Format of data table files

Text files can contain one or more tables with test data.

LF‑ET recognizes the beginning of a table with test data in text files with rows with the following contents:

*GTD.<Tablename>

The next filled out row contains column headers separated with semicolons.

All subsequent rows containing semicolons are regarded as data rows.

Example

Here, for example, is a table called “Customers”:

*GTD.Customers

Username            ; Password  ; Vorname  ; Nachname  ; Gender

spoetzsch@gmail.com ; test2049  ; Susanne  ; Poetzsch  ; F
a.karg@google.de    ; test2048  ; Ayse     ; Karg      ; F
hintze@google.de    ; test2050  ; Gangolf  ; Hintze    ; M
gzapf@yahoo.com     ; test2051  ; Grete    ; Zapf      ; F
stoeckel@arcor.com  ; test2055  ; Carl     ; Stoeckel  ; M

Hints

  • Valid file endings are: ".txt" and ".csv"

  • A decision table can be linked with any number of such text files

  • Keywords, table names and column headers are case-insensitive

  • Columns are separated by semicolons

  • Spaces preceding or following a semicolon are ignored, thus column width does not depend on the contents

  • A value must be enclosed in either single or double quotation marks, if the column value contains special characters such as:

    • leading or trailing spaces

    • single or double quotation marks

    • column separating semicolons

  • Column values comprising several rows can be entered with the HTML tag <br> as the line break

  • All empty rows and all rows without a semicolon are ignored, thus e.g. comments or explanations can be placed in any position in text files

  • In order for data entries to be able to be recognized automatically and processed correctly, they must be entered in the format DD.MM.YYYY