Using CA Application Test › Using the Workstation and Console with CA Application Test › Building Test Cases › Building Subprocesses

Building Subprocesses

A subprocess is a test case that is called from another test case instead of run as a stand-alone test case.

Subprocesses can be used as modules in other test cases, which increases their ability to be reused. You can build a library of subprocesses that can be shared across many test cases.

In a programming language, a subprocess would be referred to as a function or a subroutine.

A test case must be self-contained. The value for all the properties that are used in the test case must come from in the test case. A subprocess expects the test step that runs it to provide some property values (input properties). When the subprocess completes, it makes property values available to the calling step (return properties).

Subprocesses can be nested. A subprocess can call another subprocess.

Note: If a subprocess that calls another subprocess is marked as Quiet, all called subprocesses will be Quiet.

You create the steps in the subprocess in the same way you do for a regular test case, with the following differences:

• Mark the test case as a subprocess in the Test Case Information tab of the test case (as explained in Create a Subprocess Test Case in Using CA Application Test).
• Do not add data sets as you would in a test case. Instead, the data set must be part of the calling case, and the current values are passed to the subprocess when it is invoked. The exception is when a data set is a part of the subprocess logic itself. In that scenario, do not use a global data set.
• Do not use a configuration file or a companion in the subprocess to initialize any parameters that you expect to be passed from the calling step. For testing purposes, we add these values elsewhere. When the subprocess is called, the calling step passes these values.

Note: The think time parameter in the parent test case (the test case that calls the subprocess) is propagated to the subprocess. To make your subprocess think times run independently of the calling process, set a testExec property with the name lisa.subprocess.setThinkScaleFromParent to "false" so that you can decide for each subprocess. For a global override, set lisa.subprocess.setThinkScaleFromParent=false in local.properties.

You can build subprocesses from scratch, or you can convert an existing test case into a subprocess.

The Execute Subprocess test step simplifes calling a subprocess test case.

This section contains the following topics:

Create a Subprocess Test Case

Convert an Existing Test Case into a Subprocess

Subprocess Example