Many iTest users are unaware of the build system that is built into the product. As you are working with iTest, a background process is verifying changes and updating a list of problems associated with files. You are probably familiar with the warning and error icons that you sometimes see in the margin of the test case editor and in other editors. This validation is done in real-time as you modify the current file. But some changes that you make in files can cause problems in other files that you are not currently working on. For example, if you change the name of a procedure in one test case that is called by another test case, then you may cause a broken link in that other test case. But how will you know?
Most users are probably unaware of the Problems view. You can open this view using Window > Show View > Problems. This view lists ALL of the problems in your workspace. If you find warnings or errors here, you may have issues that you should address. You can double-click on an entry in this list and in most cases it will open up an editor for the associated file and take you directly to where the problem can be found.
Some of you may have noticed tiny warning or error decorators on file and/or folder icons in the iTest Explorer view. You’ll find that if there is a problem associated with a file, then that file and its container(s) will show that decorator as a reminder to you that it may require attention.
There are lots of kinds of problems that iTest can tell you about. Some are very obvious – such as invalid field entries. But many are more subtle. For example, if you use a reference to another file and that file is later renamed, then that link will be “broken” and iTest will tell you about it. For this reason, I find it very valuable to always keep the Problems view open so that I can see immediately if I’m making changes that might negatively affect other files in my workspace.
If you’ve been using iTest for a while and are unaware of the Problems view, you might be surprised by what you find there in your workspace. If you find a lot of problems, you will discover that each is usually quite easy to fix, and I recommend that you invest a few minutes to clean up these issues so that you’ll always be able to quickly spot when new issues are created in future.
 | Kingston Duffie is the founder and CTO of Fanfare. Learn more about Kingston >> |
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