User Workspaces in Tosca Commander
August 13, 2018
User Workspaces in Tosca Commander
Hi welcome to this post “Tricentis Tosca: User Workspaces in Tosca Commander” aims at discussing the types of workspaces in Tosca and what all options can be used to configure them as per our requirement. There are various types of workspaces in Tosca and there are lots of options like slim workspace, use standard template, etc. This post consists of technical interview question which have been part of many interviews either external or internal. Usually these are assumed to be known in deep to check the logical solvency efficiency of the candidate and of course suitability for the project and company. .So go ahead and enjoy reading.
This discussion will help also you prepare well if you are going for the interview or you need the function to be used in your project.
In the interview usually, you might be questioned in different ways like
- whether to start with multi-user or single user workspace in the beginning of the project?
- What steps should be taken to have maximum flexibility and adaptability in maintenance?
- What is the feasibility for opting multiuser workspace in Tosca Commander?
- How server space should be allocated for multiuser workspace in Tosca Commander?
- Which database is best for this multiuser workspace in Tosca Commander?
Well there could be more than that discussed above. But point to be noted here is the kind of configuration required before starting full fledged working on this tool. Obviously, this selection is crucial step in preparing the project environment from scratch keeping in mind about the automation specialist, test design specialists etc in the project.
In this post, we will understand various types of workspaces and learn how to create these workspaces in Tosca. We will also discuss which workspace fits best to any of the projects.
What is a workspace? or How does a workspace in Tosca look like?
A defined working area (which can be local folder or network drive) is known as workspace. This workspace is the location for your project or solution files and all objects related to it. Of course, Tricentis recommends assigning only one user to each workspace.
Types of Workspace?
Workspaces can be created as either singleuser and multiuser workspaces.
Singleuser Workspace :
In this only one person has access and control to the workspace. You can think of it as your own local folder where your project artifacts are stored and only you have access to it. Obviously, the administration of data and sources is not necessary here as you are not connected to any of the available data sources.
Multiuser Workspace :
In this workspace, user has flexibility in choosing appropriate data source and connect to it for managing the workspace. All users connect to same data source with connection string in hand (shared by DBA), and later create and work on same workspaces. The users can see a common repository structure of the project where each user has their respective workspace on which they work. Whenever they start Tosca Commander they have to put in their credentials to connect to the same workspace and work on it. Other important point here is that all individual objects can be modified. This doesn’t affect other users logged in at that same moment.
Creation of Workspaces in Tosca:
Singleuser workspace in Tosca Commander:
Now creation of SingleUser workspace is quite easy and can be followed as discussed below:
- Select the option Project->New from the menu.
- Under “Create new repository in”:
Select the repository type for your new workspace:
-None (creates single user workspace)
- Under “Create new workspace in” :
Specify the local directory where the workspace should be saved with all artifacts.
- Under “Select name for workspace”:
Enter a good, brief and meaningful name for your workspace.
- For the checkbox option “Use workspace template”:
If checked, the default template is provided with default subset which is automatically imported when your workspace is created. The moment you select this checkbox or option, you will see that Standard.tce file will be shown to you in the field below. Also you are allowed to import any other template you want for this project to start with.
- For the option “Create slim workspace”:
By default, it is only available for Multiuser workspaces. So, which is why you will see it as faded option.
- A click on the OK button creates the workspace.
- That’s it, once it is created you will see a countdown of closing this creation of workspace activity appears in the left bottom of window, and then your workspace will get open.
- A small success dialog will be visible for several seconds on the bottom right corner of your screen.
Multiuser workspace in Tosca Commander:
Now creation of Multiuser workspace is quite easy and can be followed as discussed below:
- Select the option Project->New from the menu.
- Define the repository type for your new workspace:
Tricentis Cloud,
SQLite,
Oracle,
MS SQL Server,
DB2
- Under “Create new workspace in” :
Specify the local directory where the workspace should be saved with all artifacts.
- Under “Select name for workspace”:
Enter a good, brief and meaningful name for your workspace.
- For the checkbox option “Use workspace template”:
If checked, the default template is provided with default subset which is automatically imported when your workspace is created. The moment you select this checkbox or option, you will see that Standard.tce file will be shown to you in the field below. Also you are allowed to import any other template you want for this project to start with.
- For the option “Create slim workspace”:
By default, it is only available for Multiuser workspaces. Also it is only be seen if you have selected existing repository.
Now you can see the option for this checkbox is enabled. The slim workspace if selected enables users to create a slim workspace which will eventually be high in performance as compared to non-slim workspaces which requires compacting to be done frequently.
- A click on the OK button creates the workspace.
- That’s it, once it is created you will see a countdown of closing this creation of workspace activity appears in the left bottom of window, and then your workspace will get open.
- A small success dialog will be visible for several seconds on the bottom right corner of your screen.
Which user workspace in Tosca fits best and where?
Singleuser workspace’s are often known for their performance and easy administration. This doesn’t much of the user’s attention to configure their workspace and start working on it immediately. Lots of people find it handy and to start with, but the question here is Whether it is going to be useful in your project?
The answer is ‘NO’, yeah a big “NO”. The reason behind this, is that it is useful for tester to research on some subject in hand in relation to requirement while they work on single user workspace in Tosca, as there will be no interference in other user’s work and their related to modules, etc. Plus you won’t be having any headache of checkin or checkout etc. The singleuser workspace in Tosca can be useful for doing some POC’s like creating custom controls, creating new framework all together, etc. And once you have stable version of that you can later log in to your common repository and share it with your colleagues or automation test engineers.
On the other hand, Multiuser workspaces are really huge, right from creation of workspaces in Tosca to checking in your code to common repository of the project. Multiuser are usually preferred for project level tasks where the project itself is can be imagined as common repository and all the artifacts are checked in by tester post development of TestCases, Modules, etc. They require lot of focus in terms of where exactly you are working, mean which section like TestCases, Modules, etc and appropriate actions related to it must be memorize for fast development. This has immense benefits when working as a team because you can schedule task for your peers, and they have their roles defined to work on those and check in later. The checkin feature is similar to MS VSTS so you got to see all previous changesets and their related comments to trace back what has been done far and what all has been modified.
So, if we conclude here the multiuser fits best for projects and gives smooth maintenance where as singleuser focuses on single task may be considered for research or practicing.
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