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Understanding the PTF Test Structure

A PTF test is composed of a series of steps. This example shows the steps in a simple test.

Image: Example of a PTF test

This example illustrates the fields and controls on for a simple PTF test. You can find definitions for the fields and controls later on this page.

Example of a PTF test

Each step in a test is composed of nine or ten fields, as defined in the following table:

Seq (sequence)

A system-generated sequence number. Test steps execute according to the Seq order. When you copy, move, add, or delete a step, Seq is refreshed.


A system-generated unique identifier for each step, in a test. The ID value does not change when you move, add, or delete a step.

Test maintenance reports use the ID value.


Click in this field to add a comment for the step.


Deselect this field to inactivate a step. PTF l skips inactive steps when the test runs. Each step is active by default. This field is grayed for inactive steps.

Scroll ID

This field is required only for scroll handling.


The type of application object to take an action on or to validate. Common step types are Text, Checkbox, Browser, and so on.


The action the test is to take on the object. The two most common actions used on a Text object, for example, would be Set_Value and Verify.


The means that PTF uses to identify the object within the application. Commonly, this is the HTML ID property.

Field Label

Displays the label for the field referenced in the step.

The Field Label column appears in a test when Column is selected in the Show Field Label field in Local Options. If Tooltip is selected in the Show Field Label field, the field label appears in a tooltip.


In a typical recorded step, this is the value the tester entered for an object.

In a step recorded in verify mode, this would be the value that was present in the object when it was verified.

As a rule, a test has a single step for each instruction in a manual test case. For example, consider the following manual test instruction:

12. Enter the value "KU0001" into the text box labeled "Employee ID".

This test instruction could be represented in PTF as a step, as shown in this example:

Image: Example of a PTF test step

This example illustrates the step to enter a value in an edit box.

Example of a PTF test step

The PTF test language syntax and vocabulary are designed to read like a technical version of English. As a result, the function of most steps should be apparent from their construction and the context of surrounding steps.

The topic, “Test Language Reference,” is a reference for all the PTF step types and actions.