Imported Libraries Overview

ALM Editions: Imported libraries functionality is available for ALM Edition and LoadRunner Enterprise. For information about ALM editions and their functionality, see ALM editions. To find out which edition of ALM you are using, ask your ALM site administrator.

Importing a library enables you to share or reuse an existing set of entities in projects across your enterprise. You import a library by selecting a baseline in another library from which to import. You can import a library from the same project, or from a different project.

When you import a library, the library is added to your libraries tree, and the library's entities are copied to the corresponding modules in your project. If the library includes associated entities, such as requirements that have test coverage, this relationship is also copied. In addition, any related entities outside of the library that the tests in the library need in order to run are also imported, such as called tests and test resources.

Notes:

  • You cannot import a library from a Unicode project to an ASCII project.
  • Business Process Testing: After importing a library, do not change the content of either the existing source library from which a baseline is synchronized, or the target library to which a baseline is synchronized. This could result in a failure when synchronizing a baseline that includes Business Process Testing entities.

You can compare associated libraries at all stages of the application development lifecycle. For example, you can compare an imported library with the source library from which it was imported. When changes are made to entities in a library, you can synchronize libraries to update the entities in an associated library.

Importing and synchronizing libraries requires appropriate user permissions. For details, see How to Share Libraries.

Note: You can also share defects across multiple ALM projects. You share and synchronize defects using the ALM Synchronizer. For details, see Tools, add-ins and extensions.

This section also includes:

For related task details, see How to Share Libraries.

Imported Library Examples

The following examples demonstrate how you can use libraries.

Example

Description
Reuse requirements and tests for a new release While developing a new application, you create a library that includes all the entities in your project that are relevant to the application. After work is complete, you release the new application. As you are about to begin work on the next version, you can import the library, and start making adjustments to requirements and tests to meet the needs of the new version.
Create a set of requirements, tests, and resources for use by multiple applications Your project contains requirements in the Requirements module that are relevant to an application you are developing. The project also contains tests in the test plan module that you developed to test those requirements. In addition, you have created relationships between the requirements and tests, such as traceability and coverage. You can create a library that represents the application. Then import this library as a self-contained component of other applications.
Update imported libraries with changes made in the source library A library in your project includes requirements and tests for a calculator application. Multiple other projects have imported the library, and are using the application's requirements and tests in other applications they are developing. The business analyst has revised some requirements for the calculator application. To update the imported libraries with these changes, you can synchronize the imported libraries with the source library.
Update a source library with developments in an imported library A tester works with an imported library that contains a set of regression tests for the banking application currently in development. During testing, she develops new tests to test the added functionality in the new version of the banking application. When testing is complete, the tester wants to update the regression tests in the source library. The source library can be synchronized with the imported library to update the tests for future testing needs.