Use both columns and previously defined values in fitnesse ColumnFixture - fitnesse

Question

The rows in my test-table all repeat the same values, except for two columns which are different for each row. I would like to use values i defined earlier for the repeating rows.
The Fixture uploads files to FTP, each row in the test-table now has username, password, host and so on, these are always the same. The name of the file is different.

Answer 1

If your tests use Slim you can use constructor parameters to define the repeated values in the first (i.e. header) row of your table. In that case you only have to define the file names in the table's rows.
If your table is a 'decision table' based on a 'scenario' you can also supply repeated parameters in the header row (using a 'having' syntax). More details can be found in FitNesse's own acceptance tests. For instance:
|scenario |Division _ _ _|numerator, denominator, quotient?|
|setNumerator |#numerator |
|setDenominator|#denominator |
|$quotient= |quotient |
|Division |having|numerator|9|
|denominator|quotient? |
|3 |3.0 |
|2 |4.5 |
Another option, but this seems less appropriate when the values are really the same for ALL rows, is to use a baseline decision table where the first row defines values for all columns and subsequent rows only define the altered values.

Answer 2

You can use FitNesse variables:
!define username {bob}
!define password {secret}
|myfixture|
|username|password|other|stuff|
|${username}|${password}|a|b|
|${username}|${password}|c|d|
|${username}|${password}|x|y|

Answer 3

The answer by Fried Hoeben works for Slim, the following answer is for fit:
If your Fixture is a child of Fixture, then you can define extra parameters by adding extra columns in the header row.
|!-UploadFileToFtps-! |ftpPassword=${password} | ftpUserName=${userName}|
|host |ftpDir |localFile |result? |
|${ftpHost}|${ftpSrc}|${folder1}${file1}.xlsx |File '${folder1}${file1}.xlsx' successfully uploaded|
|${ftpHost}|${ftpSrc}|${folder2}${file2}.xlsx |File '${folder2}${file2}.xlsx' successfully uploaded|
|${ftpHost}|${ftpSrc}|${folder2}${file3}.pdf |File '${folder2}${file3}.pdf' successfully uploaded |
You can access the values in those columns with getArgs() which retrieves a String Array.
I use key-value pairs separated by '=', this enables me to use named parameters. Otherwise i would have to reference the parameters in order, which i think is wrong.