Execution Plan Editor

Applies to TestComplete 14.72, last modified on April 22, 2021

In the Execution Plan editor of your project, you can view and change the sequence of items that will run in the specified order. These items are called test items.

To open the Execution Plan editor, do any of the following:

  • Select View > Organize Tests from the TestComplete main menu.

  • Double-click the Execution Plan node in the Project Explorer.

  • Select your project in the Project Explorer and click  Organize Tests on the panel’s toolbar.

  • Right-click your project in the Project Explorer and select Edit > Execution Plan from the context menu.

Execution Plan editor

Click the image to enlarge it.

Test item properties

The Execution Plan editor shows the project’s test items in the order they will be run. A test item can be:

  • A keyword test
  • A script routine
  • A low-level procedure
  • A network suite, or its job or task
  • A BDD scenario or several scenarios
  • A unit test or a Selenium test
  • A ReadyAPI functional or security test
  • A tag or tag expression specifying one or several tests (keyword tests, script routines, and BDD scenarios) to run

You can organize test items into a plain list, grouped list or a tree-like structure (where child items are run after the parent item has finished running). You can exclude test items from or include them in the test run using the check box next to the test item name.

The following table contains descriptions of test item properties.

Test item properties are not applied to tests that are not launched as test items (for example, they are launched from the Project Explorer or are called from another test).

Column Description
Name The test item name.
Test case Marks the test item as a test case. This item will be included in the Summary report.

Notes:

  • This column is not applicable to BDD feature files. You can mark individual BDD scenarios as test cases though.

    Scenarios and features are always added to the Summary report regardless of the column value.

  • This column value is ignored if you run tests by tags. Tests that match a tag or a tag expression are always added to the Summary report.

  • Though you can mark network suites, their jobs, and tasks as test cases, the results of the actions executed on remote computers will not affect the test case results.

  • Regardless of this column value, TestComplete will generate a detailed test log for the test item anyway.

Execution entity The project item to be run. It can be:
  • a keyword test,
  • a script routine,
  • a BDD scenario or several scenarios,
  • a low-level procedure,
  • a network suite, or its job or task
  • a unit test or Selenium test,
  • a ReadyAPI functional or security test,
  • a tag,
  • a tag expression.

To choose a test, click the ellipsis button and use the resulting Select Test dialog.

Count The number of times the test will be repeated. Default is 1.
Timeout The maximum run time (in minutes) for the test item. If the run time exceeds the timeout, TestComplete posts an error to the test log and generates the OnTimeout event. You can create a handler for this event to stop the current test item and proceed to the next one. See Stopping Tests on Timeout.

Default is 0, which means no timeout.

Parameters If a test item is a script routine or a keyword test that takes parameters, this column specifies the parameter values.

If the test item is a tag expression, it specifies the expression.

Click the ellipsis button and specify the needed values or expression in the resulting Test Parameters dialog.

You can use either hard-coded parameter values, or project variables.

On error
Specifies what TestComplete will do if an error occurs during the test item run:
  • Use project 'On error' setting - Default. The behavior will depend on the value of the Error handling > On error property of your project. See Project Properties - Playback Options.

  • Continue running - TestComplete will ignore the error and continue the test run.

  • Stop project - TestComplete will stop the entire project run.

  • Stop current item - TestComplete will stop the current test run and move to the next test.

    If the test item has child items, they will not be run.

    If the test item corresponds to a tag or a tag expression, it will affect the current matching test only. That is, TestComplete will stop the current matching test and will move to the next matching test.

    If the test item corresponds to a scenario outline, it will affect the current example only. TestComplete will stop the current example and proceed with the next example.

  • Stop and rerun current item - TestComplete will stop the current item and rerun it several times. The number of retries is controlled via the project Rerun failed test items property.

For more information on using the On error property, see About Controlling Test Execution Flow.

Note: This property does not apply to errors that occur on remote computers during distributed testing.

On exception Specifies what TestComplete will do if an unhandled script exception occurs during the test item run. Some examples of these exceptions are: an invalid function name, an invalid parameter value, and so on.        

This property is effective only if the Show a notification when an unhandled script exception occurs option is disabled in your project.

  • Continue running - TestComplete will ignore the exception and continue the test run.

  • Stop project - TestComplete will stop the entire project run.

  • Stop current item - TestComplete will stop the current test item and its child items and move to the next test item.

For more information on using this option, see About Controlling Test Execution Flow.

Note: This option does not apply to exceptions that occur on remote computers during distributed testing.
Link to external test case Specifies an external test case to which your test item is linked. It can be a test case stored in:
  • Zephyr for Jira

  • Azure DevOps

You can click the ellipsis button and select the needed test case in the resulting wizard. If your TestComplete project is not bound to any external project yet, select either Zephyr for Jira or Azure DevOps, configure the connection to the needed project in the selected system, and then select the needed test case.

Linking TestComplete test items to Azure DevOps test cases makes sense only if your current TestComplete project is stored in your team project’s repository. Otherwise, those Azure DevOps test cases will not be able to access your TestComplete tests.

If you use Zephyr for Jira, you can also type the identifier of an external test manually. To bind your test item to a Zephyr test case, use the following format:

zfj://“your_zephyr_test_case_key

Notes:

  • This column is not applicable to test items that run an entire BDD feature file. It is only applicable to items that run individual BDD scenarios.

  • This column is not applicable to test items that run tests specified by their tags.

  • This column is not applicable to test items that are not marked as test cases. Only test cases can be bound to external tests.

Description An arbitrary description of the test item.

If a column is hidden, to make it visible, right-click anywhere in the editor, click Field Chooser, and then drag the needed column from the resulting list to the editor.

You can customize the column layout. For example, you can reorder or hide some columns. For more information, see Arranging Columns, Lines and Panels.

Working with the editor

Add a new test item

Add a new group

Modify test item properties

Rename a group

Copy an existing test item or group

Include or exclude test items from a test run

Mark a test item as a test case

Link a test item to a test case in an external test management system

Remove a link between a test item and an external test case

Run a test item or group

Change the run order of test items

Navigate to the test source

Expand or collapse test items

Delete a test item or group

Save or cancel changes

Run test items

This section describes how you can run test items other than manually from the Execution Plan editor (see above).

  • From the command line.

    By default, when you run a project from the command line, the project executes all enabled test items specified in its Execution Plan editor. In addition, you can use the /test (/t) command-line argument to explicitly specify test items you want to run.

    Note: TestComplete will run only the enabled test items, it will not run the disabled items.

    For example, the following command runs TestComplete, loads the specified project suite (MySuite.pjs), and commands TestComplete to run the ProjectTestItem1 test item of the MyProj project:

    TestComplete.exe "C:\My Projects\MySuite.pjs" /r /p:MyProj /t:ProjectTestItem1

  • As part of an automated build and test process managed by Jenkins.

    You can add the TestComplete Test build step to your build process in Jenkins and configure it to run the needed test item. See Integration With Jenkins.

  • From an external application via COM.

    Use the Integration.RunProjectTestItem method to run a test item of a project. To learn more about running tests via COM, see Working With TestComplete via COM.

See Also

Tests, Test Items, and Test Cases
Running, Rerunning, Pausing, and Stopping Automated Tests
Stopping Tests on Timeout

Highlight search results