Test & Publish Rules

Nected lets you test rules in a staging environment before deploying them to production. There are two ways to test a rule:

1. Quick Test — a one-off, ad-hoc test with custom inputs. Best for exploring behavior during development.

2. Test Suite — a saved collection of test cases you can run all at once. Best for regression testing before every publish.

Both methods are accessible from the Test Run button in the top-right of the rule editor.

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Method 1: Quick Test

Quick Test lets you fire a single set of inputs at your rule and immediately see the output. Nothing is saved — it's a scratchpad for fast iteration.

How to Run a Quick Test

1. Open a rule (Simple Rule or Decision Table) in the editor.

2. Click the Test Run ▼ dropdown arrow next to Test Run and select Run Quick Test.

3. The Test Rule panel opens on the right.

4. Enter values for each input parameter:

   • You can test with different values, null values (for nullable parameters), or omit optional parameters entirely.

5. Click Test Now.

6. The result appears as a JSON output below:

   • A success response means your rule matched and returned the expected output — it's ready to publish.

   • A failure response means a condition wasn't met or the rule errored — review your logic before publishing.

If a rule has nullable input parameters, you can test with null values for those parameters. If a rule has optional input parameters, you can test with and without those parameters.

What the Output Shows

• Matched rows — which rows/conditions in the rule were satisfied

• Output values — the values returned for each result column (code, description, discount type, etc.)

• Default output — whether the rule fell through to the default output

• Errors — any evaluation errors, missing inputs, or type mismatches

Quick Test always runs against the Staging environment, so there's no risk to Production.

Method 2: Test Suite

Test Suite is a persistent library of test cases tied to your rule. You define inputs and expected outputs once, save them, and re-run them with a single click whenever the rule changes. This makes it the right tool for regression testing before every publish.

Accessing the Test Suite

1. Open any rule (Simple Rule or Decision Table) in the editor.

2. Click the ▼ dropdown arrow to the right of the Test Run button.

3. Select Run Test Suite from the dropdown.

4. The Test Suite panel opens on the right.

The Test Suite Panel

The panel has the following controls in its header:

Control	Action
Search on Name	Filter test cases by name
Run All Tests	Execute all saved test cases at once
Save Test	Save any new or edited test cases
View Last Test Result	Jump to the results of the most recent run
Download	Export all test cases as a CSV file

When no test cases exist yet, you'll see an empty state with two options: + Add test case manually and Import Test Cases.

Adding Test Cases

Option A: Add Manually

1. Click + Add test case manually (or the button in the empty state).

2. A new row appears in the table with these columns:

   Input columns — one per rule input attribute (e.g., name, type, value):

   • Fill in the values that will be sent to the rule when this test runs.

   Name & Group:

   • Name — a label for this test case (used for search and for merge-on-import)

   • Group Name — optional; group related tests together (e.g., brand tests, edge cases)

   Output / expectation columns:

   • Matching Row — which row(s) in the rule you expect to match (e.g., Row 1, Row 5). You can expect multiple rows for rules with "All Matches" policy.

   • Default Output — true if you expect the default output to be returned, false otherwise

   • Output field columns (e.g., code, main, description, discount) — the exact values you expect the rule to return. Leave blank if you don't want to assert on that field.

   
3. Click Save Test (top-right) to persist the test cases.

4. A green toast confirms: "X test cases saved."

Option B: Import via CSV

For bulk test case creation, import a CSV file.

1. Click Import Test Cases.

2. The Upload File modal appears.

3. Choose an Upload Policy:

   Policy	What it does
   Merge rows (based on name) (default)	Updates existing test cases with the same name; adds new ones for names that don't exist yet
   Append rows	Adds all rows from the CSV as new test cases, regardless of name duplicates
   Replace all rows	Deletes every existing test case and replaces with the CSV contents
   Replace row, exclude manually created	Replaces test cases that were previously imported, but preserves any manually added ones

4. Click Download Template to get a pre-formatted CSV with the correct column headers for your rule.

5. Fill in the template according to the downloaded template:

   name, group, , <input_attr_1>, <input_attr_2>, ..., defaultOutputData, <output_key_1>, <output_key_2>, ..., <action_1>, <action_2>

   • name — the test case name (required; used for merge-by-name)

   • group — optional group name

   • Input attribute columns — one per rule input parameter

   • defaultOutputData — true or false

   • Output key columns — expected output values (leave blank to skip assertion)

   • Action columns — expected action outcomes (if the rule has actions)

6. Upload the filled CSV (.csv, max 2 MB).

7. The imported test cases appear in the panel.

8. Click Save Test to confirm.

Use Merge rows when syncing test cases from a shared spreadsheet — it won't delete cases you've added manually or that aren't in the current CSV.

Running the Tests

Run All Tests

1. Click Run All Tests in the panel header.

2. Nected runs every saved test case against the rule in Staging.

3. The Test Result view opens automatically, showing:

   Column	Description
   Status	Icon indicating Pending, Passed ✅, or Failed ❌
   Name	Test case name
   Group Name	The group it belongs to
   Input	The inputs that were sent to the rule
   Matching Row	Which rows matched and whether default output was returned
   Output	Actual output values returned by the rule, compared against expected

4. The summary bar at the top shows Total / Passed / Failed counts. Like this:

Run a Single Test

• Click the ▶ play icon on any individual test case row to run just that one test.

Re-run After Changes

• After editing the rule, open Test Suite again and click Run All Tests to verify nothing regressed.

• From the Test Result view, click Retest All to re-run without going back to the suite panel.

Managing Test Cases

• Search — use the search bar to find test cases by name

• Delete — use the row action menu (⋮) to delete individual test cases

• Download — export all test cases as CSV at any time (useful for sharing or version control)

• View Last Test Result — check the most recent run's output without triggering a new run

Quick Test vs. Test Suite: When to Use Which

	Quick Test	Test Suite
Best for	Exploring behavior during development	Regression testing before every publish
Saved	No — one-off only	Yes — persists across sessions
Multiple inputs	One at a time	All at once
Pass/fail tracking	No	Yes, with summary counts
Import/Export	No	Yes (CSV)
Groups & naming	No	Yes

Testing is mandatory before publishing. Use Quick Test while building, and Test Suite as your final check before every publish to make sure existing behavior hasn't changed.

Significance of Testing

Testing in Staging before publishing prevents unexpected behavior in Production. With Quick Test, you can rapidly iterate on logic. With Test Suite, you build a permanent safety net that grows with your rule — catching regressions before they ever reach users.

Final Step: Publish the Rule

Once you're confident in the rule's behavior — Quick Test passes for your current changes, and Test Suite shows all cases passing — publish it. Click the Publish button in the top-right header. This makes the rule live in Production.

For teams using an approval workflow, submit the rule for review first. See Approval Flow for details.

For version history and rollbacks, see Version Control & Rollback.