Release history

The current section provides an overview of the changes in each GITB TDL release.

Release numbers follow global numbering covering all Test Bed components, meaning that certain releases may have not actually introduced changes to the GITB TDL. The current page lists only the releases that introduced changes, whereas those not included are global maintenance releases that made no changes to the GITB TDL.

The latest GITB TDL release is 1.27.1.

Release 1.27.0 - 24/06/2025

Description of changes	Relevant sections
New inputs for the `HttpMessagingV2` handler to control the display of information in step reports.	HttpMessagingV2 Tuning reported data
New inputs for the `SoapMessagingV2` handler to control the display of information in step reports.	SoapMessagingV2 Tuning reported data
New `showLocationPaths` input for the `XmlValidator` and `SchematronValidator` handlers to show reported item’s location paths.	XmlValidator SchematronValidator

Release 1.26.0 - 12/06/2025

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.26.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
New `JsonValidator` handler for `verify` steps to validate JSON against JSON Schema.	JsonValidator
New `ShaclValidator` handler for `verify` steps to validate RDF models against SHACL shapes.	ShaclValidator
New `YamlValidator` handler for `verify` steps to validate YAML against JSON Schema.	YamlValidator
Support the delegation of an `interact` step to an external handler service instead of the default UI-based approach, that will be conditionally triggered to complete the interaction.	Delegating to external handler services
Extend all test steps with a `skipped` attribute to allow them being conditionally skipped during test execution.	Skip test steps
Introduce a `RdfUtils` handler for `process` steps to manipulate (`merge`, `convert`) and query (`ask`, `construct`, `select`) RDF models.	RdfUtils
Add a `find` operation to `CollectionUtils` to support searching for and returning a value from a `list` or `map` (with case-sensitive matching or not).	CollectionUtils - find
Extend the `contains` operation of `CollectionUtils` to support lookups that ignore casing.	CollectionUtils - contains
Extend the `append` operation of `CollectionUtils` to support appending only missing items (case-sensitive or not) to the target `map` or `list`.	CollectionUtils - append
Support the generation of multiple test case `output` messages based on condition matching logic defined by the `match` attribute (set as `first`, `all` or `cascade`).	Output
Consider the type of test case and scriptlet `imports` optional, with `binary` as the default.	Imports
Extended the `StringValidator`, `NumberValidator`, `ExpressionValidator`, `RegExpValidator` and `XPathValidator` with optional `successMessage` and `failureMessage` inputs to add user-friendly messages in the resulting report.	StringValidator, NumberValidator, ExpressionValidator, RegExpValidator, XPathValidator
Applied consistent naming (with backwards compatibility through aliases) for the `NumberValidator`, `StringValidator`, `XPathValidator`, `XsdValidator`, `SchematronValidator`, `XsltProcessor` and `JsonPointerProcessor` built-in step handlers.	Built-in handlers
Allow scriptlet inputs for flags used at test case load time to refer to configuration properties.	Dynamic presentation in scriptlets, Dynamic steps in scriptlets
Extend the `interact` step with a `blocking` attribute (by default “false”) to automatically proceed to the next step in case only `instruct` elements are defined.	Displaying data using instruct elements
Extend the `request` elements of `interact` steps to allow specifying inputs as `required` (optional remaining the default).	Requesting inputs using request elements
Consider as optional the `from` and `to` of `receive` steps defaulting, respectively, to the SUT and non-SUT actors.	Explicitly specifying from and to actors
Consider as optional the `from` and `to` of `send` steps defaulting, respectively, to the non-SUT and SUT actors.	Explicitly specifying from and to actors
Extend the `assign` step with the `byValue` attribute to allow choosing by-value or by-reference assignment for maps and lists.	Assignment by-reference and by-value
Remove the scope isolation requirement for remotely loaded scriptlets, making them identical behaviour-wise to local ones.	Scriptlets

Release 1.25.0 - 31/01/2025

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.25.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Support test case groups within which only a single successful result is needed to ensure conformance.	Test case groups
Allow the `send`, `receive` and `process` steps to be configured with their severity level in case of failures via the `level` attribute.	receive, send, process
Allow the `send`, `receive`, `process` and `verify` steps to have their outcome inverted via the `invert` attribute.	receive, send, process, verify
The `DisplayProcessor` can now be used without parameters to only display an overall result.	DisplayProcessor
Support test case output messages also for undefined outcomes.	Output
Optionally record the original file name for files uploaded via `interact` steps.	interact
Support `exit` steps terminating test sessions with an undefined outcome.	exit
Steps defining children support the `stopOnChildError` flag to stop processing upon child error but not terminate the test session.	Skip child steps in case of error
The `group` step’s boundary can now be hidden by means of the `hiddenContainer` flag.	group
New `XPathProcessor` processing handler to extract content from XML using XPath.	XPathProcessor

Release 1.24.0 - 15/10/2024

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.24.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Support for optional scriptlet parameters and parameters set as empty by default.	Params
New `VariableUtils` built-in processor for common operations (`exists`, `type`) on variables.	VariableUtils
New operation for the `CollectionUtils` built-in processor to append collections.	CollectionUtils
New inputs for the `HttpMessagingV2` built-in messaging handler to set maximum timeouts (connection and request) when calling a remote service.	Use in send steps

Release 1.23.0 - 20/06/2024

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.23.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
New `HttpMessagingV2` handler for HTTP messaging, replacing and improving upon the deprecated `HttpMessaging` and `HttpsMessaging`.	HttpMessagingV2
New `SoapMessagingV2` handler for SOAP messaging, replacing and improving upon the deprecated `SoapMessaging`.	SoapMessagingV2
New `$SYSTEM{apiKey}` variable available in test sessions with the unique API key of the system under test.	System configuration parameters
The `HttpMessaging`, `HttpsMessaging` and `SoapMessaging` handlers now return a `http_status` entry in the `receive` step’s report.	HttpMessaging, HttpsMessaging, SoapMessaging
Test session logging level set to `INFO` by default.	Test case logging

Release 1.22.0 - 08/04/2024

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.22.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Interaction steps now support the `admin` attribute to specify that they should be completed by an administrator.	interact
Interaction steps now support the `timeout` attribute to automatically complete them after the timeout period.	interact
Interaction steps can now be minimised and also completed asynchronously.	interact
The interaction step’s `mimeType` attribute can now be set via variable reference.	interact
Test suites and test cases support the definition of structured normative reference information.	reference (test suite), reference (test case),
The `DisplayProcessor` can now be set with a configurable result to mark its report as a success, failure or warning.	DisplayProcessor
The documentation on service handlers for test steps was extended to list reusable external services available to test developers.	Reusable external handlers

Release 1.21.0 - 06/10/2023

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.21.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Interaction steps now support the `forceDisplay` attribute to ensure an inline display of their content.	interact
The `TokenGenerator` now allows the generation of random numbers via the new `random` operation.	TokenGenerator
New `DelayProcessor` to make it simpler to pause test sessions for a given duration.	DelayProcessor
New `JSONPointerProcessor` to extract data from JSON content using JSON Pointer expressions.	JsonPointerProcessor
Test cases can now be defined as `optional` and `disabled` restricting whether they can be executed and how their results are considered.	Test cases
Test suite and test case definitions now support an `update` metadata element to define how to carry out the update of existing test suites and test cases.	update (test suite), update (test case)
Test cases can now define `tags` as part of their metadata to classify them and visually distinguish them for users.	tags

Release 1.19.0 - 17/03/2023

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.19.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Extensions to step status checks (`STEP_SUCCESS`, `STEP_STATUS`) to uniquely refer to steps within scriptlets.	Status checks for scriptlet steps
New operations (`contains`, `randomKey`, `randomValue`, `remove`) for the `CollectionUtils` processor.	CollectionUtils

Release 1.18.0 - 17/10/2022

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.18.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
New `XmlValidator` validation handler to validate XML against both XSDs and Schematrons.	XmlValidator
New `ExpressionValidator` validation handler to check arbitrary expressions.	ExpressionValidator
The `TokenGenerator` now accepts an optional prefix and postfix to add to generated UUIDs.	TokenGenerator
The `SimulatedMessaging` and `DisplayProcessor` handlers can now also specify the content types of data in their reports.	SimulatedMessaging, DisplayProcessor
The `reply` attribute of messaging steps can now be set dynamically within scriptlets.	Dynamic presentation in scriptlets
The `call` step can now also be set as `hidden` to hide all steps of the referenced scriptlet.	call
The `SchematronValidator` can now show the assertions made for each finding.	SchematronValidator
The `XSDValidator` and `SchematronValidator` can now present findings sorted by their severity.	XsdValidator, SchematronValidator
The `XSDValidator` and `SchematronValidator` can now hide from their report the XSD or Schematron used for the validation.	XsdValidator, SchematronValidator
Scriptlet parameters can now be set with default values.	Params
`flow` steps can now have individually hidden `thread` blocks.	flow
Steps’ `hidden` attribute can now be set in scriptlets via variable reference.	Dynamic steps in scriptlets
`if` steps can be set as `static` for dynamic inclusion of steps within scriptlets.	Displaying contained steps without a boundary, Dynamic steps in scriptlets
`if` steps can now be set as `hidden` with visible child steps.	Displaying contained steps without a boundary
New `SESSION` map allowing access to test session metadata (session identifier, test case identifier, TDL version).	Accessing test session metadata
Actor configuration (endpoint) parameters can now be set with default values and user friendly names.	Actors
Using a `process` step via its simplified syntax now supports mapping of the input to a parameter based on the defined types.	Simplified processing steps
Allow the `assign` step to create on-the-fly maps and lists at any nesting level.	assign
New `TestCaseOverviewReport` root element of type `TestCaseOverviewReportType` in the `gitb_tr.xsd` for an XML test case overview report.	Specification links

Release 1.17.0 - 20/07/2022

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.17.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Steps’ `desc`, `from`, `to`, `title` and `inputTitle` values can be set as constant variable references when used within scriptlets.	Dynamic presentation in scriptlets
New `TemplateProcessor` embedded processing handler for complex generation of data based on templates.	TemplateProcessor
New `XSLTProcessor` embedded processing handler for XSLT transformations of XML content.	XsltProcessor
New `DisplayProcessor` embedded processing handler for displaying arbitrary content to users in a non-obtrusive manner.	DisplayProcessor
New `SimulatedMessaging` embedded messaging handler to add simulated message exchanges between actors.	SimulatedMessaging
Messaging transactions (defined via `btxn`) are no longer mandatory for `send` and `receive` messaging steps.	send, receive
Non-transactional, non-embedded (external) `process`, `send` and `receive` steps can now also specify authentication properties for the handler service call.	Authentication for external handlers
The GITB TDL’s expression language is now upgraded from XPath 1.0 to XPath 3.0.	Expressions

Release 1.16.0 - 18/03/2022

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.16.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Namespaces can now be defined to simplify XPath expressions in GITB TDL steps and the XPathValidator.	Namespaces
Actors defined in test cases are considered by default as SIMULATED.	Actors
Introduction of the `STEP_STATUS` variable to record and query the specific status of each step.	Checking the status of a specific step
Reuse of steps’ `desc` attribute to identify them in the test session log to make log entries more meaningful.	Test steps
Support for test session log contributions from custom test services used as remote service handlers.	log
Support for the parallel or sequential execution of a test suite’s test cases when a test suite is executed in the background.	Test cases
Test cases now feature the `supportsParallelExecution` attribute that can be used to enforce a test case’s execution in isolation.	Test cases

Release 1.15.0 - 29/11/2021

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.15.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Messaging steps now support the `reply` attribute to indicate that they should be presented as reply messages.	send, receive, listen
Support for automatically converting non-list values to lists (as single-item lists containing the value).	Type conversions
Support for automatically converting lists and maps to strings.	Type conversions
The `log` step now supports a `level` attribute to define the message’s severity level.	log
Test cases now support the `logLevel` attribute to control which messages are included in test session logs.	Steps
The severity level of `verify` steps can be now be provided dynamically via variable reference.	verify
The `process` step now enables simplified usage through the `input`, `operation` and `output` attributes.	Simplified processing steps
The `call` step now enables simplified usage through the `input` and `output` attributes.	Simplified call steps

Release 1.14.0 - 17/08/2021

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.14.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
The `receive` elements of `interact` steps support the `inputType` and `mimeType` attributes to determine the type of input control to use.	interact
The `instruct` elements of `interact` steps support the `mimeType` attribute to determine downloaded file extensions and editor syntax highlighting.	interact

Release 1.13.0 - 01/07/2021

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.13.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
The `process` step can now be displayed in the test case’s presentation.	process
Support for the `hidden` attribute to define steps that are not included in the test case’s presentation.	Hide test steps
Support for the `collapsed` attribute on group steps to have them displayed as initially collapsed.	Collapse sets of test steps
Extended `group` steps to allow them to be included in the test case’s presentation.	group

Release 1.12.0 - 03/03/2021

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.12.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Support for test suites without actor definitions nor test cases, as shared resource holders.	Test suites as shared resource holders
Support for sharing resources (scriptlets, artifacts, documentation) across test suites.	Sharing resources across test suites
Support for sharing scriptlets across test cases, scriptlet output expressions, optional parameters, variables and outputs.	Scriptlets (standalone), Scriptlets (test case), call
New embedded processing handler `RegExpProcessor` to process texts using regular expressions.	RegExpProcessor
New embedded processing handler `CollectionUtils` providing utility functions for maps and lists.	CollectionUtils
The `TokenGenerator` processing handler now allows manipulation of dates based on existing, formatted, date values.	TokenGenerator
The `SchematronValidator` validation handler now supports defining the Schematron file type (XSLT or SCH) as an input.	SchematronValidator

Release 1.11.1 - 11/12/2020

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.11.1 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Referencing a missing variable evaluates as an empty string.	Missing variables

Release 1.11.0 - 13/11/2020

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.11.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Support for stopping a test session immediately upon a step’s failure.	Stop the test session in case of error, Steps
Support for custom output messages as the overall result of a test session’s execution.	Output
Allow a `verify` step to optionally store its report’s context data.	verify
New `TEST_SUCCESS` variable used to track the overall status of the test session at any point.	Checking the result of test steps
Support for custom titles for the user input popups linked to the `interact` step.	interact

Release 1.10.0 - 07/09/2020

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.10.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Test case imports can now be defined dynamically using variable references.	Imports, Where can expressions be used?
Support for a custom `title` for `if`, `interact`, `while`, `repuntil`, `foreach` and `flow` steps.	if, interact, while, repuntil, foreach, flow
Actors’ endpoint parameters can now be defined as `hidden` to have them visible only to administrators.	Actors
Actors’ endpoint parameters now support the definition of allowed values with optional labels (`allowedValues` and `allowedValueLabels`).	Actors
Actors’ endpoint parameters now support defining other parameters as prerequisites (`dependsOn` and `dependsOnValue`).	Actors
New `log` step to add arbitrary information to the test session’s log output.	log
The `documentation` content for test suites, test cases and test steps can now be provided via imported resource.	Metadata, Metadata, Rich documentation per step
The ID of test suites and test cases is now considered in the GITB software for referencing and matching.	Test suites, Test cases

Release 1.9.0 - 30/04/2020

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.9.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Rich text documentation can now also be set for test suites via the `documentation` element.	Metadata
Rich text documentation can now also be set for test cases via the `documentation` element.	Metadata
`Assign` steps can now automatically create variables to store expression output.	assign, Variables, Defining variables from expressions
New `Base64Processor` for the handling of Base64 and data URL encoding in test cases.	Base64Processor

Release 1.8.0 - 20/01/2020

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.8.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Actors can now be set as `hidden` to prevent them from being used in new conformance statements.	Actors
Support for different severity levels for the validation carried out by `verify` steps.	verify
Rich text documentation can now be set for test steps via the `documentation` element to provide further information or instructions.	Test steps, Rich documentation per step

Release 1.7.2 - 11/12/2019

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.7.2 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Any expression can now be set with `asTemplate` to be used as a template for placeholder replacement.	Expressions and templates

Release 1.7.0 - 07/10/2019

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.7.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Support for organisation and system level configuration parameters.	Referring to configuration parameters
Support for `binary` values in all levels of configuration parameters.	Referring to configuration parameters
Support for endpoint configuration parameters to be defined as editable only by administrators (`adminOnly`) and make their inclusion in test sessions optional (`notForTests`).	Actors
Endpoint configuration parameters can now have secret values.	Actors

Release 1.6.1 - 14/06/2019

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.6.1 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Additional documentation for the use of templates.	Expressions and templates
Extensions to the `TokenGenerator` handler to fine-tune timestamp generation.	TokenGenerator

Release 1.6.0 - 29/05/2019

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.6.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Documented the embedded `UDPMessaging` messaging handler.	UDPMessaging
Introduced a new `STEP_SUCCESS` `map` variable to record the status of executed steps.	Checking whether a specific step succeeded
Step attributes now allow definition of text values including spaces, and numbers that are signed or floating point.	Test steps
Support for single and multiple selection lists to receive input in user interaction steps.	interact
Processing transactions are now optional allowing for simpler use of stateless processing steps.	bptxn, process
New embedded `TokenGenerator` processing handler to generate text tokens.	TokenGenerator
New embedded `XmlMatchValidator` validation handler for template-based matching of XML documents.	XmlMatchValidator
Test case variable values now correctly allow the definition only of a type and name.	Variables

Release 1.5.0 - 06/11/2018

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.5.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
The `XPathValidator` is now updated to support XPath 3.0 expressions (from the previous limitation to XPath 1.0)	XPathValidator
Support for any type of input that can be converted to string``s can now be passed to the ``XPathValidator and `StringValidator`	XPathValidator, StringValidator
Added a new `RegExpValidator` to test text against a regular expression	RegExpValidator
Improved default handling of the `with`, `type` and `contentType` properties linked to user interactions	interact, Preliminary
Allowed user interactions to present binary content for download	interact, Preliminary
The test suite name can now be ommitted in the value provided for test case `import` elements	Imports
It is now possible to define an actor as the specification’s default to have it automatically selected for new conformance statements	Actors
The display order of actors in test execution diagrams can now be set at test suite and test case level	Actors (test suite), Actors (test case)
The `exit` step is now correctly reflected on the user interface and can be set to be either a success or a failure	exit
The `if` step now considers the `else` block as optional	if

Release 1.4.1 - 28/09/2018

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.4.1 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
The `HttpMessaging` handler now supports HTTPS via configuration as well as handling of multipart forms	HttpMessaging

Release 1.3.0 - 25/05/2018

The documentation for GITB TDL release 1.3.0 is available here.

Description of changes	Relevant sections
Transactions (messaging and processing) now support `config` elements to customise transaction creation	btxn, bptxn
Configuration elements (`config`) now support variable references	btxn, send, receive, listen, bptxn, verify
User instructions now consider “string” as the default type and can be fully empty in case of simple messages	interact
User requests now consider “STRING” as the default content type	interact
The `foreach` step now allows its boundaries (start and end) to be set using variable references	foreach
Actors can now be defined in test suites without endpoints	Actors
Service handler implementations can now be specified with variable references	Specifying the handler implementation
The `receive` step now allows a timeout to be specified	receive
Communication with service handlers now supports authentication (HTTP Basic and UsernameToken)	Specifying the handler implementation
The `SoapMessaging` embedded messaging handler now supports HTTPS	SoapMessaging
Value ‘CONFORMANCE’ is now correctly considered as the default test case type	Metadata
The actor name defined in a test case does not have to match the actor ID	Actors
Domain-level configuration parameters can now be used in expressions	Domain configuration parameters

Release 1.2.0 - 18/03/2018

Initial release of the documentation for the GITB TDL (release 1.2.0), available here.