Automate: Data table (manual) in Gherkin background

You can now add a data table to a Background section in your Gherkin in Hexawise Automate. Before if you added one it would have been removed from your script.

Automate: no syntax highlight of inline quotes

A regression caused inline " and ' in steps not to be highlighted syntax.

Automate: Issue perserving user provided data tables

In some cases a user entered data table for a step would not persist after a script save and load. This is resolved.

Automate: More than one parameter value selection in a Background step

It's now considered invalid in Automate to include more than one parameter value selection { }in a step in the Background section of a Gherkin feature file.

This is due to the fact that the parameter value selection could be a list of values, and that list needs to be presented in a data table. These Background data tables necessarily have only one column, or else combinatorial coverage issues would arise from the table.

If you need more than one parameter value selection in your Background section, you can simply include them in multiple steps.

Automate: Generated background data tables when the parameter value is value expanded

If you include a parameter value list or parameter value restriction list in your background table, it results in an inline data table, but the data table was not correct if one of the values in the data table had value expansions. It did not display the first value expansion of the parameter value as expected. Now it does.

Automate: Logical conflicts in parameter value selections

There were cases where multiple non-conflicting (though unneccessary or unusual) parameter value selections { } involving the same parameter would be flagged by Automate as conflicting errors. Automate is now much better at determining when parameter value selections involving the same parameter actually logically conflict.

Automate: Auto-complete drop-down "stuck"

In certain cases, involving navigating away to other things while it was open, the auto-complete drop down would stick on the screen and not go away. These cases are resolved.

Automate: Generated data tables in Background now contain header rows

The specification for the Gherkin syntax is loose in many areas. It's not entirely clear if a data table in a Background section should have a header row or not. We've surveyed some Gherkin consuming tools, and enough of them expect a header for any data table that we've opted to now include a header row.

Automate: Auto-completion in and around single and double quotes

The parameter < > and parameter value selection { } auto-complete functionality could be sensitive to following or being contained in " or '. It's now robust in these conditions.

Regression in mind map display

In some cases mind maps would render with only text labels, but without the connecting colored lines.

Test plan revisions order

The revision order in the test plan revision's dialog was no longer sequential, making for a confusing user experience.

Automate: selector syntax

The syntax for selecting only test cases with value 1 for Parameter A used to be: {[Parameter A]Value 1}

We've now normalized this syntax so it matches the rest of Hexawise. The new syntax is simply: {Parameter A[Value 1]}

The new syntax also supports value lists and negation.

Automate: Selector expansion in Background

When including a parameter selector, {Parameter A[Value 1]}, in the Background section of your feature file, Hexawise used to replace the selector with the literal value, Value 1.

This option is no longer always available to Hexawise Automate since the selector can now use negation or a value list or both to be selecting on more than one parameter value. The generated Gherkin now contains a generated data table as shown here:

Automate: Supercharged test case selectors

In Hexawise Automate you've been able to use the selector syntax, {[Parameter A]Value 1} to limit a Scenario or Scenario Outline to only the test cases that contain value 1 for Parameter A. The same syntax works in a Background section to limit all Scenario and Scenario Outline blocks in a feature file to test cases with the selected parameter value.

We've supercharged this capability by adding value lists and negation.

To limit test case selection to more than 1 value of a parameter, but not all of them, simply provide the parameter values as a comma delimited value list:

{Parameter A[Value 1, Value 2, Value 5]}

You can now also select with negation. To limit test case selection to everything except a value or value list, include the ! character before the parameter name:

{!Parameter A[Value 1]}

-or-

{!Parameter A[Value 1, Value 5]}

Selectors now supporting value lists and negation means it is much easier to target your behaviors at the specific test cases where they apply without needing to duplicate behaviors.

Automate: Including non-existing parameters in Examples table

An undocumented and rarely used feature of Hexawise Automate was to include a parameter selection in a Scenario Outline for a parameter that does not exist in the plan, such as:

When the <Not a real parameter> option is selected

This used to include Not a real parameter as a column in the Examples table with - for every row, since there are no values from the generated test case to use.

We've removed this feature as it was much more likely to obscure an unintended typo or parameter name change than to be useful.

Automate: Selector autocomplete

Test case selector autocomplete after typing the { character used to present a list of all parameter/value combinations. The autocomplete now works in 2 steps, providing a selection of parameter names first, then autocompleting the open braket [ character and providing a list of parameter values for the selected parameter.

Complete revamp of bulk edit of inputs

Performing bulk edit on imports has been reworked from a simple text area to an intelligent editor.

The new editor features:

• Standardized syntax used across the entire Hexawise test plan
• Consistent save and discard experience, with save hot key
• Real-time warnings when the syntax isn't valid
• Syntax highlighting
• Autocomplete
• Sample bulk edit text for blank plans
• Usage help with escaping examples

In the end, it's still just simple plain text being manipulated, so even though it looks fancy, you are still free to copy and paste text to and from bulk edit.

Automate: Automatic localization

To use a different language in Gherkin you start your script with a language tag as the first line. For example, Spanish:

#language: es

If you have your Hexawise account language set to Spanish, Japanese, or Esperanto (hey... you know Esperanto?), then new Automate scripts you create will now already include the language tag, saving you a step that's easy to forget.

As always, if your team or project needs support for other languages, please let us know.

More Spanish localization 🇪🇸

Hexawise is completely internationalized and partially localized. We greatly increased the scope of the localization to cover the majority, though not the entirety, of the product. To take advantage of the localization, we also need to have translations. The Spanish translations were extended to cover all the newly localized areas of the product.

If you access "Your Account" from the top right drop down menu you can select Spanish as your language.

If there is language support that is important to your company and project teams, please let us know!

Plan deletion speed

Plan deletion, which can be slow for very large and heavily modified plans, now occurs asynchronously, so you don't need to wait for all the cleanup to occur before moving on to your next task in Hexawise.

"No possible value" shown in a generated test case in place of "any possible value" in very care cases

A rare three-way defect in production, this only effected mixed-strength test case generation with a range and value expansion.

"Stuck" no possible value warning banner

A regression caused the no possible value warning banner, which appears on a plan when you ignore a no possible value warning, to become "stuck" on the plan and not cleared out once the issue that caused the no possible value was removed from the plan.

No Possible Value Warning banner would remain after the triggering no possible value was removed

This was a regression in a part of Hexawise we thankfully no longer see too often since most "no possible values" are now prevented.

Hexawise hanging when saving bulk edit of inputs

This occurred on some plans and when the large number of parameter values warning was displayed.

Test plan dialog button states

Action buttons in the test plan dialog didn't disable after clicked allowing for multiple actions and therefore spurious warnings and errors.

The buttons are now disabled while in progress.