What’s New?

Following are some of the highlights of this release. More information is available on the beta site.

• TestTrack now includes support for calculated fields, allowing custom fields to automatically calculate their values based on values in other fields. If you use our native backend database rather than an RDBMS, the format has been changed to SQLite, with a variety of performance enhancements. And, to improve the ability to create test cases, we’ve added QA Wizard Pro enhancements that allow you to automatically record and create your test steps.
• For Surround SCM, we’ve improved our support for offline changes with an enhanced working directory differences dialog and a new sync repository command. Mainline branches can also now have separate configurations from your overall server settings, giving  teams more flexibility. We’ve also added a number of new third-party integrations.
• In QA Wizard Pro, we’ve added support for the Google Chrome browser. A whole new set of testing is also now possible with our new stress testing support, allowing you to test applications in stressed conditions that are difficult to create, such as low disk space and memory, network communication problems, and read-only disk errors.

Register for the Seapine ALM 2012 Betas

Quick Tweak # 1

The following screenshot shows an open requirement document with a number of requirements. Requirement 2.1.1.1  has a  lock icon with the following text Record is locked through workflow displayed under it. This indicates the requirement is in a workflow state that locks it, which prevents other users from editing the requirement.

Requirement Document with Locked Requirement

To change when requirements are locked, log in to TestTrack. Choose Tools > Administration > Workflow. Select “Requirements” from the Type drop-down list. Click the “States” tab if it is not selected.

To configure the workflow so a requirement is unlocked in a specific state, select that state and click “Edit”.  Select “Unlocked” from the Locked drop-down list and save your changes. Users will now be able to edit requirements in that workflow state.

Requirement Workflow State locked option

Quick Tweak # 2

If you use TestTrack TCM, you can also generate test cases from approved requirements. To enable this, select the “Can generate test case” option when you’re editing a workflow state.

Quick Tweak # 3

The sample workflow has a number of default states and events that can also be changed to configure the workflow to fit your needs. The following screenshot shows the sample project’s requirement workflow.

Requirement Workflow Diagram

You can modify the workflow by removing or adding additional states and events. An event moves a requirement from one state to another. When you create a new state in the workflow, you will most likely need an event to move the requirement in and out of the new state. Keep in mind that an event can also be executed and have no effect on the state of an item. As an example, the Assign event is only used to assign an item to one or more users without changing the state of an item.

In the following example, I want to change the workflow so a requirement can go directly to the Approved state from the Awaiting Review state. I’m going to use the Approve event to move the requirement.

To implement this change, log in to TestTrack. Choose Tools > Administration > Workflow. Select “Requirements” from the Type drop-down list. Click the “Transitions” tab, then click “Edit” in the State Transitions area.

Requirements State Transitions

Select the “Awaiting Review” check box for the “Approve” event, as highlighted in the following screenshot.

Requirement State Transitions Changed

After you save your changes, you’ll notice you can now move requirements directly from the “Awaiting Review” state to the “Approved” state.

Updated Requirements Workflow Diagram

Check out the TestTrack RM Resource Center to learn more about configuring TestTrack RM.

Peter and Mike discuss several aspects of requirements management, and why traceability is so important to the software development process these days. Following are a few interesting nuggets, if you don’t have time to listen to the 46-minute interview:

01:30 - Definition of requirements traceability

09:50 - How to make traceability automatic

21:55 - How to know if your traceability strategy measures up

30:00 - Information about managing requirements traceability with TestTrack

Have an opinion on traceability, or a story about how your team uses traceability to improve quality? We’d love to hear it—leave us a comment!

Q&A

How does unshelving files work? Can you check in directly from a shelf?

No, you first unshelve files to the working directory then check them in. The “Three Practical Ways to Use Shelving in Surround SCM” blog post provides a more thorough walk-through of the functionality.

Can you attach files to tickets when you shelve a file? Or can you only attach when the check in is actually completed?

You can only attach when you check in, but you could include a ttstudio hyperlink in the shelf description.

I noticed that Surround SCM now integrates with Adobe CS5. Do you need to reinstall the client to install the Adobe plug-in?

Surround SCM 2011.1 offers two different integrations. During the client install, you can choose to integrate with Dreamweaver CS5. During the server installation, you can choose to install the CMIS server, which would allow you to ingrate with the entire Adobe CS5 suite.

Do you have an example of using Surround SCM as a CMIS server for SharePoint 2010?

Not at this time.

If a shelf is shared, can users who have access add files, unshelve files, etc? (Is it ‘full access’?) Also, can you control what level of access a user has to a shelf?

Users have ‘read-only’ access to the shared shelf, which means they can only download the files to their local directory. The owner of the shelf is the only one with full control of the shelf.

Even if we don’t normally use automatic log out, could we use it to force log outs for infrequent workflow changes needing a locked project?

No, because it’s based on inactivity. You can only log out users who are inactive for the defined time period.

In TestTrack TCM, if you find several issues can you now generate multiple defects (e.g., one per finding), or will it still create one defect regardless of the number of findings?

This functionality has not changed in that regard. While you could click on the “Create Defect” button multiple times and create multiple defects, it is still up to you to ‘clean up’ data so each defect has different data. You cannot generate defects at the step level.

When the new products are released, will there be a list of new permissions, fields, etc., that have been added so we can add those settings to our existing projects?

The product release notes are the best place to find out about new permissions and settings. The release notes are installed with the products. They are also linked to from the What’s New page on our web site.

When you create a defect from a test run that has attachments in a problem statement, are those attachments included in the defect?

Yes.

Is there a default TestTrack report for defects that have failed multiple times?

No, because there are different ways to indicate that a defect has failed.

Can the steps in shared tests be automatically expanded in test runs?

They are automatically expanded in the test runs.

Will there ever be support to run automated scripts from tools, such as Selenium, through TestTrack?

TestTrack includes a script agent that can be used to run automated scripts called the script agent. The “Analyzing the Script Agent” blog post includes more information about using the script agent

Which of the new TestTrack features will be available in the web interface?

The workflow diagram and security settings that were shown are available in the web client. The test step attachments and detailed views for test runs are available in the TestTrack TCM Test Runner web application.

Is it possible to enter additional information about tests, like how long a test step took?

Using the new enhanced grid mode, you can enter the actual results of a step. Here you could include the time it took to complete a step. You could also use step notes to record this information.

Is it possible to see the images linked to tests steps in a separate window of the test case (i.e., without blocking the steps)?

Yes. You can view attachments in their own window.

If you also use TestTrack, you can use your Gmail hosting service to send TestTrack notifications via email or even import emails if you use the TestTrack email tracking feature.

The following  screenshot shows you how to configure the TestTrack email settings. Simply replace the username with your email address. Note that the protocol you should use it STARTTLS 1.0  and the port number should be 587.

If you are also using the TestTrack email tracking feature then the following configuration will be needed to retrieve email from your Gmail account. Note that the protocol used is SSL 3.0 and port 995 must be used.

To set folder icons, log in to TestTrack and select Tools > Administration > Folder Types. You can add a new folder type or edit an existing folder type. (If you edit an existing folder type the options dialog will look like similar to the following screenshot.) You can now choose the open and closed icons to use for the folder. If you want to use a custom icon, just make it’s in BMP, GIF, or PNG format. The banner color can also be set for each type of folder.

In this video, I’ll show you how to import your Microsoft Word documents into TestTrack RM.

This video shows you how to create a basic filter and covers the fields required during the creation of a filter. Filters complement other areas in TestTrack because one filter can be used in different places by different users. Filters can also restrict TestTrack security groups so users only see what you want them to see.