Testing Circus

Volume 2 - Issue 5 - May 2011

AFakeTestersJourney TheGreatQualityChallengeforMobile PlanningYourNextTestingAssignments SoftwareTestingNews TestIdeaGeneration PromotingSoftwareTestinginYourOrganization CrackTheCode TestersatTwitter QTPCodeCorner TestersGreatestNemesis SahiAutomationTool TestEventsforJune2011 3EssentialstoSettingExpectations InterviewwithParimalaShankaraiah YOUR MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON SOFTWARE TESTING
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From the Keyboard of Editor-in-Chief

RIPChandrasekhar.
(http://helpchandru.com)

AjoyKumarSingha
editor@testingcircus.com http://twitter.com/ajoysingha

Vol 2 - Issue 5

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Testing Circus

Vol 2 - Issue 5

In this issue
Topic LetterstotheEditor AFakeTestersJourney TheGreatQualityChallengeforMobile PlanningYourNextTestingAssignments SoftwareTestingNews TestIdeaGeneration PromotingSoftwareTestinginYourOrganization CrackTheCode TestersatTwitter QTPCodeCorner TestersGreatestNemesis SahiAutomationTool TestEventsforJune2011 3EssentialstoSettingExpectations InterviewwithParimalaShankaraiah

Volume 2 - Issue 5 - May 2011

Author PageNumber 5 AFakeTester DoronReuveni BerniceNielRuhland 6 8 10 12 RiyajShaikh RobvanSteenbergen BlinduEusebiu 13 16 19 20 JaijeetPandey MartinJansson AkankshaTalwar Testevents.com VaradaSharma 22 23 26 31 33 35

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Testing Circus
TestingQuote

Vol 2 - Issue 5

Testersdomanythingsandtherearemanytitlesthatcouldapplytothemany thingswetestersdo. Weredetectives.Wereinvestigators. Wereevaluators.Werecommunicators. Werewriters.Werecritics. Wereadvocates.Wereleaders. Weresupporters.Werelearners. Wereteachers.Wereforecasters. Weretesters.

BenSimo

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LetterstotheEditor
HiAjoy, YourTesting Circus is very interesting and knowledgeable magazine for testers. All test cases andtestideasareverygood.Iamexpectingsomenewtestideasinyourfutureissuesonpayment gateway,cookiestestingetc. Sopleasegivesomelightsonthesetopics. Thanks, AruneshKumar HiArunesh, Thanksforappreciatingourwork.Wewilltrytopublishtopicsofyouchoiceinourfutureeditions. Editor.
editor@testingcircus.com

HelloTestingCircusteam, Kudostoeachoneofyou.IamayoungtestingProfessionalfromChennai,India.Fromacampus recruittoaSeniorQualityAssuranceAnalyst,Iamatestingprofessionalconstantlyinpursuitof learningtesting throughevery possibleway.And itwas inFeb2011,I identified this greatwork Testing Circus magazine while googling some stuff. I am a Biotech Engineer by Graduation and ITwasnevermycupoftea.ButwhenIlandedintotesting2yearsback,Idecidedthisismyarea andIneedtoprovemyself.YesIfalleninlovewiththeartoftesting. Efforts from testing Circus is truly inspiring for young QA folks like me. Thank you each one of youforthecommendableJob.

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Thanks, PreethiS,Chennai HiPreethi, We are happy that you liked Testing Circus Magazine. Keep spreading the word about Testing CircustoyourfriendscircleandQAfolks. Editor
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A Fake Testers Diary

in Test g
Re s u Circ g a ul r F t ea ur e

Part 5

AppraisalSeason2
ByFakeSoftwareTester

Last month, I had told you the story of whom you know and what you know. Why did whom you know get promoted in a quicker pace, compared to what you know? I have listed some of the reasons below. Heres an excerpt of whathappenedaroundmethisappraisalseason

ThesearchforObjectives As soon as the appraisal season set in, everyone started to search for their objectives. Though its difficult to believe, it wasthetruthinmostcases.Peoplesearchfortheirobjectives only after the onset of the appraisal monsoon. And this mostly resulted ina scrambleforcertifications, thescramble beingsobadthatcertificationslotsareunavailable.Similar ly, people were trying to ensure that they had completed the Howdopeopletrytogetpromoted? requiredtrainingprogramsprescribedforthemattheendof And there is this set of people who are on the lookout for promotions.Thesewouldincludepeoplewhohavebeeninthe thepreviousappraisal. systemforquitesometimeandhaveseennewpeoplewiththe same experience join the company at a higher designation, BellCurves This is the most popular curve, on everyones mind during peoplewhohavebeendeprivedoffonsiteopportunities,people the appraisal season. Originally, the bell Curve was a well whoareundertheimpressionthattheygetalowpay,etc.etc. knownstatisticalmethodusedforgrading.Appraisalsmade etc. This would be the set of people who are used to periodic these curves more popular. The 1st generation of managers rewardsandthinkthattheydeserveapromotiononlybecause passeditontothenextgenerationmanager,whopassediton theyhaveexistedinthecompanyforalongtime. to the next generation and so on. Lost in these translation sessions was the original intent of the bell curve. Popular belief was that whenever someone used this term, it meant that they had done a proper stack ranking of their team members, and were not questioned any further. The disad vantage of the bell curve is that community influences can lead the bell curve to be wrongly interpreted, and the crea tionsofalotoffluctuationsofthebellcurveespeciallywhen many groups are involved. Such disadvantages are ques tionedbynobody. Howpeopletrytogetmorehikes? Andtherearepeoplewhotrytotalktotheirbossestoensure thattheygetabetterhikethanthepersonsittingacrossthem. They quote family financial crisis, lack of onsite opportuni ties, why they did not fight a poor appraisal last time, why they took the beating for the bosss mistake, why they have been very faithful to the organization, etc. to try and get a better hike than the person that they have lunch with. Some ofthebackstabbersalsogototheextentoftellingtheirbosses

MemoryLoss Thisdiseaserunsrampantduringtheappraisalseasonattop level. The big bosses need to prove to the biggest bosses that they are aware of ground reality. So, they look into recent historytoquoteatoplevelperformancebyanindividualand usethepowerbestowedinthemtorecommendagoodrating for him. The disease runs deeper when more often than not, only the performance of the last few months is kept in mind when management were discussing employee performance. Any super work done in the initial 36 months are conven iently forgotten by everybody, proving the initial sentence, thatmemorylossisindeedrampantinmanagement.

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thegoofupsofacolleague,sothattheygetabetterdealthan 2) Time spent on appraisals The time spent on ap theircolleagues.Somuchforteamwork!!! praisals. Most of the time is spent on how we can justify ourselves and not at improving product quality. We are Howpeoplecallinforfavoursduringappraisalseason? tryingtofightforrights Andyouhavesomevicepresidents,andsomesupermanag during this season, erswhositontopoftheentirepyramid.Thesepeoplearethe mainlybecausethestake onesthatviewthesystemfromaheightofatrillionfeet.They involves money. You arealwaysonthelookouttoawardtheirfavouritepersonnel guys ever wonder if we who exist at the grassroot level, irrespective of how the should fight like this to individualperforms. upholdproductquality? Ever fight like this to Resignationsaremuchloved ensure that the client Andduringtheappraisalseason,everyonelovesresignations gets his due of quality forthesimplereasonthatthepersonwhohasresignedcanbe code? If only we spend putatthebottomofthepile,tomakeupforthebellcurve.He halfofourenergyforthe might have been a superstar, or a great performer, but the betterment of the prod very fact that he has decided to leave the company would uct, am sure that our ensure that his name is listed as the bottom performer. No productswouldbemuch bodylooksatnames,theylookatonlynumbers. better!!! Proactivism And this word You should have been proactive can be foundinthefeedbackofatleast60%ofthepeople.Itssoeasy askingsomeonetobeproactive,andthattooattheendof 1 year. When managers cannot give their team members a good hike, or a promotion, they use this term to put off the candidate in the hope that hed shut up for the next year, or getanemploymentelsewhere. TheBlameGame Employees ask for reasons as to why they dont get a good appraisal. And their bosses try to spend most of their time justifyingit.Dontbesurprisedifyourbossquotesaspelling mistake in an email from you to your client a year back and askyoutosignupforCommunicationsessions.Orifyour boss quotes a telephone discussion that happened between you and your client 6 months back and asks you to sign up forTelephoneetiquettesessions.Orifyoufindthatyouare being penalized for a very low priority UI defect that hap pened8monthsback.Theblamegameisatitsbestduringthe appraisalseason. MyThoughts(Nottoomanythoughts.Justacouple) 1) Unplugged Loopholes The appraisal process, like any other process, has a lot of unplugged loopholes. Not plugging them is very convenient for most people, since it allows them and their cronies to prosper. Will we ever close thesegaps?

AfakeTestersDiarywasfirstpublishedinTesting Circus January issue. New Readers are encouraged to read our old issues at www.testingcircus.com tounderstandthejourneyofafakesoftwaretester. Keep reading future issues of Testing Circus to know more!!! Do you have anything to say about faketestingpractices? Writetous.faketester@testingcircus.com Bytheway,haveyouseentheblogonfakesoftware testing?Hereitis http://fakesoftwaretester.blogspot.com Editor

A platform for software testers to collaborate, test variouskindsofsoftware,fosterhope,gainpeerrecog nition,andbeofvaluetothecommunity. http://weekendtesting.com

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The Great Quality Challenge for Mobile Applications

DoronReuveni,CEOofuTest
Themobileenterpriseisnolongeronitswayitishere.This iscreatingamobileapprevolutionthatisdrivingtheneedfor fast, effective application testing that mimics your user base in terms of technical environments, locations, and demo graphics. And while its tempting to think that mobile apps wont alter your company or industry, no space is exempt fromthemobilerevolution.Itiscriticalthatcompanies,from startups to enterprises, are ready to address the challenges that mobile apps bring to the development and testing proc esses. New apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, iPad, and Android are makingdeepinroadsintoenterpriseorganizationsinindus triesasdiverseandmatureashealthcare,finance,education, media, and retail. This means that the pressure to get high qualitymobileappsbuilt,tested,andlaunchedhasneverbeen greater. With so much critical data flowing to smart phones andtablets,companiesmustensurethattheirmobileappsare stable,private,andsecure.Eventhesmallestflawcanruina mobileapp,andsometimes,thecompanybehindit. For those who havent been living in the mobile space, its important to note just how different mobile apps are com paredtotheworldsofwebanddesktopapps,nottomention sets of very different rules. The mobile web and native apps present distinct challenges for companies and require new skill sets for design, engineering, and testing. For a mobile app to work as intended, consider the multidimensional testing matrix. There are multiple operating systems, differ ent mobile browsers, myriad smartphone device makers and models, a host of carriers, and worldwide locations. With all these criteria, its clear that the cost and complexity of man agingQAinthemobileeraisnotsomethingmanyorganiza tionsareequippedtohandle. Ifanorganizationdoesnotfocusonthefunctionality,usabil ity,reliability,andsecurityoftheapplication,theymayfind themselves in the awkward position of explaining to their customers,ortheCEO,whytheirapplicationwasrejectedby theappsstore,orwhyusersaresharing theirdissatisfaction on Twitter, Facebook, TechCrunch, and others. This mobile qualitychallengecallsforabetterwaytotest,onethatmeets theinthewildtestingdemandsofmobileapps.

According to a recent survey by Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services, enterprise mobility is no longer just for email. Employees are using mobile apps to access CRM systems,financialresults,marketingcampaigns,andtotrack orders,tonamejustafew.Infact,ABIResearchanticipates worldwide enterprise mobile data revenues will reach $133 billionby2014.

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ThreeAlternativeTestingMethods Thethreetestingapproachesthathavehistoricallybeenused inmobileareinsufficientforthechallengesofthisnewreali ty.Thatdoesntmeantheyarebadorillintentioned,merely that they arent sufficient on their own. Heres a quick summary:

beendifficultandprohibitivelyexpensive.Thetestingmatri ces for mobile apps are exponentially more complex than for web and desktop apps. No matter what type of mobile app, multimedia, chat, business, or productivity tools, all mobile appdevelopersfacethesametestingcomplexityacross: HandsetMakers&Models OperatingSystems 1. InHouse:Buildingacomprehensiveinhousetest Browsers WirelessCarriers ing lab is extremely timeconsuming and expensive. Languages(formultigeoapps) Imagine the expense of building an inhouse team Location,Location,Location and lab capable of assuring the functionality for iPhone, Blackberry and Android handsets (of all

Through crowdsourcing, companies can meet mobiles in makes and models) across wireless carriers in the the wild testing needs by utilizing a community of diverse U.S., U.K, Australia, China and Japan. For reasons andtalentedprofessionaltesters,capableoftestingtheirapp ofcostandcoverage,itsnosurprisethatmobileapp acrossanyandallcriteria,andonanondemandbasis.Your companies rarely rely solely on inhouse testing re users are distributed around the country (or globe), so your testersshouldbetoo.Andjustasyourusersutilizeyourapp sources. outside the sterile confines of the testing lab, under in the wild conditionssotooshouldyourtesters. 2. Emulators/Simulators: One of the biggest chal lenges for mobile developers is that traditional test ingisoccurringinanenvironmentfarremovedfrom therealworld.Thegapbetweeninthelabsimula tion and inthewild usage is vast and cannot be ignored. The convenience of simulators and emula torshasmadeiteasytobeluredintoafalsesenseof security,buttheyshouldnotbeconsideredasubsti tuteforrealworld,ondevicetesting. 3. Beta Testers: Its rare for a software company to attractalargegroupofbetatesterstotesttheirapp. Afterall,noteverycompanycanbeGoogle,withits wildly popular beta versions. But even if you can assemble a large beta group, the method still falls short on its own. First, if a beta goes poorly, most companiescantaffordtohaveithappeninthebright lights of the blogosphere or Twitterati. Beta testers aremoreoftenlikeusersinthattheywillonlytryto get your app to function properly; a real tester will systemically structure their usage to identify weak nessesinyourapp. CrowdsourcedMobileAppTesting The increasingly fragmented device and platform environ menthasescalatedthedemandforcomprehensive,alwayson globaltesting;however,testingmobileappshastraditionally Withtherapidevolutionofcrowdsourcedtesting,topcompa nies are doing the impossible: maintaining app quality, achievingbroad testingcoverage, meeting launch dates, and staying within budget. As the mobile market doubles and triples in size over the next decade, those that have made testing coverage a priority will enjoy their ROI in terms of increasedmarketshare,profitability,andaboveall,userloy alty. Doron Reuveni cofounded uTest in February, 2007. Since its in ception,uTesthasprovidedfunc tional, usability and load testing services through a community that includes more than 35,000 professional testers from 170 countries around the globe. He is a published author and expert in testing methodologies for web, desktop,andmobileapplications.PriortouTest,Doronwas the Senior Vice President of Technology at Enigma, Inc., deliveringlargescalesoftwareimplementationsthroughhis global team of product managers, developers, QA profes sionals,andprojectmanagers.Hehasmorethan20yearsof experience delivering software applications to Fortune 500 companies as well as young, agile startups. To learn more, visituTestatwww.utest.com.

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Planning Your Next Testing Assignment

BerniceNielRuhland

ReviewDocumentationandIdentifyContacts An important aspect of the planning process is to review available documentation to identify initial questions and to determine if critical information is missing. At this stage, There is value in the planning process to better understand consider the optimal skillsets required in your testing team the expectations, risks, timelines, and testing approaches. andidentifysubjectmatterexpertstocontactwithquestions. Often people confuse test planning with heavy documenta tion. A lightweight approach can be adopted by balancing Layout the amount of time spent planning and the size of the test Layoutthetestplaninaconcisemannerselectingamedium planbasedupontheprojectsscopeandrisklevel. that is most closely aligned with the projects scope and risk level. To make the process easier, translatethewordPLAN CreatetheTestPlan into four actionable steps: As you gather the information, start to create the test plan Prepare, Layout, Analyze, usinganywordprocessing,spreadsheet,oronlinecollabora and Navigate. These steps tive tool. The specific tool selected can be a personal prefer canhelpyouplanandman enceaseachonehasitsprosandcons.Whenassemblingthe age your next testing as document,considerusingtablesandbulletpointstomakeit signment. easiertoreadandlocateinformation. Prepare Prepareby gathering infor mationtoformafoundationalknowledgebase. Anotheravenueistheuseoflowtechoptionssuchas:awhite board, an easel board, or a notebook allowing you to quickly make changes and track progress. Whatever option is select ed,keepthetestplanconcisetoensureitisusedasareference toolthroughouttesting.

Imagineyouhavebeenassignedtheresponsibilitytooversee the testing of a new module being added to the companys flagshipapplication!Whatawonderfulopportunitytochal lengeyourskillsandtoshowmanagementyoucanhandlethe responsibility.Wheredoyoustartwiththisassignment?Do youdiveinandstarttesting?Ordoyoutakesometimetolay outatestingapproach?

what features are more important to them. This will allow youtowritebettertestguidelinesandtoproperlyallocatethe testingtime.

UnderstandExpectationsandDeliverables Indefiningatestingapproach,understandthepurposeofthe assignment, the clients expectations, the deliverables and Analyze associated deadlines. It is helpful to understand how the Analyze the information to identify risks, milestones, com clientwillusethemodule,importancetotheirbusiness,and munication,andtestingapproaches.

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IdentifyRisksandTraining Review the assembled information to identify initial risks with approaches to minimize those risks and identify any trainingthatisnecessary.Forexample,thetestersmayneed tobetrainedonasystemthatfeedsintothemodule.Common risks include not having enough testers and insufficient testing time. This is not the time for panic but for creative solutions! Tap into the testers strengths; identify how to integrate testing approaches; and keep the approach agile by reducingheavydocumentation.Ifthereisastrongexplorato ry tester, consider allocating time upfront to identify the modulesweakerareastoassistinprioritizingthetesting. IdentifyTestingApproachesandMilestones It is important to identify testing approaches that could include functional, regression,integration,and performance testing. Balance potential testing approaches with testing time and available testers to plan out rough time estimates considering any overlap across approaches. From this infor mation, identify testing milestones to help measure the test ingprogressagainstthedeliverabledate. ReviewtheTestPlanwithStakeholders Whiledevelopingthetestplan,reviewthetestapproachwith theappropriatestakeholderstodetermineifanythingimpor tant is missing and to gain buyin. It is better to discuss differences earlier in the project than to try and bridge mis communication at the end of the project. This does not have to be a formal review as sometimes a meeting discussing the approachissufficient.Thefrequencyandthetimingofcom munications with the stakeholders are dependent upon the scopeandcomplexityoftheproject. Navigate Navigate through testing by referencing the test plan and adjustingapproachesbaseduponnewknowledge. TestPlansandApproachesEvolve A test plan will provide strategic oversight to manage your testing assignment. Refer to the test plan periodically to ensure that the objectives and deliverables are being met; review identified risks to assess likelihood; and review mile stones against the teams progress for any corrective action. Whenreviewingthetestplan,continuetoidentifynewrisks anddetermineifthereisaneedtochangetestingdirection. Atestplanevolvesthroughouttestingbecausetestapproach es are refined based upon additional knowledge gained

through the test results. As testing progresses, risks may change, unexpected problems are encountered, and certain phasesoftestingmaytakelongerthanoriginallyanticipated. The planning process is interwoven throughout test execu tionasitallowsyoutodealwiththeanticipatedproblemsand theunknownsdiscoveredduringtesting. Conclusion The test plan is a tool to develop an overall testing strategy and to provide guideposts to measure progress. The key to planning is to consider the projects scope and risk level to determinehowmuchtimetodevotetotheplanningprocess. Keepthetestplanlightweightbydocumentinginformation that is helpful in managing the project. Remember that the test plan is a living document. As you learn from the test results the test approach will adjust accordingly. Most im portantly,enjoyyourtestingassignmentbyallowingthetest plan to become one of the tools you use to successfully com pleteyourmission.

Bernice Niel Ruhland is a Software Test ing Manager with more than 20years experi ence in testing strategies and execution, de veloping testing frameworks, performing data vali dation, and financial programming. She devotes many hours to reading testing approaches adopted by other testers to challenge her own testing skills andapproaches. When not exploring the testing world, Bernice en joys cooking and spending time with her husband living a healthconscious lifestyle. The opinions of this article are her own and not reflective of the companysheisemployed.Berniceenjoysinteracting with other testing professionals and can be reached at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bernicenielruhland andhttp://twitter.com/#!/bruhland2000. May 2011 - 11 -

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Software Testing News

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The testing phase for new software consists of three steps: developing the tests, running the tests and evaluating the IBM has secured a new contract with the Australian results. These three steps are generally performed manually. Red Cross Blood Service to work through the services first ModelBasedTestingisamethodthatautomatesallstepsin nationaloverhaulofitscriticalbloodmanagementsoftware. thesoftwaretestingprocess.Whenusedproperly,themethod The win sees IBM working as an implementation partner completelyeliminatestheneedformanualsoftwaretesting. withtheBloodServicetocontinuetherolloutofitsNational ModelBased Testing has a number of major advantages: it BloodManagementSystemthatkickedoffinMarch. makes the software testing process faster, cheaper and more The system tracks the supply chain of blood products and accurate.Itisnotuncommonformanualsoftwaretestingto facilitates testing, inventory and distribution management take anywhere from several months to years. Van der Bijls facilitiesfortheservicesredcell,plasmaandplateletstock. new system can significantly reduce the duration of the IBMsroleasimplementationpartnerwillseethetechnology testing period and thus reduce costs. We can reduce the giant provide databases and software testing resources, and duration of the testing phase by at least thirty percent. We were even able to reduce overall software development time willensurelegalandregulatorycomplianceofthesystem. for one of our customers by a factor of four. ModelBased Upgrading the software is essential for maintaining the Testing is more accurate, because in principle there is no efficient and effective operation of blood donation and blood limit to the number of tests you run, says Van der Bijl. If product supply services for Australians, said Jennifer Wil youwant,youcanevenrunamilliontests. liam,CEOoftheAustralianRedCrossBloodService. Ifhissystemtakesoff,thiscouldrepresentanenormouscost This is the first software application upgrade on a nation and time savings for softwaredevelopers.Inparticular, Im widescaletobeundertakenbytheBloodService,saidAnne impressed that the software doesnt just run the tests it Cheetham,IBMsassociatepartnerandlead,VictorianPub actually develops them. Mr. Van der Bijl has also started a licSector. spinoffcompany,Axini,tomarkettheprocess. BothIBMandtheBloodServicedeclinedtocommentonthe http://blogs.forbes.com/alexknapp/2011/05/18/researcherdevelopsautomaticsoftwaretesting/ lengthandvalueofthenewcontract,whichseesIBMaddyet another card to its healthcare deck which contains other prominent contract wins including a $23.6 million contract withtheNationalEHealthTransitionAuthority(NEHTA).

RedCrosshiresIBMforsoftwareoverhaul

http://www.zdnet.com.au/redcrosshiresibmforsoftwareoverhaul339314714.htm

ResearcherDevelopsAutomaticSoftwareTesting Machiel van der Bijl of the University of Twente has developed a software package that eliminates the need for manualsoftwaretesting.
*NewsinHindiScript.

Get your organisations testing newspublishedhere.Writetousat editor@testingcircus.com

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Test Idea Generation

RiyajShaikh
ar F t ea ur e
ingapplications Internalcomponents:Librariesandothercomponentsthat areembeddedintheproduct RunfromNetworkinstalls.Checkwhetheryourappactu ally runs some apps wont, especially if the network share is readonly. What happens if the network is unavailable when you try to launch your app? What happens if the

in Test

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HelloReaders, Ideascanbemorefun,enjoyableifyoudoitinagroup.You

This is my second article about Testing Ideas. Generating networkgoesdownwhiletheapplicationisrunning? willfindthateveryoneaddstheirexperienceswhilediscuss OperationsBased: ingcontributingtotherichnessofthetopic.Earlier,Iused Unattendedinstalls/commandlineinstalls towriteideasinrandom,butnowIuseheuristicsandsetof Mass installs via an enterprise deployment process like oraclestogeneratethose.Imaybelosingsomebetterideasby Microsoftsystemmanagementserver. this approach, but I can assure myself that I covered all Minimum,typical,fullandcustominstall.Verifythateach importanttopics. onwillinstallcorrectfiles.Enablesthecorrectfunctionality, In this article the testing ideas/scenarios for Installation sets correct registry and configuration settings. Also try testing are illustrated. All are based on Heuristics Test upgrading/downgradingbetweenthesetypes. Planning:ContextModelbyJamesBach. ingandupgradeoftheapplication. Installingtheapplication: Platformbased: 2000,XP,XPSP3,Vista,Win7),Mac,Unix InstallingfromCDRom/DVDROM Installingfrom/tonetworkshare Installingfromlocalharddrive Installlocally:Dependingonhowthesetupwascreated,a installedlocally,ortoberunfromasharednetworklocation, ortobeinstalledondemand,ornotbeinstalledatall.Ifyou installonecomponentlocally,runanotherfromthenetwork and set a third to install on first Use, does everything work InstallonFirstUseinstalls:Checkwhethercomponentsare installed when they need to be (and not before), installed in the correct location (what happens if the destination folder hasbeendeleted?)andtheygetregisteredcorrectly. 4 sub types are covered: Installing, uninstalling, reinstall custom install may allow the individual components to be

Installing on different Operating systems Windows (98, correctly?

Verify app is working/installing correctly under remote Verifyinstallstodeeplynestedfolderstructuresworkcor rectly. terminal,virtualterminal External required software: drivers, concurrently execut Verify that all checks made by the installer (e.g., for suffi

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cientdiskspace)workcorrectly. insufficientdiskspace)workcorrectly.

upgrade. An upgrade typically replaces all of the applica afewfiles.

Verify that all errors handled by the installer (e.g., for tionsinstalledfiles,whereasapatchusuallyoverwritesonly Verify that normal or limitedaccess (i.e., nonadmin) PerformaMinorUpgradeonapreviouslypatchedversion. users can run the application when it was installed by an Patchonapreviouslyupgradedversion. administrator. Especially likely to be troublesome here are Upgradeapreviouslyinstalledthenmodifiedinstall. installonFirstUsescenarios. Verifycancelinganinprogressinstalltoseeitcancelsand leavesnotraceoftheunfinishedinstall Upgrades: Verifyupgradingoverapreviousversionreplacesappropri atefilesandnoothers Verify installing this version sidebyside to previous ver sionsworkscorrectly Verify the correct files do/dont exist after an upgrade and theirversionsarealsocorrect Verifydefaultsettingsarecorrect Verifypreviouslyexistingsettingsandfilesaremaintained ormodified,asappropriate Verify all functionality works correctly when the previous version(s)and/orthenewversionissettoRunFromNetwork Combinationinstalls: PerformaTypicalinstallfollowedbyaModifyoperationto addadditionalfeatures. PerformaCustominstallfollowedbyaModifyoperationto removefeatures. PerformaTypicalinstall,deleteoneormoreoftheinstalled files,andthenperformaRepairoperation. Perform a Custom installation that includes nonTypical features, delete one or more of the installed files and then performaRepairoperation MultiUserinstallation: What happens when multiple users mess by modifying the setupconfigurationofyourapplication? NetworkSetup: Can you install your app from the network rather than a localCD? Patches: Patch previous versions. Patching is different from an Verify any features and applications dependent on files or functionalityaffectedbytheupgradeworkcorrectly OperatingSystemUpgrade: Verifyupgradingoverapreviousversionreplacesappropri atefilesandnoothers Verifyallfunctionalityworkscorrectly Verify any features and applications dependent on operat ingsystemfilesorfunctionalityaffectedbytheupgradework correctly UninstallsandReinstalls: Besurethatnotonlyareallapplicationspecific/sharedfiles are removed, but that the registry and other configuration changes are undone as well. Verify components/files which are shared with other applications are/not uninstalled de pending whether any of the sharing apps are still installed. Try outoforder uninstalls: install app A and then app B, thenuninstallappAandthenuninstallappB. Reinstallafteruninstallingthenewandpreviousversions ofyourapplication. Patchapreviouslyinstalledthenmodifiedinstall.

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SecurityTestinginInstallation? Your product is expensive, what if the version you are testingisavailablefreelysomewhereoninternet? Check torrents, I have found that most popular apps can be downloaded from various file uploading and torrent sites freely.Alsosearchforcrackedversions.IfthereisAuthoriza tion keys required while installation, check on Google, if anyonehaspublishthosekeys. OnceIdownload15daystrialproversionofanapp,Iapplied some tricks and then next time app is showing 300 days remaining for trial!! Check if you can do that too. (Remember,testersareauthorizedhackers)Ifyoucouldfind the tricks for your application, you are priceless tester for yourorganization.!!!

RiyajShaikhis atest enthusiastand hasahabitof learningnew thingsin testingworld. Heloves freedomoftesting.Healsolikestodemonstrate histestingskills.Riyajhasparticipatedin variourtestingcommunityactivitiesandoften blogsathttp://riyajs.wordpress.com. RiyajcontributestoTestingCircusmagazine asanassitanteditor. Hecanbereachedat http://twitter.com/riyajshaikhorinhis emailriyajs@testingcircus.com

Doyouhavebetterideasforinstallationtesting?Can you generate more Testing ideas on different topics? You want to contribute for the next issue on test ideas?Ifyes,justwritetousat riyajs@testingcircus.com

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Promoting Software Testing in Your Organization

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How to promote Testing in Your Organization

TestPromotional Tip7:Staypositiveabouttest Do not go along with the negative trend in a bad or inginyourconversationandcommunication.Ra difficultproject diatepassionforthetestingprofession. This article is part of my other articles published in earlier Testing Circus issues: 29 Tips to promote testinginyourorganization Stay positive about testing in every conversation you haveandinallyourcommunication.Radiateaconstant passionfortesting. Fortunately,oftenyouarenottheonlycriticalemployee in a critical project. Especially at the end of a project when the real exciting things start to happen, certain people will be more negative about the software. If you notice this negative behaviour in other people, you can dotwothings:Agreethatitisnotsowell,orbringthis criticismontheprojectinperspective. Thelatterisverydifficult,butyoullhavetotrytobring thisinperspectiveinyourdailycommunication.Youre theexpertofthesoftwareproblemsandifyoudstart talking in the negative sense, you will get a negative markonyouasapersonandonthetestingtrade.

This is something thats very difficult. As a tester you mostly will see the bad characteristics of a software product. Andthisisthe subjectwhereyou think about the most and you will discuss these problems a lot in workplace because youre mainly concerned to communicate and give information about the problems Listenfirst,thenthinkandthentalk thatareencounteredconcerningasoftwareproduct(or Inordertodealwiththis,itmightbeagoodideatostop ITsystem). talkingandlistenmoreinconversationswithcolleagues It can be difficult to keep a positive attitude when orinmeetings.Andifyoustillwanttosaysomething, communicating about this. Though you should try to try to keep silent and listen to the critics. Listening to formulateproblemsandapproachthisinapositiveway. complaints and stories about troubles in a project, whether these are product related or project problems, Well,herehe/shecomes:Thetester.Omy,whatshould can help you get a deeper understanding of the root we do? Run?. This is one of the reactions we should causesofthesecomplaints. trytoavoid,althoughthisisnotalwaysavoidable.Asa testeryouwillalmostalwayscommunicatebadnews. Agoodthingtodoisdiscussthistypeofcomplaintsin a oneonone interview with the project manager or Herearesometipsinthisareathatmayhelpyoutonot anothercolleaguewhoisnotinvolvedintheproject. bethecomplaineroftheproject. Doing this you can get insights from other peoples perspective that you can use in your communication. www.TestingCircus.com May 2011 - 17 -

For most cases there is a solution, but it often requires keepingjustabitofdistance,listentootherpeople,then think about how to communicate these perspectives to yourmainstakeholdersofyourproject. Always discuss issues with a group of the project members Everyonecanaddhisproductissues(orbugs)inabugs database. Alwaysensure that thereis an issue meeting plannedtoconsultwiththerightpeoplefromtheproject (projectmanager,developer,tester,customer,...). Together,discusstheissuesonebyone: Youdeterminetheimpactoftheproblemtogether Istheteamevengoingtosolvetheproblemornot. Noworlater? Andveryimportant,whowillsolvetheproblem. Never do take initiative on your own as a tester, otherwiseyouwont be taken seriously, youre not the project leader, the developer or the one whos going to use the software (the customer). Only within a team discussion the right actionholder and priority can be assigned. This will maketestingapartofthedevelopmentviatheissuesthat arefound.Inorganizationswhereteamsarejuststarting withtesting,theissuelististhemainfocusandsource ofinformationabouttestresults. Thinkbeyondtestandmakesuggestions You need not be limited to only testing of software products. You could also discuss project ideas on how problemscanbefoundinadvance. For example by asking if you (or the team) could do a reviewsessionofthedocumentationbeforecreatingthe code. Or developers checking each others work before integrating it in the configuration tool (peer code reviews).

Testingisagreatjob! Ifsomeonestartstocomplainaboutthetestsyoudoand showsnegativebehaviouraboutthetestingprocesses,it isoftenthelackofknowledgeoftesting,really. We testers are not constant complainers, we do not complainabouteverydetail,butwedowanttobehonest andobjectiveintestexecutingtestsandtestreporting. Thisisabalancethateverytesterhastofindinhisown professionalism. Keeptellingpeoplethattestingisfun,hardwork(harder than lot of people suspect). The phrasestesting is the most beautiful job in IT anda testing department is often the knowledge base of an organization are occasionally nice to ventilate. Although sometimes an eyebrow can go up with a colleague by saying this, it will help in a positive sense. Giving clear, fun and informational presentations about testing in your organization also will help to make some things clear aboutthetestingtrade.

In the next issue Rob will write more on how to promote testinginanorganization.KeepreadingTestingCircus. Editor

RobvanSteenbergenisanindependentsoftware testconsultantfromTheNetherlands.Inthelast4 yearshehasbeeninvolvedininfrastructureprojects andisworkingnowonadesktopvirtualization projectwhereheistestingandcoordinatingthetests. Formoreinformationvisitwww.chickenwings.nl Robcanbereachedat http://twitter.com/rvansteenbergen

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Crack The Code!

BlinduEusebiu

Visithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQJUtSbpquY

Use Youtube annotations. Each video is interlinked with the other videos throughlinks. MissionFindanytypeofmismatch, exceptionsorinconsistenciesetc. Sendyouranswersdirectlyto BlinduEusebiu testalways@testingcircus.com

BlinduEusebiuis a tester for more than5years.Heis currently hosting EuropeanWeekend Testing. He considers himself a context driven follower and he is a fan of exploratorytesting. He tweets as @testalways. You can find more interactive testing puzzles on his websitehttp://www.testalways.com Send your answers to

Namesofpuzzlesolverwillbepublishedinthe nextissueofTestingCircus.

testalways@testingcircus.com
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JodieAlaineParker
#NLP#Agile#ExploratoryTesting#Enabletheteamtobreathcrea tivityandyouwillhaveoneawesomedelivery. 522Following 420Followers 50Listed http://twitter.com/ubuntutester

DerkJandeGrood
Thoughtleaderinsoftwaretesting.Authorofbooksonsoftware testing,ITandgivingpresentations. 58Following 169Followers 10Listed http://twitter.com/DerkJanDeGrood

RobLambert
CreativeDirectoratSoftwareTestingClub.EditorofTheTesting Planet.TestManageratNewVoiceMedia. http://thesocialtester.posterous.com/ 1324Following 1225Followers 104Listed http://twitter.com/Rob_Lambert

AST
TheAssociationforSoftwareTesting:Advancingtheunderstand ing & practice of software testing via conferences, publications, training,websites&services. http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org 0Following 425Followers 29Listed http://twitter.com/AST_News

http://Twitter.com/TestingCircus
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Problem:Ihave10openBrowsers.HowcanIclosethem1by1? Re Solution:CloseAlltheOpenBrowser WhileBrowser(title:=.*,index:=0).Exist Browser(title:=.*,index:=0).close Wend Problem:SometimesithappensthatQTPdoesnotrecogniseobjects.CanIusekeyboardstrokestoclickthelinksand Navigatethedifferentpartsofopenapplication. Solution:UseofKeyStrokeonActiveBrowser/Window SetObj=CreateObject(WScript.Shell) wait2 Obj.Runhttp://www.google.com wait2 Obj.SendKeys{Enter} wait2 Obj.SendKeys{Tab} wait2 Obj.SendKeys{Enter} wait2 Obj.SendKeys{Tab} wait2 Obj.SendKeys{Tab} wait2 Jaijeet Pandey has over 5 and half Obj.SendKeys{Tab} years of experience in Application wait2 Development, Maintenance and Obj.SendKeys{Tab} Testing.Frommorethanlast4years wait2 heisinvolvedinautomationtesting Obj.SendKeys{Tab} with QTP and Load Runner tools. wait2 Heisassociatedwithvarioustesting Obj.SendKeys{Tab} initiatives in NCR region of India. wait2 He teaches QTP on weekends. Obj.SendKeys{Tab} Jaijeet writes his blog at wait2 http://jaijeetpandey.blogspot.com Obj.SendKeys{Enter} He is currently employed with Theabovecodewill Birlasoft,Noida.Hecanbereached 1.LaunchGoogle.com athttp://twitter.com/jaijeetpandey 2.ClickonlinkAdvancedSearch 3.ClickonlinkGoogleInstantwithinAdvancedSearchPage

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Testers Greatest Nemesis

MartinJansson
somethingtotestweshowedthemitwasabigdifferencewith WhenIfirstgotincontactwithsoftwaretesters,Iworkedas whatwefoundcomparedtothem. PM and developer for a language tool. Our CEO had said The thing that is constant is the confusing perception on a that he had hired two testers, easily since you can just pick testerisandwhatweshoulddo. themfromanystreetcorner.Sadlytheyhadnocluewhatto Howaretestersperceived? doanddidnotfindanybugs,theyjustfoundouthowtheOS workedorthingsthatwerebuiltin.Aftersometimewewere Ifyoulookattestersfromasalaryperspectiveweveryoften able to get a new group of testers and now things really havelowersalariesthandevelopersandprojectmanagers,but changed. Some of them were aspiring to be developers, but we have higher than documentation specialists and support settledtobetestersforashorttime.Atthattimetheyhadno personnel (at least in Sweden). For many salary also drives knowledgeabouthowtestingshouldbedoneaccordingtothe your career choices, so you naturally want to get out of the socalledrules,buttheydidagoodjobandfoundbugsinour testingdepartment.InSwedenconsultantscanchargehigher fortestleadsthantestersatmanymajorcustomers.Thisdoes software. notmotivateconsultanciestogrowgreattesters. SomeyearlaterIbeganataproductdevelopmentcompany. During my years there we had change of manager almost Ifyoulookattestersthroughcareerperspectiveyouoftensee every year for the test department. Each one brought their thattesterisapitstopinpursuittobecomeadeveloper.Or own perspective on testers. Most of them accepted any perhaps more rarely you see people have been demoted from personnelfromanydepartmentwhentherewaslackoftesters. otherpositions.Someoneneedstotaketheroleoftester,lets During that time we got to experience a lot of different take the person we need the least for other tasks. I also see backgrounds, skills and interests from the extra personnel. personnelthatarepromotedfromsupporttotesting(asthey Wealsoexperiencedmanyemployeeswhoweremovedoreven expressit).Ifyoubecometestleadyoumightbeontheway demoted down to the test department. Many stayed in tobecomeprojectmanager.Managersknowthatmanywith testing where they excelled and eventually liked it. During higher ambition will just pass through the test department, allthoseyearsmanagementsawusasthecomplainingguys whileotherslessmotivatedwillstaybehind.Still,therewill fromthetestdepartment,perhapsatoocommonview?What always be a group of testers who love testing and want to wereallydidwasexpressrisks,bugsoranyinformationwe excelinit,butsomecompaniesdonothavethemyet. thought endangered the company or products under test. I In the scripted test approach you most often want a domain am sure their perception of us was misplaced, but naturally experttowritetestcasesandletsomeoneelse(orsometimes we were somewhat to blame for how we communicated and thesameperson)executethetests.Inthissituationthetester howweactedwhencommunicating. canbeanybody,he/shejustneedtoexecutethetests.When Some years later I joined a smaller company with mostly amanagerisseekingnewresourcestobecometestershewill researchersandscientists.Mostofthemwereusedtoworking acceptanybodytobecomeatester,thanyouhavethepotential alone in development projects so they did all things ofgettinganyone,evendemotedpersonnel,fromotherparts themselves. They did not see the need for testing as a oftheorganization.Thisisthemostcommonviewontesters, discipline on its own. Eventually when we (testers) got asIseeit. Background
**Thisarticlewasfirstpublishedinhttp://thetesteye.com/blog/2011/05/testersgreatestnemesis/

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arguments about multiplechoice questions in his article DuringmywholecareerIhavenotheardthatmanytalkabout Frederick Taylor In The Classroom: Standardized Testing the need or requirement of certification at places where I AndScientificManagement[6]. workedoratclients.Inonecaseatesterapproachme,when Attitude hewasabouttoentermytestgroup.HesaidhewasISTQB Just because we have to work up streams does not mean we certified and that his employer required all testers to be cankeeponhavingalousyattitude.Iveoftenseenuspicture certified.ItoldIwasnot,butIhadmorethan10yearsoftest ourselves as victims because of our situation, lack of experience and close to 20 years of product development personnel,timeetc.Ifwearetoofewtotestandifwegottoo experience.Wasthatok?Iaskedhimofhistestingskillsand little time, we can only offer to do our best. We can also whathecoulddotocontributetomyteam.Hegotscaredand explainwhatwecoulddoifweweremoreandifwehadmore did not want to join the team. I regret that I scared him off time. The prior combined with that we often speak in anger likethat.Someonemusthaveintroducedtheideathattobea when we talk about quality. This only fuels the perception goodtesteryouneedtobecertified.Orwasitperhapssetup thatweareabunchofidiots,angryones. as a minimum requirement when handling allocating personnel to teams? Perhaps the original intention was Whenwegetdeliverablesfromdeveloperswearesometimes certified tester or experiences enough to cover it? There is angrybecauseofthebadqualityorthelousystateofacertain seldom context behind decisions like that. My belief is that build.Doweconsiderwhyitislikethat,whatshortcutsthey some consultancy got them to buyin on the idea, then sold neededtotakeorifsomeoneforcedthedeliveryofanewbuild? Do we really need to focus our blame on the developers? themlotsofcoursesandcertificationpackages. Considertheireverincreasingtechnicaldebtthattheymight AfterreadingDorothyGrahamsblogposts([1],[2]and[3]) notgetproperprioritytoadjust. abouttheintentionofcertification,Iwonderwhynoonespoke upaboutwherethingswereheading.Theirintentmighthave In most areas of expertise you have lots of education, at been to make the perception on testers better, but I think it variouslevelsoftheschoolsystem,tobackyouup.Thishas instead has hurt our craft. At each conference and at most juststarted to get going with testing. At least itis not only meetings there is often someone who speaks up with lots of a chapter in a book that you skip. There are lots of books, argument against certification. I rarely see anyone take up articles,blogsandothersourcesofinformationtogainother the discussion to meet their arguments or perhaps I do not peoples experience on testing. Why is it ok to think you do not need to learn more about your craft? Why do so many listen?JamesBachhasmadealotofgoodarguments[4]. testers with lots of years in the testing craft still state that Therearemanysocalledtestexpertsouttherewhosaythat they have not studied anything to get better at testing? certificationsuchasISEBorISTQBisneededtobeatester. Having that attitude damages the perception on testers by Somecompaniesevenrequireitoftheirtestersandtherefore keepingyouignorantofwhatyouclaimtobeexpertat.With therecruitersrequirepeopleseekingjobstohaveit.Ithinkit theincreasinguseofagileteamswhereatesterhasanatural is all a charade. Having testers who take courses in testing, part,youaresupposedtoknowatleastsomethingaboutyour who read books, blogs and articles, who want to learn and craft. who want to excel as testers are what is needed. Passionate testerswhowanttobecomegreat!Iftheyarecertifiedthatis Whatdowedotoaffectthatperception? ok,perhapstheygotsomeideasfromitandtheymighthave Ifwearecontinuouslyprovidingvaluableinformationtoour had a great teacher who stimulated them into becoming stakeholders the perception will be altered. This means that passionatethemselves. you need to know what they find valuable and what could ISTQB uses multiplechoice questions on their exams, but threaten that value. You also need to consider how you they are quite limited. Cem Kaner has written an excellent communicate, thus in what form, if you are going to use postaboutWritingMultipleChoiceTestQuestions[5]where metrics or not, how much subjectivity or objectivity you hemakessomestrongarguments.IfISTQBwasalteredalong should use and how you act when communicating. Less those lines it would make it harder to pass and naturally dramaqueenandmoreprofessionalism. Certification harder to create, but it would still not solve the main issue We are working up streams here, so everything that you do with content being out of date and totally wrong in many that is bad will have a great impact on the perception on areas, as I see it. Jonathan Rees brings up other strong testers.Whereeveryougoyouwillbringyourattitudeand

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ambition. When interacting with nontesters consider what youaresayingandhowitmightappeartothem.Considerif youareinthecorrectcrowdtoutteryourdisapproval,ifyou needtogosomewhereelseorifyoucanjustgotoyourmanager. We need to communicate to managers that it is demeaning and demotivating to be seen as idiots or just anybody. We need to show that having skilled, passionate and motivated testers will give a lot better result. What else can you do to motivateyourselvestogetthoseattributes?Thosewhohave been demoted or are demotivated, show them how creative and exciting the testing profession can be. Bring in other external passionate testers to give them some new ideas. If nothing of this work, perhaps they need to find what they reallywanttodoandgothere. Before accepting new testers to the team, we need to make sure they are right for the job. Do not accept demoted personnel without explain the consequences. When you as test lead discuss having extra personnel join your team, clarifythatyouwanttotestthembeforeacceptingtheminto the group and that some in the team need to be able to veto acceptance. Weneedtotelldevelopersthatweunderstandthattheymust takeshortcuts,thusincreasingthetechnicaldebt,butwecan help[7].Workcloserwiththedevelopers.Stopbuildingwalls betweenyou.Themorethedeveloperstrustandrespectyou, themoreinformationyouwillhavebeforeyoucommenceyour work as a tester which will lead to a better work done. Rememberagoodbugisafixedbug. Consider how the test organization is built, how it markets itself andwhatyou communicatetomanagement. SeeScott BarbersexcellentblogaboutWhatbeingaContextDriven Testermeanstome[8]thatcanbeusedasastartingpoint foryouandyourtestorganization.Alsoconsiderwhereyou are going with testing [9] to understand where you come from, what your next goal is and perhaps what is pushing youinacertaindirection.Areyougoingintherightdirection? Conclusion I think the perception on testers is our greatest nemesis, we have to fight it every day. Certification in testing does not help us, as I see it, but it is not our main target for concern just one of the bullies. There are many things that make us getabadreputationandarethereforeperceivedbadly.Start changing your own ways and affect those around you to become great, passionate testers who deliver valuable informationeffectively.

References [1]Certificationisevil? http://dorothygraham.blogspot.com/2011/02/part1certification isevil.html [2]AbitofhistoryaboutISTQBcertification http://dorothygraham.blogspot.com/2011/02/part2bitof historyaboutistqb.html [3]Certificationdoesnotassesstesterskill http://dorothygraham.blogspot.com/2011/02/part3certification schemesdonot.html [4]SearchforISTQBatJamesblog http://www.satisfice.com/blog/index.php?s=istqborhttp://www.s atisfice.com/blog/index.php?s=certification [5]WritingMultipleChoiceTestQuestions http://kaner.com/?p=34 [6]FrederickTaylorInTheClassroom:StandardizedTesting AndScientificManagement http://radicalpedagogy.icaap.org/content/issue3_2/rees.html [7]Developers,letthetestersassistwiththetechnicaldebt http://thetesteye.com/blog/2011/01/developersletthetesters assistwiththetechnicaldebt/ [8]WhatbeingaContextDrivenTestermeanstome http://www.testingreflections.com/node/view/8657 [9]Whereareyougoingwithtesting http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/04/whereareyougoingwith testing/

MartinJansson,TestManager at Qamcom Research & Technology,startedhiscareeras tester 1996. He has tried many professions in product development, but his heart and soul belongs in testing. Martin is one of the founders of www.thetesteye.com which has grown into one of the greatestSwedishblogsonsoftwaretesting.In2010heand a colleague won the competition for apprenticeship in EuroSTARTestLabandtheywilltogetherin2011manage it. Martin is always on the lookout for great, passionate peopletoworkwith. You can reach him on Twitter @martin_jansson or on martin.jansson@qamcom.se

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Open Source Test Automation Tool - Sahi (A brief Introduction)

AkankshaTalwar
Automation Tool Tutorial Watch out for our next issues for a series of articles on Sahi Web Automation Tool. By Narayan Raman

Test Automation is a hot topic in the world of software testing. Every company is looking for automation testers to increase the effectiveness, efficiency and coverage of testing. Automation is a way of smart testing which helps in delegatingmonotonous, repetitive or timeconsumingtasks. It helps to reduce test cycle span and increase the test coverage. If done correctly, automated software testing can reducethetimetorunrepetitivetestsfromdaystohours.

StartWithSahi DownloadSahifromhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/sahi/ Installation DoubleclickoninstallSahiv35_xxx.jar Oropenacommandprompt,navigatetowhere thefileisandruncommand Javajavainstall_v35_xxx.jar

Sahiawebapplicationtestingtoolhasbeendevelopedby Tocheckhowtodownloadthesahigothrough NarayanRaman.Thisarticlecanbeusefultothepeoplewho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34ZktfzsXU are new to automation tools or are interested in exploring It will create icon on the Sahitomaketestingmoreproductiveandeffective. Desktoplike Introduction Double click on shortcut Sahi is automation and testing tool for web applications. It createdonthedesktop gives the facility to record and playback scripts. This tool works on various browsers (e.g. IE 9.0) which support Or JavaScript. It is browser and Platform independent. Sahi Gotostart>Allprogram> injects JavaScript into web pages using a proxy and the startsahi JavaScripthelpsautomatewebapplications.ItusesRhinoas its JavaScript engine and Rhino has excellent support for handlingXML.Whilerecordingandplaying,Sahidoesnot It will open the Sahi create junk scripts which normally are the case with other Dashboardwhichwillshow Automationtools.ItdoesnotusexpathlikeSelenium. alltheavailablebrowsersin your system. It will

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automatically configure the proxy setting on the browser beforeinvokingit. OrjustentertheURLwhereyouwanttorecordandclickon Go. Clickonthebrowserwhichyouwanttochoose.Itwillopen thebrowserasshownbelow: Toconfigurethebrowsersettingsclickonconfigureonthe dashboardoftheSahi. And it will open the configurationfileforSahi.

ToRecordthescript On the Controller, go the the Record tab (would be selected bydefault). On the Controller have to set thescriptnameLikebelowand clickontheRecordbutton.

PressALTanddoubleclickonthebrowser(lowerpartofthe screen);itwillopenthecontrollerforSahi.

This controller helpstorecord& playbackscripts, e v a l u a t e expressions and addassertions. Sahi creates the script in folder userdate > scriptsunderthe Navigate on your website like you normally would. Most location where actionsonthepagewillnowgetrecorded. you have ClickStoptofinishrecording. installed the sahi. It will createthescriptwiththeextn.sah. YoucanalsolearnSahibyusingthesampleapplicationwhich ispresentinthebrowseropenedbytheSahi.

ToViewthescript The recoded script can be viewed and edited by opening the .sahfileinthe<sahi_root>\userdata\scriptsdirectory.Sahi scriptsaresimpletextfileswhichuseJavaScriptsyntax. Thescriptcanbeeditedevenwhilerecording,sothatlogical segregation into functions etc. can be done as recording happens.ToViewScriptsfromthecontroller,clickonView Scriptlinkatthebottomrightofthecontroller.

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ToPlayBacktheScript FromtheSahiControllergototheplaybacktab. EnterthescriptnameintheFile:field.

This was a very basic introduction about Sahi. Sahi is a powerfultool.AndIhopeyouwillbeabletolearnmoreabout SahinextfewissuesofTestingCircus.

References ClickSet.Waitforthepagetoreload.AndclickPlay Stepswillstartexecuting,andtheControllerwillbeupdated 1. http://sahi.co.in/w/ 2. http://sourceforge.net/projects/sahi/ accordingly. 3. http://blog.sahi.co.in/search/label/Sahi Oncefinished,SUCCESSorFAILUREwillbedisplayedat Logosandtrademarksusedinthisarticlearethepropertyof theendofthesteps. therespectivetrademarkowners. ToviewtheLog On the Controller, go to Playback tab and click on View Logs link at the bottom right. It will open a window with theresultsneatlyformattedinHTML. Assertion AssertionisusedinSahiwhenweexpectsomethingandwant toverifythattheactualresultissameastheexpectedresult. ToAddAssertioninthescript Click the Assert button to generate assertions for the element.TheywillappearintheEvaluateExpressionbox. Click Test > to check that the assertions are true. You can evaluate any JavaScript using Evaluate Expression and Test >. Actions performed via the Controller will not be automatically recorded. Only actions which are performed directly on the page are automatically recorded. This lets you experiment on the webpage at the time of recordingwithoutimpactingthescript. Oncesatisfied,clickonAppendtoScript.Thiswilladdthe assertionstotheScript. ClickStoptofinishrecording.

Akanksha Talwar is a passionate tester from Bangalore. She is into testing from last 6 years. Shelovestolearnnewthingsandlikestoexplore new tools whenever she can. Akanksha has been involved in various testing communities. She coachestraineeswhoarenewtotestingandwants tomakelongcareerinsoftwaretesting. Akankshacanbereachedat http://twitter.com/aku24

EverySoftwareEngineercontinueshisstateofchattingorforwardingmailsuntil andunlessheisassignedworkbymanager. Therateofchangeinthesoftwarequalityisdirectlyproportionaltothepayment receivedfromclientandthedeadlinetime,andittakesplaceatthequickrateas andwhendeadlineforceisapplied. Bugscanneitherbecreatednorberemovedfromsoftwarebyadeveloper.Itcan onlybeconvertedfromoneformtoanother.Thetotalnumberofbugsinthe softwarealwaysremainsconstant.

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3 Essentials to Setting Expectations

VaradaSharma
Yet another day of her projects user acceptance test phase andIseeDebolookingastiredandfrustratedasever.Ileft at 9.30 pm last night, was on phone with onsite till 11 pm and awoke with a phone call from onsite at 7 am this morn ing.Iamquitting thisjobassoonasthistestingends. Feels likepeopleheredonttrusttestersfordoingtheirjobright! shefrownswhilesippingtea. Aswegetintodetailsofhowthingsaregoingsobadwithher, I end up pointing out that as a test lead (and neither the productownernorUATcoordinator),itisnotherjobinthe first place to be available to onsite for discussing issues. I advise her to tell politely but firmly that she should not be contactedafterofficehoursfordiscussingissuesthatarise. It is all about setting expecta tions right. Quitting your job is a tempo rary solution. What guarantee doyouhavethat you wont land up in same situ ation in your new job?, I countered. Anyrelationshipfriends,husbandwife,parentskids,busi nessclients relies on trust factor and trust comes from meetingeachothersexpectations.Settingexpectationsright iscrucialifyouaregoingtomeetthepartysexpectationsat all. Here are my top 3 golden rules to setting the right expectations: a. Stateclearlywhatyouaregoingtodo:Illpickyou up, a mother might tell her daughter. But it leaves roomopenformanydifferencesthatcanarisedueto thisstatement.Atwhattime?,Fromwhere?are twoobviousthingsthatcanbemisunderstood.Imag inewhathappensifmomwaitsattheschoolgate,but thegirliswaitingatthebusstop. This is also a common scenario in business (especially softwareindustry!).Peoplewalkawayfromthesame meetingunderstandingentirelydifferentthings.The clientisthinkingheisgettingtherequirementbuilt thismonth,thedeveloperisthinkingnextmonth. Stateclearly,repeatandasktheotherpersontosumma rize at the end of conversation to make sure your pointhasmadeitacrosscorrectly. b. Stateclearlywhatyouarenotgoingtodo:Ifthereare certain things that you know, you wont do, state that.Explicitly.

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It gets trickier with the things that you do not know about. Most often, you dont know what you dont

c. State the price of exceeding expectations: In spite of your best efforts it can happen that the other party starts demanding more. How many times has your son stayed within the budget for his toy shopping? Putapriceontheexceededexpenditureupfront.Try somethinglike,Yougettopicktoysupto1000/Rs. Anything more than that and Ill deduct from your nextmonthspocketmoney.Althoughitmightfeel cruel to do so, make good on your words once or twice.Youllgetthenecessarymessageacross. Similarly in business cases. Tell your client, youll be happytoacceptchangesforuptoonereviewcycleat no cost. After that any change will be charged at hourly rate. Make this a part of your contract, start following it religiously and see the change in your projects. Yes,thesethingsareeasiersaidthandone,attimes.Butthen, yourpeaceofmindiswellworththeseefforts,isntit?

know, right? You wont do it anyway, but you also do not know with enough clarity what you are not goingtodoorcannotdo.Soyouarenotinaposition tosettheaccountstraighthere. The way to deal with this situation is to make sure you putinageneralboundarylikeIwilldoX,YandZ andnothingelse.Itisalsoimportanttosticktothis boundary.Ifyousayyouwontdoanythingelseand then start making exceptions, you are letting people walkalloveryou. Classic example is a software firm that accepts require ments,definesboundariesandthenkillsitsdevelop ment team to include everything else that the client starts portraying as desired, implicit or business criticalrequirement.

Varada Sharma is currently working as a Test Manager at GrapeCity In dia.Inher13years of software career she has been a trainer, developer, tester,businessan alyst,project man ager and a test manager at differ enttimes.Shesharesherexperiencesonvarious emagazinesandalsoauthorsablogdedicatedto testing: http://www.effectivesoftwaretestingblog.com

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Parimala Shankaraiah
OrganisationConsonaCorporation Role/DesignationPrincipalTester LocationBangalore,India

Interview with Testers

ParimalaShankaraiahhassevenplusyearsofexperienceintestingaswellas mentoring teams of software testers. Apart from testing that she is most passionate about, she loves to mentor upcoming testers and students. She writesfrequentlyabouthertestingexperiencesatCuriousTester. Sheisalsoaregularcontributorofarticlesontestingandissuesconcerning testing.Herhobbiesincludereadingbooks,blogs,magazinesetc.Sheisagreat foodieandaselfconfessedemotionalovereaterwhoeatstobeateveryemotion intheworld. Parimala Shankaraiah currently works as a Principal Tester at Consona Corporation,Bangalore.

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the time was a job. Testing or Development didnt matter and I took it up. 3. By any means, do you regret being associatedwithsoftwaretesting? Hell NO! Not a single time in all these years!Myfriendsandclassmatesplayed down my job offer from a reputed MNC saying Testing is a boring job. Blah! Blah! Blah! I dismissed their views as commentsfilledwithjealousyasIwasthe highest paid student in my batch at that time.Whenmanypeoplestartedtelling the same thing, I said to myself Let me givemyself3monthstime.IfIdontlike whatIamdoing,Illquitandlookoutfor a job in development just like the rest of the souls. At the end of 3 months, I
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1. How long have you been associated with softwaretesting? Its been great 7.5 years now and I am enjoyingeachandeverymoment. 2. Howdidyoubecomeasoftwaretester? Sameoldtraditionalstory!Graduatedin 2003 and started hunting for a job at a time when my own seniors werent yet placed in jobs thanks to the recession in 2001. After innumerable tests and umpteen number of interviews, I finally landedajob.Asatester.AllIneededat

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lookedbackandIknewthatIwaspartof a highly satisfying and flourishing professionofAlltimes. 4. Do you think software testing is less respected than other departments in IT industry? It depends. I have worked for a couple large organizations that think testing is anobstacle.Ihavealsoworkedforacouple smaller ones which iconize testing. It varies from company to company irrespective of being large or small. One thing I have noticed very often is that Software Testing as a profession appears tobelessrespectedbecausesomebigguys in the organization build that kind of a culture among people who work there. They keep preaching how testing delays releases, how it burdens timelines and howtestersarelousybecausetheyneither testCOMPLETELYnordotheyfindALL bugs. And that mentality drills down to the lowest possible level within the organization eventually forcing testers and manyotherstothinkthat itisaless respected profession. If software testing waslessrespected,itwouldhaveperished bynow.Assimpleasthat! 5. Whatwillyousuggesttopeoplewhowant tojoinITindustryassoftwaretesters? Dear xyz, if you want to flourish in testing, have the right attitude and good communicationskillsinadditiontogood testing skills. Else, be rest assured that youll die in boredom or move to a differentprofession.

Added to that, whoever wants to join testing is welcome. There are ample opportunitiesintesting.Notbecauseits an often ignored or less respected career option, but because testing is one of the professions which respects and values diversity. Whether people are from technical background or not, they come withabrandnewperspectivewhichworks wondersforanyteam. In addition, doing some amount of groundwork like testing open source projects,readingbooks,blogs,magazines, being as diverse as possible by solving puzzles, developing critical and lateral thinking skills and networking with the right people who are willing to help will allow wannabe testers to do well in this profession. So all you people who are curious to exploretesting,WelcomeOnboard! 6. Where do you see Software Testing in nextfiveyears? ExcitingQuestion!Iseesoftwaretesting atthetoprungofmanyorganizationsin the next five years. We currently have amazingtestingleadersacrosstheworld whoaretoilingdayandnighttoeducate organizations about the value of testing and how its a boon and not a bane. As this network of leaders reaches out to more and more testers, many more leaders will be born who will eventually get absorbed into organizations and become great change agents. In the next
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five years, I also foresee testers develop the courage and confidence to challenge blind beliefs and age old conventions. Not just talk, but be able to show how theycanaddmorevalueiftheyaregiven morefreedom. 7. What qualities will you look for in a candidate when you want to recruit someoneforsoftwaretestingjob? Right attitude followed by a strong urge to learn and perform in addition to good testingskills.Therearegreatexamplesof teachingcertainlanguages,toolsoreven doing some tasks. However, there are no exampleswherecuriosityandtheurgeto learn can be taught. Adaptability and flexibility are key skills too. Ability to thinkdifferentlyandtestproductsisvery important. For me, soft skills is as much important as any technical skill because at the end of the day, we mostly work with humans and its important to exhibitstrongemotionalintelligenceover time. 8. Yourweekendroutine? Eat well, Sleep well and Relax with Family (not necessarily in that order). Apart from that, I catch up with some readingmostlybooks.Occasionally,Itest some open source products or anything that catches my attention (for e.g. Recently, I was testing how set top box responds to different options on the remote and found a couple cool flaws). I enjoygoingonlongwalkstoo.

9. Movieyouwouldliketowatchagain? ShawshankRedemption,PrettyWoman, Shakespeare in Love, and All movies directed by Shekar Kapur, K Balachander, Balu Mahendran and K Viswanath. 10. I am a social networking site geek Or Ihatefacebook/orkut/twitter? Idislikefacebookandorkutforsure.Ido exist there to keep in touch with school andcollegefriends.Ilovetwitterbecause itkeepsmeupdatedonlatesthappenings inthetestingworld.Imoreorlessfollow people who are related to testing . Another good thing with twitter is there is so much of information posted out there. Though I get bogged down with information at many times, being on twitterhelpsmebeintotalcontrolofmy skillsandknowledge. EmailID parimala.shankaraiah@gmail.com Blog/Site http://curioustester.blogspot.com/ http://thefieldstonemethod.blogspot.com/ TwitterUrl http://twitter.com/curioustester

In the next issue we will publish interviewwithMarkusGrtner. Editor.

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Thursday June 23rd 2011 Conference Center Figi Zeist

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AssistantEditors BrianOsman(Wellington/NewZealand) AshikElahi(Dhaka/Bangladesh) SelimMia(Tokyo/Japan) AjaySharma(NewDelhi/India) GaganTalwar(Mumbai/India) RiyajShaikh(Pune/India) AsifIquebalSarkar(Bhubaneswar/India) CoreTeamJaijeetPandey,NareshBisht,KumarGaurav,SunilGodiyal PublicityTeamMaheepatiTyagi,AmitAgnihotri,AnujBatta OnlineCollaboration&AdvertisementBharatiSingha TechnicalTeamDebasishNath,NasimAhmed,RajatVerma
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