What do you mean by test data?
- If you are writing test case then you need input data for test.
- Tester may provide this input data at the time of executing the test cases or application may pick the required input data from the predefined data locations.
- The test data may be any kind of input to application, any kind of file that is loaded by the application or entries read from the database tables.
- It may be in any format like xml test data, system test data, and SQL test data.
Test Data Preparation
Preparing proper test data is a core part of “project test environment setup”. A tester cannot pass the bug responsibility saying that complete data was not available for testing.
The tester should create his/her own test data added to the existing standard production data. Your test data set should be ideal in terms of cost and time.
Design our test data considering the following categories:
1. No data:
Run your test cases on blank or default data. See if proper error messages are generated.
2. Valid data set:
Create it to check if the application is functioning as per requirements and valid input data is properly saved in the database or files.
3. Invalid data set:
Prepare invalid data set to check application behavior for negative values, alphanumeric string inputs.
4. Illegal data format:
Make one data set of illegal data format. The system should not accept data in an invalid or illegal format. Also, check proper error messages are generated.
5. Boundary Condition data set:
Data set containing out-of-range data. Identify application boundary cases and prepare data set that will cover lower as well as upper boundary conditions.
6. Data set for performance, load, and stress testing:
This data set should be large in volume. This way creating separate data sets for each test condition will ensure complete test coverage.
What is a Test Case?
A test case has components that describe input, action, or event and an expected response, to determine if a feature of an application is working correctly
There are levels in which each test case will fall in order to avoid duplication efforts.
Level 1:
At this level, you will write the basic test cases from the available specification and user documentation.
Level 2:
This is the practical stage in which writing test cases depend on the actual functional and system flow of the application.
Level 3:
This is the stage in which you will group some test cases and write a test procedure. The test procedure is nothing but a group of small test cases maximum of 10.