Session

To execute a manual test a Test Session (aka session) is required. A session is used to create individual runnable specs based on the files contained in the repo.

To create a Session select the Manual tab within a space.

Listing

The Manual tab presents all of the specs along with any current status.

The spec status reflects the most recently completed session. If there are cycles defined, individual cycle listings are also available by clicking on the Cycles(n) sub-tab on the right side of the page. Refer to the Cycles section for more details.

Assignee

Using the specs listing a user can be pre-assigned for the execution of a spec, which will then be used as the default on all subsequent created sessions.

By clicking on the Assignee cell of the spec a dialog of available users will be presented.

A user can also self-assign, and overwrite an existing assignment when running a spec.

Create

A session is created for testing (i.e. test build.003a) using a selection of the available specs. To create a session click on the New Test Session button.

A dialog will be presented. If cycles have been defined, a Cycle option will also be available, allowing the session to be created in the context of a cycle. When cycles do exists, selecting the unbound option (default) indicates the session is not associated with a cycle.

The option Only failing is only active for specs that have 1 or more failing cases.

• Add a name for the session, or use the default
• Optional description (e.g. "testing feature ABC")
• Select SUBMIT

Note that a session can also be created by selecting a spec and clicking on - create a new session

When a session is created it is tagged as open, until explicitly completed. There is no limit on the number of concurrent open sessions.

The status of open sessions are independent of each other and are not included with the overall listing status until they are completed.

Run

Tests are based on specs and are executed individually. Within a session highlighted, click on a spec to execute cases within it.

Select START to begin testing.

The left panel represents the set of cases associated with the spec being executed. A case defaults to Untested. The following table lists the available case status that can be assigned:

STATUS	description
Untested	No testing as of yet
Not applicable	Marked as NA in the case
Blocked	Not able to execute the test case. This sets status of case to errored in report.
Passed	Working as expected
Failed	Not working as expected

Issues can be directly listed or referenced from within the comments form. For more details see further down.

The comments form supports markdown, including drag and drop images, and in-place issue references. There is also toggle providing access to previous execution history:

The timer starts when the spec's dialog is open, after the current user becomes the assignee.

On selecting STOP the execution of a spec, if there are any untested test cases, a dialog will present a choice:

Carry the previous status for all N untested cases?

If activated (default), all test cases not executed will carry their previous status setting.

Run w/ Automation

To run automation in Testspace a one-time configuration is required to be set up by your Testspace account owner. For details see this on how to enable automation.

Specs that contain Fixture automation before, and optional after, have additional execution constraints. There will be an exclamation icon next to ! START indicating a Required action to be performed:

Before

The before fixture is required to be successfully processed before test cases can be executed. You need to manually trigger it by clicking on the blue START button. While running a blue spinning icon would appear:

When the automation is complete a green check icon should reflect success:

In case of failure, a red cross icon would indicate unsuccessful automation. The tooltip will provide additional failure information.

The before fixture has several constraints that govern the execution of the spec

• Closing the dialog while executing will cancel the execution
• Closing and opening the Spec will require re-execution of the automation

Closing the dialog will require re-running the Spec's fixture

After

The after fixture is optional and could only exist if there was a before fixture. If the Spec has successfully executed the before fixture, once the Spec dialog is closed, the associated after fixture automation is executed.

Closing the spec dialog automatically triggers the after fixture automation

The after fuxture is executed async, in the background, without any status available to the tester.

Issues

GitHub issues could be associated with each test case. There are two ways of doing that - push new or reference existing.

Push New Issue

GitHub issues can be auto-generated within the test case execution. Simply select the Push new issue checkbox.

Automatic issue processing occurs when a session is Completed

The auto-generated Issue will insert the status in the title [Failed], along with the spec name and test case name. Comments from the test case will be added to the issue automatically as well.

The Issue is generated on the session Complete event.

The generated Issue will be automatically added to the ISSUES form for future reference.

Reference Existing Issue

If you want to reference an existing GitHub issue in a test case, you could either list it in the ISSUES form or simply mention it in the comments form inside any message describing your testing. In both cases, it needs to be formatted a #-prefixed Github issue number, e.g. #123.

Complete

A session can be completed at any time, independent of what specs have been executed.

• Completing a Test Session removes the active session from the Manual tab.
• Once a session has been completed no additional updates can be made.

If no Specs have been executed and the session is completed, the results record will be ignored (same behavior as deleting the session).

Status

The status of a spec in the Manual view can either reflect completed test results or an individually selected open session.

Listing

The up to date status for all completed sessions is captured in the listing.

To view the listing status deselect any currently highlighted open session.

Open

An open session provides status on the testing that is currently in-progress.

Status w/ Changes

When a spec with existing status has its corresponding spec source file changed (i.e. via repo commit), a special orange warning icon will be displayed, indicating newer source code changes.

For existing open sessions, there will be no updates or indications of changes, however, any newly created sessions will automatically pick up the changes.

Testspace tries to gracefully handle source changes and preserve execution history and failure tracking. However, renaming a test case (i.e. changing the markdown <H2> heading that denotes it) can not be handled and will result in loss of history.