Tags

Applies to TestComplete 14.0, last modified on January 23, 2019

About

You assign tags to features and scenarios to organize and run them by some criteria. For example, you can use tags to specify the operating system or environment in which the test should run, the browser that the test should check, the application subsystem or functionality that should be tested, and so on. You can then iterate through the list of features and scenarios, check their tags and run the features and scenarios that match your conditions.

Set a tag

You set tags in the Gherkin editor. Enter them before the feature or scenario description. Tags use a simple @tag syntax:

Tags in TestComplete Gherkin editor

As you can see in the image above, you can assign multiple tags, if needed. Simply separate them with spaces and make sure to put @ before each tag.

Notes:

  • You can apply tags to the following Gherkin elements:

    • Feature
    • Scenario
    • Scenario Outline (or Scenario Template)
    • Examples

    Test steps cannot be tagged.

  • A tag you set for a Feature applies to all Scenarios of this Feature.

    A tag set for a Scenario Outline (or Scenario Template) applies to the Examples element in this Scenario Outline (Scenario Template).

  • Tag names are case-sensitive. For example, @reports and @Reports are different tags.

  • Tag names can include spaces (TestComplete treats everything between two @ characters as a tag name).

Run by tag

Option 1 – Run from the UI

  • In the Project Explorer, right-click the Scenarios node and select Run Tagged by tag-name from the context menu (if the Project Explorer panel is hidden, select View > Project Explorer from the main menu to display it):

    Run scenarios by tag

    Click the image to enlarge it.

    This command will run all the features and scenarios that have the specified tag set for them.

Option 2 – Run as a test item

You can make a “tag run” a test item and run features and scenarios by a tag along with other project tests as part of your project run:

  1. Open the Test Items page of your project editor. To do this, double-click the project and select Edit > Test Items from the context menu, or double-click the project node in the Project Explorer and then switch to the Test Items tab:

    Opening the Test Items page of the project editor

    Click the image to enlarge it.

  2. On the tab, create a new project item.

  3. Click the ellipsis button in the Test column and select the desired test in the subsequent dialog:

    Run by tag from the Test Items page of the project editor

    Click the image to enlarge it.

    TestComplete will add the “tag run” to the test item list. It will run BDD tests when you run the entire project or if you run the test item to which the “tag run” is linked:

    Tag run in the list of test items

Option 3 - Run from the command line

To run feature files and scenarios by tag, you can use a command line like this one:

TestComplete.exe project-suite-file /project:project-name /test:"Scenarios|@tag1" /run

For more information on other arguments, see TestComplete Command Line.

Option 4 - Run by tag expression

Some frameworks, like Cucumber, can run a combination of tags like @tag1 and @tag2, or @tag1 and not @tag3. To do this in TestComplete, you write script code that will iterate through the features and scenarios and run them from script.

The script function below is an example of such code. It iterates through the features and scenarios in your project and runs those features and scenarios that have the @Win10 tag assigned and don’t have the @LoginForm tag assigned. The main function to run is RunByTag(). The function that checks the tags is checkBDDItem(). If you copy this code to your tests, re-write the checkBDDItem() function to check the condition you need.

When checking tags, make sure to specify @ before the tag name.

JavaScript, JScript
Python
VBScript
DelphiScript
C++Script, C#Script

JavaScript, JScript

// Run features and scenarios (@Win10 and not @LoginForm)
function RunByTag(){
  // Iterate through features
  for(i = 0; i < Features.Count; i++) {
    var feature = Features.Item(i);
    // Call a custom function to check feature tags
    if (checkBDDItem(feature))
      feature.Run();
    else
      // Iterate through feature scenarios
      for(j = 0; j < feature.Scenarios.Count; j++) {
        scenario = feature.Scenarios.Item(j)
        // Call a custom function to check scenario tags
        if (checkBDDItem(scenario))
          scenario.Run();
      }
  }
}

// Check feature and scenario tags
function checkBDDItem(BDDItem) {
  return BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@Win10") && !BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@LoginForm");
}

Python

# Run features and scenarios (@Win10 and not @LoginForm)
def RunByTag():
  # Iterate through features
  for i in range(0, Features.Count):
    feature = Features.Item[i]
    # Call a custom function to check feature tags
    if checkBDDItem(feature):
      feature.Run()
    else:
      # Iterate through feature scenarios
      for j in range(0, feature.Scenarios.Count):
        scenario = feature.Scenarios.Item[j]
        # Call a custom function to check scenario tags
        if checkBDDItem(scenario):
          scenario.Run()

# Check feature and scenario tags
def checkBDDItem(BDDItem):
  return BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@Win10") and not BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@LoginForm")

VBScript

' Check feature and scenario tags
Function CheckBDDItem(BDDItem)
  CheckBDDItem = BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@Win10") And Not BDDItem.Tags.Contains("@LoginForm")
End Function

' Run features and scenarios (@Win10 and not @LoginForm)
Sub RunByTag
  ' Iterate through features
  For i = 0 to Features.Count - 1
    Set Feature = Features.Item(i)
    ' Call a custom function to check feature tags
    If CheckBDDItem(Feature) Then
      Feature.Run
    Else
      ' Iterate through feature scenarios
      For j = 0 to Feature.Scenarios.Count - 1
        Set Scenario = Feature.Scenarios.Item(j)
        ' Call a custom function to check scenario tags
        If CheckBDDItem(Scenario) Then
          Scenario.Run
        End If
      Next 
    End If
  Next
End Sub

DelphiScript

DelphiScript does not support BDD functionality.

C++Script, C#Script

// Run features and scenarios (@Win10 and not @LoginForm)
function RunByTag(){
  // Iterate through features
  for(i = 0; i < Features["Count"]; i++) {
    var feature = Features["Item"](i);
    // Call a custom function to check feature tags
    if (checkBDDItem(feature))
      feature["Run"]();
    else
      // Iterate through feature scenarios
      for(j = 0; j < feature["Scenarios"]["Count"]; j++) {
        scenario = feature["Scenarios"]["Item"](j)
        // Call a custom function to check scenario tags
        if (checkBDDItem(scenario))
          scenario["Run"]();
      }
  }
}

// Check feature and scenario tags
function checkBDDItem(BDDItem) {
  return BDDItem["Tags"]["Contains"]("@Win10") && !BDDItem["Tags"]["Contains"]("@LoginForm");
}

For information on accessing features and scenarios in scripts, see Scripting.

See Also

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) With TestComplete

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