Software Testing Genius

What are the different approaches to debug the Software Applications?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:35:14 +0000

Several approaches are being practiced in the industry for debugging software under test (SUT).

Some of them are described below.

1) Brute Force Method: This method is most common and least efficient for isolating the cause of a software error. We apply this method when all else fail. In this method, a printout of all registers and relevant memory locations is obtained and studied. All dumps should be well documented and retained for possible use on subsequent problems.

2) Back Tracking Method: It is a quite popular approach of debugging which is used effectively in case of small applications. The process starts from the site where a particular symptom gets detected, from there on backward tracing is done across the entire source code till we are able to lay our hands on the site being the cause. Unfortunately, as the number of source lines increases, the number of potential backward paths may become unmanageably large.

3) Cause Elimination: The third approach to debugging, cause elimination, is manifested by induction or deduction and introduces the concept of binary partitioning. This approach is also called induction and deduction. Data related to the error occurrence are organized to isolate potential causes. A "cause hypothesis" is devised and the data are used to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Alternatively, a list of all possible causes is developed and tests are conducted to eliminated each. If initial tests indicate that a particular cause hypothesis shows promise, the data are refined in an attempt to isolate the bug.

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Understand the ABC of Process of Debugging

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:33:42 +0000

During debugging, errors are encountered that range from less damaging (like input of an incorrect function) to catastrophic (like system failure, which leads to economic or physical damage).

The various levels of errors and their damaging effects are shown below.

We can observe that in this graph, as the number of errors increases, the amount of effort to find their causes also increases.

Once errors are identified in a software system, to debug the problem, we use following steps:

Step - 1: Identify the errors.

Step - 2: Design error report.

Step - 3: Analyze the errors.

Step - 4: Debugging tools are used.

Step - 5: Fix the errors.

Step - 6: Retest the software.

After the corrections are made, the software is re-tested using regression tests so that no new errors are introduced during debugging process.

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QTP Certification-Review your Skills: Forty More Questions added to the Question Bank: Q. 341 to 380

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:15:50 +0000

Forty More Questions added to the Question Bank

Question No. 341 to 380, are in continuation with earlier question bank of 60 Questions that appeared in the HP QuickTest Professional 9.2 Software Certification Exam (Exam Code: HP0-M16).

(Quickly Review Your QTP Skills before appearing for HP Certification Exam)

Few Sample Questions are presented here:

Q. 341: When does QuickTest Professional 9.2 use assistive properties for an object?

A. only when Smart Identification is enabled
B. when the Ordinal identifier is set to Index
C. when the base filter properties are not sufficient for unique identification
D. when the mandatory properties are not sufficient for unique identification

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Q. 342: When a test with multiple actions is saved, which component is added in each action within the test?

A. User log file
B. Global Data Table
C. Object Repository
D. Active Screen settings

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Q. 343: The test settings of Test A have been set to Run from row 1 to row 4 in the Data Table iterations section. Action As Action Call Properties is set to Run all rows. How many times in total will Action A be executed if the Local Data Table has 5 rows and the Global Data Table has 10 rows?

A. 20
B. 40
C. 14
D. 50

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Q. 344: When enhancing your tests, what do programmatic descriptions allow you to do? Select three.

A. Utilize the Object Repository.
B. Bypass the Object Repository.
C. Perform the same operation on a list of objects with similar properties.
D. Perform different operations on a list of objects with different properties.
E. Perform an operation on a dynamic object chosen based on run-time object properties.

<<<<<< =================== >>>>>>

Q. 345: Which QuickTest Professional tool can be used to identify the Run-time Object Properties and Methods of an object in the application under test?

A. Object Spy
B. Object Repository
C. Object Identification
D. Object Repository Manager

Read All Questions beginning with Q. No. 341...

Great News !!! Software Testing Genius broke all records of number of visitors

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:23:45 +0000

:=) You may be aware of the fact that our web-site so young that it has not completed even its first year on the web.

:=) In less than 5 months of its initial existence, it got a great recognition from Google by way of acquiring prestigious Page Rank - 4 (PR4)

The day of 26th October 2009 (Monday) became so special & full of great pleasure we thought of it sharing with our Esteemed Readers !!!!

Now once again we have two breaking news to share !!!!

1) Largest number of visitors browsed your favorite site;

Statistics from www.statcounter.com are

a) Maximum Page Loads - 5634

b) Maximum No. of New Visitors - 1186

c) Maximum No. of Returning Visitors - 360 (Old visitors re-entering their favorite website)

A live screenshot of www.statcounter.com is shown below

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Let us compare the two leading Role based certifications ISTQB & ISEB

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:39:25 +0000

In this article I am trying to provide sufficient details to the certification aspirants in our testing community which could help them decide on the certification suiting their individual needs and taste, while most important factor being their pocket.

There are lot many similarities among the two certifications - ISTQB & ISEB.

Both the certification schemes are broadly equivalent and enjoy great respect due to being of international recognition.

What are the Levels of Specialization you acquire with these certifications?

Broad hierarchical comparison among two streams is given below

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Tips to create an effective Portfolio for a successful career in Testing

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:39:52 +0100

In this catchy IT sector, every tester whether a novice or an expert, needs some extra ammunition in his / her armory by which he / she can standout of the rest, especially when facing an interview.

Now let us try to know the unique identifier that can make you different?

That is a nicely organized portfolio. This becomes our flagship, and can improve our employability. Armed with a good portfolio loaded with sparkling personal information, one can compel any selection team to go in for a decision in his / her favor.

Next question arises is : What my personal portfolio should contain?

Following Fifteen hot tips on organizing vital personal information being a part of your portfolio can be:

Tip - 1: The beginning is made with a decent folder having provision of inserting many sleeves, which could last for couple of years.

Tip - 2: Keep few copies of your resume or curriculum vitae that must be powerfully portraying the first hand information about your career in testing. Remember that a good resume itself is able to answer several questions shot by interviewers.

Tip - 3: Keep a chronological history of your entire career neatly typed on a sheet.

Tip - 4: Keep copies of complimentary letters or e-mails received from time to time.

Tip - 5: Keep testimonials & detailed mark-sheets of various professional courses.

Tip - 6: Keep copies of non-confidential reports engineered by you. Remember that it must never contain any intellectual information or property of any of your client. Such information is viewed as espionage & is never liked by any interviewer.

Tip - 7: You must preserve documentary evidence of lectures or presentations delivered by you at your client or an employer or at some other knowledge forum.

Tip - 8: Keep a neatly typed sheet listing out an analysis of your skills versus gap, which could be quite helpful on many occasions.

Tip - 9: Copies of your performance appraisals from different employers are helpful in outlining the credentials effectively.

Tip - 10: Keep some documentary evidence of your testing activities listing out details of projects handled by you, your role in them, ultimate achievements. Remember not to include the names & details of the clients, unless your client has made such information public on its own.

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How to be one up on the rest of the testing community? How to choose the best certification?

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:57:43 +0100

Do you wonder why some testers are happy in their testing & QA jobs while some are not.

Aren't you curious to know why some of them simply love their jobs and can work all the time while you may be dragging your body to wake up every morning for going to work?

You might be thinking that their enthusiasm is artificial while in their heart they are like you who just wait for 6 p.m. everyday. Certainly everyone has own ups and downs; while you feel that their ups are far exceeding your downs in your job and that is why they are smiling every day.

Let us see part of their secret for being happy with their QA job

It is a fact that very few of us have the luxury to choose the type of jobs that will perfectly fit us. Certainly we don’t want to be like the ignorant majority. No one will look after our career better that what we can. We need to improve our employability.

Now how to begin?

What we can do is to write down our own road map suiting our tastes & aptitude. We need to jot down some short term, medium & long term career goals. Source of motivation to progress in our career can be a voice from within or from parents, friends, peers or even from the boss. We may come across many achievements on our way to the final goal, wherein every achievement acts like a building block for the next one.

Step-1: Create a career Plan: List out different available options & zero down the final choice on few recognized options to suit your own needs as well as that of your organization. Remember that our career progress plan must be well established and transferable & must be of global recognition, since we may have to come across many employers with varied requirements.

Step-2: Acquire Certification: Well-recognized certifications help us in enhancing our skills, professional competence & confidence. In addition that it helps us in fetching interview calls from respectable employers.

Good certifications have salient advantages like:

# We get an opportunity to learn from the experience of others.
# We get accustomed to the use of standard frameworks & common terminology.
# We begin to understand various models & acquire ability to twist them to suit our needs.
# We acquire transferable skills
# Our credibility gets a boost.

Understand the type of available certifications: Generally there are two types of certifications available viz. 1) Testing Tool Based & 2) Role Based.

1) Testing Tool Based certifications as described in the following figure.

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Understanding Software Technical Reviews (STRs)

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:31:27 +0100

A review process can be defined as a critical evaluation of an object. It includes techniques such as walkthroughs, inspections and audits. Most of these approaches involve a group meeting to assess a work product.

Software technical reviews can be used to examine all the products of the software evolution process. In particular, they are especially applicable and necessary for those products not yet in machine-processable form, such as requirements or specifications written in natural language.

What is the rationale behind STRs?

A) Error Prone Software Development and Maintenance Process:
The complexity and error-prone nature of developing and maintaining software should be demonstrated with statistics depicting error frequencies for intermediate software products. These statistics must also convey the message that errors occur throughout the development process and that the later these errors are detected, the higher the cost for their repair.

B) Inability to Test all Software:
It is not possible to test all software. Clearly exhaustive testing of code is impractical. Current technology also does not exist for testing a specification or high level design. The idea of testing a software test plan is also bewildering. Testing also does not address quality issues or adherence to standards which are possible with review processes.

C) Reviews are a form of Testing:
The degree of formalism, scheduling and generally positive attitude afforded to testing must exist for software technical reviews if qualify products are to be produced.

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Ins & Outs of Software V&V Planning (SVVP)

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:33:04 +0100

The development of a comprehensive V&V plan is essential to the success of a project. This plan must be developed early in the project. Depending on the development approach followed, multiple levels of test plans may be developed, corresponding to various levels of V&V activities. IEEE 83b has documented the guidelines for the contents of system, software, build and module test plans.

Following steps are followed for SVVP

Step - 1: Identification of V&V Goals:
V&V goals must be identified from the requirements and specifications. These goals must address those attributes of the product that correspond to its user expectations. These goals must be achievable, taking into account both theoretical and practical limitations.

Step - 2: Selection of V&V Techniques:
Once step - 1 (as described above) is finished, we must select specific techniques for each of the product that evolves during SDLC. These are as under

(a) During Requirements Phase: The applicable techniques for accomplishing the V&V objectives for requirements are-technical reviews, prototyping and simulations. The review process is often called as a System Requirement Review (SRR).

(b) During Specifications Phase: The applicable techniques for this phase are technical reviews, tracing of requirements, prototyping & simulations. The requirements must be traced to the specifications.

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Software Testing Skill Review Test - For Beginners and even for experienced QA Managers: Q. 1 to Q. 240

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:44:25 +0100

This Question Bank a compilation of 240 Nos. especially designed High Quality Multiple Choice Objective Type Questions & Answers on Software Testing.

Topics covered are:

1) Manual Testing
2) Automation Testing
3) Test Design, Execution & Management
4) Bug Reporting
5) Performance Testing
6) Acceptance Testing
7) Quality Assurance Concepts
8) Defect Management
9) Risk Analysis
10) Metrics in Testing

(Questions are useful for Beginners and even for experienced QA Managers; who can review their skill any time in their career & before appearing in any interview)

***********************************

Samples of few questions are given below

Q. 1: What is Critical in Web Testing?

A. Performance and Functionality
B. Functionality and usability
C. Usability and Performance
D. None of the above

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Q. 2: Testing across different languages is called

A. Linguistic Testing
B. Localization Testing
C. Both a and b
D. None of the above.

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Q. 3: Hierarchical System refers to

A. Several levels of component that includes objects and classes
B. Several levels of component that includes objects, classes, systems
C. Several levels of component that includes, foundation components, systems
D. None of the above.

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Q. 4: Hybrid Testing is

A. Combination of one or more testing techniques
B. Combination of top-down and bottom-up testing
C. Both A and B
D. None of the above.

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Q. 5: Test coverage analysis is the process of

A. Creating additional test cases to increase coverage
B. Finding areas of program exercised by the test cases
C. Determining a quantitative measure of code coverage, which is a direct measure of quality.
D. All of the above.

Access the complete Question Bank with Answers ...

Role of Load Testing in Performance Testing approach & its best practices

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:38:08 +0100

Before taking up the issue of Load Testing in Performance Testing approach let us firstly try to understand as to why we should do the Performance Testing?

Performance testing is usually carried out to discover different bottlenecks or risks associated with the system. The type of risks can have varying impact on the business in terms of added expenses, loss of opportunity, project delays and even the reputation of the organization may be at stake.

The performance testing is a part of software testing that helps us in benchmarking & establishing baselines for carrying out testing in future as well as guiding the stakeholders in understanding the actual quality level of the product under test.

How do we categorize Performance Tests?

Performance tests generally fall under three categories like:

1) Performance Testing
2) Load Testing
3) Stress Testing

Each of the above categories of tests carry particular objective as briefly described below

1) Performance testing: This being the superset of all remaining categories is primarily meant for validating the speed of the system, its stability and scalability. Here main focus remains on achieving desired throughput, response times & optimum utilization of resource to meet the target performance objectives of the application or product.

2) Load testing: This category of performance testing is meant for validating the performance related characteristics of the application while it gets loaded to the anticipated volume of loads during the actual production.

3) Stress testing: This category of performance testing is meant for validating the performance characteristics of the application, while it encounters stressful conditions, beyond anticipation during the actual operations. Here focus remains on identifying conditions wherein the application shall ultimately fail plus understanding the mode of failure & pointers for predicting these failures.

What is load Testing? And why do we do it?

All multi-user applications are subjected to simultaneous or concurrent access at some point of time. Hence prior to exposing our new application to simultaneous access by several users under a live scenario, it is ideal to simulate the multi-user conditions & test the application in the lab, before actual deployment.

This is what we call load testing.

What are the positive attributes of Load Testing?

Load testing is absolutely indispensable for multi-user systems due to the following:

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How to Beat the Recession? Seven Golden Tips for a Successful Career

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:53:41 +0100

There is no one who does not aspire to excel in his/her career & reach the star. In today’s era of dynamism & great competition, I don’t think that heavy university degrees can contribute too much in your success. Impressive degrees undoubtedly act as a rock in the soil, but apart from that we need to understand the superiority of smart working over hard working in this environment of fast change.

What we need is a Tip-Top & pleasing personality. Even if you happen to be highly qualified & intelligent, but haven’t cared to improve your personality; you are liable to be branded as an old fashioned owl & you may not achieve the level of success, you think you deserve. Having realized the underlying fact, this is the high time for you to change yourself.

I am giving below 7-Golden Tips to transform your personality by virtue of which you can beat any type of recession & march on a highway to success in your professional career.

Tip No. - 1: Demonstrate your Importance: Keep yourself engrossed in worthwhile / value added activities that could help you develop your importance among your circle. You must be always conscious of your ultimate career goals & most important issue is that you must have chalked out some realistic / may be a bit difficult plan to achieve your career objectives. It is essential that you make your presence felt effectively. For that you must develop patience & remain ever aware of your real talent, that ought to be capitalized effectively & that too at the most appropriate time.

Remember that if you fail to hit the nail right on its head at the proper time, you may miss an opportunity of impressing others about your talent & importance.

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Practical Approach for choosing Effective Test Cases

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:10:09 +0100

Every tester begins his testing effort by building test cases. Test case creation is not a simple task as it appears. It is an art - rather a complex art.

This task is fairly complex due to the following reasons:

1) Different varieties of test cases are required for different categories or classes of information.

2) All test cases within a particular test suite may or may not be good. Some test cases may be good & effective in many ways.

3) Different testers design their test cases as per a particular style of testing, for example risk-based testing or it may be domain testing. It is well known that good risk-based test cases are quite different from good domain based test cases.

Brian Marick coins a new term for test cases, which are documented lightly. He calls them "A test idea".

According to Brian, "A test idea is nothing but a short statement about something which is required to be tested." For example, if we are testing a square-root function, one test idea can be "test a number having value lower than zero". The motive behind this philosophy is verify as to whether the code is able to handle an error case or not.

For any type of software application, we can create huge number of test cases. But due to constraint of time and money we are not able to execute all of them & restrict our testing effort to few of them only. There is no hard & fast rule or any international standard available with us, which could lay down some selection criterion for the test cases. Generally we restrict our testing to confirm the satisfactory performance of our program as per the specifications & hesitate to go beyond that. Thus the test cases are designed & executed to ensure the program’s functionality within the scope of specifications.

Hence it is very difficult to conclude that our program shall be able to perform according to the specifications for all possible combinations of test cases. For a simple example of a function of a leap year, we can have huge number of likely inputs for testing.

Consider the input domain described in the following figure.

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What is the Motive behind Software Testing?

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:05:12 +0100

Testing is necessary due to the following reasons

1) Due to Technical Compulsions:

a) Competent developers are not infallible.

b) The implications of requirements are not always foreseeable.

c) The behavior of a system is not necessarily predictable from its components.

d) Languages, databases, user interfaces and operating systems have bugs that can cause application failures.

e) Reusable classes and objects must be trustworthy.

2) Due to Business Compulsions:

a) If you don't find bugs, your customers or users will.

b) Post-release debugging is the most expensive form of development.

c) Buggy software hurts operations, sales and reputation.

d) Buggy software can be hazardous to life and property.

3) Due to Professional Compulsions:

a) Test case design is a challenging and rewarding task.

b) Good testing allows confidence in your work.

c) Systematic testing allows you to be most effective.

d) Increases your credibility, allows proud over your efforts.

4) Due to Economic Compulsions:

Economics normally plays a very significant role. It is both the driving force and the limiting factor as well. In software development life cycle (SDLC), the earlier the errors are discovered and removed, the lower is the cost of the removal. The cost to fix errors increases drastically from specification phase to test phase and finally to the maintenance phase. This is described in the following figure.

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Skill Test - A must for Team Leads / QA Managers: Q. 1 to Q. 90

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 09:56:52 +0100

This Question Bank contains highly challenging Objective Type questions especially designed for QA Managers / Software Project Managers; who can review their skills & knowledge pertaining to specialized areas in QA / Software Testing

(Questions, solution or answers of which must be known to each & every Software QA Manager)

Collection of 90 High Quality Questions

Samples of few questions are given below

Q. 1: The tester should include the following when documenting a feature-by-feature risk assessment:

A. Resources available.
B. The cost of available resources.
C. The impact of failure.
D. A projection of sick days and vacations.

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Q. 2: Entry criteria for testing must be:

A. Flexible.
B. Measurable.
C. Associated with known defects.
D. Automatable.

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Q. 3: Total_work_hours / (hours_available_per_week * productivity_factor) is a formula for:

A. Test efficiency.
B. Test duration.
C. Test effort.
D. Tester productivity.

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Q. 4: A tester should take a first pass at risk analysis:

A. After the vision document is complete.
B. After high-level requirements are established.
C. After all requirements are established and accepted by the development team.
D. After test planning is complete and before test execution begins.

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Q. 5: The test environment should be defined in the:

A. Functional specification.
B. Test plan document.
C. Vision document.
D. Test scripts.

Access the complete Question Bank ...

Typical Architecture of Automation Frameworks

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 04:48:27 +0100

An Automation Framework primarily comprises of elements like :

A) Function Library
B) Object Repository
C) Database
D) Application Scenario Files
E) Initialization VB Script
F) Sequence File
G) Driver Script
H) Test Case List File

A) Function Library:
While creating automation framework the entire coding is done by using VB script functions that are user defined. We store these VB script functions in function library files with (*.vbs) extension. Apart from Driver Scripts, there is no need of doing any script creation beyond the function library.

Every application consists of following two types of function libraries

1) Containing common functions that are not dependent on the application functions.

2) Containing functions, which are specific, the application.

The script designer strives to utilize the common functions, which are independent of the application, to the maximum possible extent. However there is no hard & fast rule to always use common functions only. Whenever there is absolute necessity of using some functions, which are essential for the application, the same are created on the spot & are stored in the concerned function library.

"ExecuteScenarioFile" is a function present in our common function library & is called from the Driver Script or from outside the function library. This function is used for accessing the keywords, various objects and all other parameters from the Scenario File. This is also used to call other relevant functions as well from the function library.

The function library files with (*.vbs) extension are stored in the Function Library folder.

B) Object Repository:
Every application being automated contains a single / unique object repository file. The object repository files with (*.tsr) extension are stored in the Object Repository folder.

C) Database:
MS Access database module of MS Office is used to store all the test data. While designing the structure of the database the designer tries to keep one independent table for every screen of the application. Test Case ID field is usually designated as the primary key for every table. Test Case ID is unique for every record used by the program for iteration. Test Case ID identifier is quite helpful in navigating through some particular type of data stored in the table. QTP establishes a link with database by building its system DSN and using the same DSN in the script. As a best practice, every application should have an independent database file; however for the sake of conserving the space on the hard disc, multiple applications can share the same database.

The MS Access database files with (*.mdb) extension are stored in the Database folder.

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