Getting Started

When you run TestLog for the first time, it displays a Startup Dialog, which offers the following four choices.

1.	Load the last database. Will load the last database opened. On the very first run, this defaults to the KeyTest sample database.

3.	Load the KeyTest sample database. Loads the sample database shipped with TestLog. The KeyTest database is an excellent way to quickly explore how a small TestLog project should look.

For the purposes of getting started, you may wish to open the KeyTest database to examine how we believe TestLog is best used, or create a new database for your project and follow the steps in 2.2, “Creating a TestLog Project.”

A TestLog database consists of one or more Projects, Test Cases, Testers, Configs and Resources. You may create as many databases as you wish, but only one database can be opened at any one time. Projects are created within databases and Test Cases are then added to these projects. There is a brief description of the entities contained in a TestLog database below.

A TestLog Project typically represents one release of a software product. A TestLog database may consist of many projects spanning several releases of a software product. Certain entities such as reports are generated on a project-by-project basis. Projects consist of one or more Test Suites. For example, you may wish to create one test suite for tests concerned with install and uninstall, and another test suite for user interface tests. Each test suite consists of one or more test cases, which in turn contain test configurations, resources and testers.

The Test Case is the main ingredient of a TestLog project. A TestLog test case is analogous to an actual test case, which you will use to test your software product. You may write your test cases within TestLog itself or port existing test cases into the TestLog project. Test Cases are assigned to TestLog projects. A project may contain one or more test cases.

A Tester corresponds to a person who will be carrying out the various tests within the test cases. One or more testers are assigned to each test case.
To learn more about testers, see Testers.

A Test Configuration is a particular hardware and software setup required to carry out a particular test case. For example, Window2000 + Office2000 or a Linux machine may represent different types of config. A config can also correspond to a particular configuration of the software product under test. Configs are assigned to test cases. A test case may contain one or more configs.

We denote Resource to mean a particular machine or piece of hardware necessary to carry out a certain test case. Generally, resources would be types of computers and devices, which are not readily available and may have to be requested in advance. Resources are assigned to test cases. A test case may contain one or more resources.

Before creating your project, it is recommended that firstly, all testers, test configurations, resources and test cases be created (in that order). These represent entities, which may be used across many projects.

1.	To create a tester, right click on the ‘Testers’ folder in the tree view window and select ‘New tester’. Create some testers corresponding to the members of your test team who will be carrying out the tests. To see more on creating testers, see Testers.

2.	To create a resource, right click on the ‘Resources’ folder in the tree view window and select ‘New test resource’. Create a resource for each item of equipment or rig essential to your testing. To see more on creating resources, see Resources.

To create a test configuration, right click on the ‘Test Configurations’ folder in the tree view and select ‘New test configuration’. Create a configuration for each specific machine configuration that the tests are to be carried out on e.g. Windows98, Windows2000, IE5, IE6, etc. To see more on creating configs, see Test Configurations.

To create a test suite, right click on the ‘Test Cases’ folder in the tree view and select ‘New test suite’. Create a separate test suite for each individual area or aspect of the software you wish test. The test suites will house your test cases and you will populate your projects with these test suites and the test cases they contain. You may wish to create just one test suite to contain all your test cases or you may wish to create many suites, the choice is yours, but you may find that it is easier to manage your test cases if they’re broken up in a meaningful manner.

5.	To create a test case in a test suite, right click on the test suite folder in the tree view and select ‘New test case’. Create a test case for each test you plan to carry out. To see more on creating test cases and test suites, see Test Cases.

Once you have created the various entities in steps 1 – 5. You have all you require to create a new project. To create a project, right click on the Projects folder in the tree view and select ‘New project’. A project folder automatically contains two sub folders, ‘Project reports’ and ‘Project test cases. Now simply drag and drop (or copy and paste) the generic test cases into the ‘Project test cases’ folder. Once you have dragged all the desired test cases, your project is created. You may drag the generic test cases to many different projects. In this fashion it is easy to maintain the same test cases across different versions of your software product.

Now all that remains is to begin carrying out the tests. As you continue through your test cycle you will update each test case with the results of the test thereby tracking your progress. Reports only become really meaningful after some tests have been attempted. A Status Report displays the current state of the project in terms of tests complete, tests failed, tests passed and various data on the time currently taken to carry out the tests. A Progress Report displays a graph of the project since the begin date. It tracks how many tests have failed, passed or not yet been attempted. A Test Case Report is a collection of test cases and their data that match a certain filter. A Test List Report is a list of all test cases from a project matching a certain filter and displayed under headings chosen when creating the report.