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In this video, we will discuss exploration testing, and some of the basics of automation.
RSVP App link: https://treehouse-projects.github.io/selenium-webdriver-intermediate/waits/app/index.html
Introduction to Selenium Course
Test Plan: RSVP App - Edit Invitee Feature Release
Scope:
Verify edit invitee feature for RSVP app.
Regression test previous features.
Test on all supported browsers - Chrome, Firefox and Edge on Windows 10.
Schedule:
Run automated tests - ½ Day.
New Feature testing - 1 Day.
Regression testing - 1 Day.
Supported browser testing - 1 Day.
Total: 3 ½ days.
Deliverables:
- Test results.
- Bug report.
- Configuration test matrix
Release Criteria:
- Release must contain edit feature.
- All critical defects must be fixed.
- 100% of regression tests pass.
- 100% automated tests pass.
- All supported browsers must pass.
Risks and Contingencies:
- Previous client data may not load.
- Rollback to previous version.
Test Cases:
- TEST1: [AUTOMATED] - Invite Someone new
- TEST2: [AUTOMATED] - Confirm someone
- TEST3: [AUTOMATED] - Remove someone
- TEST4: Edit someone
- TEST5: [EXPLORATORY] - RSVP workflow
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So one thing I hear a lot these days
is to work smarter, not harder.
0:01
This applies to QA
engineering really well.
0:05
I'm going to talk about two concepts
that are all about working smarter but
0:09
are also polar opposites of each other.
0:13
Exploration testing and test automation.
0:16
So exploration is all about discovery and
insight.
0:20
When you explore a city,
0:25
you probably want to discover
things you've never seen before.
0:27
So maybe you throw the map away, but
0:30
you also probably have some
insight into what to look for.
0:33
Like knowing there's a block with some
great restaurants or art galleries.
0:38
I feel like exploration
testing is a lot like this.
0:43
You probably know
the application pretty well, but
0:47
you wanna find some potential
problems by trying out new things.
0:50
Instead of executing the exact
steps in a test case,
0:55
play around with
the settings a little bit.
0:59
And try things out in new ways.
1:01
More often than not,
1:04
there's part of the app that you
suspect might have some problems.
1:06
Now, this probably sounds
pretty informal and
1:10
maybe just something you do outside
of the normal test plan but in fact,
1:13
this can, and should be added
to your test plan document.
1:17
What you want to do with exploration tests
1:22
is define what part of
the application you're going to test.
1:25
Put some conditions around what
you aim to do in that test, but
1:28
don't put any of the formal testing steps
like you would in a typical test case.
1:32
Exploration tests should be time boxed, or
1:38
in other words, only be done
within a certain period of time.
1:41
An hour to two hours for
a certain part of the application
1:46
may be enough time to let testers try
out a few things and see what they find.
1:49
These exploratory tests
are important because
1:56
going back to the edge case versus
happy path definitions from earlier,
1:59
we need to try things that our
users might do before they try it.
2:04
Now if your assumptions are correct and
you find a good use case from exploratory
2:09
testing or maybe even a bug, then you
should probably write that down as a new
2:13
test case with reproducible
steps in the future.
2:18
Okay, now let's talk about what
is probably the complete opposite
2:23
of exploratory testing, automation.
2:26
Automated tests, as the name suggests,
is about codifying your tests so
2:30
that a machine can run it.
2:35
Going back to our regression tests
from our previous test plan we
2:37
probably have a huge library of tests that
we've written for our software already.
2:41
And we keep adding new
features all the time.
2:46
Our regression test suite,
as we like to call it, keeps growing and
2:49
growing, until running all
of the regression tests for
2:52
each new version of the software
takes days, weeks, or even months.
2:56
We can stay on top of this by
putting our test into code
3:02
that can be run by a machine.
3:06
Tests that would probably
take a human hours to run
3:08
now can be run in minutes by the machine.
3:11
Remember how we also talked
about configuration testing and
3:15
running our tests on many
different machines and browsers?
3:18
Automation helps here a ton.
3:22
We can now run the same test across all
of our different-supported browsers and
3:25
versions with ease on each
new version of the software.
3:30
Our tests are also very exact and
3:35
not prone to human error
like they were before.
3:37
And we don't need human testers to run
them in the first place, which frees up
3:40
our testers to do more exploration
tests and other more valuable tasks.
3:44
There are drawbacks to automated
testing however, the biggest problem is
3:48
that it's not so much automated
tests as it is automated checks.
3:53
We can only write tests for
things that we already know.
3:59
It's very difficult to automate
exploration tests but not impossible.
4:03
And so the machine can probably only
test things that we already discovered.
4:09
Another big drawback is that the amount
of time it takes to write automated tests
4:14
is usually much longer than
it is to write a manual test.
4:19
I don't recommend automating
feature tests for this reason.
4:24
Because feature tests are usually only
run once or twice and then tossed away.
4:27
We want to focus on
automating regression tests
4:33
that we know we will need to run over and
over again.
4:37
If you know a test will be run many
times then the amount of time it takes
4:41
to automate it will probably be worth
the investment in the long run.
4:46
For web application testing I
recommend looking in to Selenium,
4:50
which is like coding how a person
would interact with a web browser.
4:54
See the teacher's notes for a link to our
Selenium course right here on Treehouse.
4:57
Okay, that's it for test execution.
5:03
In this section we've learned how to
create a test plan, what regression and
5:06
configuration tests are,
what exploration and
5:11
automation tests are and how all of
these fit into your test plan strategy.
5:15
Remember, we want to test smarter,
not harder.
5:21
Try to remember this when
creating a test plan,
5:25
we don't want to test
everything all the time.
5:28
Because it's expensive and
probably a waste of time.
5:31
We want to put together a plan
that satisfies the company's needs
5:36
within our budget and on time.
5:40
Thanks for watching.
5:44
In our next section, we'll get into how
to report failures in our tests as bugs.
5:45
I'll see you there.
5:50
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