iterate - Package of similar tests that differ only by parameters from a set (loop).

This kind of test is a package of test specified using one template and various values of substitution variables .

So test specification includes 3 parts:

1. Test template.
2. List of names for substitution variables .
3. List of lists of values for substitution variables .

<iterate>
  <spec>
    <sname>short_name_of_test</sname>
    <fname>full name of test</fname>
    <descr>description of test</descr>
  </spec>
  <params>        .. named params              .. </params>
  <safe_params>   .. named params if undefined .. </safe_params>
  <names>
    <name>name_1</name>
    <name>name_2</name>
    ...
  </names>
  <tuples>
    <tuple>
      <value>value_1</value>
      <value>value_2</value>
      ...
    </tuple>
    <tuple>
      <value>value_3</value>
      <value>value_4</value>
      ...
    </tuple>
    ...
  </tuples>
  <tuple_groups> .. named groups of tuples .. </tuple_groups>
  <template>
    .. test description as template ..
  </template>
</iterate>

Where:

params, safe_params	List of definitions of substitution variables for test components.
names	List of names for substitution variables used in iteration.
name	Name of substitution variable used in iteration.
tuples	List of list of substitution variable values used in iteration.
tuple	List of values for substitution variables used in iteration. Number if items in this list should be equal to the number of names (items of list names). item i in this list corresponds to item i in the list names.
value	Value of a substitution variable.
template	Specification of test used as template for iteration.
tuple_groups	Named group of lists of lists of values (see below).

Sometimes list of list of substitution variables can be so large that it is convenient to split the list in several named groups. It can be done using tuple_groups:

<tuple_groups> <tuple_group> <spec> <sname>test short name for group 1</sname> <fname>test full name for group 1</fname> <descr>test descr for group 1</descr> </spec> <tuples> .. usual tuples as described above .. </tuples> </tuple_group> <tuple_group> <spec> <sname>test short name for group 2</sname> <fname>test full name for group 2</fname> <descr>test descr for group 2</descr> </spec> <tuples> .. usual tuples as described above .. </tuples> </tuple_group> ... </tuple_groups>

In this case special package of tests is built for each tuple_group. This package is included in the original iterate with specified for tuple_group names and is filled with tests by its values of substitution variables.