Get to know your workspace

Your work environment in Tricentis Tosca is a so-called workspace. This workspace is made up of various sections in which you create, design, and run your tests.

Types of workspaces

Tricentis Tosca offers two types of workspaces:

  • Single-user workspaces for environments where only one person needs access to data.

  • Multi-user workspaces for environments where several people need access to the same data. In multi-user workspaces, a check in / check out mechanism ensures that users don't interfere with each others work (see chapter "Checkin and checkout objects").

For information on how to create workspaces, see the Admin section.

Start Tosca Commander

Tosca Commander is the user interface of Tricentis Tosca.

Start it from the Windows Start menu: Start->All Programs->Tricentis->Tosca->Tosca Commander.

You can only run Tosca Commander in single-view mode, that is one display on one desktop. You can mirror the screen to a second display or to a video projector, but other options such as dual-screen mode are not supported. The same applies for remote desktops.

Open a workspace

To open a workspace, follow the steps below:

  1. On the Tosca Commander start screen, click on Open.

    Alternatively, press CTRL + O.

  2. In the subsequent window, select a workspace and click Open.

By default, your workspaces are located at %TRICENTIS_PROJECTS%Tosca_Workspaces. Workspaces have the file extension .tws.

The next time you open Tosca Commander, you can just double-click on the workspace that you want to open in the Recent Projects list.

Open a workspace from the Recent Projects list on the Tosca Commander start screen

Open workspaces via command line

For information on how to open workspaces via command line, see chapter "Open a workspace via the command line".

Anatomy of a workspace

Your workspace consists of various sections:

Sections in a workspace - properties pane expanded

Section

Description

Ribbon menu

The ribbon menu consists of the following menu types:

  • Static menus that are always available.

  • Dynamic menus that appear if you click on a specific object.

For more information on menus, see chapter "Tosca Commander menus".

Tabs

To simplify the project view, object types are grouped in tabs: Modules, TestCases, etc.

For instance, the Execution tab contains all objects related to the execution of tests such as ExecutionLists, ExecutionList folders, or TestEvents.

Project tree

The project tree shows the hierarchical structure of all objects in the tab that you selected.

In multi-user workspaces, a color block on the left of an object indicates whether a particular object is currently checked in or out.

Details

This tab shows detailed information on the selected object. It is also where you enter information, for instance when you fill out your TestSteps.

Depending on the selected object, the section may have additional tabs such as Test configuration or User management.

Properties

The properties pane shows all properties of the selected object.

The pane is collapsed by default. To expand it, click on the button on the right side of the window. To collapse it, click .

Status bar

The status bar shows the progress of the action that Tosca Commander currently performs as well as any additional information.

Customize your workspace

You can customize your workspace to your needs:

Collapse and expand elements or resize

You can collapse or expand elements by clicking the respective arrows.

You can also change the size of a pane by dragging its borders.

Collapse or expand elements

Close and reopen tabs

To close a tab that you don't need, hover over the tab and then click on the x.

To reopen a tab, go to Home->Section and select the tab from the drop-down list.

Change the order of tabs

You can change the order of tabs within the row of tabs. For instance if you want the first tab to be Modules rather than TestCases.

To do so, drag and drop the tab into the new position.

Create and arrange sections

You can change where Tosca Commander displays content:

  • Change where Tosca Commander displays the content of tabs. For instance if you want to see TestCases and Modules side by side rather than switching between tabs.

    To do so, drag and drop the tab onto the desired position in the docking element.

  • Create new sections out of objects in the project tree. For instance if you want to have a separate window for a particular TestCase folder.

    To do so, right-click the object in the project tree and select Open in new window from the mini toolbar. Then drag and drop the window onto the desired position in the docking element.

Drag and drop a window onto the desired position in the docking element

Save your customization

You can save your customized workspace view. This lets you restore your preferred view if you change any arrangements by accident.

To save your view, follow the steps below:

  1. Go to View->Manage->Save...

  2. In the subsequent Save Perspective window, enter a name for your view and click OK.

To restore a view, go to View->Select and select the preferred view from the drop-down list. If you want to go back to the Tosca Commander default view, select Default.

Open the project overview

You can open a view that shows all workspace sections and objects in the project tree.

To do so, go to Home->Project.

The top-level object in the project window is the project root element. You need this element if you - for instance - want to specify project options or settings.

For more information on the project root element, see chapter "Get to know the project root element".

Close a workspace

To close a workspace, go to Project and click Close.

Tricentis Tosca then performs the following actions:

  • It closes the workspace and returns to the Tosca Commander start screen.

  • It automatically starts to compact the workspace.

To check the status of the compacting, hover over the icon in the Windows status bar.

To cancel the compacting, right-click the icon and click Cancel compacting.

Workspace compacting

Compacting workspaces reduces disk usage and improves performance.

By default, Tricentis Tosca always compacts workspaces when you close them. If you don't want this, disable the option Project->Options->General->Compact Workspace automatically.

You can also compact your workspace manually whenever you need. To do so, go to Project->Info and click Compact Workspace.

What's next

Try your hand at our First Steps Tutorial!