Test Draft or Disabled QCDR Rules Without Making Them Live

QCDR Preview can load a saved Draft or Disabled Rule by its Rule ID and exercise that Rule privately on a real frontend page. You do not need to change the Rule to Enabled just to see its replacement behavior.

The Rule Health panel deliberately reports that the Rule is not enabled for normal live requests even while Preview shows what the saved Rule would do in the authorized test request.

Why Draft and Disabled Rules Can Be Previewed

Normal runtime loading selects Enabled Rules only. Preview is different: when a valid preview request names a saved Rule, QCDR loads that exact Rule instead of using the normal Enabled-only list. The saved state is not modified.

Test Without Publishing

  1. Create or edit the Rule and leave its state as Draft or Disabled.
  2. Save the Rule so it has a current stored configuration and Rule ID.
  3. Open Preview & Rule Health in the Rule editor.
  4. Enter a controlled frontend URL and select Preview Rule.
  5. Confirm the page shows the intended transformation and review every failed or informational Rule Health row.
  6. Return to the editor, adjust the saved Rule, save again, and launch a fresh Preview until the result is correct.
  7. Only change the Rule to Enabled when you are ready for normal runtime requests to consider it.

Expect the Published / Enabled Check to Fail

Rule Health contains a Published / enabled check. A Draft or Disabled Rule fails that live-state check by design. That failure does not prevent the private preview engine from demonstrating its selected replacement on the authorized request.

The final Live result check will therefore not claim that the Rule would currently run normally while its saved state remains non-enabled. Treat that as useful confirmation that the preview did not accidentally publish your work.

Other Targeting Still Applies

Preview does not ignore the Rule's real page/menu, extension, audience, schedule, IP, technical-condition, Token, occurrence, or protected-area configuration. A Draft Rule can still fail those checks on the selected page. Fix the relevant targeting or choose a representative test URL rather than enabling the Rule merely to make the preview appear successful.

Global Live Switches Are Not Required for Private Preview

Authorized Preview temporarily enables the Rule/Token processing path for that private test request. It does not change the stored Rule Live Processing or Token Live Processing settings. This lets you validate a change while the site-wide processing switch remains off during maintenance.

PHP-Backed Draft Rules Need Extra Care

A Draft or Disabled Rule that reaches a PHP Token replacement can execute that trusted PHP during Preview when its real match and Token conditions qualify. Keep testing non-destructive and use staging for PHP with writes, external calls, or other side effects.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDR feature? Visit the QC Dynamic Replacer Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.