TestLink

Could anyone explain the design decision to only link test cases to a test plan?

I would expect you to be able to link requirements to a test plan as that would clearly define what is expected to be tested. Currently only the requirements that are linked to active test cases show up, if you forgot to add a test case to the test plan you would like to test, you will not see the requirement even though that requirement might be relevant to the test plan.

Example:
Requirement 1 has no test cases linked but is a requirement that is tested by Test Plan A.
Requirement 2 has test cases linked and is a requirement that is tested by Test Plan A.
Requirement 3 has test cases linked and is a requirement that is tested by Test Plan A.

Now in the Requirement-based report of the Test Plan you would only see Requirement 2 and 3 in the list and not Requirement 1. As the report name clearly states it's a requirement-based one, I would assume it shows all the requirements that need to be tested by the selected test plan.

This might cause some uncovered requirement testing due to forgetfulness.

Request for change:
Next to being able to add test cases to a test plan, it might be useful to be able to add requirements to a test plan as well.

Workaround for now:
Currently we have a "dummy" testcase called "Missing Test Case" that is linked to all requirements we want to test in the current test plan but do not have any test cases yet. This way our Req. based report at least shows all requirements for the plan.


Your thoughts?

1) I do not understand why we need to explain design decisions, any time.
TestLink was created as Test Management System, and requirements were not present.
Then all features were Test Case centric.

2) as have been unfortunately explained 1000 times, forum is not for feature requests, but is mantis the place
More if you do some searches on mantis you are going to find that this feature request already exists => this posts means duplicated work.

3) implementation is to complex to fit in current architecture when you start thinking also on PLATFORMS.
That's why this implementation is not in the roadmap.

>> As the report name clearly states it's a requirement-based one, I would assume it shows all the requirements that need to be tested by the selected test plan.
This info is generated using the items that build s test plan, and if you know and understand TestLink you have to know that these are TEST CASE VERSIONS and not requirements. Then IMHO you have nothing to complain

1. I was just curious, you don't have to be so defensive o_O

2. It wasn't an official feature request, just something I wanted to discuss with people on the forum, again you don't need to be so jumpy about this..

3. That's unfortunate, luckily the workaround does the job well enough for now.

4. I'm not complaining, I just wanted to know other people's thoughts on this.


Thanks for the reply anyway.