Test Case Templates

Test case templates control the field layout shown when creating or editing a test case — and the result form shown when a tester executes one. A template is a name, an enabled state, a chosen set of test case fields and test run fields, and the projects that may use it. How a field behaves — required or not, what it starts from, which options it offers — is set on the field, per project, not on the template.

The template list

The Test case templates tab in Settings → Templates lists every test case template in the workspace, with a count beside the heading and a New template button. The table has five columns:

The search box filters by name; with no match the table is replaced by “No templates match …”, Try a different name. and a Clear search button. The Template, Fields and Status columns sort; the list opens sorted by name.

The default template

Every workspace has exactly one default test case template, marked with the Default chip. Opening it says the same thing in a banner across the top of the editor:

“This is the default template — new cases start from it, so it applies to every project and cannot be disabled or deleted. Promote another template to change that.”

Three of its own row-menu actions are therefore out of reach, each greyed with its reason: Set as default (Already), Disable template (Default) and Delete template… (Default). In its editor the Enabled switch is locked — “The default template is always available.” — and so is Applies to, at All projects, because “A default template must apply to all projects”.

To change the default, choose Set as default on another template. The promotion demotes the incumbent in the same action, so exactly one Default chip remains, and it is offered with an Undo.

A disabled template cannot be promoted. Set as default is greyed on a disabled row with the reason Disabled. Enable it first, then promote it — promoting no longer enables a template for you.

A case created without a template lands on the workspace default.

How templates work with fields

Templates reference field definitions from Settings → Fields. The editor offers them as two independent pools, each headed with the number chosen out of the number available:

Test case fields

“Shown when writing or editing a case.”

Test run fields

“Shown when recording a result for a case.”

Each row is a tick box carrying the field’s label and its type — Severity, Dropdown. Ticking a row adds the field to this template; unticking removes it. That is the whole of what a template says about a field.

Field behaviour is not configured on the template. Required state, starting value, the option list of a dropdown and the four Steps column slots all belong to the field, and are set per project in the field’s own editor — see Project Overrides. The template editor carries no per-field settings, so the same field behaves the same way in every template a project offers.

The template does not control field order either: fields appear in the order the Fields module lists them, and there is no reordering control here.

Test run fields on a template shape the result form. The test run fields you tick here are the ones a tester is asked to fill in when recording a result on a case that uses this template — so two cases in the same run can present different result forms, or one can present none. See Result fields.

A template with no fields is allowed. The save bar says no fields chosen and the list shows None against it — “A template with no fields gives testers an empty form.” Nothing stops you saving it.

Project assignment

The Projects panel of the editor decides “Which projects offer this template when creating.” Applies to takes one of two answers:

All projects — Including new ones

The template is offered in every project, and in every project added later. This is what a new template starts on.

Selected projects

A searchable checkbox list appears, with the chosen count in its label — “Only these projects offer it.” Projects outside the list never see the template.

On the default template this control is locked at All projects, with the reason on the control itself: “A default template must apply to all projects”.

Create a template

1. Click New template on the Test case templates tab. A full-page editor opens.
2. Enter a Name — the placeholder suggests one, e.g. Regression suite. A name already used in this context blocks the save, and the button says so: “A template with this name already exists here”.
3. Tick the fields this template should carry in the Test case fields and Test run fields panels.
4. In the Projects panel, leave All projects or switch to Selected projects and pick them.
5. Click Create template in the save bar.

The save bar summarises what it is about to write — the name, and a warning of no fields chosen if you left both pools empty. Leaving the editor with unsaved changes asks first.

Edit a template

Click the template name in the list, or choose Edit template… from its row menu. Both open the same editor, at its own address, so an editor link can be shared. You can:

• Rename the template
• Enable or disable it
• Tick and untick fields in either pool
• Change which projects offer it

Removing a field from a template does not delete the field definition, and it does not delete the values stored on cases that use this template. It hides them. On those cases the field is not shown anywhere: the table cell is blank, the list and board show no chip for it, and the case panel has no row for it. The cases also count as having no value when you sort, group or filter by that field, so they land in its No value group. Add the field back to the template and the stored values reappear on those cases, editable again. While the field is off the template, a case cannot be given a value for it.

A link to a template that no longer exists answers rather than hanging: “That template does not exist”, “It may have been deleted, or the link may be wrong.”, with a Back to test case templates link.

Enable and disable

Choose Disable template or Enable template from the row menu. The change is immediate and carries an Undo.

• Enabled — the template is offered in the Template picker when creating a case
• Disabled — the template is absent from that picker; it is not listed as unavailable, it simply is not there. Existing cases using it are unaffected

Re-enabling a template makes it immediately available again. No data is lost when disabling. The editor says the same thing: “Disabled templates keep their fields but are not offered when creating a case.”

Prefer disabling over deleting. A disabled template preserves all existing case data and can be re-enabled at any time with no data loss. Deleting cannot be undone, and moves its cases onto the default template — see below.

Delete a template

Choose Delete template… from the row menu. The confirm dialog says where the template’s cases go:

“The template is removed from the workspace.” — then “Cases created from it move to the default template. Values in fields the default template does not carry are kept but hidden until that field is added to it.” — followed by how many projects fall back to the default, for example “Every project will fall back to the default template.”

It is a plain confirm: Delete template is available as soon as the dialog opens. There is no Undo on the toast afterwards, and no way to restore a deleted template.

No recorded value is lost. The cases move onto the default template, and a value in a field that template does not carry stays stored but is treated exactly like a field removed from a template: hidden on the case, and counted as no value when you sort, group or filter. Values in fields the default template does carry stay as they were. If the default template later gains one of the missing fields, its values reappear on those cases, editable again. The only way to lose a stored value is to delete the field itself, and that is refused while values exist — see Delete a field.

Deleted cases that still point at the template move to the default template too, in the same step, and they stay deleted. The dialog counts projects, not cases, so they do not change what it says.

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