Test Step Metadata and Version in OpenTAP 9.18

Hi everyone,

We are analyzing the differences in the test plan xml as we upgrade to Keysight 9.18.4 Development System.

Here are the findings (image below):

  1. We found that the “Version” for each test step will always be reset to 1.0.0 regardless of the packages installed.
  2. Metadata has been added for the property for each test step. May we know how can this be utilized?

Can we understand the reason, and impacts for the changes? This would help in our analysis, thank you!

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Hi @antonio.quizon,

The ‘version’ attribute has been deprecated in 9.18, in favor of the package dependency versions added to the end of the XML file, since version 9.10 or so.

If you want to understand the dependencies, it is better to scroll to the end of the test plan and see which packages it requires. e.g

  <Package.Dependencies>
     <Package Name="OpenTAP" Version="^9.19.4+7959a308" />
  </Package.Dependencies>

This makes it a bit more complicated to find out the ‘version’ of each plugin type used in the test plan, but if you want to do so, you just need to correlated the type with the type in each package. If you need some code for this I can provide it.

Hi @rolf_madsen , thanks for the response.

What about the second change mentioned above - Metadata attribute which was added in “Name” property?

Hi everyone, bumping this post up!

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Hi @antonio.quizon,

I don’t know why the Name has the Metadata attribute. I think it is an unintended side effect from supporting it on the test plan level.

1 Like

Hi @rolf_madsen,

Thanks for responding and the help.

Here are a few questions:

  1. Will this be fixed in the future releases? If yes, when or which version will it be?
  2. Once it is fixed, how will this impact the test plans which were saved with the unintended side effect? Will it cause any issues?

Thanks again.

  1. My guess is that it will be fixed in 9.20, unless there is some practical use for it.
  2. There should not be any unintended side effects when its gone. Attributes in general are like extra information - they don’t require being parsed and as such usually don’t give off any warning or errors. You can try this out yourself by inserting some random attributes in your test plan.