Unit testing a harness with the Run Rule feature

The Run Rule feature enables you to test a harness individually before testing it in the context of the application you are developing. You specify a test page for the rule to use, provide sample data as the input, run the rule, and examine the results.

Before you begin:  Determine how you will provide the sample data to use when testing the rule. If possible, open a work item of the appropriate class.

For general information about the Run Rule feature, including a list of the clipboard pages that are generated when a rule runs, see How to test a rule with the Run Rule feature.

  1. Save the rule.
  2. Optional: To review and update your preferences, select Preferences from the Operator menu.
    These determine the skin rule used to style the test.
  3. Complete any preprocessing necessary to create the appropriate clipboard context and, if the rule is circumstanced or time-qualified, to set the conditions you want to test.
  4. Click the Run toolbar button. The Run Rule window appears.
  5. In the Test Page section, specify which page to use as the main page by performing one of the following actions:
    • If any pages of the rule's Applies To class already exist, select one to be copied.

      If this harness applies to an embedded page, identify a top-level page that contains the embedded page or pages and supply a Page Context.

    • Select Create or Reset Test page. Then, in the Apply field, select the data transform to use for the test page.
  6. If the rule being tested is circumstance-qualified, select Set circumstance properties to run exact version of rule.
  7. In the lower section of the Run Rule window, enter the test data and click Execute.
    The system runs the harness and displays the results.