Concepts | Doc Detective

Learn the key concepts that form the foundation of Doc Detective.

Test specification

A test specification is a group of tests to run in one or more contexts. Conceptually parallel to a document.

A test is a sequence of steps to perform. Conceptually parallel to a procedure.

A step is a portion of a test that includes a single action. Conceptually parallel to a step in a procedure.

An action performs a task in a step. Doc Detective supports a variety of actions:

Name	Description
checkLink	Check if a URL returns an acceptable status code from a GET request.
find	Locate and interact with an element on the page.
click	Click an element.
goTo	Navigate to a specified URL.
httpRequest	Perform a generic HTTP request, for example to an API.
runShell	Perform a native shell command.
runBrowserScript	Run JavaScript in the browser page context and capture its return value.
screenshot	Take a screenshot in PNG format.
closeSurface	Close a surface, such as a background process started by `runShell` or `runCode`.
loadVariables	Load environment variables from a `.env` file.
saveCookie	Save a specific browser cookie to a file or environment variable for later reuse.
loadCookie	Load a specific cookie from a file or environment variable into the browser.
record	Capture a video of the test run.
stopRecord	Stop capturing a video of the test run.
type	Type keys. To type special keys, begin and end the string with `$` and use the special key’s enum. For example, to type the Escape key, enter $ESCAPE$ .
wait	Pause before performing the next action.

A context consists of an application and platforms that support the tests.