Test Data Generation with GEDIS Studio Online Tool (Part-2)

Test Data Generation – Demo Using a Free Online GEDIS Studio Tool (Part -2):

Read part-1 of this test data management tutorials series here.

According to CA Technologies, recent research indicates that 30%- 40% of the defects in software testing are related to the issues of the test data. It is one of many reasons that encourages QA industry to use Test Data Generation (TDM) tools.

TDM tools offer the open-handed facility of having system generated, reliable and secure copies of your dataset only in minutes. 

Additionally, TDM tools positively impact the process of rapid and quality software development life cycle and the testing life cycle with specifications like:

1. Remarkably enhances the speed of data subset and synthetic data creation.
2. Creates full production clones reducing your manual efforts and time.
3. Provides on demand working space and self-service platform for testers, developers, management, and DB administers to avoid data corruption and time delays.

By applying TDM tools in the field of software testing, you lay the foundation for contributing beyond expectations in making the test cycles release faster. Automating the process of your high volume of required data enhances the efficient use of the application development time. Likewise, you proficiently mitigate slow and complicated data setup with the generation of synthetic data.

Refer to the figure-1 the graphic interface of the IBM InfoSphereOptim TMD for better visualizing the whole process of the Test Data Management.

Figure1: IBM InfoSphereOptim TMD Graphic Interface

From the cost-efficiency point of view, the use of TDM tools has a direct impact on the cost as:

• Data integration with Test Management Tools
• Minimizing manual efforts in due process of data setup for testing
• Adequately available data for re-usability
• QA teams become more productive, which leads to better human resource management
• Improvement in defect resolution by Development & Data

In this part-2 of test data management tutorial series, we are going to learn about the Automated Test Data Generation process with GEDIS Studio free Online Tool.

Introduction to GEDIS Studio Online

GEDIS Studio is a free online test data management and data generator tool. Its unique features of more than 30 test data generation rules for producing test data, control of the distribution of values, correlation of values, and many other useful possibilities to aggressively test your application under the test with realistic data sets and the large data simulation.

So, GEDIS Studio can design your generations in short span of time and give you the platform for organizing well the production of your test data. For any given AUT test cases data, we require realistic test data to ensure the thoroughness of our overall testing.

Therefore, we always look having access to sufficient test data from the production environment and applying Personally Identifiably Information making without harming the practical nature of the data, and identify further requirements of test data for your designed test cases.

Using GEDIS Studio, you would enjoy managing and generate your test data by having the following advantages:

1. Realistic Data Production
2. Highly Useful for Data display and analysis
3. Efficient Platform for Generating SQL, HTML, XML and CSV Script and Data.

The use of GEDIS Studio provides you with the environment that you can operate beyond data generation in areas such as shown below:

1. Populate your database based on Your testing requirements
2. Prepare realistic testing environment for your AUT
3. Automation of data production as per demand
4. Production of direct importing format for Oracle, DB2, and MySQL and many other RDMS.

Additionally, GEDIS extends the completeness of your testing by:

1. Producing bulk data for the unit, functional and load tests.
2. Execution of the data-driven testing (QTP/UFT, Selenium or TestPartner).

Access & Registration

As of now, we have gone through what GEDIS does with its unique features. You can generate your test data online even without installing any application on your computer. Once you register your account, then you can right away start working with GEDIS Studio.

GEDIS Studio allocates a personal workspace on its servers. And also, it provides you with sample projects and reference data that you can import into your workspace to generate the data of your own need.

You can create your account as you press the button “Register” by clicking on this link www.data-generator.com. Then enter all the fields in the registration form and hit “Submit” button.

[NOTE – Click on any image for an enlarged view]

Once you completed the registration process, GEDIS sends you the confirmation for your account registration along with login name and the password that you can use them for logging into the GEDIS Studio online.

After you logged in GEDIS Studio, your workspace is empty and you can either create a project or import your project from the existing data located on your workspace page on the configuration panel. When you have a project, you can insert your generator and can add any number of fields that you may need according to your data specification.

GEDIS has provided the toolbar like any other application for quick access of its users to the major features such as creating project’s components or your workspace manager. You can browse generators and find fields from “Design” explorer, and you can browse for your batches and the files from “Production” explorer located on the left side of the GEDIS Studio application.

On the right side of GEDIS Studio application, you have the configuration panel for your project components, the workspace manager, and the help views. The workspace manager displays data of the shared and private workspaces for your projects, generators, batches and other data files.

For changing the rule in a particular field, select it in the design explorer and double click on new rule from the rule’s selector.

According to the default model, all root fields of the generator automatically get added to the “output” file.

The other feature of data display can be in CSV table or plain text. And by clicking on your “Workspace” tab on the right side of “Design” and “Production” tabs of the application, it displays the page containing the four sub-tabs like “Projects,” “Generators,” “Output” and “Data”.

Under the tab “Projects” there are two folders, one the system generated and the other is “GenieLog.” As you double click on any of the “Projects” or “Generators,” you can import them into your own workspace. GEDIS Studio has made these data available for its users to operate the tool.

As we covered to an extent the introductory part of the GEDIS Studio main page, let’s have a quick tour of generating test data step by step.

Test Data Generation

1) As you are on “Design” tab, click on “Create a New Project” button located on the toolbar. By doing so, you create the new the New Batch and the Defualt.txt at the same time.

2) On “Documentation” tab, located on the bottom part of the of the application’s right side click and give your new project the name. In this tutorial, you see the project called “Open EMR.”

3) Once you created and named your project, you can “Add Field” from the toolbar. For instance, here we add two fields for “Name” and “Credit Card Number” from the documentation part of the tool on the right side.

4) To apply Data Generation Rule based on our data needs, click on the field “Name” first. Then, click on the tab “Rules” and select the generation rule “Test File Extraction.”

5) As you select the Text File Extraction rule, you can browse for linking the name data made available by GEDIS for you. When you click on the browse button where it says FILE, you select name file from the folder “Names” located in the folder “GenieLog”.

6) Click on your created field “Credit Card Number,” for selecting rule “Credit Card,” which will produce the credit card numbers.

7) When you design rules for two given fields, you click on “Production” tab. This page will show you that Open EMR project has the “New Batch” and the “Default.txt”.

You can specify what data you need to generate by filling the tabs like Nb Records, where you add the number of records.

Here, for example, we put the number of 100 records to be generated:

8) After you completed the data specifications that you need, you click on “Generate” button. Here in the screenshot, you see in the CSV Viewer format the number of 100 names and the bank account numbers generated based on required criteria together.

Data Correlation and Cross-Dependency

 This feature of GEDIS Studio online enables you to design generators where you require data correlation.

For example, we generate a dataset of two columns for “Name” and “Country,” where the names are generated in correlation to the population of each country of the world.

For doing so,

1. we create the project Open EMR and add two fields of “Name” and “Country” in the tab of “Design”.
2. Select the “Text File Extraction” as the generator rule for the field of “Name”.
3. Then, you select available file data from the folder of name by browsing on the field of the “File”.
4. Similarly, you select the generator rule of “Text File Extraction” and navigate to pick up data from the country from the path as ‘Localization/World-Countries-Populations.txt’.
5. When you are done with designing rules to two given fields, you click on “Production” tab. This page will show you that your Open EMR project has the “New Batch” and the “Default.Txt”.
6. You can specify what data you need to generate by filling the tabs like Nb Records, add the number of records that you need for both fields. Here, for example, we put the number 200 records to be generated.
7. After you completed the data specifications that you need, you click on “Generate” button. The screen shot below displays in the CSV Viewer format the number of 200 names, country, each country population, area and the density as per the given condition of test data generation. The population distributed inside the generated test data is the same as a real-world population distribution on Earth.

Parametrization using GEDIS Studio

The feature of the parameter is one of GEDIS database testing tool’s most efficient test data generation function. By using parameters, you can set various generators of different data values for your production.

So, having the option of working with parameters helps you out in the reuse of your different data generators in real-life projects where you have multiple users.

Now, let’s create two parameterized generators with two different values for the address and the family names starting with F at our Open EMR project. As we already have created Open ERM project along with its two fields of “Name” and “Country”.

1. You click on the “Production” tab where you would add both mentioned parameters
2. Click on “default.txt” located in the batch of your Open EMR
3. By clicking on “Parameters” tab located between the tabs of “Documentation” and “Rules,” the system displays the parameters page
4. Add a parameter and name it “Address”
5. Browse for selecting the address file from the folder “Words” by clicking on the folder icon located on the right side of your added parameter
6. After you selected your Address file, you can click either on the button of “View Your File as CSV” or the button of “View Your File as Text”
7. The same steps you would take for adding the new parameter of the Names Starting with F.

There are two added parameters that you can work on one of them as you may need for your testing as shown in the screenshot.

In addition to the illustrated features in this tutorial in the context of Open EMR project, GEDIS Studio provides you with the facilities of working in a broader spectrum of test data generation and test data management.

They are mentioned below:

• Management of your Non-Regression Testing
• Using your Generated Test Data by Import/Export
• Creating Test Data without using GUI of GEDIS Studio

You can access GEDIS tutorial for your practice and use by clicking here.

Automated Testing Data Generation tools

Because of the tremendous need we have for test data throughout the process of our software testing, there are different kinds of test data automated generation tools available in the market.

By going through GEDIS Studio as one of the many test data automated tools, we found out that we can create original data in almost any database or text file.

These tools enable us to:

• Creating realistic and meaningful data for a complete application testing;
• Introduce any domain specific data for testing;
• Applying Personally Identifiably Information (PII) legislation by masking confidential values;
• The applications are delivered rapidly to customers by avoiding manual, time-consuming data creation;
• Automation of thousands of customers, products or accounts items with different attributes of their id, email, name, etc.

For your comparative analysis of the listed Test Data Management Tools, here we collected most of the tools available in the market.

=> If you are interested in going through top TDM tools, please read this tutorial.

Here is the list of TDM tools:

1. BizDataX
2. CA Test Data Manager (Datamaker)
3. Compuware’s Test Data Management
4. Data factory
5. Data generator
6. DatabeneBenerator
7. Datanamic Data Generator MultiDB
8. Delphix Test Data Management
9. Double Test data management
10. DTM Data Generator
11. E-Naxos DataGen
12. EMS Data Generator
13. GEDIS Studio Online
14. Generatordata.com
15. GS data generator
16. HP Test Data Management
17. Informatica Testing Data Management tool
18. InfoSphereOptim Test Data Management
19. Lisa Solutions for Test Data
20. Original Test Data Management
21. Redgate SQL Data Generator
22. SAP test data migration server
23. Solix EDMS Test Data Management
24. Spawner
25. TechArcis
26. Test-data-generator
27. Upscene Advanced Data Generator
28. vTesterCenter
29. YDE Data Generator

Conclusion

By using any TDM automated tools, we immensely raise the quality of our functional and performance testing.

The tools help us in providing with the sufficient data coverage, quicker delivery, cost-efficiency, fewer data related defects, and the maximized learning opportunity throughout the testing process.

This tutorial provided you with a list of twenty-nine Automated Test Data Generation tools that you can go through and find the right TDM tool ensuring you with the provision of your required test data.   Being exposed to many different numbers of TDM tools will enable to you choose the appropriate one after your re-evaluation from each testing cycle.

We decided to illustrate the major features of GEDIS Studio Online. This tool is available online that you can have access with having the sample data and many rules for initiating your test in no time.

If you need a free automation tool that does not need you to go through the installation and the database connection, GEDIS is one of them.

Feel free to generate test data using this tool. Let us know if you have any queries. If you want us to cover any other test data management tool let us know.