Test authoring

You can use HCL OneTest™ Server to author tests instead of creating the tests by using the desktop products.

HCL OneTest™ Server 10.2.2 provides you with the test authoring capability, which utilizes a containerized version of the HCL OneTest™ Studio desktop authoring tools.

Refer to the following table to know about the default status of the test authoring feature during server installation:


Server installation	Test authoring feature
Ubuntu Server (using k3s)	Disabled
Azure Kubernetes Service	Enabled

Important:

By design, the test authoring feature provides you with the capability to author and edit tests that include writing code, executing code, and accessing the shell. The container in Kubernetes that is used by the test authoring or editing feature does not run as root and the container is not privileged. Hence, it results in providing some protection to the host and other workloads that run on the same node.

You must not install the test authoring feature in the following scenarios:

If you administer a network policy for your server installation.
If you do not intend to use the test authoring feature.

Note: If you are installing the server on the Azure Kubernetes Service platform and you do not want to use the test authoring feature, you must run a helm command to turn off the installing of the test authoring feature.

Prerequisites for authoring tests

You must be familiar with the methods for authoring or creating tests in any of the following desktop products before you can use the test authoring capabilities in HCL OneTest™ Server:

HCL OneTest™ API
HCL OneTest™ Performance
HCL OneTest™ UI

You must ensure that you have not disabled the test authoring feature at the time of installation of HCL OneTest™ Server or any time after installation.

You must be a Team Space Owner, Project Owner or Member with Tester role to create or edit tests.

Working with the test authoring feature

You must create a project in your team space on HCL OneTest™ Server and add a repository to your project.

You must enable the browser that you use to start an instance of HCL OneTest™ Server to trust the self-signed certificate so that the containerized product can be displayed in another tab of the same browser. See Certificate authority: Importing and extending lists.

A containerized version of the HCL OneTest™ Studio desktop authoring tools is launched on a new browser tab different from the tab that displays the HCL OneTest™ Server instance when you initiate any of the following tasks on HCL OneTest™ Server:

Create a test in a branch of the project repository.
Edit a test in a branch of the project repository.

You must select the type of test that you want to create. After you select the type of test, the corresponding containerized product is displayed in a new browser tab. Refer to the following table for the types of tests that you can create in the containerized product:


Test type selected	Containerized product displayed	Supported tests that you can create
API test	HCL OneTest™ API	The following test types are supported: API Test Suite API tests Virtual services
Functional test	HCL OneTest™ UI Note: This is a shell-shared version with HCL OneTest™ Performance with which you can create both functional tests and performance tests.	The following test types are supported : AFT Suite Compound tests that contain any of the following types of tests: HTML tests Performance tests Web UI tests Functional Web UI tests Performance tests Rate Schedules VU Schedules
Performance test

The containerized product displays the product GUI similar to the desktop product. You must use the options similar to the desktop product to create the tests in the containerized products. Refer to the following table for the supported technologies and features in the containerized products in comparison with the desktop products:

Containerized product

Supported features

Supported technologies

HCL OneTest™ API

All features as in the desktop product excluding the following features:

Topology Discovery in the Architectural School perspective.
Rules Cache in the Architectural School perspective.
Monitoring logging of tests in the Test Factory view.
Results Gallery.
Results Publishing and Quality Management in the Project Settings UI.
Test Cycles, General Tool Configuration, Project Security, and Ant task.

All technologies as in the desktop product excluding the following technologies used as a physical transport in tests:


Transport	Testing	Recording	Virtual services
FIX	Yes	No	No
Mongo	Yes	No	No
TCP Server	Yes	No	No
UDP Server	No	No	No
CICS Region	Yes	No	No
IMS Connect	Yes	No	No
Software AG IS	Yes	No	No
Database	No	No	No
z/OS DB2	No	No	No

HCL OneTest™ UI shell-shared with HCL OneTest™ Performance

All features as in the desktop products.

All technologies as in the desktop products.

You can refer to the product documentation of the desktop products to find information about the specific tasks that you want to perform in the containerized product. Use the following links to the product documentation:

After you create the test in the containerized product, you must save the test assets or resources to the branch in the repository of your project. You accomplish committing the assets or resources by publishing them.

You can pause your test creation activities in the containerized product and resume the task in the following conditions:

When you do not delete the ongoing session in the browser tab with the containerized product.
When you resume the test authoring session within 8 hours of pausing the task.

Important: You might not be able to continue with the test creation activities if you close the browser and delete the session with the containerized product.

After the created test assets are published to the project repository, you can run the test assets from the Execution page or the virtual services from the Resources page.

When you want to edit the created tests or other tests that are in the project repository, you can open the test in the containerized product and use the containerized product to edit the test. After you edit the test, you must publish the test assets to the repository so that the edited test asset is available for a run.

Limitations when using the test authoring feature

You can initiate only one session to either create or edit a test in the containerized product.

When you open a test for editing, the browser displays a message whether you want to view copied text and images on the clipboard. You must choose Allow so that the test is opened for editing.

Note: If you select Block, the test is not opened for editing.

When you create a Performance test or Functional test for the first time in the containerized product, after the product is loaded in a new browser, the New Test From Recording window is displayed. You can ignore this message by clicking Cancel and continue with test creation in the containerized product.

When you work in the containerized HCL OneTest™ UI on Performance or Functional tests, you can do any of the following actions to display the context menu:

Press Shift+F10
Keep the right mouse key pressed for a few seconds

When you work in the containerized HCL OneTest™ API to create or edit API tests or resources and if you want to copy and paste API tests or resources, then you must use the Context menu by selecting Edit > Copy and then click Edit > Paste.

Note: The shortcut keys Ctrl+C and Crtl+V do not work to copy and paste API test resources.

The window size control options do not work in the HCL OneTest™ API containerized product.

The SSL certificate validation fails when you commit assets or resources to Git repositories in the containerized product. You can choose to skip the SSL validation and continue with committing assets to Git.