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Understanding the testing process

Automated testing with QA Wizard Pro involves setting up and planning tests, recording, modifying, and running scripts, and analyzing test results.

Setup

Before you start recording scripts, perform the following setup tasks.

Determine which test cases to automate—Consider automating a test if it has predictable results, needs to be performed multiple times, evaluates high-risk conditions, requires testing multiple data values for the same actions, is expensive or impossible to perform manually, or needs to be performed on different hardware or software configurations.
Set up the testing environment—Make sure you have access to the hardware, software, and network resources that you need to record or run tests.
Create a workspace—Workspaces organize scripts and related reports and datasheets. Depending on your organization's process, you may use one workspace for each application or for each functional area. See Creating workspaces.
Set up the application in the application repository—Application repositories store information about the tested application and version. Each version contains window and control data that identifies and locates objects. See Managing Application Repositories.
Set general and playback options—Take a few minutes to set general options that control how QA Wizard Pro works and set playback options that control how scripts run. See Setting general options and Setting playback options.
Configure Helix ALM and source control integration (optional)—Integrate QA Wizard Pro with Helix ALM to submit issues when tests fail and manage issues and other testing tasks. See Integrating with Helix ALM. Integrate with Surround SCM or another source control application to manage changes to workspaces, scripts, and local datasheets. See Integrating with Source Control Tools.

Recording

You can record two types of scripts: standard QA Wizard Pro scripts used for functional and regression testing and load test scripts used for testing performance under load.

When you record a standard QA Wizard Pro script, you interact with the application or web site exactly as a user would and QA Wizard Pro adds the actions to the script. When you record a load test script, you also interact with the web application exactly as a user would but QA Wizard Pro adds the information exchanged between the application and server to the script. See Recording Scripts and Recording load test scripts.

Modification

Recorded scripts provide a baseline for application testing. You can modify recorded scripts to create more flexible scripts and complex testing scenarios. In addition to recording additional steps, and modifying or deleting steps, you can enhance scripts by:

Adding statements—Statements are instructions in each step that control how the script runs. For example, you can call other scripts, declare variables, specify steps to run based on conditions, or repeat a block of steps. See Statements.
Creating checkpoints—Checkpoints verify that the value of a property in a window or control matches an expected value during playback. See Using Checkpoints.
Creating data-driven scripts—Data-driven scripts are the easiest way to create multiple test iterations, allowing you to use data from a local datasheet, Excel spreadsheet, text file, or Access, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, or SQL Server database to test a different set of data each time a script runs. See Creating Data-Driven Scripts.

Tip: You can modify scripts in Keyword View or Text View. Keyword View displays scripts in a grid format, while Text View displays scripts in a text-based editor and also provides access to the scripting language. See Using Keyword View and Using Text View.

Execution

Execute, or run, scripts to perform a test. During playback of standard QA Wizard Pro scripts, the tested application is compared to the information stored in the application repository. During playback of load test scripts, the web application is run under a simulated load of users.

QA Wizard Pro provides several ways to run scripts. You can run an individual script or multiple scripts, run scripts from a command prompt, run scripts on a remote computer, or run scripts in a batch file to perform unattended tests. See Running scripts and Running load tests.

Scripts fail if a bug is found in the tested application or if there is a problem in the script. You can troubleshoot a script by debugging it, which allows you to step through a script to locate the problem. You can also step into a called script to debug it. See Running scripts in debug mode.

You can monitor scripts in real-time using the dashboard and status tool if QA Wizard Pro applications are configured to send playback data to the server. See Viewing playback information in the dashboard and Viewing playback information in the status tool.

Analysis

After scripts run, QA Wizard Pro generates and saves a report that summarizes the test results. The report contains information about failed script steps, how long the script took to run, and the test computer configuration. Use this information to determine if problems exist in the application or if you need to modify the script. See Viewing results reports and Viewing load test results reports.

If QA Wizard Pro is integrated with Helix ALM, you can submit reports to add issues. This saves testing and development time and ensures all team members have the information they need to perform their assigned tasks. See Adding Helix ALM issues from run reports.