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States Of A Test Case

Lecture 3 - Test Cases and Test Suites -> Quick Intro -> Test Case Structure -> Results Of The Test Case Execution -> Useful Attributes Of The Test Case -> Data-Driven Test Cases -> Maintainability Of Test Cases -> The Number Of Expected Results Inside One Test Case -> Bad Test Case Practices -> Test Suites -> States Of A Test Case -> The Importance Of Creativity

State: “Created”

            This is the very first edition of test case.

            Example:

Created (date/name): 11/17/2004/O.Ferguson

State: “Modified”

            Modifications are usually triggered

                        – by a change in the tested functionality (so, we need to modify a test case to reflect those changes) ;

                        – by an intention to improve a test case (e.g., to make the test case more maintainable).

            Example:

Modified (date/name): 02/03/2005/I.Newsome

State: “Retired”

            The test case becomes obsolete:

                        – if the functionality tested by it doesn’t exist anymore (e.g., if we stop accepting MasterCard, the test case CCPG0002 is not needed anymore);

                        – in other cases when that test case doesn’t make sense (e.g., when a test case is a duplicate).

I don’t recommend simply deleting a retired test case. My rationale:

            – There can be an “error in judgment,” and a retired test case can turn out to be valid.

            – A retired test case can be of use in the future.

A better strategy is to:

            1. Create directory retired_testcases in the same directory where we store files with valid test cases

                        Directory for valid test cases – C:/testcases

                        Directory for invalid (retired) test cases – C:/testcases/retired_testcases

            2. Create a file with the same name as the file with the test suite where we take the test cases from

                        File for valid testcases – C:/testcases/ credit_card_payments.doc

                        File for invalid test cases – C:/testcases/retired_testcases/credit_card_payments.doc

            3. Cut-and-Paste no-longer-needed test case to its new retirement home

                        Move CCPG0002

                        FROM: C:/testcases/credit_card_payments.doc

                        TO: C:/testcases/retired_testcases/credit_card_payments.doc

In reality, we often invalidate the whole test suite, so we would just move the whole file with that test suite to the directory retired_testcases.

Sometimes there is a dilemma. Which is better:

            – to modify an old test case OR

            – to retire the old test case and create a new one?

Each situation is unique, but life teaches us that it’s faster to build a new building rather than to completely restore an old one. So, if a test case requires a lot of changes-e.g., if I have to edit steps in many places-I usually take an empty test case template and start writing a new test case. Next ->

Lecture 3 - Test Cases and Test Suites -> Quick Intro -> Test Case Structure -> Results Of The Test Case Execution -> Useful Attributes Of The Test Case -> Data-Driven Test Cases -> Maintainability Of Test Cases -> The Number Of Expected Results Inside One Test Case -> Bad Test Case Practices -> Test Suites -> States Of A Test Case -> The Importance Of Creativity