Groups
To group your test steps and influence the test execution, you can choose between three different groups. Each group has its own behavior, so make sure you use the correct group type for your situation.
Groups can be executed, duplicated, transformed into page actions, cleared from results or deleted. If you’ve used variables, JOSF asks you to enter or validate the values per unfulfilled variable.
1. Descriptive group
To group test steps together, without any precondition to run the group, place them in a descriptive group. This is the most commonly used group to order your test case in neat and orderly fashion.
2. Conditional group
A conditional group also holds test steps, but has one key difference; it accepts an condition. A condition can be either a test step or a comparator.
Conditional test step
The group will be executed if the result of the run step is either PASS or INFO (so not a failing step). Otherwise, the group will be skipped entirely.
Example; Sometimes there is a pop-up after logging in
Imaging an application in which we log in, but sometimes there is a pop-up after logging in. This could be due to a time-driven event in the application, or a collateral consequence of a previous ran test case. A conditional test step can check the presence of the pop-up and (if present) perform necessary actions to close the pop-up.
Comparator
The comparator accepts a first and a second value and a comparator. The first and second value are compared by the given comparator and if the result is success, the group will be executed. Otherwise, the group will be skipped entirely.
| Comparator | Accepts |
| is equal to | Text, dates, numbers |
| is greater than | Dates, numbers |
| Is greater than or equal to | Dates, numbers |
| Is less than | Dates, numbers |
| Is less than or equal to | Dates, numbers |
| Is not equal to | Text, dates, numbers |
3. Repeating group
A repeating group contains test steps, but like the conditional group, it accepts a type of repeater. In the current version of JOSF, two types of repeaters are accepted.
Repeating test step
The group will be executed (repeatedly) As long as the result of the run step is either PASS or INFO (so not a failing step). After the group is executed, the repeating test step is executed again, to verify if the group must be executed again. Otherwise, the group execution will stop and the test will continue.