HotDocs Test Browser

From the HotDocs Test Browser, you can test the functionality of interviews and document assembly using the same interface (with the exception of the test and interview toolbars) that template users interact with during an interview.

The browser window opens when you click Test in the HotDocs Author Word Add-in Ribbon or HotDocs Composer.

Common Tasks

Among others, the HotDocs Test Browser enables you to perform the following common tasks:

Test Toolbar

The test toolbar displays a row of buttons above the interview, providing test-specific options not available to your template users:

Elements	What it Does
Open Answers Button	Opens the Open answer file dialog for browsing to the location of an answer file to enable using an existing answer file to pre-populate answers in the interview.
Save Answers Button	Displays the Save Answer File dialog to enable you to save your interview answers as an answer file for use with another test.
Clear Answers Button	Removes all answers from the interview.
Theme drop-down	Enables you to change the interview theme (only appears if you created another theme for use in a host application).

Interview Toolbar

The interview toolbar displays a row of tabs at the top of the interview (in a standard HotDocs interview, most of these elements are located to the left of the interview in a navigation menu):

Elements	What it Does
Interview Tab	Displays the interview.
Document Preview Tab	Shows the template user a preview of how the assembled document would look with the answers they currently have in the interview.
Answer Summary Tab	Opens a summary of the current list of answers. By default, the list of answers appears opposite the associated variable titles and prompts. You can change how HotDocs displays answer summaries using the HotDocs Options dialog.
Help Button	Opens a page of detailed information to help your template users complete an interview.
Interview Title	Displays the interview title (the title of the template). You can change the template title in the Template Properties Dialog Box.

Outline

Unless you disable it, the outline appears to the left of the interview and lists all the available dialogs (groups of questions) in the interview. You can use the outline to quickly move to the dialog you need and to assess the answered status of each dialog. If you need more horizontal space for the interview, you can resize or collapse the outline:

Elements	What it Does
Outline bar	Expands to display the Outline (when collapsed).
Outline title bar (with left arrow button)	Collapses the Outline into the Outline bar.
List of dialogs	Shows the organization of the interview. Clicking a dialog displays its contents in the interview.
Right arrow button	Expands the dialog to show any child dialogs.
Down arrow button	Collapses the dialog to hide any child dialogs.
Dialog status icons	Shows the answered status of questions in each dialog: None of the questions in the dialog are answered needs finished icons A new repetition of a repeated dialog in which none of the questions are answered At least one of the questions in the dialog is answered All required questions in the dialog are answered The dialog contains at least one unanswered required question The dialog cannot be answered until required questions in previous dialogs are answered

Interview

HotDocs displays the interview itself below the interview toolbar and in the center of the browser window. It displays all of the interview elements (interview questions, prompts, answer text boxes, etc) the interview author chose to include:

Elements	What it Does
Dialog title	Displays the text from the dialog's Dialog Title property in the Display tab (if no dialog title is specified, the component name is used).
Dialog status icons (when Outline is collapsed)	Shows the answered status of questions in each dialog: None of the questions in the dialog are answered needs finished icons A new repetition of a repeated dialog in which none of the questions are answered At least one of the questions in the dialog is answered All required questions in the dialog are answered The dialog contains at least one unanswered required question The dialog cannot be answered until required questions in previous dialogs are answered
Actions menu	Opens a list of actions that apply to current dialog: Clear all answers – clears all answers on the current dialog If the current dialog enables you to repeat information, the menu also contains the following actions: New repetition – adds another row to a Spreadsheet dialog, or a new instance of a Series repeated dialog Insert repetition – inserts a new row to a Spreadsheet dialog, or a new instance of a Series repeated dialog above the current instance Move repetition up – moves a row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog up one position Move repetition down – moves a row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog down one position Delete repetition – deletes the currently selected row of a Spreadsheet dialog, or an instance of a Series repeated dialog
Right click menu	If you right click on the text of a question in the interview (or the area surrounding the text) you open a right click menu containing two options: Edit component – opens Component Studio and enables you to edit the component associated with the interview question. Component name – opens a dialog box that tells you the name of the component associated with the interview question (this functionality is also available to your template users). This menu is HotDocs Test Browser-specific and not available to template users during an interview.
Clear answer	Clears answers from non-textual elements (radio buttons and check boxes) and changes the state to unanswered. You can also use the Alt+Delete keyboard shortcut for this feature and, if you first select a dialog from the outline, this keyboard shortcut clears all answers on a dialog.
Prompt text (directly above the answer text box by default)	Displays the text in the Prompt property (located in the Display tab for the component) to help the template user know what to type in the answer text box.
Additional Information "i" button	Opens the Additional Information pane to display the supplemental help text (or an external URL) provided by the template author in the Additional information property in the Display tab. The template user's cursor also moves to the answer text box.
Answer text box	Accepts the template user's answer to an interview question.
Answer check boxes or option buttons	Accepts the template user's selection using the mouse or the space bar.
Date answer text box	Requires the template user to enter a valid date as the answer to an interview question. The template user can also enter the letter T for today's date or enter a date in one of the following formats: 6/3/90, 06/03/1990, and June 3, 1990.
Calendar icon	Displays (for date answer text boxes) a calendar that enables the template user quickly choose a date.
Add Another button	Enables the template user to add another repetition of the dialog or row to the spreadsheet to allow them to provide more than one answer to an interview question. You can also use ENTER and CTRL+INS keyboard shortcuts for this feature.
Row buttons (in a repeated dialog spreadsheet)	Enables the template user to: Enables editing a row using the full space of the interview Insert a new row between existing sets of answers Delete a row of answers Move a row of answers up Move a row of answers down
Nested dialog icon	Displays the contents of any nested dialogs (a dialog within a dialog).

Additional Information Pane

When additional information text is available, it appears to the right of the interview in the Additional Information pane:

The Additional Information pane may not be available in all situations. For example, template authors may choose to permanently hide the Additional Information pane for a template.

Elements	What is Does
Additional Information bar	When clicked, displays the Additional Information pane (when the Additional Information pane is collapsed).
Additional Information title bar	Collapses the Additional Information pane into the Additional Information bar.
Additional Information content	Displays the supplemental help text (or an external URL) the template author provides in the Additional information property in the Display tab. Variable level Additional Information is displayed at the top, followed by any Dialog level Additional Information.

Navigation Bar

At the bottom of the HotDocs Test Browser, the template user can access the navigation bar that allows them to move through the interview and click the Done button when they are finished:

Elements	What it Does
Progress Bar	Displays a line that represents how much of the interview has been completed.
Next and Previous buttons	Goes to the next or previous dialog in the interview. (You can also press Page Down/Page Up or Alt+N/Alt+P.) You can alter the behavior of the Next button to skip children dialogs by enabling the Express Interview property in Template Properties' Interview Behavior tab.
Finish button	Ends the interview (warns if any questions are unanswered).