What is Test Data?

Test data is a commonly used term in Automation testing. While executing the test scripts, we need some data to give as input to get some expected output. To perform load activities on an application using an iterative series of data sets (Load testing) or to check the breakpoint (Stress Testing) of an application, For this, an excessive amount of data is required. Hence, the data required while executing the test scripts can be stored here inside the containers called Folders. This data could be valid or invalid. To keep it short, Test data is the data that is required to execute the test scripts properly and to verify the expected output in any software application under test.

Why do we need Test Data?

Let us try to understand the importance of Test Data with an example. We are testing a Mobile software application. Mobiles are having various applications. To test all those various applications, one will need different input data from different sources of different kinds like xlsx, properties, pdf, XML, Jason, apk, IPA, CSV, mp3, image, etc. One can feed data and store it in a file and make use of those entries in a test script and iterate script executions, these are known as Test Data. With readily available Test Data, the tester can proceed with the execution of the scripts and get the desired output.

Create Test Data

In this section, we will be explaining, how to create Test Data with a practical demonstration.

Prerequisites

• Before uploading the files to the projects, Folders should be created.

Now, let’s dive into creating new Test data.

Steps to create a Test Data

Once you log into our platform, you will come across a Projects searchable dropdown. From the dropdown select the project that you have previously created.

Otherwise, click on “Projects Menu” in the left navigation menu. Click on the “+ Project” button present on the right corner of the projects menu screen and how one can create projects is covered in the “Projects Menu” section. In case you have not familiarized yourself with the Projects Menu, please go through the Project menu section before you begin this chapter. Now select the created project in the “Project Name” drop-down and In the left navigation menu click on the “Test Data” text.

The container in which test data is stored is known as a folder.

Folder

Home > Individual project > Test Data > “+Folder”

What is a Folder?

The folders act as a storage space in the Test Data section. Here, you can store files in groups in an organized manner. we can even create subfolders inside the root folders.

How folders can be created

Steps to create a Folder.

1. Click on the “+ Folder” button.

2. The “Create Folder” pop-up will have appeared on the screen as shown below.

3. Fill in the credentials required in the Name and Description section. As this is would be the first time you are creating the folder, by default, the Root Folder is selected in the “Parent Folder” radio button.

4. Now click on the “Create” button in the footer of the pop-up page, to create the folder.

5. Now a table is provided in the Test data screen.

6. Upon successful creation of the Folder, the following success message is displayed as “Success. <<Folder name>> Folder created successfully”.

Why do we need a Sub Folder?

Arranging Files into logical groups makes it easy to locate any particular file. To have easy access to the Files, we store them in different Sub Folders. Each subfolder can hold any number of files along with additional subfolders.

Steps to create a Sub Folder

• To create Sub Folder, you can hover the mouse over a folder. “+” icon is displayed beside the folder name. When you click on the “+” icon, “Add Folder” and “Add File” text is displayed.
• Now click on the “Add folder” text, and then the create folder pop-up is displayed, as shown in the below screen.

• Fill in the Name and Description of the Folder. The folder on which you have performed the mouse hover action and clicked on the “+” icon, will be selected in the “Parent Folder” dropdown by default.
• Now click on create a button which is provided in the footer of the dropdown to create a subfolder.
• Upon successful creation of the Folder, a success message is displayed saying “Success. <<Folder name>> Folder created successfully”.

Upload Files to Folder

Steps to Upload a File under a Folder.

You can upload files in two ways.

First way:

1. To upload a file, click on the “+ File” button, provided below breadcrumb in the right corner of the screen as shown in the below screen.

Note: When none of the files are selected, the Upload button will be disabled as shown in the below screen

Upon clicking on the “+ File” button, the “Upload File” pop-up will be displayed as shown in the below screen.

2. From the “Parent Folder” dropdown select the folder under which you need to upload a file.

3. Now, click on the “Choose Files” button. A file selection window is displayed. browse the File you need to upload. You can upload a maximum of 5 files at a time as shown on the below screen.

4. When you hover the mouse on the “i” icon beside the “Select Files” text, it will display the accepted file formats such as, “xlsx”, “properties”, “pdf”, “XML”, “JSON”, “apk”, “IPA”, “CSV”, “mp3”, and “image”.

5. All the Files you have selected from the file selection window are displayed in the table as shown in the below screen.

6. You can delete the files that you don’t need to upload, by clicking on the delete icon provided in the table as shown on the below screen.

7. Now click on the “Upload” button to upload the selected files under the selected folder.

8. Upon successful upload of selected files, a success banner message is displayed saying, “Success. Selected Files added successfully”.

Second Way

1. To upload Files under a particular folder, you can hover the mouse over a folder. A “+” icon is displayed beside the folder name. When you click on the “+” icon, the “Add Folder” and “Add File” text is displayed. Now, click on the “Add File” text.

2. An “Upload File” pop-up appears, as shown below Screen.

In the Folder on which you hover the mouse, click on the “+” icon. It will be selected in the “Parent Folder” dropdown by default.

3. Click on the “Choose Files” button. This will open a file selection window. In the File selection window select the Files that you need to upload under the folder.

4. Now click on the “Upload” button to upload the selected files under the selected folder.

5. Upon successful upload of selected files, a success banner message is displayed saying, “Success . Selected Files added successfully”.

Features Functionalities in Test Data:

Now let us understand the functionalities of Features available in Test Data.

1. Expand Folder: Initially, when the Expand Folder is not active, by default all the Folders and Subfolders will be in collapsed mode.

• In the Table, under Folder’s column, the “Expand Folder” icon is provided as shown in the below screen.

• Functionality: When you click on expand the folder, you will find all the Folders and Subfolders displayed in Expanded mode i.e., All the Folders and Subfolders will be visible as shown in the below screen.

2. Show File: Initially, by default, Show Files will be active.

• In the Table, under Folder’s column “Show Files” icon is provided as shown in the below screen.

• Functionality: By default, “Show Files” will be active. All Files present under all Folders and Subfolders are displayed.

3. Type: The type column is provided only for the Files. This displays the type of File that you have uploaded as shown below screen. Ex: xlsx, properties, pdf, XML, JSON, apk, IPA, CSV, mp3, image”.

4. Modified By: This column displays, the name of the user who has edited the respective Folder or files.

5. Actions: Actions column is displayed when you hover the mouse over a particular Folder/File.

Actions Column for a Folder:

When you hover the mouse on a Folder, it will display the following icons.

a. Delete :

• If the Folder does not contain any Subfolders and Files, upon clicking on the Delete icon a Warning message popup will be displayed, as shown on the below screen.

• Click on the “Delete” button to delete the folder.

Note:

• If the Folder contains any Subfolders and Files, you cannot delete that folder. When clicked on the delete icon, a warning banner is displayed saying “Folders having Files and Subfolders cannot be deleted”.
• If the Folder contains Files, but those files are not used in Step Groups/Scripts, you can delete that folder.

b. More Icons:

• When you click on More icons of a Folder, it will display the options menu as shown below the screen.

• When you click on the “Details” text, the Folder Details pop-up will be displayed as shown in the below screen.

• Upon clicking on the “Close” button, the pop-up gets closed.

Actions Column for a File:

a. Delete Icon:

• When the user clicks on the Delete icon, a warning message popup is displayed provided the File is not used in any Step Groups/Scripts.

• Click on the “Delete” button to delete the File.

b. More Icon:

• When you click on the More icon of a File, it displays the options menu.

• When you click on the “Details” text, the File Details pop-up is displayed as shown in the below screen.

• When you click on the “Download” text, the selected File is downloaded.

 

Expand & collapse the Folder Manually.

• Initially, when you navigate to the Test data screen from the Left Navigation menu, all the folders are in collapsed mode.
• If you need to expand a particular Folder, you can click on the Expand/Collapse folder icon provided beside the Folder name text.
  Note: Expand/Collapse icon is provided to the Folder only if it contains Subfolders in its family.

Navigate to a Particular Folder Family.

• You can navigate to a particular Folder family, with a single click on the “<<Folder name>>”.
• When you just click on the “<<Folder name>>”, a Particular Folder family screen is displayed.

• You can drill down to the subfolder level as well with a single click on the “<<Subfolder name>>”.
• When you click on a Folder/Subfolder you will be navigated to a particular folder family. Now, in the breadcrumb, the complete path of the folder is displayed.

• If you click on Login in the breadcrumb, you will be navigated to the Login family.

Navigate to a Particular File.

• You can see the details of the File, by navigating to a particular file.
• You can navigate to a particular File with a single click on the “<<File Name>>” from the Root Folder screen/Particular Folder family.

• Now, in the breadcrumb, the complete path of the file is displayed.

We can clone the test data also, First go to the test data section and under more options, you will find an option of “Clone” Once you click on it you will get a copy of the same test data under the same folder.

We can replace the test data file which is already under the test data section. You will find an icon of replacing the test data file and can choose a different test data file to replace the previous file. Once you click on the replace option you will get a popup for selecting the file.