Entries Tagged 'Automation Testing' ↓

Have you performed software installation testing? How was the experience? Well, Installation testing (Implementation Testing) is quite interesting part of software testing life cycle.

Installation testing is like introducing a guest in your home. The new guest should be properly introduced to all the family members in order to feel him comfortable. Installation of new software is also quite like above example.

If your installation is successful on the new system then customer will be definitely happy but what if things are completely opposite. If installation fails then our program will not work on that system not only this but can leave user’s system badly damaged. User might require to reinstall the full operating system.

In above case will you make any impression on user? Definitely not! Your first impression to make a loyal customer is ruined due to incomplete installation testing. What you need to do for a good first impression? Test the installer appropriately with combination of both manual and automated processes on different machines with different configuration. Major concerned of installation testing is Time! It requires lot of time to even execute a single test case. If you are going to test a big application installer then think about time required to perform such a many test cases on different configurations.

We will see different methods to perform manual installer testing and some basic guideline for automating the installation process.

To start installation testing first decide on how many different system configurations you want to test the installation. Prepare one basic hard disk drive. Format this HDD with most common or default file system, install most common operating system (Windows) on this HDD. Install some basic required components on this HDD. Each time create images of this base HDD and you can create other configurations on this base drive. Make one set of each configuration like Operating system and file format to be used for further testing.

How we can use automation in this process? Well make some systems dedicated for creating basic images (use software’s like Norton Ghost for creating exact images of operating system quickly) of base configuration. This will save your tremendous time in each test case. For example if time to install one OS with basic configuration is say 1 hour then for each test case on fresh OS you will require 1+ hour. But creating image of OS will hardly require 5 to 10 minutes and you will save approximately 40 to 50 minutes!

You can use one operating system with multiple attempts of installation of installer. Each time uninstalling the application and preparing the base state for next test case. Be careful here that your uninstallation program should be tested before and should be working fine.

Installation testing tips with some broad test cases:

1) Use flow diagrams to perform installation testing. Flow diagrams simplify our task. See example flow diagram for basic installation testing test case.

Add some more test cases on this basic flow chart Such as if our application is not the first release then try to add different logical installation paths.

2) If you have previously installed compact basic version of application then in next test case install the full application version on the same path as used for compact version.

3) If you are using flow diagram to test different files to be written on disk while installation then use the same flow diagram in reverse order to test uninstallation of all the installed files on disk.

4) Use flow diagrams to automate the testing efforts. It will be very easy to convert diagrams into automated scripts.

5) Test the installer scripts used for checking the required disk space. If installer is prompting required disk space 1MB, then make sure exactly 1MB is used or whether more disk space utilized during installation. If yes flag this as error.

6) Test disk space requirement on different file system format. Like FAT16 will require more space than efficient NTFS or FAT32 file systems.

7) If possible set a dedicated system for only creating disk images. As said above this will save your testing time.

8 ) Use distributed testing environment in order to carry out installation testing. Distributed environment simply save your time and you can effectively manage all the different test cases from a single machine. The good approach for this is to create a master machine, which will drive different slave machines on network. You can start installation simultaneously on different machine from the master system.

9) Try to automate the routine to test the number of files to be written on disk. You can maintain this file list to be written on disk in and excel sheet and can give this list as a input to automated script that will check each and every path to verify the correct installation.

10) Use software’s available freely in market to verify registry changes on successful installation. Verify the registry changes with your expected change list after installation.

11) Forcefully break the installation process in between. See the behavior of system and whether system recovers to its original state without any issues. You can test this “break of installation” on every installation step.

12) Disk space checking: This is the crucial checking in the installation-testing scenario. You can choose different manual and automated methods to do this checking. In manual methods you can check free disk space available on drive before installation and disk space reported by installer script to check whether installer is calculating and reporting disk space accurately. Check the disk space after the installation to verify accurate usage of installation disk space. Run various combination of disk space availability by using some tools to automatically making disk space full while installation. Check system behavior on low disk space conditions while installation.

13) As you check installation you can test for uninstallation also. Before each new iteration of installation make sure that all the files written to disk are removed after uninstallation. Some times uninstallation routine removes files from only last upgraded installation keeping the old version files untouched. Also check for rebooting option after uninstallation manually and forcefully not to reboot.

I have addressed many areas of manual as well as automated installation testing procedure. Still there are many areas you need to focus on depending on the complexity of your software under installation. These not addressed important tasks includes installation over the network, online installation, patch installation, Database checking on Installation, Shared DLL installation and uninstallation etc.

Hope this article will be a basic guideline to those having trouble to start with software installation testing both manually or in automation.

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What is Regression Software Testing?
Regression means retesting the unchanged parts of the application. Test cases are re-executed in order to check whether previous functionality of application is working fine and new changes have not introduced any new bugs.

This is the method of verification. Verifying that the bugs are fixed and the newly added feature have not created in problem in previous working version of software.

Why regression Testing?
Regression testing is initiated when programmer fix any bug or add new code for new functionality to the system. It is a quality measure to check that new code complies with old code and unmodified code is not getting affected.
Most of the time testing team has task to check the last minute changes in the system. In such situation testing only affected application area in necessary to complete the testing process in time with covering all major system aspects.

How much regression testing?
This depends on the scope of new added feature. If the scope of the fix or feature is large then the application area getting affected is quite large and testing should be thoroughly including all the application test cases. But this can be effectively decided when tester gets input from developer about the scope, nature and amount of change.

What we do in regression testing?

• Rerunning the previously conducted tests
• Comparing current results with previously executed test results.

Regression Testing Tools:
Automated Regression testing is the testing area where we can automate most of the testing efforts. We run all the previously executed test cases this means we have test case set available and running these test cases manually is time consuming. We know the expected results so automating these test cases is time saving and efficient regression testing method. Extent of automation depends on the number of test cases that are going to remain applicable over the time. If test cases are varying time to time as application scope goes on increasing then automation of regression procedure will be the waste of time.

Most of the regression testing tools are record and playback type. Means you will record the test cases by navigating through the AUT and verify whether expected results are coming or not.
Example regression testing tools are:

• Winrunner
• QTP
• AdventNet QEngine
• Regression Tester
• vTest
• Watir
• Selenium
• actiWate
• Rational Functional Tester
• SilkTest

Most of the tools are both Functional as well as regression testing tools.

Regression Testing Of GUI application:
It is difficult to perform GUI(Graphical User Interface) regression testing when GUI structure is modified. The test cases written on old GUI either becomes obsolete or need to reuse. Reusing the regression testing test cases means GUI test cases are modified according to new GUI. But this task becomes cumbersome if you have large set of GUI test cases.

This is part of Winrunner Interview question series post. I have previously wrote posts on some Basic Winrunner FAQ’s part-1 and Winrunner basics part-2.

These are some important winrunner interview questions frequently asked in automation testing interview. If you are unclear of any answer ask me for clarification. I will continue this winrunner tutorials posting series on weekends as a testing interview preparation series for you.

How do you analyze test results in Winrunner tool and report the defects?

When you finish any test in WinRunner, WinRunner displays the results in a report format. The report logs the general information about the test run I.e date, operator mode and total run time. Also the report details all the major events that occurred during the run, such as checkpoints, error messages, system messages, or user messages. Mismatch can be found in the report panel by seeing the actual result and the expected result. If a test run fails due to a defect in the application being tested, you can report information about the defect directly from the Test Results window. This information is sent via e-mail to the quality assurance manager, who tracks the defect until it is fixed.

What is the use of Test Director testing tool?

TestDirector is Mercury Interactive’s software test management tool. It helps quality assurance personnel plan and organize the testing process. With TestDirector you can create a database of manual and automated tests, build test cycles, run tests, and report and track defects. You can also create reports and graphs to help review the progress of planning tests, running tests, and tracking defects before a software release.

How to integrate automated scripts from TestDirector to Winrunner Scripts?

When you work in WinRunner and create any test script you have option to save it directly to Test Director test repository.
Or while creating a test case in the TestDirector we can specify whether the script in automated or manual. And if it is automated script then TestDirector will build a skeleton for the script like TSL(Test Script language) of winrunner that can be later modified into one which could be used to test the application.

What are the different modes of recording in WinRunner?

Two type of recording in WinRunner.
1. Context Sensitive recording records the operations you perform on your application by identifying Graphical User Interface (GUI) objects. Winrunner identifies all the objects in your window you click like menus, windows, lists, buttons and the type of operation you perform such as enable, move, select etc.
2. Analog recording records keyboard input, mouse clicks, and the precise x- and y-coordinates traveled by the mouse pointer across the screen i.e Winrunner records exact co-ordinates traveled by mouse.

What is the purpose of loading WinRunner Add-Ins?

Add-Ins are used in WinRunner to load functions specific to the particular add-in to the memory. While creating a script only those functions in the add-in selected will be listed in the function generator and while executing the script only those functions in the loaded add-in will be executed else WinRunner will give an error message saying it does not recognize the function.

What are the reasons that WinRunner fails to identify GUI object?

WinRunner fails to identify an object in a GUI due to various reasons.
1. The object is not a standard windows object.
2. If the browser used is not compatible with the WinRunner version, GUI Map Editor will not be able to learn any of the objects displayed in the browser window.

What do you mean by the logical name of the object.

When you click an object, WinRunner assigns the object a logical name, which is
usually the object’s text label. The logical name makes it easy for you to read the
test script. For example, when you selected the Order No. check box,
WinRunner recorded the following statement in WinRunner TSL:
button_set (“Order No.”, ON);
“Order No.” is the object’s logical name.

An object’s logical name is determined by its class. In most cases, the logical name is the label that appears on an object.

If the object does not have a name then what will be the logical name?
If the object does not have a name then the logical name could be the attached text.

What is the different between GUI map and GUI map files?

The GUI map is actually the sum of one or more GUI map files. There are two modes for organizing GUI map files.
i. Global GUI Map file: a single GUI Map file for the entire application
ii. GUI Map File per Test: WinRunner automatically creates a GUI Map file for each test created.

GUI Map file is a file which contains the windows and the objects learned by the WinRunner with its logical name and their physical description.

Bugzilla is a open-source Bug tracking tool. Many companies are using this open source tool for managing the software development process.

After a long break finally Bugzilla project announced a new version of bugzilla 3.0 with some cool features like:

Custom Fields
mod_perl support for greatly-improved performance
Per-Product Permissions
XML-RPC Interface
Create and Modify Bugs by Email.

See the features in detail here.

I am using Bugzilla 2.0 for the last one year and found it as an interesting bug tracking tool. Before this I was using Mercury Test director to track the bugs.

Now we will also upgrade to this new version soon and will enjoy the new features.

You can download the new version at Bugzilla 3.0 download.

Should we go for Automtion testing of project?
This is really a difficult question as I understand.

If you are doing manual testing of your project and decide to go for Automation I think you will have to ask yourself some basic questions like:

Which is the best testing tool?
To which level should I automate project Testing?
Is it possible to Automate my complete application?

By asking these questions you can go to near the Automation testing decision. i.e To be or not to be?

Let’s have answers for these basic questions:

Which is the best testing tool?
A basic question asked often. Different people will give you different answers for this question.

It is important to evaluate the tool based on your project environment, your budget,skills level of individuals Some tools work better in specific
environments, while in another environment they can create compatibility issue.
Demonstrate the tool using your application under test.

You can go for some open source tools available in the market, but with
the study of indivisual tool and then finalising which is better suit for you.

Second question is:
To which level should I automate project Testing?
Or can I 100 percent Automate project?
- Automation testing can provide several benefits if implemented successfully.
Expectation to Automation comes alog with, but you may not have the results
as quick as you expect.
Test Engineer must evaluate the great potential and should be able to put these benifites into your application.

Keep in mind that 100 percent Automation of any project is difficult to achieve given the time and budget constraints.

So try to Automate as possible as you can, atleast 80 percent, which will greatly benefit to your organisation.

Feel free to ask me query on Software testing Automation. I will try my best to answer it!

Here is the list of some frequently asked Winrunner Interview questions with answers.

I will continue this series as I posted some winrunner Questions and answer.

How you used WinRunner in your project?
Yes, I have been using WinRunner for creating automated scripts for GUI, functional and regression testing of the AUT.

Explain WinRunner testing process?
WinRunner testing process involves six main stages
i. Create GUI Map File so that WinRunner can recognize the GUI objects in the application being tested
ii. Create test scripts by recording, programming, or a combination of both. While recording tests, insert checkpoints where you want to check the response of the application being tested.
iii. Debug Test: run tests in Debug mode to make sure they run smoothly
iv. Run Tests: run tests in Verify mode to test your application.
v. View Results: determines the success or failure of the tests.
vi. Report Defects: If a test run fails due to a defect in the application being tested, you can report information about the defect directly from the Test Results window.

What is contained in the GUI map?
- WinRunner stores information it learns about a window or object in a GUI Map. When WinRunner runs a test, it uses the GUI map to locate objects. It reads an object’s description in the GUI map and then looks for an object with the same properties in the application being tested. Each of these objects in the GUI Map file will be having a logical name and a physical description.

- There are 2 types of GUI Map files.
i. Global GUI Map file: a single GUI Map file for the entire application
ii. GUI Map File per Test: WinRunner automatically creates a GUI Map file for each test created.

How does WinRunner recognize objects on the application?
WinRunner uses the GUI Map file to recognize objects on the application. When WinRunner runs a test, it uses the GUI map to locate objects. It reads an object’s description in the GUI map and then looks for an object with the same properties in the application being tested.

Have you created test scripts and what is contained in the test scripts?
Yes I have created test scripts. It contains the statement in Mercury Interactive’s Test Script Language (TSL). These statements appear as a test script in a test window. You can then enhance your recorded test script, either by typing in additional TSL functions and programming elements or by using WinRunner’s visual programming tool, the Function Generator.

How does WinRunner evaluates test results?
Following each test run, WinRunner displays the results in a report. The report details all the major events that occurred during the run, such as checkpoints, error messages, system messages, or user messages. If mismatches are detected at checkpoints during the test run, you can view the expected results and the actual results from the Test Results window.

Have you performed debugging of the scripts?
Yes, I have performed debugging of scripts. We can debug the script by executing the script in the debug mode. We can also debug script using the Step, Step Into, Step out functionalities provided by the WinRunner.

How do you run your test scripts?
We run tests in Verify mode to test your application. Each time WinRunner encounters a checkpoint in the test script, it compares the current data of the application being tested to the expected data captured earlier. If any mismatches are found, WinRunner captures them as actual results.