How to: Copy Test Suites from Another Test Plan

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If you have already created a test suite in a test plan using Microsoft Test Manager and you need the same or a similar test suite in another test plan, you can just copy the test suite to the plan as shown in the following illustration. For example, if you are creating a test plan for Beta 2 and you need a test suite from your Beta 1 test plan, you can copy it into your Beta 2 test plan. You can also add or remove test cases from this copied test suite as required, without affecting the original test suite.

Copy Test Suites From Another Test Plan

Note

When you copy a test suite, this does not create duplicate copies of the test cases in your team project. The existing test cases in the test suite that you are copying are just added to the new test suite that you create.

To copy a test suite from another test plan

  1. Open Microsoft Test Manager.

    Note

    To display the Microsoft Test Manager window, click Start, and then click All Programs. Point to Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and then click Microsoft Test Manager 2010.

  2. From the Testing Center, click Plan and then click Contents.

    The Contents pane is displayed.

  3. Select the location in the test suite hierarchy pane where you want to add the test suite that you are importing from another plan. Then click the copy icon in the pane that shows the test suite hierarchy.

    The Copy Test Suites From Another Test Plan dialog box is displayed.

    Note

    The test suite hierarchy has a root node that has the same name as the test plan. You can add test cases or test suites to this test suite root node, but you cannot rename it.

  4. Select the test suite to copy into your test plan from the tree view shown in the dialog box. Then click Copy suite into plan.

    The test suite now appears in the test suite hierarchy for your current test plan.

    Note

    Any child test suites are also copied.

  5. (Optional) To rename this test suite, right-click the test suite and point to Rename.

  6. To update properties for this test suite, select the test suite from the test suite hierarchy.

  7. (Optional) Click State and then select from the list of states, based on the following table:

    State

    When to use it

    In Planning

    If you are not yet ready to run the tests in this test suite.

    In Progress

    When you are ready to run the tests in this test suite.

    Completed

    When you have finished running the tests in this test suite and the quality level that was reached meets your goals.

    Important

    To run tests, you must set the status of a test suite to In Progress.

  8. To change the default configurations for the test suite you imported, click the drop-down arrow next to the list of configurations in the test suite details pane.

    The dialog box is displayed that shows all the configurations for your team project and the current default configurations for your test plan.

  9. You must first clear Use configurations from parent test suite, and then select the default configurations that you want to add and any that you want to remove.

    Note

    Changing the default configurations only affects new test cases or test suites that are added to this test suite. For more information about how to change the pairings of tests and configurations that are already in your test plan, see the procedure about how to update configurations for specific test cases.

  10. (Optional) To add a new configuration or manage existing configurations, click Manage.

    The Test Configuration Manager is displayed. For more information about how to create configurations using the Test Configuration Manager, see How to: Create Test Configurations.

  11. To save your changes to the default configurations, click Save.

  12. To add an existing test case to this imported test suite, click Add.

    The Add test cases to suite dialog box is displayed. All available test cases are shown in the list of tests.

    Note

    Tests that have already been added to the test suite are not shown in the list of tests.

    (Optional) If there are several test cases listed, you can narrow your test case search by typing text that appears in the title of the test case and then click Search.

  13. Select the tests you want to add, and then click Add test cases.

    The test cases you selected are now displayed in the test suite details pane.

  14. To create an additional test case and add it to this imported test suite, click New.

    The New Test Case dialog box is displayed.

  15. Enter the details for your new test case including the actions and expected results for each test step, and then click Save and Close.

    The new test case is now displayed in the test suite details pane.

    Note

    For more information about how to create new test cases, see How to: Create a Manual Test Case.

  16. Repeat the previous two steps to add more test cases.

    Note

    All the existing test cases you add, or new test cases that you create, are paired with each default configuration to define what tests must be run on which configurations for the test plan. To see these pairings, select the test suite and click Configurations.

  17. The changes you have made to the test plan are automatically saved.