transcendental-lisp/fitnesse/FitNesseRoot/FitNesse/UserGuide/WritingAcceptanceTests/SliM/DefineAlias/content.txt

The "Define Alias" table is designed to help you to segregate requirements from the implementation.

Normally the table name must be a graceful name of the class name used in your implementation.

This might not be convenient in some situations. 
 * your implementation is a generic framework, in this case it is unlikely that classnames match the business names
 * your implementation needs technical configuration parameters which are not important to the business 

  
Below is a dynamic decision table without any alias. This will be used in the following examples with alias definitions

|ddt: add up change                                             |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |0  |0  |0 |52          |0.52    |


!4 Use Case 1
The business expects a different name "add change" than your class name "add up change"

|Define alias            |
|add change|add up change|

|ddt: add change                                                |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |0  |0  |1 |152         |1.52    |

!4 Use Case 2
The business expects a different name "add up" than your class name "add up change" 
and in addition the test case is defined as decision table but you implemented it as dynamic decision table.
You can overwrite the table type and the name.

|Define alias             |
|add up|ddt: add up change|

|dt: add up                                                     |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |0  |1  |0 |102         |1.02    |

!4 Use Case 3
The names are matching but you need to overwrite the table type.
Note that the DefineTableType table will not overwrite type definitions given in the test.

|Define alias      |
|add up change|ddt:|

|dt: add up change                                              |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |0  |0  |0 |52          |0.52    |


!4 Use Case 4
The requirements have been written beforehand with a business name.
Your implementation requires that you prepare the test fixture in a script.

|script     |add up change|
|$myfixture=|get fixture  |

|Define alias        |
|add money|$myfixture|

|ddt: add money                                                 |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |4  |0  |1 |252         |2.52    |

It doesn't matters if you define the alias before or after you create the fixture.
Again you can add a table type definition if required

|Define alias                       |
|add more money|ddt: $anotherFixture|

|script          |add up change|
|$anotherFixture=|get fixture  |

|add more money                                                 |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |4  |0  |1 |252         |2.52    |


Another example with a constructor parameter

!|script|test query|2|
|show   |query       |
|$tq=   |get fixture |

|Define alias       |
|my query|query: $tq|

|my query|
|n  |2n  |
|1  |2   |
|2  |4   |

!|script|test query|3|
|show   |query       |
|$tq=   |get fixture |

|Define alias              |
|my query|subset query: $tq|

|my query|
|n  |2n  |
|2  |4   |
|3  |6   |

!4 Use Case 5
If you can't use an [[Import][ImportTable]] statement or you have import conflicts you can't resolve.
The alias can help you to get around these.

|Define alias                                            |
|what is in my pocket|ddt: fitnesse.slim.test.AddUpChange|


|what is in my pocket                                           |
|# description       |1c|5c|10c|25c|50c|$1|total cents?|$ total?|
|some simple addition|2 |2 |4  |4  |0  |1 |252         |2.52    |

The alias fixture allows QA people to implement requirements by reusing existing framework functions and without writing new code. 
Still your test pages are easy to read, especially for project managers, BA's and Product owners who might not understand how Fitnesse works. 

Hint: Try putting the "Define Alias" fixtures in the same place as your "Import" fixtures.   The setup pages are a good place for these!