Overview

A  Test Case answers the question: "What is it that I need to test?" Test Cases provide the foundation of your testing effort. Collectively, they organize the testing criteria listed here:

• What to test
• How to test
• When to test

They contain information pertaining to design, requirement validation, implementation, and configuration.

Use test cases as the basis to validate requirements, which may be based on input from a variety of sources: Use Test Cases in a Rational Rose model, specifications, Rational RequisitePro requirements, marketing collateral, code comments gleaned from code reviews, and change requests. 

A Test Case always resides in a test case folder of a test plan.  For information on how to create a test plan, see Tool Mentor: Creating a Test Plan Using Rational TestManager. 

This tool mentor applies to Windows 98/ME/XP/2000 and NT 4.0 platforms.

Tool Steps

To create a test case, perform the following steps:

1. Insert a Test Case
2. Fill in the Properties of a Test Case

1. Insert a Test Case

The first part to creating a test case is to insert a test case into TestManager. 

• From the Planning tab of the Test Asset Workspace, click File > Open Test Plan.
• Select the appropriate Test Plan. 
• Select the appropriate Test Case Folder, and right-click Insert Test Case. The New Test Case dialog box displays.
• The name of the test case is the only required field. Name your test case according to what it validates, for example: Create Account. At  the Name field, input the appropriate name and click OK.

   Refer to the following topics in the TestManager online Help:

• Inserting a test case folder into a test plan (Contents: planning tests)
• Inserting a test case into a test case folder (Contents: planning tests)

2. Fill in the properties for the Test Case

• A description of the test case - Use this field to explain exactly what system behavior your test case validates.
• The design of the test case - These are the step-by-step instructions of how your test case performs the specified test, including how to verify proper behavior.
• The owner of the test case - Assign ownership of feature areas through test cases to structure your team.
• The configurations associated with the test case - Specify the hardware and software configurations on which the test case needs to be executed to verify proper behavior.
• The iterations associated with the test case - By associating a test case with an iteration, you make it part of the acceptance criteria for that iteration. This helps give you insight into when you need to execute your test cases.
• The test inputs associated with the test case - Associate test inputs with test cases. Test inputs are the motivators for the test case. A test case may be one of many that verifies the test input; for example, a requirement. Test inputs come from a wide variety of sources: Use Cases in a Rational Rose model, specifications, Rational RequisitePro requirements, marketing collateral, code comments gleaned from code reviews, and change requests.
• The external documents associated with the test case - External documents may contain anything from detailed test designs to specifications of data to be used with the implementation of your test case.
• The manual and/or automated implementation of the test case - Implement your test case either by automated test scripts, manual script, or both.

   Refer to the following topics in the TestManager online Help:

• Associating a Configuration with a Test Case (Contents: Planning Tests)
• Associating an Iteration with a Test Case (Contents: Planning Tests)
• Designing Tests (Contents: Planning Tests)
• Associating an Implementation with a Test Case (Index: Implementing)