deferred: Enable this option to set the verdict of the test case execution record as Deferred instead of Inconclusive when a test case execution record is canceled or stopped. Enable this preference if you use the roll-up operation for test case execution records.
    • Validate the weight distribution for test result verdicts: Enable this option to alert the user if there are no points of the corresponding verdict set in the weight distribution when you save the test result.
    • Display the test case attributes in an online test case execution without a test script: Enable this option to include test case attributes as a section during the execution of a test case without a test script.
    • Display the test case categories in an online test case execution without a test script: Enable this option to include test case categories as a section during the execution of a test case without a test script.
    • Select a single machine for the test suite if all steps in the test suite contain the same type of test script: Enable this option to use a single adapter when you run a test suite with steps that contain the same type of automated test script, such as command line scripts or IBM DevOps Test UI scripts. When you run the test suite, by default the Quality Management application uses a single adapter for all the test suite steps. However, you can manually change the adapter for any step.
      • Select from all available machines in a test cell if the test suite is configured to run in parallel mode: Enable this option to distribute test cases in a test suite among all available computers when the test suite is run in parallel mode within a test cell.
    • Enforce lab machine reservation: Enable this setting to enforce specific behavior for machine reservations at test execution time. The setting has following two options:
      • Disallow tests to be queued on a machine that is reserved by someone else: Select this option to prevent multiple testers from competing for the same test resources. When this preference is enabled, testers cannot see machines that other testers reserved. Automated schedules ignore this preference.
      • Allow tests to be queued on any machine, and when the user reserves the machine, automatically start the tests: Select this option to queue tests on a machine, even if the machine is not reserved for the current user. When selected, automatic reservations are prevented. Instead, the test lead, lab manager, or tester must reserve a test machine for the test execution by using Lab Management. Once the time scheduled for the machine reservation is reached, the test case or test suite is automatically run.
    • Custom search criteria for the execution adapter
    • Always search adapter within Test Cell at run time for scheduled execution: Enable this option to restrict the adapter search to within a test cell. You can create a test cell listing adapter machines and assigning that test cell for scheduled executions. If you enable this setting, the adapters which are not listed in the test cell will not be selected for executing the test, even if they are available.
      Note: If the test cell is assigned to a scheduled execution, you cannot assign the adapter to individual test steps. The adapter will be selected at run time from within the test cell.
    • Search for other available adapter based on applicable adapter search criteria, if assigned adapter is not found: Enable this option if you want the adapter search to search for other available adapters, if the assigned adapter is not available for execution. The search will be based on the criteria mentioned in the Execution Adapter Custom Search Criteria.
    • Restrict the reuse of the lab resource if it is reserved for a test: Enable this setting if you do not want the adapter search to include lab resources that are currently reserved by a test case, test suite, or test schedule.
  • Click the Administration (Administration) icon in the banner, and then click Manage Project Properties. Click the Execution States section, and specify the execution states that are displayed in execution results. For a list of the default execution states, see Test execution states.
  • Click the Administration (Administration) icon in the banner, and then click Manage Project Properties. Click the Manual Script Preferences section. It contains preferences for both recording of manual scripts and the manual script dictionary. The dictionary is used during the creation of manual test scripts from test case designs to determine whether the step should be a reporting step. In this section, you can also select an option to disable manual test script creation from test case designs.