Attachment feature in eCATT

Documentation is an important aspect of scripting. Good documentation should always go hand-in-hand with the automation script and it should clearly explain the whole purpose of the script. Moreover, nothing to beat, if this documentation is easily accessible to the user. Normally the documents would be stored in folders in local servers. For some reason, if the server is down, then these documents are not accessible. Also we might end up losing the documents if the server crashes.

The reason I’m writing this blog is to create awareness and also share my experience about one of the useful features of the eCATT which allows attachment of documents (usually eCATT Specification/Design documents) to the eCATT script. It provides an option to either directly attach the document or to provide a link to document. Once the documentation is attached, it will be visible from the Test Catalog and also from eCATT Log file. Anybody who executes the eCATT script can easily find the documentation as part of the eCATT log file. This documentation serves as a  ready-reckoner and one point reference for information regarding the script. Therefore this helps the script executor in understanding what the script does and also in troubleshooting the issue, if faced. Using this feature has helped me in effective maintenance of the documents and also it has freed up the local server space. I do not need to now go searching for the script documentation. It has also immensely helped in easy and effective handover of the scripts to the new joinees in the team.

Benefits:

• Documentation is readily available along with the eCATT log file.
• Helpful in script maintenance.
• Easy Troubleshooting by comparing the log file with the document.
• Quite useful during handover of automated
• Frees up server space.

Limitations:

• Consumption of ECA storage space, if the documents are directly attached. Nevertheless the document has to be stored somewhere then why not with the script itself ! To avoid this situation, a link to the documentation can also be provided, but in this case the document has to be maintained in the local server.

Steps to be followed:

    1. Call Transaction Code SECATT and give the eCATT Test Configuration name in “Test Configuration” field.

    2. Navigate to the “Attributes” tab and then navigate to “Attachments” tab.

    3. Attach the document either as a File or as a link at the Test Configuration level. If you have maintained individual documents for each     variant within the test configuration, then you can attach the same for each variant.

• Once the above steps are done, the documents will be visible in the Test Catalog.

• eCATT Documentation is also  available within the eCATT Log file. Just click on the Doc icon to open the document.

Hope this information is useful. This has helped me and I am sure that this is going to help you as well.