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Reference Guide
This guide describes conceptual information about data design environment components when you want to use the data fabrication feature in HCL OneTest™ Server.
Schema design
A schema is a graphical data dictionary that contains metadata definitions of the structure of a document to generate test data. Schema provides visual cues for understanding the structure and complete definition of an object.
Type properties
The properties of a type define the characteristics of the data objects of that type.
Basic type properties
Empty
Empty type property example

Reference Guide
This guide describes conceptual information about data design environment components when you want to use the data fabrication feature in HCL OneTest™ Server.
- Files
  You add a file to a project to use it as input in the project. You can upload a file from your local file system to a project from the Files tab to generate test data. Alternatively, you can upload it when you define an action.
- Connections
  A connection defines the properties that are required to connect to an external resource. An action uses a connection to provide source data to a project or write data from a source to a target. Multiple actions can use the same connection. You can define both connections and actions at the project level.
- Schema design
  A schema is a graphical data dictionary that contains metadata definitions of the structure of a document to generate test data. Schema provides visual cues for understanding the structure and complete definition of an object.
  - Introduction to schema design
    Use the Schemas tab to define, modify, and view schemas. A schema describes the syntax, structure, and semantics of your data.
  - Type properties
    The properties of a type define the characteristics of the data objects of that type.
  - Item restrictions
    Item restrictions are an optional feature you can use to specify valid or invalid data objects for an item type. Item restrictions are grouped into three categories: Value, Character, and Range.
  - Components
  - Partitioning
  - Type inheritance
  - Schema analyzer
  - Distinguishable objects
  - Functions and expressions

Empty type property example

Consider an XML element called Comment. Presuming that this element has a simple content of an arbitrary length, it can be represented in a schema as a text item, with the initiator value <Comment> and the terminator value </Comment>.

This item can then be used to validate the following data:

<Comment>Some comment...</Comment>

The resulting value for the item will be:

Some comment...

As another example, the following data is also successfully validated:

<Comment></Comment>

The resulting value for the item will be a zero-length string.

The problem occurs with the following data: <Comment/>

From the XML perspective, this data is equivalent to the <Comment></Comment> data shown above, as it represents the Empty element Comment. However, from the schema perspective, this data is invalid because it does not start with <Comment> and does not end with </Comment> as required by the initiator and terminator item property values.

This is where the Empty property is useful. By defining the Empty property for the item to have a value of <Comment/>, it will be possible to validate the data <Comment/>.

Even if the data does not match the syntax described by the initiator and terminator properties, it will be validated because it will match the Empty property value. It will be treated as an empty item, that is, the resulting value for the item will be a zero-length string, similar to the example shown previously.