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Environments are collections of variables that can be referenced within fields of your responder your responder or action suite. You can use environment variables to specify endpoints, database table names, connection properties, such as login credentials, etc. The names of variables will be substituted with the assigned values in the active environment. By switching which environment is the "active" environment, you can dynamically switch the environment-specific values at runtime.
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- Right-click the Environments node and choose NewEnvironment.
- Rename the environment (optional) and click on a field in the table to define environment variables and values.
Masking a Variable Value
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You can right-click on a variable and choose Mask Variable Value to hide the value in the interface.
Using Environment Variables in Tests and Tools
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For example, if you have a variable named HOST, you would reference the variable in a field by typing: ${HOST}. Variable references may appear anywhere within a field.You can access Environment Variable values from an a Extension Tool/Script through the Extensibility API. ExtensionToolContext now has a method called "getEnvironmentVariableValue(String)" which will lookup and return the current value of an Environment variable. This will allow you to use the value within your scripts.
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Changing Environments from the GUI
To change what environment is active:
- Right-click the node representing the environment you want to make active, then choose Set as Active Environment.
Exporting, Importing, Referencing, and
ReferencingEditing Environments
You may find that many configuration settings, such as server names and ports, will be common across multiple projects. Rather than duplicating these settings, you can export environment settings to an external file and import or reference the values in other projects.
Exporting Environments
To export an environment:
- Right-click the node representing the environment you want to export, then choose Export Environment.
- In the file chooser that opens, specify a location for the exported environments file.
The environments configuration will be written in an XML-based text file. If one Environment is selected, a *.env file will be created, containing a single environment. If multiple environments are selected, a *.envs, or Environment Set, file will be created containing all of the selected environments.
Importing Environments
When you import environments, you are bringing a copy of the values from the external environment file into your project. Further modification to the XML file will not be reflected in your project.
To import an environment:
- Right-click the Environments node, then choose Import Environment.
- In the file chooser that opens, specify the location of the environments file that you want to import.
Referencing Environments
Referencing environments is the most efficient way to share a single environment configuration across multiple projects. Using environment references, you can easily modify the configurations of multiple projects from a single location.
To reference an environment:
- Right-click the Environments node, then choose Reference Environment.
- In the configuration panel that opens on the right, specify the location of the environments file that you want to reference.
Note that when an environment configuration is referenced, you cannot edit the environment variables in the environment directly. However, your project will always use the values reflected in the referenced *.env file. Modifying the *.env file will propagate changes to all projects that reference it.
Editing Environment (.env) Files
Environment (.env) files are XML-based text files and can be edited manually modified. It is not recommended that you try to create an .env file from scratch; instead, export an environment as described in Exporting an Environment to use as a template. After exporting an environment, you can open it in any text editor to make changes. It will look similar to the sample below.
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Environment xmlns="http://www.parasoft.com/schema/environment/1.0"
name="New Environment">
<Variable>
<Name>Name1</Name>
<Value mask="false">Value1</Value>
</Variable>
<Variable>
<Name>Name2</Name>
<Value mask="false">Value2</Value>
</Variable>
</Environment> |
Existing variables can be modified edited directly. To add a new variable, copy an existing variable (everything between a set of <Variable></Variable> tags, including those tags) and paste on a new line, then change the name and value as needed. Note that masked values should not be modified manually nor should you attempt to create a masked value manually; work with masked values in the UI only.