Test case history: initial field content on creation
When a new test case is created, a history entry is created which looks like this: "<User> created this test case - <date and time>"
The initial content of the fields is not visible. Is there a way to find out what this initial content was?
If the content of a field changed at a later time, you can see the initial content in the history. If it didn't change, you can't.
My use case is the following: I did a bulk test case update per API. I only added the mandatory fields in the payload, expecting the not mentioned fields to remain untouched. However, those fields were emptied instead (very bad behavior in my opinion), meaning I lost e.g. the "Objective" and "Precondition". For many test cases, I can restore it from the history, but for others I can't, because those fields were filled during creation and the content is not in the history.
The API neither allows retrieving this information. Note that changes per API are not in the history!
I'm sorry to hear about this issue you're experiencing. Not wanting to rub salt into your wounds, I'm certain that the API documentation does mention that all field data must be provided and it it isn't, those fields will be set to null. But as to how to resolve your issue, I think your best option is to speak to the SmartBear Support team and see if they can retrieve the data for you from the database or archives. I'm not sure if it's something they can do or won't do, but I would ask very nicely and as persuasively as you can to see if they can assist 🙂
Best of luck!
