Actions break up the test into logical sections/units such as specific activities that we perform in our application.
When we create a new test, it contains a call to one action. By breaking up the tests into calls to multiple actions, we can design more modular and well organized and professional tests. An action has its own test script, containing all of the steps recorded in that action, and all objects in its local object repository. An action is stored with the test in which you created it.
If you create a test in which you log into the system (email), check inbox, and then log out of the system (email), your test might be structured as shown—one test calling three separate actions:
| Test 1 | Actions stored with Test 1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Call to action 1 | ---> | Action 1(Logging In) |
| Call to action 2 | ---> | Action 2(Checking Inbox Mails) |
| Call to action 3 | ---> | Action 3(Logging Out) |
Actions make it possible to parameterize and iterate over specific elements of a test. They also make it easier to re-record steps in one action when part of your application changes. For every action called in the test, QuickTest creates a corresponding action sheet in the Data Table so that we can enter Data Table parameters that are specific to that action only.
Three types of actions are:
Non-reusable action This non reusable action can be called only once and that too in the test with which it is stored.
Reusable action Reusable actions are like functions in any programming language. If there is a process that needs to be included in several tests, we can record, modify, and enhance the steps of the process and save them in a reusable action. Then we can call the action from other tests, rather than recording, modifying, and enhancing the same steps each time. It can be called several times by the test with which it is stored (the local test), as well as by other tests.
Deleting a reusable action that is called by other tests will cause those tests to fail.
External action is a reusable action stored with another test. External actions are read-only in the calling test, but we can choose to use a local, editable copy of the Data Table information for the external action. When a call to an external action is inserted, the action is inserted in read-only format
We can create an additional call to any reusable or external action in the test by pressing CTRL while we drag and drop the action to another location at a parallel (sibling) level
within the test.
By default, new actions are non-reusable. Each action created in a test can be marked as reusable or non-reusable.
When we run a test with multiple actions, the test results are divided by actions within each test iteration so that we can see the outcome of each action, and can view the detailed results for each action individually.
If you expect other users to open your tests and all actions in your tests are stored in the same drive, you should use relative paths for your reusable actions so that other users will be able to open your tests even if they have mapped their network drives differently.