I am writing functional tests using TestNG, and I have a few dozens of similar tests with different data. I would like to use DataProvider to reduce repeating code.
But some of those tests pass, some fail (due to a known defect). I want to disable failing tests until they are fixed, so they don't spoil whole picture of test run.
I see that AnnotationTransformer can change test annotations dynamically. Can AnnotationTransformer disable test only with some of the data sets? Or will it disable test with all provided data and it is better not to change anything?
Thanks in advance.
Why not simply put these failing tests in a group, say "broken", and exclude that test from your runs? Much simpler than using an annotation transformer, and the reports will show you which groups were excluded, so there is no risk to miss any when comes the time to ship.
I am facing some difficulties in understanding test harness and related common terms like test case, test scripts in automation testing.
So this is what I got so far:
Automation testing is the use of a special software (other than the software being tested) to control the execution of tests and compare the actual results with the expected results. It also involves the setting up of test pre-conditions. This kind of testing is most suitable for tests that are frequently carried out.
Now, I am having some problems with test harness. I read that it consists of a test suite of test cases, input files, output files, and test scripts.
Now my question is what is the difference between test case and test script?
How do you use the software to test the different functions of the Acceptance Unit Testing (AUT)? I also came across some terms like suite master and case agents.
Several broad questions there, will try to answer based on my experience.
Think of a Test Harness as an 'enabler' that actually does all the work of (1)executing tests using a (2)test library and (3)generating reports. It would require that your test scripts are designed to handle different (4)test data and (5)test scenarios. Essentially, when the test harness is in place and prerequisite data is prepared (aka data prep) someone should be able to click a button or run one command to execute all your tests and generate reports.
A test harness is most likely a collection of different things that make all of the above happen. If you wrote unit tests while developing your application, that would be part of a test harness. You would also have other tests for the functionality of your app, like: user logs in to site, sees favourites pane, recent messages and notifications. Then you add in a 'runner' of sorts that goes through all of your "test scripts" and runs them (instead of you having to execute tests one at a time). If it feels like a test harness is more of a conceptual collection rather than a single piece of software, then you're understanding this correctly :-)
Now my question is what is the difference between test case and test script?
Simple but not entirely correct answer: A Test Case defines test objectives, description, pre-conditions, steps (descriptive or specific), expected results. A Test Script would then be the actual automated script that you execute to do that test. That's in an Automation context. And it changes. A lot.
What certifications like ISTQB define as test scenarios is usually referred to as test cases in some companies and countries. In others, test cases are flipped with test scripts when referring to manual testing (when the steps are given in detail but not part of an automation harness). Others say that test scripts exclusively mean automated tests. On the other hand, one can also argue that several test cases can be combined in a test script and vice-versa. So that begs the question, how does a test procedure fit in?
A test development stage can have: "Test procedures, test scenarios, test cases, test datasets, test scripts to use in testing software."
If you assume a > (is larger than/collection of) relation, how would you relate those? Rhetorical question - that differs based on where you work, who your client is, etc. Best thing is to define it with your colleagues/clients and agree on the understanding of the terms rather than the definition. I currently go with test script = automated script, based on a pre-existing manual test case or a test scenario.
Also, how do you use the software to test the different functions of the AUT?
You write different tests to test different things. Each test does certain actions and checks if the AUT's output matches what you expected - If displayed_value == expected_value. An input file could be used to provide data for the test- list of test usernames and passwords, for instance. Or run the same test with different data - login as a different user with different messages, etc.
Take a look at RobotFramework and the Selenium. A robot framework test (written in text or html files) combined with the Selenium library would allow you to write an automated test which tests something specific...like a home page validation. You would write a separate test to ensure that a user can see all his/her messages. Another to test clearing notifications. And so on.
test harness: A test environment comprised of stubs and drivers needed to execute a test.
Test harnesses and stubs will be used to replicate the missing items (components not yet included in the tests or external systems).
Often, when small-scale Integration Testing of several modules or components is performed, it is necessary to devise or improvise methods and tools to get the test data to the components under test. This is often called a test harness. Because of the need to understand the technicalities required to build a test harness this testing is almost always done by the development team.
A test harness may facilitate the testing of components or part of a system by simulating the environment in which that test object will run. This may be done either because other components of that environment are not yet available and are replaced by stubs and/or drivers, or simply to provide a predictable and controllable environment in which any faults can be localized to the object under test. These are usually bespoke programs generated by developers to help in the testing process. If they are used in a mature organisation it is quite possible that these harnesses will be considered as ‘Test Assets’ and subject to Version Control & Configuration Management.
Test harnesses contains all the information required to compile and run a test. This includes, test cases, source files under test, stubs, and Target Deployment Port (TDP) configuration settings.
A Test Harness is the collection of all the items needed to test software at the unit, module, application or system level and provides the mechanism to execute the test. Every item such as input data, test parameters, test case, test script, expected output data, test tool, and test result report is part of the test harness.
We currently have a situation where several tests are failing. Someone is working on this, but it is not me. I have been tasked with other work. So I plan on running the tests in NUnit before I begin my work so I have a base line of failing tests and what the failure message is. I would like to use this result to verify that those tests fail with the exact same failure result while testing my own code. are there any resources that would allow me to do this?
update
I'm aware of the ExpectedException attribute. However that will not work for the tests that are failing the test condition. Also there are thousands of tests of which only about 100 tests are failing. I was hoping for something that would compare the two test runs and show me the differences.
I'd throw an
[Ignore("SomeCustomStringICanFindLater")]
attribute on the failing tests until they are fixed.
See IgnoreAttribute.
And try to convince your manager that a broken build should be everyone's top priority.
After doing some research while waiting on an answer. I found that the console runner produces xml output. I can use a diff tool to compare the two test runs and see which tests failed differently than the baseline test run.
I just started working on an existing grails project where there is a lot of code written and not much is covered by tests. The project is using Hudson with the Cobertura plugin which is nice. As I'm going through things, I'm noticing that even though there are not specific test classes written for code, it is being covered. Is there any easy way to see what tests are covering the code? It would save me a bit of time if I was able to know that information.
Thanks
What you want to do is collect test coverage data per test. Then when some block of code isn't exercised by a test, you can trace it back to the test.
You need a test coverage tool which will do that; AFAIK, this is straightforward to organize. Just run one test and collect test coverage data.
However, most folks also want to know, what is the coverage of the application given all the tests? You could run the tests twice, once to get what-does-this-test-cover information, and then the whole batch to get what-does-the-batch-cover. Some tools ( ours included) will let you combine the coverage from the individual tests, to produce covverage for the set, so you don't have to run them twice.
Our tools have one nice extra: if you collect test-specific coverage, when you modify the code, the tool can tell which individual tests need to be re-run. You need a bit of straightforward scripting for this, to compare the results of the instrumentation data for the changed sources to the results for each test.
I want to stop further execution of Tests within a TestFixture if one of them fails in NUnit.
Of course the common and advised practice is to make tests independent of each other. However, the case I would like to use NUnit for, requires that all tests and test fixtures following one that failed, are not executed. In other words, test failure causes the whole NUnit execution to stop (or proceeds with the next [TestFixture] but both scenarios should be configurable).
The simple, yet not acceptable solution, would be to force NUnit termination by sending a signal of some kind to the NUnit process.
Is there a way to do this in an elegant way?
I believe you can use NAnt to do this. Specifically, the nunit or nunit2 tasks have a haltonfailure parameter that allows the test run to stop if a test fails.