software testing Fundamentals of Writing Good Test Cases
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How to Write Effective Test Cases: A Step-by-Step Guide

No matter how well-designed a piece of software may be, it must undergo numerous levels of testing before being made available. Therefore, each tester or QA must create a number of test cases for each project they work on.

Naturally, creating quality test cases is crucial. That’s exactly what this post intends to provide for its readers.

Let’s start by looking at what makes a good test case:

Consider yourself the customer

Customers frequently phone customer service to complain about an application feature that isn’t working up to par. Any tester needs to be able to connect with clients, foresee their needs, and develop test cases accordingly. Test cases ought to be able to simulate consumer use of the functionality being tested. When writing effective test cases, keep the clients’ requirements front and center. This is particularly valid when doing accessibility and usability testing.

Recognize user personalities

Making user personas is a terrific technique to comprehend user requirements. A user persona is essentially a fictionalised portrayal of a website or application’s end user. Think about the user personas below: Mike frequently makes purchases from an online retailer. He is most likely to be interested in features that make it simple for him to add items to his bag and examine price, as well as a stunning display that effectively highlights the products. Back-end operations like API communication and other such tasks won’t concern him.

Plan To Cover All Tests Totally

Writing effective test cases is all about giving as much test coverage as you can. Each test case should attempt to cover the greatest number of features, user scenarios, and workflow components. The SRS (software requirements specification) document’s components, features, and functions should all be covered by test cases.

Make use of a quality test case management tool

Tools for test case management are required to manage a stable release cycle. They contribute to transparency by making it clear who is working on what. They can monitor deadlines and do a lot more. Making effective test cases requires making use of these tools actively and effectively. At the start of a test cycle, make sure that all QAs on the team are knowledgeable about, or at least at ease using, the management tool.

Watch for dependent test cases

A tester might discover a bug, but they might not be able to reproduce it. If one test case depends on another, then this may occur. For instance, test case X cannot be run until test cases Y and Z have been run sequentially. Since bug replication or even reviewing test cases tends to require extra time and effort, it is advisable to prevent this as much as possible.

Put automation to work for you

The process of testing software is demanding and never-ending. Regression tests must be run periodically to make sure that no change to the code destroys the original, functional codebase due to the constant changes and upgrades to features. At this stage, doing so manually would be tiresome and unnecessary.

The best approach to carry out tests that require repetitive operations is to use automation test frameworks like Selenium. The software tester’s productivity and bandwidth are boosted by automated selenium testing since they are freed up to concentrate on creating useful test cases rather than performing the same tasks every day.

They only conduct one specific test condition

The various user situations that the website or application is anticipated to support must be taken into account while creating each test case. This entails testing the software module under all potential circumstances. Presenting them so that other QAs can review them is now necessary for thorough testing of these combinations.

They just include a single, minor functionality

Building test cases that are narrowly focused on a single function is ineffective. They must instead confirm usage patterns and routines. Each test case should be designed to cover as much of the workflow as possible without functioning outside the software’s technological limitations.

They only test one particular user role

The breadth of test cases designed to evaluate a particular user role is constrained, making them less efficient. The best test cases demonstrate how a user moves through an application. For instance, test cases designed to simulate full business processes are the best way to assess any business application. Ideally, they should cover a variety of user roles and systems that are used to start and finish the business process.

They merely restate the specifications document

In their test cases, testers frequently just replicate the requirements paper. Testing “corner-cases” is what test cases must do. Writing test cases for corner circumstances is difficult, but the results are the most satisfying because they reveal the bugs most likely to ruin the user experience.

They are not systematically cataloged

One can easily build one hundred test cases and compile them into a shared folder system. When trying to locate a certain test case later, though, it becomes a nightmare without proper marking and categorizing. Test cases ought to be organized so that a test management system can access the appropriate one at any time.

Review the issues raised in this article before constructing a test case. Save yourself the hassle of producing typical errors so that the software may be tested more quickly. Find bugs more quickly so they can be reproduced and fixed as soon as possible. If any QA or QA team wants to successfully work for the improvement of software quality and user experience, knowing the qualities of a good test case is crucial.

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