[qmtest] Target and Groups to restrict Tests

[Stefan Seefeld]

Daren Grant wrote:
> Greetings , 
> 
> 
> I've recently started using QMTest and have run into a problem.
> I have 4 different machine configurations a. Linux32, b. Linux64 , c.
> Windows32 , d. Windows64
> Each machine performs a local run of the Test suite, however I want to
> limit some tests to only run on Windows32 and Windows64.  I have read
> over the Target and Group documentation, but I am still none the wiser
> as to how this is possible.  Can someone explain how this can be
> accomplished with Targets and Groups ?

It can't. Or rather, that's not what Targets are meant to be used for.
You really want to have different content in your test database, depending
on the platform. Targets, on the other hand, only allow to how to manage
parallel testing.

> If not I suspect that I will modify my custom test classes with boolean
> Fields run_on_platform_xxxx and test these at the start of the test, but
> I would prefer not to reinvent the wheel if this is already possible.

I think 'run_on_platform_xxxx' isn't really a property of a test per se,
as it is the test database that reports available tests to the user.
I would try to make it such that the databases could figure out
whether a test actually exists on a given platform, without having to
instantiate the associated test class.
That could be done using a FileDatabase, where the decision about what
tests participate in a test suite for a given platform is somehow encoded
in the directory layout, for example. Or by using some helper files
that contain the relevant metadata.

Regards,
		Stefan