Testing Circus Vol2 Issue3

8/7/2019 Testing Circus Vol2 Issue3

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Testing Circus

Volume 2 - Issue 3 March 2011

www.TestingCircus.com

YOUR MONTHLY MAGAZINE

ONSOFTWARE TESTING


2/47

From the Keyboard of Editor-in-Chief

Testing

Circus

Vol 2 - Issue 3

www.TestingCircus.com March 2011 - 2 -

Almost every day I get calls from potential

trainees who want to learn software test-ing from me. They are from diverse back-

grounds. Some are still students, some are

engineering graduates fresh out of college,

some are working in BPOs, some are mar-

ried females once studied engineering

got married kids and now wants go

back to work, some are from other non-IT

job profiles. I am a choosy teacher. So I ask

lot of questions before taking someone into

my training program. The first naturalquestion is why he or she wants to join or

learn software testing. The most common

answer I get is software testing is easy

compared to programming or it is the

easiest way to get into IT industry. Oh

crap. Software testing is not easy. At least

I think so. Also it is not the easiest way to

get into IT industry.

Why do these guys feel that software test-ing is easy? Four reasons I feel are respon-

sible for this kind of wrong opinion on

software testing. One - since we dont do

coding as a part of our everyday job, soft-

ware testing is an easy task. Two the

product development managers will put

their worst coders into testing. Three

HR guys will take anyone into testing

when the market is hot. Remember 2006-

2007? Every other guy got into testing

during that period in India. Four last

but not the least Testers are responsible

for making non-testers feel that testing is

easy.

Today how many of us feel proud being

associated with testing? Most of us were

forced into testing. Very few people are

testers by choice. Few testers like me who

are testers by choice do not educate non-

testers that testing is not everyones cup

of tea and it is not that easy how theythink it is like. Testing requires skills,

thinking beyond the limit programmers

can think, ability to see beyond obvious,

rapid learning, mental and visual se-

quencing ability, building up scenarios

that may happen with the product and

passion for investigating into details.

I heard this someone saying. Dont re-

member who said this but agree fully tothis opinion. Dont separate product team

into developers and testers. It should be

programmers/ coders and testers because

testers are also developers, contributing to

the product development process. We test-

ers are no less skilled than our program-

mer friends. Sometimes we are little more

skilled than them and thats why we catch

the mistake they make.

Dont let testers be the 2nd class citizen of

product development. Arise and educate

the ignorant crowd surrounding you.

That is the message I want to convey in

this 6th edition of Testing Circus. Jai Ho

Testing!

- Ajoy Kumar Singha

[email protected]://twitter.com/ajoysingha


3/47www.TestingCircus.com March 2011 - 3 -

Testing Circus Vol 2 - Issue 3

Where is What?Topic Author Page Number

Editorial Ajoy Kumar Singha 2

Letters to the Editor 5

Test Coverage: How not to miss anything during

testing?Ajay Balamurugadas 6

Cloud Computing Service: A Basic Introduction Basant Narayan Singh 9

Be an Honest Tester Vipul Gupta 13

Promoting Testing in your Organization Rob van Steenbergen 16

Why do Test Tool suppliers have such a good sale? Marcel Hogenhout 19

Automation Assisted Manual Testing Trish Khoo 23

Exploratory Testing From Wikipedia 26

A Fake Tester's Journey A Fake Tester 29

Software Testing News 32

Test Case Writing Practice Naresh Bisht 34

Testers to Follow in Twitter 36

Interview with Darren McMillan 38

QTP Code Corner Jaijeet Pandey 43



Chandrasekhar B N is a 26 year old SoftwareTester working at Bangalore. He was detectedwith Blood cancer (Acute Lymphoblastic Leuke-

mia - with Ph+ve) in October.

We urge all readers ofTesting Circus to donate

generously for this purpose.

No donation is small. You can do it online

through your VISA/Master Card. (Donors from

outside India can do it online)

https://donations.cpaaindia.org/

You can write a cheque or send demand draft inthe name

"CANCER PATIENTS AID ASSOCIATION "

and mail it to:

Dr. Shubha Maudgal

Executive Director

Cancer Patients Aid Association

Smt. Panadevi Dalmia Cancer Management Centre

King George V Memorial, Dr. E. Moses Road,

Mahalakshmi, Mumbai - 400 011Tel: +91 22 2492 4000 / 2492 8775 Fax: +91 22 2497

3599

Please Note: Write Chandrasekhar B N on theback of the cheque.

Testing Circus

Help Chandrasekhar BN, a Software Tester,

beat Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Vol 2 - Issue 3

http

:/

/helpchandru.com/


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I really enjoyed by reading the article. Its very helpful for me to learn more aboutSoftware testing. Could you Please include One More topics in the article regard-

ing how to prepare Test Plan, Test Strategy, how to estimate the Time line for NewRelease Testing and Regression Testing.-Rajasekaran DhanavelHi Raja,Thanks for appreciating our work. We will try to publish topics of you choice in our futureeditions.-Editor.

-----------------------

Hello,

I went through your Feb11 magazine. Articles are really interesting. I hope youdont mind If I ask you one question. In News on Software Testing section, it ismentioned that Mumbai has done its Mumbai Testers Monthly Meet in Januaryand Pune will start its Pune TMM in March. I am located in Pune, and I want toattend this meet. By any chance you guys have the some details about Pune meet?At least some email ID /phone number of any person who is associated with PuneTMM.I would appreciate if you could help me with this.-Nika KhaladkarHi Nika,You will find the details of Pune Testers Meet at http://pune.indiantestingboard.com/

-Editor

-----------------------

Hello Ajoy and team,Testing Circus is a fantastic magazine. You and your team is doing a great work forthe software testing community. I appreciate that you are putting effort to bringout this magazine every month along with your full time job. Hats off to you.-Rahul SharmaThank you Rahul for your encouraging words.-Editor

Testing Circus

[email protected]

http://twitter.com/testingci

http://facebook.com/testing

Write to [email protected]

Vol 2 - Issue 3


Letters to the Editor


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Test Coverage : Hownot to miss anything

during testing?

- Ajay Balamurugadas



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One of my friends asked me a question on Test Coverage and I replied to the best of my knowledge. Please fee

free to comment,

Question: How not to miss anything during testing?

My Answer: Let me try to give a brief answer with lots of assumptions about the context. It is a good questionwhich will reveal a lot about the project. Different stakeholders might have different answers.

At the same time, be-aware that not every issue can be found! Not every bug can be found.

Why? Here are some of the reasons:

Difference in Test Environment & Customer Environment

The environment used by the customer might be different from the environment used by the test team.

Are you sure you have the same hardware & software combination on your machine as the customer

machine?

Lack of Information

We have no information on how the customer uses this product! We have information on how the cus-

tomer must use the product but no information on how he uses the product. Note the subtle difference.

Do we collect logs or frequent recordings or any other information which lets us know how the cus-

tomer is using the product? Customer bugs reveal information to only a small extent.

Complete Testing

We do not test every combination. Complete Testing is impossible.

We do not have time to run every test. Our mission might

not be to run all tests.

We do not have resources (machines, testers, money, pro-

grammers and tools) to test each & every possibility.

Method of Usage

I do not see any customer referring to a document other

than help guide (sometimes) to carry out his tasks. He

doesn't use a excel sheet to know what he has to do next.

He does not skip from one component to another.

Most of the times, he uses the whole system (Software +Internet + Hardware - Printers/Controllers) Agree?

So, if we do not test/use the software like the customer,

how can we expect to find the bugs customer finds?

Tough question? :)

If we cannot find all the bugs, how can we improve the product?

How can we find more bugs (assuming finding bugs is one of the

important missions of the project)?


Test Coverage : How not to miss anything during testing?


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Here are some of the ways which can help us.

Broaden the Test Coverage

Ask yourself are you focusing on only a part of the product?

Can you expand the coverage by expanding the right tests?

Expanding! = Writing more test cases [Expanding is

NOT equal to writing more cases]

Is your testing model good enough? Why not try the Heuristic

Strategy Test Model (HSTM) by James Bach. We both can learn

to use it to the current project.

Understand the Big Picture

Try to understand where the software fits in the big picture.

Ask the right questions to get more information about the proj-

ect. How do you know which is the right question? Any ques-

tion you ask at this stage of the career is a right question!

As experts say, if you are aware that you can be fooled, it is

easy to be not fooled then! I learnt it in one of the Rapid Soft-

ware Testing workshops.

Be aware that you can also make mistakes.

Optimise the Testing Effort

Are you & your team members working as a single group? Is

everyone aware of each others tasks & goals for the project?

Are you aware of the final goal? Can you see where this projectis leading to?

Are you sure the tasks are not overlapping? Are you spending

most of the time on tasks which contribute to the final goal of

the project?

If you answered No to most of the questions, it is high time you

optimize the testing effort. I can help you provide project/product

specific help (if needed)

Improve SkillsWe need to constantly improve our skills as a tester to catch

those bugs which evade us again & again.

Observation, Questioning, Critical Thinking, Creative Think-

ing, Note Taking, Bug Hunting, Bug Investigation, Bug Advo-

cacy are some of the skills important to a tester.

How about improving them?


Ajay Balamurugadas, is a

software tester passionate to

learn to test any software. He

has been awarded scholarship

from Software Testing Club

and is a brown belt student of

Miagi-Do School run by Matt

Heusser. He is co-founder of

"Weekend Testing". Ajay shares

his testing activities and

learning through his bloghttp://EnjoyTesting.blogspot.com

and tweets at

http://twitter.com/ajay184f


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Cloud Computing ServiceA Basic Introduction

- Basant Narayan Singh

I strongly feel that as the cloud adoption rate increases, theSoftware Testing services for cloud applications will rise

rapidly and might increase the challenges of a software

tester. I mean the tester must evolve and realign her/his

thinking to the new trend.



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Whats common between Gartners technology Hype

Cycle Report of 2009 & 2010?

Did you answer Cloud Computing at the peak of

expectations?

Absolutely correct. Like 2009 Hype Cycle Report,

Cloud Computing is still at the peak of inflated

expectations for 2 consecutive years. This has lead to

a lot of buzz around cloud services. With every Glob-

al IT major launching some sort of cloud service,

every now & then, the hype continues to grow. Defi-

nitely, its just the beginning of this emerging trend as

every xyz company, big or small, is ramping-up to

somehow attach this coveted cloud tag to its profile,

either as a provider or as a consumer. But you may

ask what is Cloud Computing? Why is there so much

buzz about Cloud Computing in the tech-industry?

I strongly feel that as the cloud adoption rate increas-

es, the Software Testing services for cloud applica-

tions will rise rapidly and might increase the

challenges of a software tester. I mean the tester must

evolve and realign her/his thinking to the new trend.

Ill take a completely different route to make you

understand what cloud computing is. No theory. I

believe we understand better with examples and

practical scenarios. These scenarios may help you in

understanding Cloud Computing and its need in

current circumstances.


Cloud Computing Service

A Basic Introduction

Feb. 21, 2011. During ICC Cricket World Cup, India

Furious cricket fans slammed organizers of the World

Cup on Monday as the official ticketing website

crashed amid a scramble for 1,000 tickets available for

the final

---TOI

The official ICC partner for online ticket

sell, Kyazoonga, posted the following message on its

Facebook Fan Page and other social networks.

We are facing absolutely unprecedented amounts of

traffic from all over the world, with hundreds of mil-

lions of people hitting at once. Some of you may have

trouble accessing the site. It seems that cricket fever has

surpassed all anticipations and expectations. Please

bear with us as our global network team works on

bringing you the tickets you all have been waiting for.

--- Kyazoonga FB Page

Everyday 8:00AM to 9:00AM, Since ? Till Date, On-

line Ticket Booking - IRCTC, India

The bookings & enquiry requests are 6-7 times high-

er during the peak hours than the rest of the day. So

while the existing infrastructure is well equipped to

handle the daylong traffic, it is the peak hour traffic

that clogs servers

---What IRCTC can Learn from redBus Cloud Imple-mentation?

June 2009, China

A Chinese website set up so people can inform on

corrupt officials has been inundated with so many

visitors that it crashed shortly after launching.

---BBC


11/47

Perhaps this example made you smile, or perhaps

you are equally worried as well, regarding the level

of corruption! No need to worry, because this also

signifies a huge number of proactive citizens willing

to report it. Look on the bright side.

October 2009, France

A website launched by French first lady Carla Bruni

has crashed on its first day - overwhelmed by the

number of users trying to access it at once.

---BBC

Online mob. Wish I was even half as popular as her!

What inference can we draw from above server

crashes?

These examples of server crashes are but a few

among the hundreds happening almost everywherein the world on a regular basis. What does this indi-

cate? Just one conclusion and that is:

The situation can only get worse. Currently, only

25% of world population, i.e., approximately 1.75

billion people have Internet access. Compared to

Television and other mass media, its still considered

an elite medium of communication. If this meager

Internet penetration has lead to such a significant

number of crashes, what will happen when the Inter-

net becomes a mass medium? India and China cur-rently have approximately 15% or less Internet

penetration. Even a moderate increase in Internet

penetration and usage, say to 50%, will add more

than a billion Internet users! Definitely, too many

clicks to handle. Going by statistics and backed up by

almost double digit GDP growths, they are soon

going to add to this number.

Can you prevent the above scenarios?

Most of you will answer:

But will adding more servers solve the problem, or

compound the problems of companies/organizations

that are already on a tight budget?

Moreover, how many servers do you think will be

enough to handle that kind of traffic? Take a guess.

100? 1000?

Before you guess, let me provide some facts to help you

make a wise guess.

Facebook uses 30,000 servers! (as of October, 2009)

and its adding capacity on a daily basis. Sounds weird

unofficial estimate predicts the number

of Google servers to be an incredible 1 million in its

world wide data centers!

The web sites discussed above are not as big as Face-

book or Google but their spike in traffic on that partic-

ular day may had beaten these giants! Given these kind

of stats, in order to purchase the necessary number of

servers, the organizations/entities involved will fork

out enough money to make them eligible to file bank-

ruptcy protection.

Even if they are financially sound enough to add huge

numbers of servers, just remember the following from

our above scenarios/case study:

Kyazoonga get this exponential surge in the number of

hits once in 4 years.

surge everyday at 8AM to 9AM

gradually reduced to a normal level in a month or so.

only for a week or so.

The above description clearly shows the following

trend:

Most of the traffic spikes are predictable and can be

planned for. So adding thousands of servers to handle

a few days or seasonal spikes in traffic is a humongous

waste of resources.

Solution: Theres one model or style of

computing (Gartner's phrase) which satisfies thefollowing

Common, Location-independent, Online Utility that

is available on Demand.

--- (Chan, 2009)



12/47

So, how is Cloud Computing going to help the enti-

ties mentioned in our above examples? The simple

solution is IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). The

entities (website owners, in our scenario) can simply

use the services of a specialist IaaS cloud provider

for example - Amazon, Rackspace, GoGrid. This

model works just like an electricity subscription, in

the old days, or a mobile phone or Internet usagesubscription in modern times. So

its subscription based, or Pay-as-you-go. If your

demand increases, you simply configure your service

to add more infrastructure. Pay-as-you-go ensures youll never pay anything extra.

This results in a happy customer, or, perhaps more appropriately, a customer who is delighted to be saving

money.

Its just like a magic, sort of, in a moment time you can configure your servers to scale up or scale down (size-up

or size down) based on your need.

This is Cloud Computing in plain English. But Cloud computing is indeed a lot more than what youve read here

in this article. To know more about it, feel free to download (of course, without any registration hassle) -

http://www.techno-pulse.com/2010/09/cloud-computing-ppt-presentation.html

This document is a summary of article series Cloud Computing Service: A Basic

Introduction - 1 (http://www.techno-pulse.com/2009/12/cloud-computing-service-

basic.html ) and is shared only for exclusive use by Testing Circus March Edition. Though,

you are free to use short quotes with proper credit, you may not republish this article

without an approval from the author. - Editor

Basant Narayan Singh is a Day-Dreamer, a Software Engineer

by profession, a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist &

an Instrumentation Engineer by education. He loves to de-

sign & develop software on Microsoft .Net platform. Basant

Narayan Singh writes about cloud computing in his technol-

ogy blog at http://techno-pulse.com and can be reached at

http://twitter.com/SinghBasant



13/47

Be an HONEST Tester!

- Vipul Gupta

www.TestingCircus.com March 2011 - 1 3-


14/47


15/47

What is my intention of writing all this?

The testing team often faces pressures like the above one during the product development life cycle, they should

always remain persistent in following the mission that is defined for testing. There will be various people on the

top who will sometimes try to build pressures on you, but remember the fact that though these will be decisive

times for you. Never divert yourself from the mission that you are on! Believe me, doing this, you will not only

get self-satisfaction, but will also gain respect of others.

Vipul Guptaleads the Test Engineering R&D at Impetus Labs. As a residenttesting expert, he is responsible for innovating test engineering methodologies

and designing solutions viz. Test360 Degree (integrated toolset and best prac-

tices for mature software product testing), Test Engineering Maturity Model

and iLeap (best practices based test automation platform), to meet the upcom-

ing trends and demands to overall simplify product testing. As a test architect

he is also involved in defining test strategies for various small to large organi-

zations. Prior to this he managed several large to medium testing assignments,

across different verticals for Impetus clients. Vipul is an active contributor to

online testing community and a regular speaker at testing conferences in Indiaand US. To know what he is doing, follow http://twitter.com/vipsgupta



16/47

Promoting Software Testing in Your

Organization

- Rob van Steenbergen

www.TestingCircus.com March 2011 - 1 6 -


17/47

I had written on ideas and tips for promoting software

testing in an organization in the last issue of Testing

Circus. In this issue I am discussing few more tips.

Tip: If someone asks you to give a presentation

on testing: always say YES!

One of the tips that I listed down in previous issue

was - If someone asks you to give a presentation on

testing: always say yes!

The following may happen:

meeting with presentations

colleagues

you can give the test kick-off presentation

you've always wanted to present

department within your organization about

testing.

Well, always say yes when asked in these situations,

or be proactive and say you want to give a presentation.

There are probably even more situations that you can

create for yourself where you can promote testing

with a positive talk about testing or opportunities to

give a presentation to a larger group of people.

Well, the main tip with telling the testing story is:

do not repeat yourself too much in the various


How to promote Testing in Your Organization

presentations; you should avoid being noticed as: "No,

not again the same story. After telling the story in the

same way too much people will not listen anymore.

the mirror or for your friend, even your cat or

your dog would be a good audience to practice

on.

presentation. And memorize your presentation

by heart.

sentations.

And dont be afraid to give one next week! The sooner

you start, the sooner it will show some effect.

Tip: Decorate your walls!

Promotional testing tips 2 and 3: Place posters about

testing on a wall, place articles about testing from IT

magazines walls (the test wall?).

Articles from IT magazines and Internet sites

Certainly there are some interesting articles in IT

magazines and on Web sites that relate to the types of

products that are comparable with the products your


18/47


19/47

Why do Test Tool suppliers

have such a good sale?

- Marcel Hogenhout



20/47

More and more organizations buy, often very

expensive, licences for having the opportunities

to use test tooling and test automation in their

organization.

Test automation makes a great development at

this moment and surely can help you simplify or

accelerate your testing, or can take care of

executing very complex test cases for you. But...

Unfortunately a poorer development is that lots

of organizations buy licences from tool providers

because of their good Sales Managers, instead of

the right reasons: helping them to test more

efficient and effective. Sales are very able to have

smooth presentation at the customer, with demo's

of how well their (test) tools can do "the" work

and how quick and simple tests can be automated

and then executed. Organizations then take the

risk in buying the tools (or licences) and don't

really know what to do with it. In most cases, after

buying the licences, their test professionals are

instructed to do all the testing with these tools

from now on, even test types that are not suitable

for automation!


Why do Test Tool suppliers

have such a good sale?

Have new licenses or planning to buy some!? That

sounds nice in itself, but now it appears that we are

not quite able to deal with all these tools. Take care

of "just" to purchase (additional) licenses, we must

make sure that, apart from a well-run development

process, we implement the tooling / test automation

seriously and structured. I notice now at projects

or organizations that they deploy the tools andactually not (yet) have the abilities to use them...

A test tool should not be an purpose in itself, but

an "aid" that supports one or more test activities,

including planning and management, specification

building (initial) test files, test execution and

analysis. Even just for the sake of completeness I

will briefly explain a structured selection and

implementation process of (testing) tools.

Formally, you would have to go through the next

selection process, with a structured tool evaluation

Preparation:

Identify and quantify the problem;

Consider alternative solutions;

Prepare a business case;


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Identify terms;

Identify required tool features and

characteristics.

Selection and Demo:Compile a list of possible tools;

Perform a more detailed assessment.

Proof of concept:

Perform a competitive test / trial run, and

possibly, if necessary:

Identify required changes to the testing

process;

Collect metrics;

Determine actual costs and benefits.

Decision (to take):

If positive:

Based on a successful evaluation;

Negotiate with the tool provider;

Buy tool (and / or licenses).

If rejected / failed:

Restart process;

(If necessary).

Then, a well performed implementation will have

the following steps:

Step 1: Plan the implementation process (start

with a small project to live up to the business case

and to develop a standard approach to use the

tool in your organization), by:

Identifying real test architecture;

Scripting techniques;

Naming conventions;

Configuration management of testware;

Step 2: Manage expectations;

Step 3: Provide training (specialists, users), ideally

an implementation team is working full time on a

pilot project of between 3 and 6 months. Hereby

develop a minimum number of roles:

Champion: the driving force behind the

implementation;

Change agent: planning and managing the

implementation (including the pilot project);

Tool custodian: responsible for technical

support and consultancy.

Step 4: Setting up the tool organization;

Step 5: Pilot in a number of projects;

Step 6: Evaluate;

Step 7: Roll out the tool.

These steps are to prevent inappropriate or

unnecessary tools purchased that ultimately end

up the "shelf"!

For completeness here is why you would you

automate testing?

Saving time (faster testing);

Saving money (cheaper testing);

Increasing quality (better testing, more

complex testing);"Motivating testers" (testers find it nice ...);

Regression testing with less effort.

When to automate testing?

If many tests must be performed (complex);

Many iterations of the same test (regression)

The testing process should be structured!



22/47

Especially the last bullet is important. First bring structure to the process and only then use tools! In

other words, automation of chaos results in computerized automation of chaos! Moreover, first start

small and use pilots ...

So please observe the pitfalls:

Test automation requires a structured test process;

Test automation requires a structured selection and implementation process;

Range of test tools is overwhelming, research, expertise and a selection process is necessary.

Summarized; Structure your test process first, by implementing or improve the right policy and strategy

in your organization. Remember, automate a chaotic test process will result in an automated chaos...

Contact me (www.marcelhogenhout.nl) if you have any questions on the above or want me to help you

with Test Process Improvement, with use market standards like TPI Next, combined with best practices

like the "Quality Blueprint" and "Life Cycle Testing".

Marcel Hogenhout is a testing advisor, with 13 years

of experience in the software testing industry.

Experiences: testing expertise & -design, information

analyse, test- & project management, portfolio

management, process improvement and community

lead testing (@ Getronics and Capgemini). Currently

he is Operational Director & Test Advisor @ Praegus,

an organization with high potential test professionals

with a great focus on test automation, cloud & testing,

test process & -policy and workshops. In 2001 Marcel won a quality reward for an e-test

proposition. Besides testing, Marcel is passionate about gadgets, cloud, SaaS, Web 2.0, Google

and Social Media. Marcel loves music, movies, swimming and poker. Marcel can always be found

at testing events & conferences.

Marcel can be reached athttp://www.marcelhogenhout.nl& http://twitter.com/marcelhogenhout



23/47

Automation Assisted Manual Testing

- Trish Khoo



24/47

Sometimes testing is like pouring a bucket of confetti

on a snow leopard. Have you ever tried pouring a

bucket of confetti on a snow leopard? Probably not,but now that the thought occurs to you, dont you

really want to know what happens? Thats like testing

you want to know what happens when you do

something. But before you can shower the snow

leopard with confetti, you have to buy the confetti,

steal the bucket, walk to the zoo, distract the guards,

break into the leopard enclosure and lure the leopard

out with kitty treats. Its pretty tedious stuff, and all

you wanted to do was the fun stuff at the end. Dont

you wish there was a shortcut?

Tenuous metaphors aside, shortcuts to do tedious

stuff are full of win and not difficult to set up. If you

already use tools to automate tests, its just a matter

of making some handy methods to do common tasks.

Do you already have a test that steals buckets for you?

Just modify it so that you can substitute whatever

values you need to help you do your manual testing

and hey presto, youre already well on your way to

pouring paper on an endangered species.

One simple way to speed things up is to automate data

generation. Chances are that in your everyday testing,

you often require data in a particular format, or

unique data. Each type you have to think up unique

data and type it in you waste valuable time and, more

importantly, you risk losing focus on your original

task.


Automation Assisted Manual Testing

Here's an example of a Ruby script to generate a

somewhat unique email address in the format

joe+[random word]@example.com:

dict = File.open('DictionaryFile')

lines = dict.readlines

email = "joe+" + lines[rand(lines.size)].rstrip +

"@example.com"

`echo #{email} | clip`

puts email

The script uses a text file which contains a long list of

dictionary words. It selects a word at random from thefile, creates a string in the format of the email address

that I need, and copies the string to my clipboard, ready

to be pasted into the form I am testing.

Go faster! Linking data generation to hotkeys

My latest fad is to link up data generation to hotkeys. If

youre using a Mac, you can use the lovely Keyboard

Maestro for this. Otherwise if youre on Windows (like

I am), you can use the less glamorous AutoHotkey,

which gave my antivirus software a small panic attack

when I installed it (which I just ignored, with no dire

consequences so far). Once installed, take a look at the

tutorial. Its quite easy to follow.

At my workplace we already had a few little data

generation scripts written in Ruby, so it was a simple

matter to hook them up to some hotkeys using

AutoHotkey, like so:


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#w::Run ruby random_words.rb 2

#e::Run ruby random_email.rb

#c::Run Ruby random_campaign.rb

Respectively, these lines do the following:

Windows key + w = Generates 2 random words and copies them to my clipboard.

Windows key + e = Generates a randomized email address that will still point to my account and copies it to my

clipboard.Windows key + c = Randomly selects a URL from a list of test email campaigns and copies it to my clipboard.

Trish Khoo works as the Test Lead for Campaign Monitor in Sydney,

Australia. She writes a testing blog at http://trishkhoo.com, occasionally

helps out with Weekend Testing Australia / New Zealand, and organizes

meetups for testers in Sydney.

Trish can be reached at http://twitter.com/hogfish




Exploratory testing

Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing

that is concisely described as simultaneous learning,

test design and test execution. Cem Kaner, who coinedthe term in 1983, now defines exploratory testing as "a

style of software testing that emphasizes the personal

freedom and responsibility of the individual tester to

continually optimize the quality of his/her work by

treating test-related learning, test design, test execution,

and test result interpretation as mutually supportive

activities that run in parallel throughout the project."

While the software is being tested, the tester learns

things that together with experience and creativity gen-

erates new good tests to run. Exploratory testing isoften thought of as a black box testing technique. In-

stead, those who have studied it consider it a test ap-

proach that can be applied to any test technique, at any

stage in the development process. The key is not the test

technique nor the item being tested or reviewed; the

key is the cognitive engagement of the tester, and the

tester's responsibility for managing his or her time.

History

Exploratory testing has always been performed by

skilled testers. In the early 1990s, ad hoc was too often

synonymous with sloppy and careless work. As a re-

sult, a group of test methodologists (now calling them-

selves the Context-Driven School) began using the term

"exploratory" seeking to emphasize the dominant

thought process involved in unscripted testing, and to

begin to develop the practice into a teachable discipline.

This new terminology was first published by Cem Kan-

er in his book Testing Computer Software and expanded

upon in Lessons Learned in Software Testing. Exploratory

testing can be as disciplined as any other intellectua

activity.Description

Exploratory testing seeks to find out how the software

actually works, and to ask questions about how it wil

handle difficult and easy cases. The quality of the test

ing is dependent on the tester's skill of inventing tes

cases and finding defects. The more the tester know

about the product and different test methods, the bette

the testing will be.

To further explain, comparison can be made of freestyle

exploratory testing to its antithesis scripted testing. In

this activity test cases are designed in advance. Thi

includes both the individual steps and the expected

results. These tests are later performed by a tester who

compares the actual result with the expected. When

performing exploratory testing, expectations are open

Some results may be predicted and expected; other

may not. The tester configures, operates, observes, and

evaluates the product and its behaviour, critically in

vestigating the result, and reporting information tha

seems like to be a bug (which threatens the value of thproduct to some person) or an issue (which threaten

the quality of the testing effort).

In reality, testing almost always is a combination o

exploratory and scripted testing, but with a tendency

towards either one, depending on context.

According to Cem Kaner & James Bach, exploratory

testing is more a mindset or "...a way of thinking abou

testing" than a methodology. They also say that it cross

Exploratory Testing

Information from Internet!

Wikipedia


27/47

es a continuum from slightly exploratory (slightly am-

biguous or vaguely scripted testing) to highly

exploratory (freestyle exploratory testing).

The documentation of exploratory testing ranges from

documenting all tests performed to just documenting

the bugs. During pair testing, two persons create test

cases together; one performs them, and the other docu-

ments. Session-based testing is a method specificallydesigned to make exploratory testing auditable and

measurable on a wider scale.

Exploratory testers often use tools, including screen

capture or video tools as a record of the exploratory

session, or tools to quickly help generate situations of

interest, e.g. James Bach's Perlclip.

Benefits and drawbacks

The main advantage of exploratory testing is that less

preparation is needed, important bugs are found quick-ly, and at execution time, the approach tends to be more

intellectually stimulating than execution of scripted

tests.

Another major benefit is that testers can use deductive

reasoning based on the results of previous results to

guide their future testing on the fly. They do not have

to complete a current series of scripted tests before

focusing in on or moving on to exploring a more target

rich environment. This also accelerates bug detection

when used intelligently.Another benefit is that, after initial testing, most bugs

are discovered by some sort of exploratory testing. This

can be demonstrated logically by stating, "Programs

that pass certain tests tend to continue to pass the same

tests and are more likely to fail other tests or scenarios

that are yet to be explored."

Disadvantages are that tests invented and performed

on the fly can't be reviewed in advance (and by that

prevent errors in code and test cases), and that it can be

difficult to show exactly which tests have been run.

Freestyle exploratory test ideas, when revisited, are

unlikely to be performed in exactly the same manner,

which can be an advantage if it is important to find new

errors; or a disadvantage if it is more important to

repeat specific details of the earlier tests. This can be

controlled with specific instruction to the tester, or by

preparing automated tests where feasible, appropriate,

and necessary, and ideally as close to the unit level as

possible.

Usage

Exploratory testing is particularly suitable if require

ments and specifications are incomplete, or if there i

lack of time. The approach can also be used to verify

that previous testing has found the most importan

defects.

Content Source

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploratory_testin

___________________________________________


Make A Single DonationA massive earthquake, the seventh largest re-

corded in history, struck the east coast of Japan

on Friday 11 March.

The earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter

scale, triggered a tsunami which hit the east

coast of Japan with 7-metre-high waves, leav-ing a trail of destruction.

More than 2,000 people have died in the disas-

ter and some 2,000 are injured. The number of

confirmed dead is expected to rise to around

10,000. The earthquake triggered fires and

caused severe damage to buildings, leaving 1.2

million homes without electricity and 1.4 mil-

lion without water.

More than 500,000 people have been evacuated

and are being housed in temporary centres set

up in schools and public buildings where the

Red Cross is distributing thousands of blankets.

http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-

Now/Make-a-single-donation/Japan-Tsunami-

Appeal


28/47

Testing CircusWe are in facebook.Join Testing Circus Fan Club

Get updates and messages directly in your wall.

http://www.facebook.com/TestingCircus



29/47


30/47

The developers spoke first. They said We need to identify

defects that are resolved by us, but are not yet tested by the

test team. Lets have a status Fixed!

The project manager with an eye for metrics spoke next. He

said We would also need to identify defects which have

been opened and not fixed properly by Dev. Lets have a new

status called Reopened. And he whispered to Tanash ---That way, Id also have a bigger status report. Heh heh!!!

The Database administrator, who was in a deep sleep, sud-

denly woke up. He said --- What if I cannot re-create the

defect on my machines? Tanash replied --- But does it ever

occur to you that defects are not a figment of our imagination,

and that its only since they occurred tat we file them in the

1st place? Giving him an angry glare, the administrator

ignores Tanash and tells Delspe That doesnt matter. If Icannot re-create it, I cannot fix it. Delspe plays pacifier and

adds a new status called Non-Reproducible!

Another developer speaks up. What if I see a defect which is

already logged earlier?. Tanash says Then simply close

one of the two defects. Life would be much simpler! Taking

a cue from the database administrator, this developer ignores

Tanash and tells Delspe We need to track the number of

such defects separately. This would also be a parameter for

effective testing. The process manager nodded his agreementsaying We are a CMMi5 company and cannot afford not to

follow CMMi standards. Tanash says When 15 testers

test a project; duplicate defects would definitely come up.

Dont you think that the simplest thing would be to close

them and continue? What I The clients voice on the

telephone says Lets add a status DUPLICATE! Nobody

questions the client. The sales and marketing folks were heard

telling the client Its a brilliant idea! They also went on to

add We are thrilled to see you being so participative in our

calls. We are happy to see you treat us as an extension of your

company.. Tanash tuned out!!!

Having been silent for so long and wanting to contribute to

the meeting, the onsite counterpart says We would need a

classification for defects so that our clients would know that

a defect has been raised, but not have been looked into yet,

since its not yet been assigned. Tanash said You have to

look into each defect based on the priority. Why do you want

to classify what you have seen and what you have not?

Delspe whispered into Tanashs ear Since those onsite folk

usually dont know about the project and the clients keep

badgering them for this information. And a defect statu

called NEWis added.

The onsite folks talk again. He says What if I dont under

stand a defect?. Tanash says then, please call me. I am jus

a phone call away. The onsite folks tell him Maybe we maybe looking into something of higher priority and may not hav

the time to call you. Tanash says In that case, may be the

defect is not that important at all. The developer says We

cannot come across to discuss every minor thing. Lets add

another status Need more information!!! Tanash fel

overpowered!!!

Looking up from his blackberry where he was following the

cricket world cup scores, the business analyst speaks up now

He says What if I dont agree if it is a defect? An exasper

ated Tanash says If you dont agree, then close it!!! The

Development manager thinks and says I have an objectiv

to have fewer defects. Lets add another status Rejected!!!

Delspe simply nods in agreement.

The BA continues Hey, I want a status to indicate I have no

yet looked into the defect. Can we add a status? Tanash say

But isnt it your 1st priority to look into defects? Defec



31/47

triages can go for a long time, you know. The meeting

manager, having been silent till now, speaks up and says

Lets add 2 statuses To be triaged, Being Triaged. Every

morning, we'll do a small triage to decide the defects that

have to be triaged on that day and add it to the "Being

Triaged" bucket. We'll leave the others in the "To be

triaged".. The client speaks up and says Very innovative

and an exemplary suggestion. And the sales and marketingteam sing praises of the client once more, which I am not

mentioning here since it is too redundant.

Now the engineering director mutes the phones and speaks

up We need to indicate defects which we will fix in a

subsequent release. After the meetings over, add another

status Deferred!!!

The training department representative says Hey, this de-

fect is assigned to a developer. But what if he is yet to fix it?

Tanash says So? Add a new status To be fixed. That way,

everyone would know I am working on this defect, but am yet

to fix it. And, also do add 2 more statuses Defect By design,

Existing System limitation The process and metrics

managers nod their agreement and say Excellent idea!!!

The meeting goes on for some more time and more statuses

are added --- Not a Defect, Partially Fixed, Re-assigned,

Withdrawn, Redundant, Pending retest, Pending reject,Remind Me Later, Unconfirmed at the start, Won't fix,

Works for me, Verified in QA Env.

Originally the two nominated defect status list now read -

Open, Closed, Fixed, Reopened, Non-Reproducible, New,

Duplicate, Need more Information, Rejected, To be Triaged,

Being Triaged, Deferred, Defect by Design, Existing System

Limitation, Not a Defect, Partially Fixed, Re-assigned, With-

drawn, Redundant, Pending retest, Pending reject, Remind

Me Later, Unconfirmed at the start, Won't fix, Works for me,

Verified in QA Env!!!!!

The client says that its his lunch time and so, everyone ended

the call.

The training manager was heard saying "Wow. Let's draw

an enormous defect life cycle diagram and add the defect

Life-cycle as a separate course in our curriculum!!!

The testing manager who loved interviewing was heard say

ing Hey, that's 1 great bug life-cycle that you've got in here

Now onwards, asking the defect life cycle is a part of ou

interviews and if anyone gets a status wrong, they canno

become a tester at our company. That way, we would hir

only smart testers!!!

Exerpts from Tanash

thoughts Today, I learnt how w

complicate our life to satisfy idiots.

also learnt to create a complex solu

tion to a simple problem. Bug statuses are created for conven

ience. Why do we let them inconvenience ourselves?

understand that I made a mistake suggesting only two stat

ues. But do we really need 27 bug statuses for our project?

And 35 people spent 1 hour at this call. That means 35

hours of productivity has been lost, but this has been billed t

the client. Should not the focus be more on productivity

quality, instead of Client Satisfaction an

Profitability? Where are we headed? Where are thes

leaders leading us?

Keep reading future issues of Testing Circus to know more!!

Do you have anything to say about fake testing practices

Write to us. [email protected]

By the way, have you seen the blog on fake software testing

Here it - http://fakesoftwaretester.blogspot.com


[A fake Testers Diary was first published in Testing

Circus January issues. New Readers are encouraged to

read the January and February issues to understand the

journey of Tanash as software tester. Editor]



4th NCR Testers Monthly Meet

4th NCR Testers Monthly meet was held on 12th

of March in Initto Technologies India in Gurgaon. The

meet was attended by more than 40 testers from NCR

region. A brainchild of Vipul Kocher, Ajoy Singha and

Vipul Gupta, the main objective to start NCRTMM is to

build formal/informal platform learning, sharing and

solving problems related to software testing.

Few highlights of the meet of the fourth meet. Ajoy

Singha opened the talk and invited Ritesh Sinha, Direc-

tor Testing of Initto Technologies to for a welcome

talk. Later Mona Thakur of Initto shared few facts and

best practices adopted in testing arena in Initto. Lalit

Agrawal then presented a topic on the trends of regres-

sion testing. Manoj Papneja of FIS Global presented

how continuous integration can help automation

projects. Manojs talk was well discussed and well in-

teracted by attendees. This was followed by tea break.

Navneet Sharma then started the key notes on module

champion versus reshuffling project resources. He dis-

cussed pros and cons of keeping and not-keeping the

same person in same project for a long time. Amit

Kumar of Tarara Systems then shared his thoughts on

what to do and what not to do in software testing. Ajoy

Singha of HCL Technologies emphasized the role of

software testers outside routine work in office. R Sai of

Adobe discussed on what we should learn from our

frustrations.

Anju Bala of IBM India and Ajay Sharma of Firstrain

discussed how to update regression suite and how to

get rid of regression monster using automation tool.

Vipul Gupta concluded the meeting with his closing

comments thanking Initto being a good host and Indian

Testing Board for supporting the meets going.

NCRTMM has decided to conduct a full day softwaretesting conference on 16th April in Noida. The theme i

Agile and Automation Software Testing Trends. This

meet is expected to be attended by celebrated speakers

from all over India.

Ofqual blames flawed software

testing for 'A' level grading errors

Examinations regulator Ofqual has highlighted three IT

problems with the marking system that caused thou

sands of students to receive incorrect GCSE and A-leve

marks in 2010.

A report from Ofqual has highlighed shortcomings in

the way the examination board, Assessment and Qual

ifications Alliance (AQA), dealt with project manage

ment, user acceptance testing (UAT), and software

training for its onscreen marking system, used by GCSE

'A' level examiners.

The marking system was extended to support longerwritten answers to exam questions. However th

project to extend the system to support this did no

adhere to project management best practices, according

to the examination regulator.

The failure in the system, which was used to mark 3.3

million GCSE and 'A' Level exam papers in the summe

of 2010, resulted in 3,353 students receiving incorrec

marks and 622 being issued incorrect qualification

grades.

Software Testing News

*News in Hindi Script.

*


33/47

"AQA could have identified the failure earlier if more

effective risk assessment and arrangements for han-

dling and reporting problems concerning the onscreen

marking of scripts had been in place," said Ofqual.

Isabel Nisbet, chief executive of Ofqual, said: "Factors

that contributed to the marking error included limited

piloting of the on-screen marking system, a lack of

effective risk assessments and deficiencies in the roleand training of examiners on the system."

Ofqual also says AQA did not treat the extension of the

system as a new project, which meant project manage-

ment method, Prince 2 (Projects In Controlled Environ-

ments, version two) was not used and project managers

and business analysts were not assigned to the project.

The regulator's report outlines a "lack of rigour" around

user acceptance testing.

In the report, Ofqual states that the absence of properuser acceptance testing process meant some of the like-

ly process errors were not picked up before the system

was used in a live marking environment.

"The onscreen marking software for the June 2010 ex-

aminations was released later than expected. Testing

was undertaken by IT staff rather than the end users.

The testing focused on the technical functionality of the

marking software rather than looking at the whole

process," said the report.

Source -http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2011/02/23/245563/Ofqual-

blames-flawed-software-testing-for-39A39-level-grading.htm

Software testing firms shift focus

to India

Independent software testing firms are focusing on

India to offset sluggish growth in key markets such as

Europe.

Thinksoft Global Services announced on Wednesday

that it is setting up a sales cum delivery centre at And-

heri in Mumbai to expand regional presence. Maveric

Systems is also planning to strengthen its presence in

Mumbai by bringing in senior management personnel.

AV Asvini Kumar, MD of Thinksoft Global Services,

said in a statement: There are mega plans in India as

the BFSI sector in the country is yet to exploit the poten-

tial of IT deployment.

Ranga Reddy, CEO of Maveric Systems, says the com

pany failed to take advantage of the opportunity ove

the last two years when the Indian BFSI segment was

opening up. It is now trying to shift senior managemen

people from Chennai to Mumbai and also in the proces

of hiring executives to dedicate leadership for the Indi

an market.

Source -http://www.mydigitalfc.com/opportunities/software-testing-firms-shift-

focus-india-825


Testing Circus Blog___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

See our blog for discus-

sion on software testing

topics. Topic that is cur-rently discussed is

Good and Bad Interview Ques-

tions in Software Testing. Many of

our readers have given their opinion

already. You can too post your opinion

in the form of comments. Let us make

the discussion interactive. We willpublish the summarized form of the

discussion in our magazines future

issue.

Few responses that we got from twitter so far -

@riyajshaikh "What is testing?" Good question if it askedby who has done testing and bad if who had not done ever

and still asking. :)

@gkpandey Bad - what is the diff between smoke/sanity

testing. Good - which understanding of differ between

smoke/sanity do you subscribe?

@vipsgupta Not only who is asking, but to whom it is

being asked also makes it good/bad. What if you ask a

fresher about this?

http://testingcircus.blogspot.com/



Test Case Writing Practice

Naresh Bisht has over 3 years

experience in Software Testing. He

has hands on experience in both

manual testing as well as

automation testing using QTP and

LoadRunner tools. He is currently

employed with HCL Technologies,

Gurgaon. Naresh has been writing

test cases writing column in

Testing Circus from the very 1st

issue. He is an active contributor intesting activities in NCR area of

India.

Naresh can be reached at

http://twitter.com/Naresh_Bisht

*Actual Results are written when you get to test the actual ATM Machine.

In this section we will practice to write test cases on various items, objects and

applications. We do not claim that test cases written here are exhaustive. It is

just to give ideas to testers, beginners on how to approach for writing test cases.

Readers are encouraged to share their views on the test cases.

Naresh Bisht

Requirement - An

ATM Machine.

Objective - To

generate and writetest cases to test an

ATM machine.


35/47



Testers at Twitter

MarkusGrtner

Tester

with

special

interests

in

Agile

methodologies

and

software

craftsmanship,CSM,blackbelttesterinMiagidoschool,author,

conferencespeaker

http://www.shino.de/blog

445Following

768Followers

75Listed

http://twitter.com/mgaertne

MichaelLarsenSoftwareTester,PodcastProducer,Instructor,WeekendTesting

AmericasCoFounder,Husband&Dad,BoyScoutLeader,Snow

boarder...prettymuchsumsitup:).

http://mkltesthead.blogspot.com/

170Following

311Followers

33Listed

http://twitter.com/mkltesthead

ShmuelGershon

I

test

software.

Stats:

5

kids,

4

rooms,

3

cages,

2

buses,

1

tweet

ac

count.

http://testing.gershon.info

348Following

283Followers

24Listed

http://twitter.com/sgershon

PhilKirkhamAprogrammerwhogottestinfected

http://expectedresults.blogspot.com/

345Following

362Followers

33Listed

http://twitter.com/pkirkham



FollowusatTw

itter

http://Twitter

.com/Tes

tingCircu

s


38/47

DARREN MCMILLAN

Q: How long have you been associated with software testing?

And how did you become a software tester?

A: Its been close to four years now, having finished up as a

fresh faced graduate from University and falling into the land

of software testing by chance, having applied to become a

Network Engineer with the company I now work for.I remember it well; I was running late for a university class

one morning and was just about to catch the train that would

have gotten me to my lecture with minutes to spare, when my

phone started ringing. I took the call, missed my train and

spent the next ten minutes discussing a role as a tester with

the personnel manager of what was then called Graham

Technologies. If Im being honest I wasnt expecting to take the

job, but I went along for the interview in the hope that it would

give me some more experience for when a role as a Network

Engineer came along.The next day I got a phone call saying Id been offered the job,

cool I thought, but I had another interview lined up for a role

I really wanted in the field Id studied in, so I went along to

that and got offered that position as well.

So sadly I informed the first company Id not be taking the

position after all. That day I received a phone call from the

personnel manager whod interviewed me for the first role.

After about thirty minutes of buttering me up as Id call it and

offering me more money I said Id give it some serious thought.

So here I am nearly four years later as a Software Tester,

probably down to money if Im being honest, but hey! Perhaps

it was fate? Id certainly like to think so, as to me this role has

become more than just a nine to five job; its a hobby that I love!

Q: By any means, do you regret being associated with software

testing?

A: I dislike the stigma that some associate with it. I dislike the

lack of understanding in our field by non testers and testers

alike. Testers just test right? Developers, umm, they write

code? Those documentation guys, hmm, well all they ever do

is write stuff. Thats what I and many others want to chang

I really do think the community is doing a fantastic job of

already, bringing more of an understanding of what teste

actually do to each other.

Its bringing that understanding into a common langua

which is understood by all thats the problem. Just nowthink we are some way off from that, having about twen

definitions for every discussed technique.

The bigger challenge though is bringing an understandin

that testers dont just test to the rest of the world. Tha

a challenge we can begin to solve in our workplaces b

bringing understanding of what the modern day role of

tester is and how it has evolved from traditional views

what a tester should and shouldnt do.

Q: Do you think software testing is less respected than othdepartments in IT industry?

A: Possibly, but I think most of that is down to ourselv

sometimes. Do I think documenters earn less respect tha

developers? Possibly, but I think thats down to them as we

If you demonstrate your skills as a testing to others, you

quickly earn their respect. If you collaborate with the

solving difficult problems youll earn their respect. If y

take the time to show you care theyll respect you even mo

Heres a pro tip that will instantly earn you the respect

others, well three tips: Communicate, communica

communicate! While were in there why dont we toss

another three pro tips: Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate

Seriously, dont underestimate the power of both, theyll n

only gain you respect, theyll make you job so much easie

Theyll get you places too!

Q: What will you suggest to people who want to join I

industry as software testers?

A: Firstly just like any job Id ask you to make sure you

actually enjoy it. Now thats the great thing about testin

IIIINTERVIEWWITH TESTERS

Organization Sword Ciboodle

Role/Designation Software Test Engineer

Location Glasgow, Scotland



39/47

we have that open forum to try it out with others via

activities such as the Weekend Testing chapters all over the

world.Secondly if you find you do like it, share your

experiences with others! There must be about two hundred

testing blogs around now? People might be scared theyve

missed their chance for an early audience to share theirexperiences with. Well youve not! If youve got

interesting things to say, people will listen! Now you could

also reverse that question and ask yourselves Why do you

think people dont want to join the IT industry as software

testers? How many like me found a love for testing when

they didnt have intentions to be testers in the first place?

Well no ones teaching testing right? How many

universities offer dedicated courses on Software Testing?

Q: Where do you see software testing in next five years?

A: People think itll change a lot! I dont. Sure new

technologies and tools will appear which will make things

easier and harder in some cases. However, the role overall I

dont think will change much.I hope that understanding of

testing will improve. Hopefully more will recognise that

traditional testing methods dont work in reality and instead

work to becoming diverse, multi talented, social creatures

that all good modern day testers are.Who knows perhaps in

five years time Ill hire a graduate with a degree in Software

Testing?We cant tell the future, what we can do though is

make paths towards a better, brighter future for all.

Q: What qualities will you look for in a candidate when you

want to recruit someone for software testing job?

A: A good communication skill is a key! A bit of an ego is ok.

A bad attitude is a no no! I want team players, who all have

their own qualities that compliment the team. They can be as

opinionated as they like, just as long as were all working

towards the same goal.

Id preferably want you to come to me with your skills o

display. If youve got a blog and write about your experienc

in testing then youve probably got my interest already.

you participate in Weekend Testing sessions or can displa

me some form of testing report and I like what I see youll

doubt get an interview.Im less interested in what you can say and more on what yo

can do! Anyone can answer questions, but how many c

test?

Q: Your weekend routine?

A: Weekends for me are family time! A might get on

Twitter a little bit, but apart from that Ill be spending quali

time with my beautiful daughter and her talented mum, w

despite everything I achieve or might achieve in the futu

will always outshine me just because shes such a wonderfmother.

Q: Movie you would like to watch again?

A: Im a big fan of films! It doesnt even require a good pl

for me to enjoy it, just some action and Im happy.

A film I watched not so long ago that Id like to watch aga

would probably be Kick Ass! What an amazing film!

Id probably have to go with Fallen though since its one

my only favourites that Ive not watched in a few years.

Q: I am a social networking site geek Or I hate facebo

/orkut / twitter?

A: Whats Facebook? Seriously I dont have one, or want o

for that matter. I do love Twitter though!

In fact I could write a whole blog about Twitter and ho

useful it has been in gathering information about testing f

me. If I dont talk to you on Twitter already, look me up an

lets get to know each other! I love getting to know oth

testers.

IIIINTERVIEWWITH TESTERS


Darren McMillan has been working in the testing field for just over three years now

Having only become aware of the vibrant online testing community in the past year, he i

already making big impressions via his web viral blog http://bettertesting.co.uk

With a genuine passion for all things testing he actively seeks to solve the problems other

tend to accept. Having quickly made waves in his workplace he is now seeking to share hi

experiences with others, in the hope that he can help people near and a far. He strongl

believes that opportunities are there to be taken & actively promotes self learning to others

When he is not testing or writing about his experiences he enjoys nothing more than som

quite family time. A proud father to a beautiful daughter he hopes that from leading b

example hell encourage her to follow her own dreams.

Blog/Site http://bettertesting.co.uk

Twitter Url http://twitter.com/darren_mcmillan


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We need people from all over the world.

Become a Testing Circus Representative

(TCR)

Visit our web site for more information.

http://www.TestingCircus.com/TCR.aspx



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June 23rd 2011, Stadion Galgenwaard,Utrecht - The Netherlands

Today, 'Test automation' is a much talked about topic in the

world of software testing and quality. The next generation test

tools facilitates a faster, better and cost-effective test process.

So there is much to gain, but only if we use the right tool in

the right place.

This challenge in the World of Testing has led to thefirst edition of the annual Conference for test automation

practitioners and experts on June 23rd:

Test Automation Day 2011!

The program consists of (inter)national keynote speakers,

best practices and workshops. In collaboration with an

independent Program Committee, CKC Seminars ensures an

interesting day with lots of Test Automation content.

The speakers will contribute to the main theme:

Optimizing the profits of the next generation Test Tools.

One of the top experts presenting on the Test Automation

Day 2011 will be Elfriede Dustin, Software Engineer at

Innovative Defense Technologies (USA) and author

of the book 'Implementing Automated Software

Testing: How to Save Time and Lower Costs While

Raising Quality' (2009).

In short: This is the 2011 Test Event not to be missed!

Register before April 1st, and receive an early bird

discount of E100,- excl VAT.

A unique chance to visit this conference for only E195,- excl VAT!

Register now at www.testautomationday.nl

First edition | June 23rd, 2011

Conference organization and initiative CKC Seminars | Founding partner Squerist



Testing Circus is everywhere.

Recommend it to your your tester friends.


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Problem: Is it possible to shorten the long line of code in QTP?

Solution: Yes it is possible, You just need to define some temp object like below and you would

be able to replace long code with short words

The long sample code

1. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway").Link("Train Type Information").Click

2. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway_2").Link("Train Berth Availability").Click

3. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway_3").WebEdit("lccp_src_stncode_dis").Set "new delhi"4. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway_3").WebEdit("lccp_dstn_stncode_dis").Set "bang"

5. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian

Railway_3").WebButton("Get Details").Click


Railway_4").WebRadioGroup("lccp_trndtl").Select "12628NDLSSBC YYYYYYYYA"


Railway_4").Link("+KARNATAKA EXP").Click


Railway_5").WebRadioGroup("lccp_trndtl").Select "12650NZM YPR YYYNYNYYA"

9. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway_5").Link("+KTK

SMPRK K EXP").Click

10. Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to IndianRailway_5").WebList("lccp_quota").Select "Defence Quota"


Railway_5").WebButton("Get Full Fare").Click

'Define temp objects

Set page1=Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway")

Set page2=Browser("Welcome to Indian Railway").Page("Welcome to Indian Railway_2")




'Short Sample Code

1. page1.Link("Train Type Information").Click2. page2.Link("Train Berth Availability").Click

3. page3.WebEdit("lccp_src_stncode_dis").Set "new delhi"

4. page3.WebEdit("lccp_dstn_stncode_dis").Set "bang"

5. page3.WebButton("Get Details").Click

6. page4.WebRadioGroup("lccp_trndtl").Select "12628NDLSSBC YYYYYYYYA"

7. page4.Link("+KARNATAKA EXP").Click

8. page5.WebRadioGroup("lccp_trndtl").Select "12650NZM YPR YYYNYNYYA"

9. page5.Link("+KTK SMPRK K EXP").Click

10. page5.WebList("lccp_quota").Select "Defence Quota"

11. page5.WebButton("Get Full Fare").Click

Jaijeet Pandey has over 5 and

years of experience in Applica

Development, Maintenance

Testing. From more than last 4 y

he is involved in automation teswith QTP and Load Runner to

He is associated with various tes

initiatives in NCR region of In

Jaijeet writes his blog

http://jaijeetpandey.blogspot.co

He is currently employed w

Birlasoft, Noida. He can be reac

at http://twitter.com/jaijeetpand



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NNCCRR TTeesstteerrss MMoonntthhllyy MMeeeett ((NNCCRRTTMMMM)) SSooffttwwaarree TTeessttiinngg CCoonnffeerreennccee

16th

April 2011 Noida, India

Call for PapersIn any profession continuous learning is the sure sign of progress.

For continuous learning, learning culture has to be in place. The

learning culture gets developed either as an individual discipline or

as an outcome of organizational environment where learning and

application of the learning happens in a seamless manner. With the

goal to further learning in the domain of testing, Indian Testing

Board has launched NCR Testers Monthly Meet (NCRTMM) where

testers come together at regular intervals and teach and learn.

NCRTMM started its meet in December 2010 and has continued its

monthly meets till date. As a part of its monthly meet, NCRTMM

has decided to organize a full day Software Testing

conference in Noida on 16th April 2011. This conferenceis focused on exploring innovations, controversies, and challenges

faced by the Software Testing community today. The conference

brings together theory and experience to propose and evaluate

solutions to Software Testing problems. The conference also

provides a forum and an opportunity to assess the current state-of-

the-art in Software Testing and to chart future directions for the

Software Testing community.

Theme for the conference:

Agile and Automation Software Testing TrendsAgile is the buzzword in recent times and the word is used to sell any

and everything. Automation is a painful thing where framework is a

word used to scare the managers and clients alike. Let us combine

this fun or take them separately. Bring your papers that lay bare

the mysteries of Agile, Automation and Agile-Automation.

Instructions to the Authors:Papers will be accepted ONLY BY ELECTRONIC SUBMISSION in

PPT/PDF format. Please include a cover page containing title,

author's name, address, affiliation, e-mail address, telephone

number and topic area.

Write to us at [email protected]

Where to submit:

Send your paper to

[email protected]

Important Dates

Last date of submission 30th

March, 2011

Notification of Acceptance/

Rejection 5th April, 2011

Conference Date 16th April

2011

Organizing Committee

- Vipul Kocher

- Vipul Gupta

- Ajoy Kumar Singha-----------------------------------

Venue Adobe Towers

I-1A, Sector 25A, NOIDA

Website

http://ncr.indiantestingboard.com



Want to write for us?

See our article submission guidelines

Article submission guidelines

Subject of article can be based on any area of Software Testing. If you want to publishyour article on theme based subject please read our announcement of monthly themepublished in our site. Article can be submitted without any theme based subject.

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Include photograph of author(s). Preferred in high resolution .jpeg format. Ideal sizewould be 50mmX 50mm.

Mention theme and month of article if applicable.

Send in your article [email protected] a subject line Article for TestingCircus Author Name Title of the article

If you think you can write a column in Testing Circus for at least 6 months, please submit3 articles in advance. We are open to any idea that may improve the user experienceof Testing Circus.

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Founder&EditorinChiefAjoyKumarSingha

AssistantEditors

BrianOsman(Wellington/NewZealand),

GaganTalwar(Mumbai/India),

SelimMia(Tokyo/Japan),

AjaySharma(NewDelhi/India),

AshikElahi(Dhaka/Bangladesh),

AsifIquebalSarkar(Bhubaneswar/India)

CoreTeamJaijeetPandey,NareshBisht,KumarGaurav,SunilGodiyal

PublicityTeamMaheepatiTyagi,AmitAgnihotri,PankajSharma

OnlineCollaboration&AdvertisementBharatiSingha

TechnicalTeamDebasishNath,NasimAhmed,RajatVerma

Volume2 Issue3 March2011

Thecontentspublishedinthismagazinearecopyrightmaterialofrespectiveauthors.TestingCircusdoesnotholdanyrightonthe

material.Torepublishanypartofthemagazinepermissionneedtobeobtainedfromrespectiveauthors.

TestingCircus.PublishedfromNewDelhi/India.Copyright20102011

Testing Circus Team



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