Hierarchy
SAP_BASIS (Software Component) SAP Basis Component⤷
BC-TWB-TST-CAT (Application Component) CATT Computer Aided Test Tool⤷
SCAT (Package) Computer Aided Test Tools
Basic Data
| Data Element | CATEXCMD |
| Short Description | CATT - External variants |
Data Type
| Category of Dictionary Type | D | Domain |
| Type of Object Referenced | No Information | |
| Domain / Name of Reference Type | CHAR1 | |
| Data Type | CHAR | Character String |
| Length | 1 | |
| Decimal Places | 0 | |
| Output Length | 1 | |
| Value Table |
Further Characteristics
| Search Help: Name | ||
| Search Help: Parameters | ||
| Parameter ID | ||
| Default Component name | ||
| Change document | ||
| No Input History | ||
| Basic direction is set to LTR | ||
| No BIDI Filtering |
Field Label
| Length | Field Label | |
| Short | 10 | Ext. vari. |
| Medium | 15 | Ext. variants |
| Long | 18 | External variants |
| Heading | 5 | ExtVa |
Documentation
Definition
Up to present, up to 99 pre-defined parameter sets could be defined as so-called variants, which were executed individually or consecutively at runtime.
From Release 3.1, variant sets can be created outside the SAP System, but only in Windows systems.
The interface to external systems is so defined that external processing is as simple as possible. The easiest way is processing in EXCEL, where the result must be saved in a file of type 'Text, separated by Tabs' in the 'Save as...' function.
Such a text file can also be processed with other editors.
Text file structure
The first line contains a list of import parameter names (without leading '&'). Each import parameter specifies a column. The columns are separated by tab in the text file.
The second line contains short texts, which are assigned to each parameter of the first line column by column. If there is no short text, the assignment is marked by appropriate tabs in the text format. The short texts do not affect the processing of the variants, they only document the parameters for maintenance.
The third line contains default values for each parameter, organized by column. These values in the third line also have no affect on the variant processing, they are only initial values for simplifying the creation of the following variants.
The remaining lines (maximum 99,999) each contain a variant, i.e. a set of values of the parameter columns in the first line. If a value is empty, the default parameter valu is used. Variant values should only be entered when they differ from the default value. The text columns are aligned with tabs.
Export default values
The CATT menu 'Goto' 'External variants' contains the function 'Export defaults'. This creates a file for the CATT procedure, which contains in three lines the parameter structure with short texts and default values.
The name PROCNO.TXT is proposed for the file with parameters, texts and default values, as the procedure later tries to read variants from this file name.
The file saved can be used as the basis for creating external variants. When it is 'Opened' with EXCEL, the parameters are formatted in columns.
Attribute 'External variants'
When a procedure is executed, it always tries to read in external variants. The file name is constructed from the procedure number and the extension .TXT, using the path set for the computer.
A test procedure which is intended to use external variants should be flagged as such in the Attribute screen. In this case an error message is written in the log at runtime if no external variants are found.
Include external variants
The CATT maintenance menu 'Goto' 'External variants' contains the function 'Include'. This function uploads a file containing external variants. They become part of the CATT proceduree and the transport object.
When the CATT procedure is executed, the included external variants are processed as though they were called from the file PROCNO.TXT, although a currently available file has priority. The included variants are only processed if no file with the name PROCNO.TXT is found.
If you choose the CATT maintenance menu 'Goto' 'External variants' 'Export', you can download an already included external variants file and edit it externally. The file name procedure number and extension .TXT is again proposed. This is the only way of displaying the contents of the external variants, as CATT does not currently provide display and maintenance functionality as for the variants 01 - 99.
History
| Last changed by/on | SAP | 20110908 |
| SAP Release Created in |
