-------------------------------------------------------------------- SearchWin2000.com's Developer Tip -------------------------------------------------------------------- TODAY'S DEVELOPER TIP: Tips on automating project testing ==================================================================== SPONSORED BY: VeriSign - The Internet Trust Company ==================================================================== Upgrade your server security to 128-bit SSL encryption! Get VeriSign's FREE guide, "Securing Your Web Site for Business." You will learn everything you need to know about using 128-bit SSL to encrypt your e-commerce transactions for serious online security. Click here! http://www.verisign.com/cgi-bin/go.cgi?a=n046640330014000 ==================================================================== "Tips on automating project testing" By Elfriede Dustin In a development project, testing the overall application, or set of apps is just as important as writing code. This tip, excerpted from InformIT, discusses just two of several problems that the author, who is also the author of "Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management, and Performance," has encountered. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Elaborate test scripts were developed, duplicating the development effort. I have witnessed test script development that resulted in an almost complete duplication of the development effort, through overuse of the testing tool's programming language. In one of our projects, the application itself used a complex algorithm to calculate various interest rates and mortgage rates. The tester recreated these algorithms using the testing tool. Too much time was spent on automating scripts, without much additional value gained. One cumbersome script was developed using the tool's programming language -- but the same script could have been developed using the capture/playback feature of the tool and simply modifying the generated script in a fraction of the time. The test team must be careful not to duplicate the development effort -- this is a risk when developing elaborate test scripts. For each automated testing program, it's important to conduct an automation analysis, and to determine the best approach to automation by estimating the highest return. Automated test script creation was cumbersome. All teams involved need to understand that test script automation doesn't happen automatically, no matter what the vendor claims. On one project, test engineers with manual test backgrounds were involved in creating the automated scripts. Basing their assumptions on the vendor claims of the tool's ease of use, the test engineers complained that the creation of automated scripts took longer than expected, and that too many workaround solutions had to be found. It's important to understand that the tools are never as easy to use as the tool vendor claims. It's also beneficial to include one person on the testing staff who has programming knowledge and appropriate tool training, so that he or she can mentor the rest of the testing staff responsible for automation. -------------------------------------------------------------------- To read this entire tip, click the link below to visit InformIT. You have to register there, but the registration is free. [http://www.informit.com/myinformit/login/index.asp?session_id={9340E739-E10D-42D9-A369-27BE5DDC06B9}&t={6373D50E-EF0B-4084-B8A7-032653E262E2}&n={5BDED663-10E4-4E44-8951-610EC6257D24}] For more information on Elfriede Dustin's book "Automated Software Testing: Introduction, Management, and Performance," visit http://www.digitalguru.com/dgstore/product.asp?isbn=0201432870&ac_id=73. ==================================================================== WIN! WIN! WIN! -------------------------------------------------------------------- Our June Tip of the Month contest is moving full steam ahead. Don't miss your chance to win this month's prize - a Toshiba DVD-ROM/CD-RW burner! And don't forget to check out the competition -- read the most recent tip submissions for the contest. And make sure to vote on them while you're there! Tip ratings count towards winning the grand prize! 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