Specifying Parameters for Business Components

You can specify input and output parameters to generate a data flow between business process tests, business components, and flows. For example, you might want to pass user credentials from a test into its business components or flows, or you might want to pass an Order ID parameter that is generated from a business component to be further processed in subsequent business components or flows.

As their names imply, input parameters provide data to the testers of a specific business component, while output parameters represent the data that is produced by the testers of the business component with the intention to pass information on to the testers of subsequent business components.

To specify new parameters for a business component or to edit existing parameters of a business component:

In the menu, click Tests > Libraries .
Select the business component for which you want to specify the parameters from the Library tree.
Click the Steps tab. All parameters that are currently specified for the business component are displayed next to the Parameters... button.
- Input parameters are displayed as ${name}.
- Output parameters are displayed as ${name}→.
Click Parameters.... The Parameters dialog opens.
Specify the new parameters. For each new parameter, perform the following actions.
1. Type a name for the new parameter. Parameter names must be unique in the context of the business component.
2. To specify the new parameter as an output parameter, check the Output check box.
3. Click Add.
When you have specified all required parameters, click OK to close the Parameters dialog.

You can reference the specified input parameters in the Action Description or Expected Results section of the manual test steps by using the syntax ${name}, for example user: ${username}. Output parameters are set during the actual execution of the business process test.