Getting more into the details

Localization

XStudio is entirely localized. There are currently 4 languages supported:
  • English
  • French
  • Italian
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Chinese
To have XStudio running in a specific language, you just need to set your profile with one on those four languages:




At the next login, the application will show up appropriately localized:




You can also override this setting during login by forcing a specific language:




Internationalization

A user is given a language (localization) which is used to display the application with a specific language but is also associated with a location (internationalization) which is used to know which public holidays and week-ends this user will benefit from.

Each country can be easily configured: public holidays can be added, edited and deleted. In addition, each country is associated to some week-ends settings. Hence, most of the countries in the world are using Saturday and Sunday for the week-ends but some others (such as Israel, Qatar, Algeria etc.) are using Friday and Saturday and again some others (such as Saudi Arabia) Thursday and Friday.

The default settings are supposed to be correct but it's good to let the administrator of the system customizes it if necessary. These settings are accessible through the Settings menu entry.




Hence, all the calendars are affected by this change as each user may have different week-ends.

Absences are also included in the calendars so you have a complete picture of the projects or the staff workload, status are then easier to figure out.




Week-ends and holidays are easily identifiable as they are in black and grey

Note that the calendar tree is still expandable as usual. This greatly facilitates the reading i.e. when you want to know the details about why a user is overloaded in a certain time frame.

A legend (including some gradient colors for the workload) has been added to help the reading.


Change Tracking

XStudio allows tracking any changes on the database. This feature is particularly useful to track modifications that occurred on:
  • requirements
  • specifications
  • tests/testcases
  • defects
To check the history of an element, click on it and select the Changes tab on the right panel. The panel shows a table gathering all the dated changes. Here are for instance changes you could see on a defect:




Note: You can edit directly the details of a user by clicking on his name in the changes table.


Testing Coverage/Traceability Matrix

One of the major interests in using test management tool is the ability to track the coverage of your testing. As you’ve already seen in previous chapters, requirements are linked to specifications and specifications are linked to tests. From this data, it is possible to generate some coverage metrics.

Those metrics are computed per category and are retrievable from requirements, specifications and tests.


Global requirements traceability matrix

To get global requirements traceability matrix:
  • switch to the Requirements tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select the root folder
  • on the right panel, select the Traceability Matrix tab
  • the requirement tree appears including in the right column, all the specifications covering each requirement.





This traceability matrix is also present in the requirement book (that can be generated from XStudio).


Global specifications traceability matrix

To get global specifications traceability matrix:
  • switch to the Specifications tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select the root folder
  • on the right panel, select the Traceability Matrix tab
  • the specification tree appears including in the right column, all the tests covering each specifications.





This traceability matrix is also present in the specification book (that can be generated from XStudio).


Detailed requirements coverage

To get requirements coverage metrics:
  • switch to the Requirements tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category or a folder
  • on the right panel, select the Coverage tab
  • two tabs By specifications and By tests are displayed. Each shows useful information such as:
    • percentage of the coverage
    • the list of requirements covered (at least partly) and not covered by respectively some specifications or tests






Detailed specifications coverage

To get specifications coverage metrics:
  • switch to the Specifications tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category or a folder
  • on the right panel, select the Coverage tab
  • the panel shows useful information such as:
    • percentage of the coverage
    • the list of specifications covered (at least partly) and not covered by some specifications

Detailed tests coverage

To get tests coverage metrics:
  • switch to the Tests tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category or a folder
  • on the right panel, select the Coverage tab
  • the panel shows useful information such as:
    • percentage of the coverage
    • the list of tests covering (at least one) and not covering some specifications





Detailed campaign coverage

Since a test campaign is by definition a group of test, it is possible to get some coverage metrics as well.

To get campaigns coverage metrics:
  • switch to the Campaigns tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a campaign
  • on the right panel, select the Coverage tab
  • the panel shows useful information such as:
    • percentage of the coverage
    • the list of specifications fully, partially or not covered by the campaign
    • the list of requirements fully, partially or not covered by the campaign





Scheduling test execution

When some tests are aimed at being executed completely automatically (using some specific automatic launcher), you can schedule a campaign to be executed on a regular basis. To do this, you need to create a Schedule. Then, at the right time, a campaign session will be automatically created and executed by XSTudio.

To create a schedule:
  • in the tree, select a campaign
  • on the right panel, click on the create schedule button
  • a dialog box including seven tabs is displayed






  • fill the Details tab with the name and the description of the schedule
  • in the Scheduling tab, select the days and the time when you want the sessions to be created and executed. Don’t forget to check the Enabled checkbox. A disabled schedule will not generate any test execution
  • (opt.) select the Test operator tab and pick the user who will (virtually) run the sessions
  • select the Agent tab and pick the agent on which the sessions will be run. This agent needs to have XAgent installed and running
  • select the SUT tab and pick the SUT on which the sessions will be run
  • select the Configuration tab and pick the configuration you which for each category involved in this schedule. Once a schedule is created, it is impossible (by purpose) to change the configurations associated. If no configuration are available you will need to create one
  • (opt.) select the CC Emails tab and check some users to receive a notification when the campaign sessions will be completed
  • click on submit
  • immediately, the schedule appears in the tree





When the time will come for an agent to execute the tests, the agent will create the campaign session and then execute it. From any station hosting XSTudio, after a refresh, the campaign session will appear under the schedule node in the tree.


Tracking the Test Implementation

As already seen, when adding a test in the system, you can specify if the test is implemented or not. This parameter is tracked so that some reports can be generated. This helps for example in knowing exactly what the status of the automation development is.

To control the progress of the test implementations:
  • switch to the Tests tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category
  • on the right panel, select the Statistics tab





The panel is split in two different areas:
  • a table displaying:
    • for each date, the number of tests and testcases implemented
    • for each date, the percentage of tests and testcases implemented
  • a series of graph displaying:
    • the evolution of the number of tests and testcases implemented
    • the evolution of the percentage of tests and testcases implemented


Defects Reporting

A defect tracking system is good only if it provides a simple and efficient way of retrieving information about them. XStudio generates extensive reporting on defects.

To get those reports,
  • switch to the Defects tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category
  • on the right panel, select the Statistics tab
  • choose a range of dates using the date pickers
Then a huge number of reports can be retrieved.
  • on the active defects (New, Assigned, Ack)
    • per user (Assigned to or Reported by)
      • Status, Severity or Priority trends
    • major defects trends (Blocking, Major)
    • minor defects trends (Minor, Cosmetic, Enhancement)
    • high priority defects trends (High)
    • low priority trends (Normal, Low)
  • on the passive defects (Resolved, Closed)
    • idem
  • on all the defects
    • idem
  • submission/resolution rates trends


Per-user reports

To get per-user reports,
  • select the tab corresponding to the desired group of defects:
    • Active Defects (New, Assigned and Ack)
    • Passive Defects (Resolved and Closed)
    • All Defects
  • select if you want some data about defects Assigned to or of Reported by a specific user
  • select a name in the user list
  • select which kind of information you’re interested in:
    • Status
    • Severity
    • Priority
  • The report will display the corresponding trends and an additional pie chart representing the current status





Per-severity reports

To get per-severity reports,
  • select the tab corresponding to the desired group of defects:
    • Active Defects (New, Assigned and Ack)
    • Passive Defects (Resolved and Closed)
    • All Defects
  • select if you want some data about
    • Major defects (Blocking, Major)
    • Minor defects (Minor, Cosmetic, Enhancement)
  • The report will display the corresponding trends and an additional pie chart representing the current status





Per-priority reports

To get per-priority reports,
  • select the tab corresponding to the desired group of defects:
    • Active Defects (New, Assigned and Ack)
    • Passive Defects (Resolved and Closed)
    • All Defects
  • select if you want some data about
    • High Priority defects (High)
    • Low Priority defects (Normal and Low)
  • The report will display the corresponding trends and an additional pie chart representing the current status





Submission/Resolution rates

To get submission/Resolution rates reports,
  • select the Resolution Rates tab





The top part of the panel shows the progression of the number of Active and Passive defects as well as the metrics as of now and as of the last record.

The bottom part of the panel shows the submission and resolution rates.


Attachments

You have the ability to attach some files (whatever the format is) to some entities managed by XStudio. This is an extremely powerful way of centralizing/sharing documents. Attachments can be created to the following entities:

Requirements tree:
  • category
  • folder
Specifications tree:
  • category
  • folder
Test tree:
  • category
  • folder
  • test
  • testcase
Campaign tree:
  • campaign session
  • testcase execution (only uploadable programmatically by the launcher/test)
Defect tree:
  • defect
The GUI is extremely simple:




Whenever it’s possible, two panels are displayed: one for attachments directly attached to the entity and another one for the attachments inherited from the ancestor nodes. It is possible to move directly to one of these parents by clicking on the anchors.


Add an attachment

To add an attachment:
  • click on the Create attachment button
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick a file and submit


Download/Open an attachment

To download/open an attachment:
  • select an item in the list
  • click on the Download attachment or Open attachment button


Generate documentation

Requirements books

It may be interesting to export or to print a list of requirements. With XSTudio you can export partial or complete requirement books.

To do so:
  • switch to the Requirements tab on the left panel
  • in the tree, select a category or a folder
  • click on the Create report button
  • first select the destination folder for the book





  • a dialog box is displayed





  • select the extension of the book (HTML or XML). If you choose to generate the book in HTML you can select one type of book. Each type corresponds to one specific XSLT transform (one .xslt file) so that you can add your own if you wish (see later in this document to know how to do that). By default, two XSLT are provided along with XStudio (RawResult - the more detailed - and TraceabilityMatrix):
  • provide the filename for the book
  • submit
  • after it has been generated, the book is automatically opened:

Specifications books

To generate specification books, follow the same instructions than those for generating requirement books (but from the Specifications tab on the left panel).

Projects books

To generate projects books, follow the same instructions than those for generating requirement books (but from the Projects tab on the left panel).

Testplans

To generate testplans, follow the same instructions than those for generating requirement books (but from the Tests tab on the left panel).

Test reports

To generate test reports, follow the same instructions than those for generating requirement books (but from the Campaigns tab on the left panel).

Customizing the documents

All the documents that you can generate from XStudio are customizable.


Changing the logo

All the documents generated from XStudio include a logo on the upper top side of it. This logo can be changed very simply:

  • copy your logo picture file (i.e. gif, jpg, png etc.) in the <install path>/export/reources/images folder (i.e. my_company.gif)
  • from XStudio menu, select Settings > General
  • in the company logo text field, enter the name of the picture file (i.e. my_company.gif) and submit
  • After restarting XStudio, all the documents that you will generate will have your own logo in the header:
Of course, if you're using XStudio's web package, all this operations need to be done on the web server installation directory.


Customizing the reports

All documents that are generated by XSTudio are first internally generated in XML then possibly transformed into a different format using specific XSLT transforms:




For instance, let’s imagine you want to generate a custom requirement book. You can create your own XSLT file. For example, you can take the file requirementHTML_RawResult.xslt as a basis and modify it as much as you want, rename it requirementHTML_My_Own_Report1.xslt and ensure it is located along with the other .xslt files (in the export/xsl folder – either locally if using only a standalone install or on the Apache/Tomcat server to share this report with everybody connecting to this server).

From now, when you will try to generate a requirements book, the type My_Own_report1 will be available in the combo box:

The internal process is then the following:
  • several SQL request are made to the database to get all the necessary information
  • a structured XML document including all the required data is generated
  • if the user chose XML, the XML is saved on the disk in the requirements folder with the correct name
  • if the user chose HTML, the XML document is transformed using the XSLT corresponding to the selected type.
The only constraint is to use a specific naming convention: <type>HTML_<name>.xslt where:
  • <type> can be:
    • "requirement"
    • "specification"
    • "task"
    • "testplan"
    • "report"
    • "defect".
  • <name> can be any name including alphanumeric characters plus underscore and dash signs.


Searching

By name

All the trees in XStudio include an indexing system allowing to search real-time an entity in the tree by his name. To experiment it by yourself just start entering some text in the Search field of the tree




To automatically select a searched item in the tree, you can move using the arrows keys within the suggestion list and validate by pressing Enter or just click on the item in the list.


By Id

The data model gives unique identifier for each entity managed by XStudio. The Ids are on the form:

Template Represents
R_<id> Requirement
S_<id> Specification
T_<id> Test
TC_<id> Testcase
C_<id> Campaign session
D_<id> Defect
TA_<id> Tasks



Ids are also available from XStudio’s GUI (in Details tab you have an Identifier field that corresponds to <id> in the templates.

To search for an entity from its Id, just type the Id in the Search Id field and validate.


Advanced and plain text search

Searching items such as requirements, specifications, tasks, tests or defect based on a combination of some very specific criteria can be not only very useful but extremely important to control/guarantee the quality of the products.


Requirements

Procedure:
  • in the requirement tree, select a category
  • on the right panel, select the Search tab
  • check all the checkboxes (Status and Priority) that match your search criteria
  • (opt.) type some text in the Text to search field and press Enter





Note: The results list is updated real-time and you can reach one particular defect by just clicking on it. The results table can be ordered by clicking on the column headers.


Specifications

Procedure:
  • in the specification tree, select a category
  • on the right panel, select the Search tab
  • check all the checkboxes (Status and Priority) that match your search criteria
  • (opt.) type some text in the Text to search field and press Enter





Tasks

Procedure:
  • in the project tree, select the root folder
  • on the right panel, select the Search tab
  • type some text in the Text to search field and press Enter





Tests

Procedure:
  • in the test tree, select the root folder
  • on the right panel, select the Search tab
  • type some text in the Text to search field and press Enter





Defects

Searching defects based on a combination of some very specific criteria is extremely important to control the quality of the product.

To do so:
  • in the defect tree, select a category
  • on the right panel, select the Search tab
  • check all the checkboxes (Reported by, Assigned to, Found in, Fixed in, Status, Severity and Priority) that match your search criteria
  • (opt.) type some text in the Text to search field and press Enter





Importing data

From CSV

If you are migrating from manual test management - using a basic spreadsheet application to XStudio - you may want to import all your tests and testcases from CSV text files (indeed, all spreadsheet programs provide easy way to export to CSV). The source CSV file must use semi-column (‘;’) delimiter.


Test and testcases

To import tests and testcases from a CSV file:
  • from the menu, select File > Import from CSV
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick the Tests and Testcases (without testplan) option
  • click on the Open button and select the file you wish to import
  • the raw data area displays the content of the file
  • click on Submit





After the import task has completed, the tests and testcases appear immediately in the test tree.




If you wish to import tests and testcases including the testplan, the syntax of the CSV file will of course be more complex (a testcase is then defined on several lines and the tabular character is used as well as the semi-column delimiter).

To do so:
  • from the menu, select File > Import from CSV
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick the Tests and Testcases (with testplan) option
  • click on the Open button and select the file you wish to import
  • the raw data area displays the content of the file
  • click on Submit





From XML

The XML format used is the same as the one used to export tests/testcase in XML.


Tests and testcases

To import tests and testcases from XML:
  • from the menu, select File > Import from XML
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick the Tests option
  • click on the Open button and select the file you wish to import
  • the raw data area displays the content of the file
  • click on Submit





Requirements

To import tests and testcases from XML:
  • from the menu, select File > Import from XML
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick the Requirements option
  • click on the Open button and select the file you wish to import
  • the raw data area displays the content of the file
  • click on Submit


Specifications

To import tests and testcases from XML:
  • from the menu, select File > Import from XML
  • a dialog box is displayed
  • pick the Specifications option
  • click on the Open button and select the file you wish to import
  • the raw data area displays the content of the file
  • click on Submit