TOSCA Automation

TOSCA is a software testing tool that is used to automate end-to-end testing for software applications.

• Tosca was developed and supported by Tricentis
• Supports manual and automation testing
• Model Based Test Automation tool
• Script Less Test Automation tool
• Supports multiple technologies automation such as SAP, GUI Testing, web automation, Mobile application, Desktop Application, API Testing
• Apart from the standard modules and the Xscan support. Tosca scanning identification can be customized using the C# coding file complied using Visual Studio
• Tricentis is also providing other testing platforms listed in the below table

1. Creating Tosca Projects

Start Tosca Commander from the Windows Start menu: Start->All Programs->Tricentis->Tosca->Tosca Commander.

As soon as Tosca Commander is open, the start screen appears.

Create Project:

Create a workspace where you manage your objects.

1. Select Project->New from the Tosca Commander menu to open the Tosca Commander: Create new workspace window.
2. Enter the name of your workspace into the Select name for new workspace field, e.g. Tosca_Tutorial_en.

3. Click OK to create the workspace.
4. In the next window, click Close.
5. The workspace opens.

Basic Setup:

Various settings like synchronization settings, connection settings and the wait timing will be added in the TOSCA settings. To Navigate to the settings to follow the option Projects=>Settings=> Synchronization settings

Tosca Options and Navigation’s:

Tosca Commander is inspired by Microsoft Windows Explorer®, which means that all items are mapped in a tree structure. You can open any number of windows and display a freely definable section of this tree structure.

If you select an item in the tree view, Tricentis Tosca displays the item details in the Details view.

Note: If the German user interface in Tosca Commander is active, you can change the language via the following menu entry: Project->Options->Ansicht->Sprache. Set option Sprache to English. Tosca Commander must be restarted so that the changes take effect.

Title bar:

The title bar in Tosca Commander shows the name of the currently open workspace.

The title bar also includes the quick access toolbar which provides options such as Save, Undo, etc.

Menu (Ribbon):

The menu is designed in the form of ribbons and consists of several tabs which allow to access the corresponding Tosca Commander functions. These functions are either enabled or disabled, depending on the context you are working in.

If we switch between the windows of the various sections or select objects within the sections, Tricentis Tosca opens an additional tab for this section that includes a dynamic menu. The dynamic menu shows relevant options for the selected section or object.

A dynamic menu is available for the following sections in Tosca Commander:

• Test Cases
• Modules
• Requirements
• Test Case Design
• Execution List
• Reporting

Within the Execution section, a dynamic menu is also available for the subsections Execution Lists and Exploratory Testing.

Status bar:

The status bar shows the action that is currently performed by Tosca Commander.

Windows and tabs:

Each object type of the Tosca Commander workspace has its own window (e.g. TestCases, Modules, etc.). There is a tab at the top of each window. Feel free to arrange the windows according to your needs.

Go to the Home menu and click Section->Modules to open a new Modules window.

2. Modules Section (Orange)

• Modules in Tosca Commander contain technical information that is used to steer test object.
• SUT is nothing but System under test
• Whenever we create a Test Case for a test object, we need to create a Module in Tosca Commander for each functional unit of the object to be tested
• Buttons and input fields on a page are referred to as “controls”.
• Module Attributes are the controls identified by tosca.

• Types of Modules: Classic Modules and Xmodules
• Classic Modules use classic engines for steering test objects.
• XModules on the other hand use XEngines which are based on the Tosca TBox framework
• Tosca TBox framework is the basis for steering XEngines and allows all XEngines to be uniquely steered.

Standard Modules 

TBox Standard Modules are provided in the Modules section after the default objects have been imported.

TBox XEngines

This folder contains Modules that are required for steering Tosca TBox controls.

TBox Automation Tools

This folder includes modules which can be used to perform specific operations.

The Module definitions stored in the XModules are referred to as special execution Tasks in Tosca TBox.

Scanning and Rescanning screens

Test objects are scanned via Module folders in the Modules section.

Proceed to Scan GUIs with Tosca XScan:

• Right-click onto a Module folder, or use the dynamic menu Modules and select Scan Application->Desktop.
• Select the required window in XScan and click on the Start button, or simply double-click onto the required window to start the scan process.
• Tosca XScan will then scan the test object and open the details view once scanning has finished.
• Select all the controls to be steered.
• See also the subchapters below for further details on XScan configuration.
• Click on Save in order to save the Module and close the Tosca XScan window.

Re-scanning Modules:

• Rescanning Modules will used for updating the screens of the scanned modules if there is any change in the functionality or view of the screen already scanned.
• Rescanning is possible by selecting the module=> Right click=> rescan
• Rescanning the module will automatically update the values on the test cases wherever we used the modules.

Test Case Section (Blue)

Creation of Test Step Library

Test step Library will holds the reusable test steps blocks for reusing the test cases several time in your test scripts.

Building automation Test Cases

• Create a Test Step folder
• Create a Test Case
• Drag and drop the modules in to the test cases
• Define the values for each module attribute and select the action mode, Data type
• Define the work state=> Planned, In Work, Completed
• Test case creation steps
• Create the modules
• Drag and drop it to the modules to the testcases
• Pull the required test cases from library to the test cases
• Convert the test case to the template
• Instantiate the test cases

Action mode

 Data type

 Work State

Parameterization, Buffer, Applying Formulas

Parameterization

• In Tosca, we can enter the values directly in the values of the Test step.
• These values can be a formula, mouse actions passwords or other input values
• Test configuration Parameters => specific values to various Test Cases
• Test case design parameters=> values retrieved from the test case design section

Buffer

 Tosca uses the term Buffer to refer to values that can be temporarily saved in Tosca Commander and then used again Syntax:{B[]}

Dynamic comparisons – XBuffer

The XBuffer allows to read dynamic values of a string and to buffer them using the actionMode Verify. Syntax: {XB[]}

Applying Formulas

Using Conditional statements and loops in Test Cases

Conditional statement and loops can be created via the context menu of TestCases or TestStep folders or via the option Create Object in the dynamic menu Test Cases:

• IF Statement
• DO Statement
• WHILE Statement

3. Test Case Design (Red)

TestCase-Design allows to plan and specify test cases wisely in order to maximize test coverage and reduce effort and redundancy later on.

Use the TestCase-Design section to do the following:

• Use Test sheets to create all combinations of possible TestCases that are required to ensure full test coverage
• Use Instances to define concrete values for specific Testsheets, TestCase-Design Attributes, or TestCase-Design Classes
• Create Testcases and Test Case Templates
• Assign TestSheets to TestCase Templates to instantiate Test cases for execution.

Creation of Test Data Sheets

Creation of Test Data Sheets is the important process for utilizing the test data for our test case execution. Test Case Design includes Attributes – Parameter Categorization, instances- Value for the attributes.

Creation of Attributes and the Instances

Attributes are the various characteristics of application, or representations of business objects. In simple we can say that attributes are the parameters of Tosca

TestCase-Design Instances are possible variants of Attributes

Automatic Test Data combination creation:

4. Execution List (Green)

Execution List allows to organize tests, which is especially helpful if we need to create Execution Lists out of TestCases from a variety of folders.

• We can create new ExecutionLists folders within the Execution folder or within other ExecutionLists folders.
• To create a new ExecutionLists folder within the Execution folder and select Create ExecutionLists Folder from the mini toolbar.
• To create a new ExecutionLists folder within another ExecutionLists folder, right-click the Execution folder and select Create Folder from the mini toolbar.
• Execution can be either through the scratch book or through Execution Lists

Creation Of Execution List

The quickest way to create an ExecutionList is to drag and drop a TestCase or a TeastCases folder onto the ExecutionLists object.

Create ExecutionLists folders

We can create new ExecutionLists folder within the Execution folder or within other ExecutionLists folders.

• To create a new ExecutionLists folder within the Execution folder, right-click the Execution folder and select Create ExecutionLists Folder from the mini toolbar.
• To create a new ExecutionLists folder within another ExecutionLists folder, right-click the ExecutionLists folder and select Create Folder from the mini toolbar. 
• TestCases can be assigned the execution list by drag and drop the test cases into the Execution lists.

Execution of Automation Script

Once you have set up the execution of your tests and configured the execution behaviour, you can execute the following objects in the Execution section:

• ExecutionList Folders
• ExecutionLists
• ExecutionList subfolders
• linked ExecutionEntry folders
• ExecutionEntries
• Test cases can be executed as Manual or
• Automation from Execution/Lists

5. Reporting(Grey)

Tosca will support for extracting the pdf reports only to view the execution results in Tosca.

Those reports can be easily customized using Tosca

6. Best Practices in TOSCA

General Best Practices:

• Use Proper Naming Conventions for all objects like Test Case, Test step Library, Test Design Sheets.
• Create separate folder for Template and References in Test Case Design section.
• Specify the Test Step Libraries and Standard Tosca Modules in Separate Folder which can be accessed globally for all objects.
• Use “In work”,”Ready for review” and “Approved” before Test Cases names for identification of Test case status.
• Make Sure no Empty folders has been created in any of the sections.
• Create Reusable test case only if intended to be reused.

Use Test Configuration Parameters in Test Case folder for generic variables. Example:Browser, URL, System.