Changing preferences

You can customize much of Test Integrations and APIs behavior by changing the default settings for the application preferences.

You can view or modify the application preferences by clicking Window > Preferences or Project > Preferences in the main Test Integrations and APIs menu bar.
Important: The default settings for the preferences are applied to the project until you modify them. The modified preferences are applied to the project from the time they are modified and are not applied on the project assets that were created before you modified the preferences.
You can view or change the following preferences:

General preferences

General preferences provide the settings to control the behavior of Test Integrations and APIs.

Table 1. General preferences
Preference Description Default value
Auto save on run Test resources are saved automatically when they are run. Disabled
Prompt for Suite Run Archive Policy If this option is selected, you are prompted to use a suite archive policy on the results from any suite that you run. Disabled
Display prompt on exit Asks the user to confirm whether to exit Test Integrations and APIs. Enabled
Show header information panels in editors In message editors, displays a description panel in the headers area (once you are more familiar with Test Integrations and APIs, they can be disabled to save screen space). Enabled
Show Tag Data Store with editors Displays the Tag Data Store automatically whenever a message editor is opened. Disabled
Show project name in title bar Toggles the display of the current project name in the Test Integrations and APIs title bar. Enabled
Default Run Tests action to parallel execution Select this option if you want the Run process in parallel option in the Run Test dialog to be selected by default. Disabled
Create default physical resource with new Logical one Specifies whether or not Test Integrations and APIs creates a physical resource for each logical resource that is created of the same type as the physical resource.
The following events occur:
If the option is... And Results in...
Enabled A physical resource of the same type as the logical resource does not exist. A physical resource is created with the same name as the logical resource and is bound to the logical resource.
A physical resource of the same type as the logical resource exists.
Disabled A physical resource of the same type as the logical resource does not exist. A physical resource is created with the same name as the logical resource and is bound to the logical resource.
A physical resource of the same type as the logical resource exists. No physical resource is created.
Note: Before you can use the logical resource, you must bind the logical resource to the existing physical resource or to a physical resource that you create.
Enabled
URL Connection Timeout (ms) Specifies a default timeout to use for connections in test actions. 10000
Maximum Preview Rows The maximum number of rows to display in previews (for example, when you are importing a WSDL). 25
Maximum filtered message logs Specifies the maximum number of messages to log when you are using a filter on a message. To log all messages, select the Log All option. 0
Maximum dependencies shown Specifies the maximum number of dependencies to display at one time in the Architecture School Logical View. 0
Tooltip display time (secs) Specifies the amount of time (in seconds) that tooltips are displayed when the cursor rests on an applicable icon or field. If left empty or if an invalid entry is set, the default value (that is, four seconds) is used. If set to zero, tooltips are not displayed at all. 4
Synchronization Filter Specifies a filter that ignores certain items that are found within a synchronization source within TIBCO BusinessWorks projects. The filter string can be modified as needed. Click Reset filter to restore the default value, which ignores .svn and .cvs folders (that is, for projects in SVN or CVS repositories). ^.*\.(([sS][vV][nN])|([cC][vV][sS])).*$
Sort Method Specifies the strength of the sorting method used when sorting items based on the locale in several places in Test Integrations and APIs, such as the providers in Library Manager or the item trees in Test Lab and Test Factory. The following methods are available:
Primary
Typically used to denote differences between base characters (for example, "a" < "b"). It is the strongest difference. For example, dictionaries are divided into different sections by base character.
Secondary
Accents in the characters are considered secondary differences (for example, "as" < "às" < "at"). Other differences between letters can also be considered secondary differences, depending on the language. A secondary difference is ignored when there is a primary difference anywhere in the strings.
Tertiary
Upper and lower case differences in characters are distinguished (for example, "ao" < "Ao"). In addition, a variant of a letter differs from the base form. An example is the difference between large and small Kana. A tertiary difference is ignored when there is a primary or secondary difference anywhere in the strings.
Quaternary
Typically used to distinguish words with and without punctuation (for example, "ab" < "a-b" < "aB"). A quaternary difference is ignored when there is a primary, secondary, or tertiary difference anywhere in the strings.
Identical
Used as a tiebreaker when all other strengths are equal. The Unicode code point values of the NFD form of each string are compared. For example, Hebrew cantillation marks are only distinguished at this strength. Using this strength substantially decreases performance and increases the size of the collation key.
Primary

Look and feel preferences

Use the Look and Feel preferences to specify which fonts to use throughout Test Integrations and APIs and the color to be used for highlighting null fields in data sources. Fonts could be fixed width or proportional.

Table 2. Look and feel preferences
Preference Description Default value
Fonts Provides combination lists for selecting an available fixed width or proportional system font and the size of the font, to use in Test Integrations and APIs. Below each selection is a Sample field that displays a sample of text in the selected font. You can now select the size of the font as required.
Note:

The size of the font is fixed in the Logical View of the Architectural School as you have an option to zoom in and out.

 Default style and Font size of 12 points
Colors Controls the Color for null values option. Specifies the color to use for highlighting fields that are treated as null when you preview the contents of a file or Excel data source. For more information, refer to Test data sources in Related concepts.

To change the current color, click it and select a new color by using the Select color dialog that is displayed.
Note: If the proportional font is modified, Test Integrations and APIs must be restarted for the change to take effect. After you close the Preferences dialog, you are prompted with the message restart now or restart later. If you restart later, the proportional font changes that you made are not immediately apparent in Test Integrations and APIs.

Server Settings preferences

Server settings preferences control default behavior when servers are specified.

Table 3. Server setting preferences
Preference Description Default value
Show server URL validation failed dialog Specifies that a validation failed dialog be displayed when the validation fails for the URLs that you specify for Test Virtualization Control Panel, Test Hub, or for the project results server configured in the project settings window. When this option is enabled and if the URL fails the validation, a dialog is displayed. You can change the default setting, if you want. Enabled
Test Hub Offline Token The offline token generated from the Test Hub is copied in this field. This token enables Test Integrations and APIs to connect to the Test Hub and access the secrets contained in the secrets collections that can be deployed in test runs and publish test reports to the Test Hub. For more information about offline tokens, see Accessing DevOps Test Hub.

Git preferences

You can configure the Git preferences so that the project test assets can be accessed from Test Integrations and APIs. For more information, see Setting preferences for Git.

Schema preferences

Schema preferences control how Test Integrations and APIs works with schemas, as follows:

Table 4. Schema preferences
Preferences Description Default value
Analysis Settings Controls the default selections to use for schema analysis, which can be overridden during analysis. For more information, refer to Analyzing schemas in Related concepts.
Cache Displays the number of files that are currently stored in Test Integrations and APIs schema cache, as well as the caches current size. To clear the cache (for example, to save disk space), click the Clear button.
Rebuild when saving resource Controls how Test Integrations and APIs rebuilds referenced schemas when it saves resources (for example, a SOAP message).
You can select from the following options:
  • Always
  • Never
  • Prompt
 Prompt
Schema Library Specifies whether to save schemas automatically (that is, when you are clicking away from the schema after you finish making changes). You must select this option to enable auto save. Disabled
Record Layouts Controls the appearance of grouping rows in record layouts. You can change the background color and the color of the text that is used in such rows. For more information, refer to Record Layouts in Related concepts.

Message preferences

With Message preferences, you can enable or disable default options to be applied when you are working with messages, as described in the following table.

Table 5. Message preferences
Preference Description Default value
Message Expansion Level The number of levels of a message to expand in editors (used only when the editor is opened for the first time). A value of 0 expands all nodes in the message. 6
Enable initial interesting node expansion Controls which fields are expanded by default. If selected, Test Integrations and APIs only expands what are considered interesting nodes. If not selected, Test Integrations and APIs expands all nodes.

Test Integrations and APIs determines what is interesting, depending on the context.

For case action, stub input action, consumer actions (subscribe, receive request, receive reply), and producer actions (publisher, send request, send reply) , the following nodes are considered interesting:
  • Enabled store actions.
  • Enabled filter actions on leaf nodes.
  • Enabled validate or assert actions that contain tagged expressions on leaf nodes.
  • Enabled validate or assert actions that do not have expressions on leaf nodes. For example, DoesExist, IsNull, Length, NotNull (excluding type and name as they exist and are enabled by default).
  • Schema errors.
  • Nodes populated from the Rule Cache.
  • Nodes marked as repeating
For the message differencing window, the following nodes are considered interesting:
  • Difference, for example, added, removed, modified.
 Selected
Content Default settings to use when you are creating messages:
Include Text nodes
Adds text nodes to message elements automatically when you create a message.
Include optional fields
Adds optional fields to a message according to the schema in use.
Limit generation of optional fields
Activates the Maximum Optional Fields field.
 Selected
Maximum Optional Fields
Specify the maximum number of optional fields to add to the message.
 1000
Assert Default validation options when you are creating a message:
Accept fields in any order
Controls whether the order of message fields is considered during validation.
Ignore missing fields in received message
Controls whether missing fields in the received message causes a validation error.
Ignore additional fields in received message
Controls whether more fields in the received message cause a validation error.
Enable validation of time-based fields
Controls whether time-based fields (which are likely to be different) are considered during validation.
 Not selected
Message Import Option to handle imported messages:
Always link
Do not copy the text of the imported message but to link to the message.
Always copy
Copy the text rather than linking to it.
Always prompt
Ask whether to link or copy for each message.
 Prompt

Console preferences

Console preferences control the appearance and behavior of the output console in the Test Lab.

Table 6. Console preferences
Preference Description Default value

Success color

 Controls the colors that are used to indicate message status in the console.

To modify the default colors, click an existing color and select a new one in the Select color dialog.
Image of the color icon
Error color
Image of the color icon
Information color
Image of the color icon
Warning color Image of the color icon
Retain message context data Enables or disables the selection of console output (where validation errors occur) to invoke the message comparison tool. Enabled
Enable debugging output Enables or disables debug messages in the console when you are run a test. When enabled, more details of the various actions that are processed in the test are provided. Disabled
Action Prefix Determines whether the Technical or Business view descriptions are displayed in the console for test step action names. Options available are:
  • Technical
  • Business
 Technical
Console Caching When enabled, users can specify that console output for no more than the selected number of tests to be cached by Test Integrations and APIs.
Note: Caching is disabled if no results database provider is specified.
You can select the Remove excess test task consoles from memory option to change the default number of consoles to be cached. Disabled
You can enter the number of consoles to be cached in the Cache size field. 20
Stub default log level Levels include:
  • None
  • Normal
  • Debug
 Debug

Recording preferences

Recording preferences control various aspects of the recording process in the Recording Studio.

Table 7. Recording preferences
Preference Description Default value
Sequence Numbering Two numbering options are available:
Unified counter
Numbers events in the order that they are received, regardless of the monitor that recorded them. For example, six events from two different monitors are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Counter per monitor
Numbers events sequentially for each monitored operation. For example, six total events from two different monitors might be numbered 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4
 Unified counter
Database Recording If you are recording from a database resource and the stub information in the database definition is incomplete, you have the following options:
  • Prompt when the stub settings are incomplete
  • Always record with incomplete stub settings
  • Do not record with incomplete stub settings
 Prompt when the stub settings are incomplete
Simulation Data Editing You have the following options for editing a virtual database when the associated stub is running:
  • Prompt when database stubs are running
  • Always edit when database stubs are running
  • Do not edit when database stubs are running
 Prompt when database stubs are running
Transport Specific Recording You can set two preferences:
Default Method for IP based
Select a default recording mode for IP-based transports (FIX, TCP/IP, HTTP):
Packet Capture
Requires packet capture software. For information about packet capture software, refer to Web services and Limitations of packet capture in Related concepts and Related references respectively.
External Proxy Server
The proxies in the Test Virtualization Control Panel enable Test Integrations and APIs and HCL DevOps Test Virtualization (Test Virtualization) to record all HTTP(S) traffic that is routed through the proxy.
 External Proxy Server
Default Mode for WebSphere® MQ
You can select any of the following default modes for IBM® WebSphere® MQ:
  • Queue Browsing
  • Proxy Queues
  • Mirror Queues
  • Dynamic Mirror Queues
  • Queue Aliasing
For information about these modes, refer to Recording settings in Related concepts.
 Queue Browsing

Message Comparison preferences

Message comparison preferences control the appearance and behavior of the Message Differences window.

Table 8. Message comparison preferences
Preference Description Default value
Colors Controls the colors that are used to indicate difference types or ignored nodes.

To modify a selected color, click it and select a new one in the Select color dialog. The following options are available:
Added
Image of the color icon
Removed
Image of the color icon
Modified
Image of the color icon
Moved
Image of the color icon
Ignored
Image of the color icon
Reset to Color Scheme Click one of the buttons to set all colors to the Pastel or Vibrant scheme.
Navigation Controls whether looping is enabled in the Message Differences window. If Do not loop when navigating differences is enabled, the Next difference and Previous difference buttons are disabled when the last or first difference is selected. In that case, you cannot loop back to the beginning or end of the differences. If this option is cleared, the buttons are always enabled and they loop to the beginning or end of the message to view the next or previous difference. Both buttons are disabled if there are no differences between the messages. Do not loop when navigating differences is enabled
Always retain the rules Sets the default behavior when you are overwriting an expected message (that is to repair a validation failure) that uses validation rules. For more information, refer to Overwriting messages that use validation rules in Related concepts. Disabled
Always apply changes without prompting If you select this option, changes that are made to the expected message in the Message Differences window are applied without prompting when the window is closed. If disabled, the user is prompted to save and apply changes, discard any changes, or cancel the action and return to the window. Disabled
Always keep repairs While the Message Differences window is open, you can edit the message in the Test Factory perspective. If you do, a message about unsaved changes is displayed when you close the Message Differences window. You can avoid this message by selecting the Always keep repairs preference. Disabled

Test Editor preferences

Test Editor preferences control the display color for missing business view descriptions, the rendering of comments within a test, and the behavior of the test or stub action editor (inline or pop up).

Table 9. Test editor preferences
Preference Description Default value
Missing business descriptions color Controls the color to use for a test name or test step that is not customized in the Business View. To modify the default color, click the existing color and select a new one in the Select color dialog.
Image of the color icon
Render comments as HTML 2.0 Controls whether the text within new comment actions are rendered as HTML, by default. You can override this feature on a per-comment basis when such actions are created.
Restart resources automatically If you select this option and you edit a stub that is currently running, the stub is restarted automatically when you save your changes.
Action Editor Settings The following settings are available:
Action Editor
Enables and sets the position of the inline Action Editor for editing the selected action in a test or stub, below or to the right of the editing panel. If set to Popup, test and stub actions can be edited by double-clicking them.
Apply changes automatically
When enabled, changes made in the Action Editor are applied automatically. If disabled, changes must be applied or discarded when you click away from the item that is open in the Action Editor.
Subscriber Settings The following settings are available: 5000 ms
Default Timeout
The default timeout (in milliseconds) to use for Receive Reply and Subscribe actions.
Default Tolerance
The default timeout tolerance (in milliseconds) to use for Receive Reply and Subscribe actions.
 5000 ms

Virtualization preferences

Virtualization preferences control the pass-through options for the available transport types.

Table 10. Virtualization preferences
Preference Description Default value
Default WebSphere® MQ Stubbing mode Specifies the mode for routing messages for MQ stubs.

You can specify any of the following options:

  • Direct
  • Use Sift and Pass-through with Dynamic Queues
  • Use Sift and Pass-through with Fixed Queues
The default mode for routing messages is Direct.		 Direct
Pass-through Specifies the default Pass-through option for the supported transports. Double-click a row in the table to display the Pass-through action that you can perform for the associated transport type. For more information about these actions, refer to Configuring transports in Related concepts.
Discard
Discard any message that the stub cannot process and do not send any reply.
Pass-through
You can specify a Delay for the data that is passed through to the stub.
Simulate Error
Pass-through a simulated error with the following characteristics:
Delay
Enter the number of milliseconds the simulated error should be delayed.
Status Code
Select the status code for the error message (200-505).
Status Text
Enter free-form text for the error message.

Not all options are available for all transports.

Applications preferences

You can add, edit, or remove applications that are associated to open various file extensions. For example, you can add, edit, or remove the program that you associated to open the .csv type of data source files.

You can click Add to enter a new association and provide the following information:

Table 11. File association fields
Field Description
File Extension Enter the file extension characters (such as XML) that you want to associate with an application.
Program List Select this option if you want to choose the associated program from the displayed list. Highlight the program in the list.
Launch Command Select this option if the program you want is not displayed and you want to select a program from your computer. You must provide a full path to the executable program in the Command field or click Browse to go to the location and select the program.

Options are available to Delete a highlighted association or to Edit the fields in the table for a highlighted association.

You must click Apply to save your changes, and then click OK to exit.

PL/I preferences

You can specify the character encoding preferences when you test PL/I applications.

Table 12. PL/I preferences
Preference Description Default value
Encoding Specifies the encoding to be used when you test PL/I applications.
You can select from the following encoding options:
  • cp037
  • UTF-8
  • UTF-16
 cp037

Topology Discovery preferences

You can specify the preferences to be used when you use the Topology Discovery feature.
Table 13. Topology discover preferences
Preference Description Default value
Clear existing observations when starting discovery Specifies the clearing of the existing observations before you start a new discovery of the topology.
You can select from the following options:
Option Action when selected
Always The existing observation points are always deleted before you start a new discovery.
Never The existing observation points are not deleted before you start a new discovery and all observation points are displayed.
Prompt You are prompted to either retain or clear the existing observation points before you start a new discovery.
Prompt
Maximum resources per intercept before scrolling Specifies the maximum number of resources that you can view per intercept before you can scroll down or up. 10
Row background color when selected for modeling. Specifies the background color of the row for the resources that you selected to be modeled.
Image of the color icon
Row background color when resource exists in the system model. Specifies the background color of the row for resources that are already represented in the system model.
Image of the color icon

Byte Arrays preferences

If you use byte arrays, you can set the following preferences:

Table 14. Byte array preferences
Preference Description Default value
Attempts to determine encoding settings from content Whether Test Integrations and APIs attempts to determine the encoding from the presented content. The setting is enabled as the default option. When you clear the selection the value from the Encoding setting is used. Selected
Encoding The following character encoding systems are available:
  • UTF-8
  • UTF-16
 UTF-8
New Line You can set the newline character to any of the following options:
  • Native
  • Unix-like (LF)
  • Windows™ (CR + LF)
  • Mac (CR)
 Native

WS-* Extensions preferences

Preferences are available for web services addressing and web services security.

Table 15. Web services extension preferences
Preference Description Default value
WS Addressing If you select the Enable by default option, the WS-Addressing transport-neutral mechanisms are enabled by default in the Field Properties editor for SOAP messages. Disabled
WS Security If you select the Enable by default option, the WS-Security communications protocol is enabled by default in the Field Properties editor for SOAP messages. Disabled

If you enable WS-Security, you can select the Enable milisecond precision for timestamps option to increase the granularity of the time stamp tokens within WS-Security.

 Enabled

Copybook preferences

Copybook preferences control the default behavior for handling Copybook schema files.

Table 16. Copybook preferences
Preference Description Default value
Schema Processing Specify the Start Column and End Column values for each line of the schema. 6 for Start Column

72 for End Column
File Serialization The following Encoding values are available:
  • CP037
  • CP285
  • ISO-8859-1
 CP037
Processing Properties The following settings are available:
Truncate content when buffer overflows
Select this option to ensure that the contents of the copybook do not exceed the size of the buffer.
Text Padding
Enter a character to be used to fill out the lines in the schema.
 Disabled

SOAP preferences

SOAP preferences control the default options in the Field Properties dialog for SOAP messages.

Table 17. SOAP preferences
Preference Description Default value
SOAP Version Select the default SOAP version (1.1 or 1.2) to apply in the Field Properties dialog. 1.1
SOAP Headers Controls whether SOAP headers are enabled by default in the Field Properties dialog. Disabled

SWIFT preferences

Preference Description Default value
Include new line at end of message

By using the Include new line at end of message check box, you can control the appending behavior of the newline character in the schema message.

When this check box is selected, a newline character is appended in the SWIFT message.

When this check box is not selected, a newline character is not appended in the SWIFT message.

 Disabled
Normalise new line characters

By using the Normalise new line characters check box, you can control the CRLF end of line character normalization behavior in the Swift message.

When this check box is selected, all Swift message LF characters are normalized to CRLF characters.

When this check box is not selected, all Swift message LF characters are not normalized to CRLF characters.

 Enabled

Files preferences

The following preference is available for controlling file access:

Table 18. File preferences
Preference Description Default value
Default Retry Interval The number of milliseconds that Test Integrations and APIs should wait before retrying file access. 10

EDIFACT preferences

If you use the United Nations Electronic Data Interchange For Administration, Commerce, and Transport (EDIFACT), you have the following preference available:

Table 19. EDIFACT preferences
Preference Description Default value
Schema Processing The following setting is available:
Make UNG/UNE segments mandatory
If you select this option, the Functional Group Header (UNG) and Footer (UNE) are required when processing schemas.
 Disabled

XML preferences

These preferences control the default options that are used when you process XML.

Table 20. XML preferences
Preference Description Default value
File Serialization The following setting is available:
Encoding
The default encoding type for serializing XML, either UTF-8 or UTF-16.
 UTF-8
Processing Properties The following settings are available:
Formatting
The default formatting for XML, either Single-line or Multi-line indented.
 Multi-line indented
Encoding
The default encoding to use when you are processing XML, either UTF-8, UTF-16, or ISO-8859-1.
 UTF-8
Normalize the document
Enables or disables the default normalization of empty text nodes to a single space character.
 Enabled
Send NULL values
Enables or disables the sending of XML elements whose text contains only a Tag, the value of which is NULL (not empty string ""). If Send NULL values is not selected, this element is not sent.
 Disabled
Include XML Declaration
Enables or disables the inclusion of the XML declaration by default.
 Enabled
Treat CDATA as Text
Enables or disables the treatment of CDATA fields as text by default.
Preserve Whitespace
Enables or disables the preservation of white space in XML.
 Disabled
XML Name Matching The following settings are available:
Qualified Name
Enables the use of namespace prefixes during message comparison.
Local Name
Enables local name matching, ignoring namespace prefixes, during message comparison.
 Qualified Name is Enabled
Message Editing Preview The following settings are available:
Depth
Sets the default number of levels to be expanded in XML previews.
Length
Sets the default message field length to display in XML previews.
 2 for Depth

30 for Length

See Record layouts.

GraphQL preferences

These preferences control the default options that are used when you process GraphQL.

Table 21. GraphQL preferences
Preference Description Default value
Style The following options are available:
JSON Payload
The default preference setting that is applied to messages that use the GraphQL schema. In this style the message body is displayed and sent as a JSON encoded string.
GraphQL Payload
The preference setting that can be applied to messages that use the GraphQL schema. In this style the message body is displayed and sent in the GraphQL format.
Query Parameters
The preference setting that can be applied to messages that use the GraphQL schema. In this style the content of the message is sent URL encoded query parameters and the message body is empty.
 JSON Payload
Payload The setting is enabled only when the GraphQL Payload or JSON Payload option is selected in the Style field. You can select the following option:

Pretty print JSON/GraphQL

When enabled, the JSON data or GraphQL data is formatted with proper indentation and line feeds that enhances the display to be pretty.

 Enabled
URI

URI prefix

This option is enabled only when you select Query Parameters as the preference setting in the Style field. The URI prefix replaces the Resource Path in the base URL in the message headers.

Enter the URI prefix in the URI prefix field.

 No URI prefix