Exploration Templates

Exploration templates control the field layout shown when creating an exploration. They are managed in the same module as test case templates, on the Exploration templates tab, and behave the same way — with one pool of fields instead of two, and a different consequence when one is deleted.

Key differences from test case templates

Steps fields are not available in exploration templates. Exploration fields do not include the Steps type, so no Steps field appears in the pool when you build an exploration template.

The template list

The Exploration templates tab lists exploration templates with the same five columns as test case templates — Template, Fields, Projects, Status, Actions — the same search, sorting and empty states, and the same row menu: Edit template…, Set as default, Enable / Disable template, Delete template…. See The template list.

The default template

Every workspace has exactly one default exploration template, marked with a Default chip. Its editor opens under a banner: “This is the default template — new explorations start from it, so it applies to every project and cannot be disabled or deleted. Promote another template to change that.”

Set as default, Disable template and Delete template… are greyed on that row with their reasons; its Enabled switch and its Applies to control are locked. Promoting another template demotes it in the same action, and the promotion carries an Undo. A disabled template cannot be promoted — enable it first.

How templates work with fields

Exploration templates reference exploration field definitions from Settings → Fields → Exploration fields. The editor shows one pool, Exploration fields, headed with the number chosen out of the number available and described as “Shown when running an exploratory session.” Each row is a tick box with the field’s label and type.

Field behaviour is not configured on the template. Required state, starting value and a dropdown’s option list belong to the field, and are set per project in the field’s own editor — see Project Overrides. The template only decides which fields are present.

Fields appear in the order the Fields module lists them; there is no reordering control here. A template with no fields is allowed — the list reads None against it, and the hint says “A template with no fields gives testers an empty form.”

Project assignment

The Projects panel offers the same two answers as on a test case template — All projects (Including new ones), the state a new template starts on, or Selected projects with a searchable list. On the default template the control is locked at All projects, with the reason on it: “A default template must apply to all projects”.

Create an exploration template

1. Click New template on the Exploration templates tab. A full-page editor opens.
2. Enter a Name. A name already used on this tab blocks the save, with the reason on the button.
3. Tick the fields this template should carry in the Exploration fields panel.
4. In the Projects panel, leave All projects or switch to Selected projects.
5. Click Create template in the save bar.

A link to a template that no longer exists answers “That template does not exist”, with a Back to exploration templates link.

Enable and disable

Choose Disable template or Enable template from the row menu; the change is immediate and carries an Undo. A disabled exploration template is absent from the Template control when creating an exploration — it is not shown as unavailable. Existing explorations using it are unaffected, and re-enabling restores availability immediately with no data loss.

Prefer disabling over deleting. A disabled template keeps its fields and can be re-enabled at any time. Deleting cannot be undone.

Delete an exploration template

Choose Delete template… from the row menu. Like a test case template, it is confirmed with a single click and nothing recorded is erased. Where it differs is what happens to the explorations that were recorded from it — the template is taken away from them:

“The template is removed from the workspace. Explorations already recorded from it lose their template, so the fields it defined stop appearing on the exploration page. Their recorded values stay in storage, but nothing in the product shows them again. This cannot be undone.” — followed by how many projects fall back to the default.

Read that literally. An exploration on a deleted template does not move onto the default template: its Template reads Blank charter afterwards, and the fields the old template defined — along with the values recorded in them — are no longer anywhere on the page. The rows survive in storage; no screen in the product reads them back. There is no Undo, and no way to restore a deleted template.

The default exploration template cannot be deleted — the menu item is greyed with the reason Default. Promote another template first.