Salient Tips for Writing Effective Test Cases

Test cases plays an important role for any project as this is the basic step in any

testing cycle. If anything goes wrong at this step the impression get deduce as

you move forward in the testing cycle. A test case is a state under which a tester

will decide whether an application/software system is working as it is originally

established for it to do. It will decide whether a software program has passed or

failed. It may take many test cases to decide that a software program is

considered successful to be released. Test case writing plays an important role

and makes a test case an important part of the test execution process.

Steps for writing Test case

Step 1: Naming Test Case Convention -

Mentioning the test case convention name is necessary because it will make sense to

anyone who will refer the test case in future. This will help your team mates to find

out which test case is one you needed. You can name the test whichever the way you

want but should be sensible in comparison to test cases ID and test cases name.

Although this is the simplest step to follow but many of us don't follow it.

Step 2: Description -

Description will contain all the details about what you are going to test , particular

behaviour being verified by test ,what needs to be verified in and in which test data it

is to be used.

Step 3: Assumptions and Preconditions-

You should communicate all assumptions while writing test case, beside with

any preconditions that must be met before the test can be executed.

Step 4: Input Test Data -

Identification of test data is time consuming task. It may sometime need you to

create a test data afresh as creating a new data will take lesser time with respect

to identification. To make it easier you should you can give test data to be used

for test case within description or test case step. If you know that the test data

can be reused you can mention that data .You could also decide to mention the

type of data which is required to run the test and not the real test data value.

This applies for projects where the test data keeps on changing as multiple

teams use it and may not be in the same state when I use it the next time.

Step 5: Covering Verification Points-

Test case steps should be properly designed and must be covering all the

verifications for the behaviour under test. Test case steps given for your projects

through that you can make sure that the Test Case optimally covers all the

verification points.

Step 6: Expected Results -

Test case should mention the expected result of the applications under test. All

the steps should mention that what you expect the output of those steps. So, it is

necessary to mention all the details of those steps whose outcome you expect

after the test.

Step 6: Reusable -

Before writing the test case you should be confirmed that it could be re-used in

future for other projects. It will be helpful if you will get the test case written

earlier for the same module you can update those instead of writing new. So

you can re-use the previous test case in future and will save time.

Step 7: Post Conditions-

In the post conditions you have to specify the various things that need to verify

after the test was carried out. They are used to give guiding instruction to

restore the system.

Conclusion:

At last, it is necessary to write effective cases with all proper details prepare it

according to end user's perspective and cover all the important points. I have

tried to explain all the important points that need to be kept in mind while

writing Effective test case.

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