How to use dynamic test data with Rational Integration Tester

Answer

Refer to the test data sections in the Rational Integration Tester Knowledge Center when following this solution.

The way to solve this is to have a parent test that calls a child test. The parent test gets the value for the test data location and passes that value to the child test.

The attachment contains a sample project to demonstrate this. The example iterates through a file to extract three further file names. The sample then uses these file names as three sets of test data. The sample extracts values from each of the three files and displays the values in the test console.

The high-level steps are as follows.

1. Create a File Data Source that references the text file containing the file names.
   Click Refresh to verify the configuration.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Create a File Data Source that references the individual files using a tag. Use a tag name of your choice.
   Click Refresh to verify and enter a file name value for the tag when prompted.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Create the Child test and add a test tag with the same name as that used in step 2.
   This will be used for the Test Data Set and must have a default value that is valid file name.
   This ensures that when the test is initialized, the Test Data Set can be parsed.
   
   
   
   
4. Add an Iterate Test Data step to read the file contents.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Create the Parent test and add an Iterate Test Data step to read through the list of file names.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Add a Run Test step to run the Child test.
   Pass the file name tag to the Child test.
   The file name tag will be used in the Test Data Set to read the specified file.