Re: where should Test Case metadata go?

CSS2.1 embeds (most) of the metadata inside the test cases, whereas
WCAG2.0 HTML keeps the metadata outside the test cases.    Perhaps a 
background question
in relation to the questions following is: How would the metadata be used 
and by whom in
relation to the test cases (purpose of the metadata)?    I believe there is 
an argument for keeping the metadata in a database (rather than embedded in 
a test case) for
easier maintenance (if there are a large number of test cases).   Also if 
the metadata (or the relationship of metadata to test cases) need to be 
changed in the future it might be easier to change the database (more 
flexibility?) than to change each test case.

Just some thoughts.

Thanks and best wishes
Tim Boland NIST

At 07:42 AM 10/31/2005 -0500, you wrote:

>Metadata describing the test case [1] should accompany the test case 
>(duh).  But where should it go inside the test case or outside the test 
>case?  There is a long history arguing that documentation (metadata can be 
>compared  to code documentation) arguing that it is best kept in sync when 
>it is tied closely to the code [2].
>
>
>
>Some thoughts and questions:
>
>
>
>Should the metadata be stored in a database rather than embedded in the 
>Test Case? This makes it easier to parse and search for different types of 
>metadata information.  If the test set is large, this may help performance
>
>
>
>What do you do if the test case are not XML  - e.g., binary code thus 
>embedding the metadata isn t possible.
>
>
>
>[1] 
><http://www.w3.org/QA/2005/08/test-case-metadata.html>http://www.w3.org/QA/2005/08/test-case-metadata.html
>
>[2] http://www.literateprogramming.com/
>
>
>
>--regards
>
>Lynne