Rename testcase parameters in Azure DevOps

Question

For my project we use the Test Plans and Test Cases work items within Azure DevOps for quite some time. Now from an automation perspective we want to rename a few of the paramters in some of our shared steps (which are used in >1000 testcases).

Is there a way we can do this automatically, as normally when you rename a parameter in Azure DevOps the parameter is removed from all testcases (including the data). We probably need to do something with the API's of Azure DevOps, but no clue where to start. So any idea is welcome.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

I could reproduce the issue when I changed the parameter name from the shared steps set and the parameter was no longer referenced in the steps of the test case.

For this, would you consider converting the parameter values to a shared parameter set?

When we changed the referenced parameter name in the shared steps set, it will still prompt with the warning saying All the references to the following parameters and their values will be removed. While having saved the edits, we can then select the expected column header in the shared parameter set to map with the updated parameter name and the values under the new parameter name will be populated.

Still, I am unable to find out an automated method to modify the shared steps and parameters of test cases with the help of REST APIs.

Hope the information can help.

Answer 2

Another solution I have is to use the revisions of a testcase.

When you save the shared step (after renaming parameters) a new revision is added to the testcase*. Via the API you can retrieve the revision information, get the field where the data is stored (Microsoft.VSTS.TCM.LocalDataSource) and perform a replace of the changed parameters. This new data can then be uploaded via the API again.

*Each shared step save introduces new revisions, so when you want to change multiple in one go it is advised to only save once for easy scripting.