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Creating text file datasheets

If you have a large amount of existing test data in a text file, you can create an external datasheet to use it in data-driven scripts. Comma-delimited and fixed-width text files are supported.

1. Choose Data > Create Datasheet.

The Create Datasheet wizard opens.

2. Select an external data source option.

Import data from external source imports data from the source and maintains it in QA Wizard Pro. Any changes to the imported data in the datasheet are not synced with the source.
Link to data in external source links the datasheet to the source. Any changes to the data in the QA Wizard Pro datasheet are synced with the source and vice versa.

3. Click Next.

4. Select Text file as the Datasheet type.

5. Enter the path to the text file or click Browse to select it.

6. Select First row contains column headers if the text file contains column headings.

If this option is selected, QA Wizard Pro uses the values in the first row of the file to identify columns. If this option is not selected, the datasheet uses default column names (F1, F2, F3, etc.).

7. Select Script-generated query to use a function in a script to retrieve a subset of data from the text file during playback. This option is only available if the datasheet links to an external data source. If this option is selected, you cannot view or edit the datasheet in QA Wizard Pro or modify the data source using scripts. See Retrieving external data with script-generated queries.

8. Select the Format of data in the text file.

Comma-delimited columns indicates the columns are separated by commas.
Fixed-width columns indicates the columns are set at a fixed width.

Note: You may need to create a schema.ini file for the text file. If you are using a comma-delimited file with different data types in the same column, you must create a schema.ini file to identify the data types in the file. If you are using a fixed-width file, you must always create a schema.ini file to identify the file contents and column width. This file must be saved in the same directory as the text file. See Creating a schema.ini file for text files.

9. Specify the datasheet properties.

If you are importing data, click Browse to select the Datasheet path to save the file in and enter a File name. Datasheets are saved with a .qawsheet extension. You can also enter an optional Description for the datasheet.
If you are linking to the external data source, enter a Datasheet name.

10. Click Finish to add the datasheet to the workspace.