TEST AUTOMATION AND TESTING TOOLS

TEST AUTOMATION developing software to test automating the manual process

Consideration During Automated Testing Clear & reasonable expectations

Clear understanding of requirements

Use of detailed, reusable test cases Testing tool should be cost-effective eg: Mothora, Bug Trapper

Performance Testing Tools Open STA: based on CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) Ants Profiler: works on the .NET framework. Apache J meter: A desktop java application designed to test the performance of static and dynamic resources such as java objects, databases, etc Software Testing Tools OEngine: This is a bug tracking tool ApTest Manager: This is a test management tool USB tester: This is an embedded software testing tool which allows a user to validate and test a USB device

Load Testing Tools Load Runner: This tool was developed by HP Load Storm: This tool is managed by Amazon Web services Curl-Loader: This tool has its stack written entirely in C language

Types of testing

Static
Dynamic

Static Test Tools-

Flow Analysers -ensure consistency in data flow from input to output Path Tests-find unused code & code with contradictions Coverage Analysers- ensures that all logical paths are tested Interface Analysers- examaines the effect of passing variables and data between modules

Dynamic Test Tools Test Driver- inputs data to a module-under-test(MUT) Test beds-displays sourcecode with the program under execution Emulators-response facilities are used to emulate parts of system not yet developed Mutation analysers errors are fed into the code to test fault tolerance

Drawbacks of Manual Testing Not Reliable High Risk Time consuming Fact & Fiction

Benefits of Automated Testing lesser person dependence faster more reliable provides round the clock coverage consumes less resources focus of engineers on more creative tasks

Disadvantages of Automated Testing cost is 3-5 times combersome lack of awareness on test automation in some organisations requires additional training staff

Skills needed for using Automated testing Capture/Playback and Test Harness Tools(first generation) -test scripts are recorded & replayed -- Intrusive-tools & software reside on the same machine -- Non-Intrusive-tools & software reside on different machines Data driven Tools(second generation) -test scripts generate set of inputs and outputs

Action-driven Tools(third generation) - actions that appear on application are tested

DEBUGGING---Process 1) Identify the errors 2) Design error report 3) Analyse the errors 4) debugging tools are used ( eg-Turbo Debugger for Windows, Heap Trace, etc ) 5) Fix the errors 6) Retest the softwares

DEBUGGING APPROACHES: Brute Force Method - a printout of all registers & memory locations is studied Back Tracking Method - source code is traced backward until the site of the cause is found Cause Elimination - data related to the error occurrence are organized to isolate potential causes

Criteria for selection of Test Tools: Meeting requirements -forward or backward compatibility -requires effort , cost & time
Technology expectations -not 100% cross-platform -modifying the functionality is difficult Training/skills -organisational-level training to deploy test tools Management aspects -upgradation of hardware & software should generate appropriate ROI