ManualTest/en
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction[Bearbeiten]
Manual test steps are inserted into a test case or test plan for activities which cannot be automated or for which automation is not possible due to cost, complexity or general verifiability. They can also be used during a transition period, while converting from manual testing via partial automatic testing to full automatic testing.
Manual tests can either be created programatically (or graphically, by placing manual test steps into an activity diagram), or by importing existing test specifications from word, excel, cvs or other documents. Manual test actions are provided with the base expecco system, for the import features a separately licensed plugin is required.
When executed, a manual test step opens the "Manual Test Wizard", which leads the tester through a question-answer interaction. The questions are defined as input parameters to the individual steps, the answers are either logged or generated at output pins and compared against expected values.
Defining Manual Tests by Placing Steps (Programatic Definition)[Bearbeiten]
Create a new compound action and place manual test steps into it. There are also now quick menu functions in the project tree, to generate the most often needed manual step actions (found in the "Manual Test" item under the "tests" quick menu). It is recommended to wrap each individual manual test step (those which ask for the user to confirm the test) into separate compound actions. This makes it easier to later replace the manual action by a full automatic action, in case you ever want to migrate towards partial or fully automatic testing. (i.e. you will only have to change the internal of that compund instead of looking for all places where that manual test step is used).
Notice that the diagram editor has a special entry for manual test steps in its context menu.
Predefined Blocks for Manual Test Steps[Bearbeiten]
You'll find a number of predefined manual test actions in the library in Manual Test Steps (API) or Manual Test Step Templates. Also, the treeview's toolbar offers quick menu entries to create the most common.
These blocks use an already defined GUI that you can fill with your content that you can specify by a text at the input pin. You can choose between different formats for the text, like plain text, HTML or a wiki style.
Defining your own GUI in a Manual Test Step[Bearbeiten]
It is possible to define additional custom manual test steps, which can define completely different user interfaces. This is useful, if you want to present additional information (measurement values, screen shots, camera pictures etc.) in the manual test wizard. Or, if you want to ask the operator for multiple values (and have multiple input fields, possibly with value-plausibility checks) in the UI.
A few examples are found in the library; especially one which presents an image (as when you want to show a schematic of where to place a probe or where to read a measurement value).
Take a look at the blocks in Sample Wizard GUIs. These blocks are using the basic block MT - GUI TestStep+, which takes a GUI block at its first pin. Additionally you can set some parameters and specify a number of fixed aspect as well as an unlimited number of custom aspects (the variable pins at the end). These aspects then can be used in the aspects section of a component, to display the information you passed in the GUI. You can use the aspects in the same way to get return values from the test step. The output pin infoValues will return a Dictionary with all aspect names and their values after the test.
Example Session[Bearbeiten]
Please take a look at the tutorial or execute one of the examples in the manual test library.
Importing Manual Tests from Existing Specs[Bearbeiten]
Expecco includes an importer for manual test specifications written as Microsoft Word, OpenOffice or Excel document. There are also plugins to import from JIRA and AQUA test management systems. The import features are part of the "Manual Test Import" plugin, which has to be licensed separately.
Importing Specs from Word- or Excel Documents[Bearbeiten]
Although certain parameters can be configured for the import format, the document has to conform to some broad layout, in order for the importer to recognize test steps, subactions, info texts etc.
Most often, such specs are imported from Excel, and the individual columns of the sheet define where a new testcase starts, what the individual sub-steps are, and which questions to ask/answers expected. A typical format which is easy to import is defined as:
- column1 - if non empty: defines the name of a test case and the start for sub steps.
- column2 - (if column1 is empty): defines the name of a step inside the test case (test step)
- column3 - any prerequisites as text; this is to be shown to the user
- column4 - a question to be asked; also shown to the user
- column5 - the expected result; also shown to the user
A similar regular scheme can be defined when importing a Word or OpenOffice document; here paragraph levels define where test cases or test steps start.
The importer can be customized within a reasonable range. For example, column numbers and/or headers which define test cases and test steps, sheet numbers (in excel) and others are configurable.
Importing Specs from JIRA or AQUA[Bearbeiten]
Please refer to the Jira or Aqua plugin documentation.
Writing your own Importer[Bearbeiten]
By use of the Expecco Reflection Library, possibly combined with XML imports, custom importers for arbitrary formats or from databases are possible. Please look into the reflection library for examples, or plan for an online teaching session.
Running Manual Tests[Bearbeiten]
Manual tests are executed the same way as regular automated tests. However, whenever a manual test step is executed, the Manual Test Wizard pops up and asks the user for confirmation. You can mix and match manual test steps with any other regular action steps in any diagram or test plan.
If desired, you may later (incrementally) replace manual test actions with fully automated test actions.
Interacting with the Manual Test Wizard[Bearbeiten]
See the tutorial for detailed instructions.
If the remote control service is enabled, the wizard is mirrored on remote UIs. User interactions are then also possible via a Webbrowser, Android- or IOS-device.
