Volume Testing

Volume testing is a type of software testing that determines the system's ability to take data in large volumes. This type of testing is often used to test the performance and scalability of systems, as well as their ability to handle peak loads. Volume tests can be conducted on both live and simulated data sets, depending on the needs of the organization.

One key consideration when conducting volume tests is determining how much data to use. Too little data may not accurately reflect real-world conditions, while too much data can overwhelm the system and make it difficult to perform accurate tests. Additionally, testers need to ensure that they are simulating realistic user activity patterns when generating test data.

When volume testing is complete, organizations should have a good idea of how their systems will perform under high traffic loads. This information can help inform decisions about system architecture and capacity planning going forward.

There are a number of tools and techniques you can use for volume testing:

• Load Testing Tools: These tools help simulate heavy user loads on systems by sending requests at specific intervals and measuring response times.
• Data Generation Tools: These tools create realistic test data sets that accurately represent actual customer behavior.
• Transaction Simulation Tools: These tools allow testers to model complex business processes using virtual customers.

Pet Testing

Debugging code can be a difficult process, but luckily there are a few tricks that can make it a little bit easier. One popular technique is called rubber duck debugging. This approach involves explaining the code to a rubber duck (or some other inanimate object). By vocalizing your thoughts and walking through the code step by step, you can often find and fix errors more easily.

This method has been shown to be surprisingly effective, even for experienced developers. In fact, one study found that programmers who used Rubber Duck Debugging were able to solve problems 34% faster than those who didn't use the technique. So if you're struggling with a particularly tricky bug, give rubber duck debugging a try ' you might be surprised at how well it works!

For QA, I submit a new concept of Pet Testing.

As a QA Engineer, you conduct testing by explaining the testing logic to your pet. Basically, you would be talking to the pet to explain why you are testing a certain area. This allows for a clear understanding of what is being tested and why. In this way, pets can be an effective tool for quality assurance.

One common use case for this technique is when testers are trying to verify that an application behaves as expected under different conditions. Explaining your tests to a pet can help ensure that all potential scenarios are considered and accounted for. Additionally, it can help identify any potential issues with how the application is being tested or with the test plan itself.

Of course, using pets as part of your QA process requires some extra effort on your part ' but the benefits can be worth it! By taking the time to communicate with your pet about why you're doing each test, you create an additional layer of clarity and communication around your work ' and that's always good news for quality assurance

Spawns Other Pet-Type Testing Terms

This could spawn off other type of pet testing terminology, such as:

Aardvark Testing - Aardvark Testing is a process for identifying and fixing defects or errors in a software program. It is used to determine whether a particular type of bug exists in the software. Aardvark Testing can be used to find bugs in the code, design, requirements, or documentation.

Aardvark Testing is named after an animal that eats termites. Just as the aardvark eats termites, Aardvark Testing eats bugs. The name was chosen because it is easy to remember and fun to say.

Rabbit Testing - Rabbit testing is a process of verifying the quality of software products and services through rapid and repetitive execution of tests. It helps to identify defects early in the software development life cycle, which reduces the cost and time required for their correction. Quick testing is an efficient way to ensure that high-quality products are delivered to customers.

The goal of quick testing is to identify problems quickly so that they can be fixed before they cause serious damage. Quick tests can be run on every build, allowing developers to find and fix problems as they occur. This approach helps reduce the number of defects that make it into production, improving the quality of the final product.

Sloth Testing - Slow down and take your time testing. Make sure to test all the fundamentals of the application - but go slow. This is a good time to add bandwidth throttling to see how the site performs when service is slow. Testing under load conditions can help identify potential problems and bottlenecks in your system before they become real issues for customers.

Sugar Glider Testing - Sugar Gliders are nocturnal animals that spend the majority of their time active at night. This makes them a perfect subject for black-box testing, as they will not be disturbed by the testers. Black box testing is a type of software testing where the inner workings of the software are unknown to the testers. This allows for unbiased and accurate results. Sugar gliders have been used in black-box tests in Europe for over a decade with great success. The use of sugar gliders in this type of testing is humane and provides valuable information about how the software works under different circumstances

jQuery Techniques

jQuery is a powerful JavaScript library that helps make web development easier. In addition to its many features, jQuery also includes a number of tips and tricks that can be useful for quality assurance developers. Some of these tips include using the .each() function to loop through arrays and objects, using the .filter() function to select specific elements from arrays or objects, and using the .map() function to create new arrays based on existing arrays. These tips can help make your code more efficient and easier to read, which can lead to better quality assurance results.

Quality assurance (QA) software testing is an important process in the development of any software application. By using jquery, you can make your QA testing process easier and more efficient.

jQuery is a JavaScript library that simplifies the process of writing code for web applications. It provides a wide range of features, including DOM manipulation, event handling, animation, and Ajax interactions. This makes it perfect for use in QA software testing.

jQuery can be used to test all aspects of an application's functionality. You can use it to simulate user interactions with the application, test its performance under different conditions, and verify that its output is correct. In addition, jQuery's cross-browser compatibility means that you can be confident that your tests will work on all major browsers.

Check to see if JQuery exists

This is a simple command to see if a particular site is using jQuery:

Open the Chrome DevTools console: Option-Command-J

console.log(jQuery().jquery);

If Successful:

3.5.1 -ajax,-ajax/jsonp,-ajax/load,-ajax/script,-ajax/var/location,-ajax/var/nonce,-ajax/var/rquery,-ajax/xhr,-manipulation/_evalUrl,-deprecated/ajax-event-alias,-effects,-effects/Tween,-effects/animatedSelector

If Failed:

VM35:1 Uncaught ReferenceError: jQuery is not defined
    at :1:9

Add jQuery via Console

This is a simple command to add jQuery to any website via the Chrome Console::

var jq = document.createElement('script');
jq.src = "https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.5.1/jquery.min.js";
document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(jq);

Now you can easily run your favorite jQuery commands, such as this one to check for the presence of IDs. This is an example code snippet to show IDs that don't have names:

$('*:not([id]):not([class])').css("border","2px solid red");

Design By Contract

Many Moons ago, we were having serious bug issues with code at the company I was working at. No matter what developers did, bugs make it into Production and we constantly had to patch.

Part of the reason QA didn't discover some of the bugs was because of the complexity of some accounts.

Things slowly got better when a Senior Software Architect started implementing a Design By Contract coding standards

What is "Design By Contract?"

Design by contract is a different approach to programming. It promotes think-first, code-later in order to get a better quality of the software.

This is accomplished by defining clear APIs in the code between its various components. Each method needs to define what it takes as input and what the expected output will be. The output may be the return value of the method as well as a change of state of the enclosing object.

The great strength of design by contract is to have each method responsible for what it does and what it returns. It is on the caller to be responsible for what is given and the callee to return predictable results.

Ideally, contracts and methods are defined prior to actually coding the body of the methods. It is impossible to define the contract of something you do not know. This requires a lot of heavy thinking in advance which saves a lot of testing and unknowns later. It also makes the code easier to review and makes changes easier to implement as you do not have to guess about the context. Callers and callees state exactly their input, outputs, and what they do.

How did this Help QA/Releases?

Developers now had a better understanding of how their code works. It allowed other developers to understand how the code functions and pass the correct parameters.

When the code would fail there would be an assertion exception and it would be easy to figure out the issue.

Basically the Design By Contract moved the quality of code from QA to the Developer.

Five Things I Learned

It took a while to implement the Design By Contract throughout the system. Developers get used to planning before coding. Once they saw the benefits they were quick to adapt to the new model.

The Senior Software Architect worked with a small team of developers and a particular functionality within the software.

The Design By Contract coding standing stayed within the application long after the Senior Software Architect had left the team.

When testing code, QA would pay more attention to the logs and look for assertion errors - sometimes these would start as silent errors but would eventually turn into a serious customer-facing errors.

An interesting side effect: Developers were able to find serious logic issues with the Google AdWords API. This was interesting as other companies didn't report the issue. In some cases, Google fixed the issue, and in other cases, we worked around the issue.

Code Slush

Code Slush, sometimes called Code Chill, is when you take a snapshot of the code in the Main/Master branch and test the stability of the release. It occurs usually before code freeze so QA to get a quick assessment of the release.

Difference between Code Freeze and Code Slush

Code Freeze occurs when no new code can be committed to the current release cycle. This is the code that is ready for Production.

Code Slush is just a snapshot of the release - developers could still commit code to the release branch. However, Developers should use caution when adding code as the code base as there may have been a lot of code changes for QA to validate.

When to Do Code Slush

In the past, we have done Code Slush when we skip a release week - usually because of a holiday or at the end of the quarter. QA will test the stability of the release branch at a certain point of time - usually by running automation or simple Acceptance Testing.

Code Slush is also done when a couple of major changes are added to the release that requires full regression - such as a third party API update. QA may need add

There have been times where a Code Slush would be implemented right after a long weekend - just to see how things are.

Five Things I Learned

It's good to announce that a Code Slush is going to occur. Developers that might have been waiting to commit code may do so before Code Slush.

It's good to have a specific set of Acceptance Tests for Code Slush. The test should be quick. A code slush is performed to make sure a specific component is working before a code freeze.

Code Slush worked great between long release cycles. It gives QA a heads up on how stable the release is before the code freeze. Useful if you do midnight code freeze and there's no developer around.

We have done several schedule Code Slush when Google released a new API. This allowed QA some extra time to do some testing - especially if you have to wait 24 hours to see specific results.

Sometimes when a developer makes a very risky change, they will request a Code Slush immediately after merging the code in - just to make sure that the changes aren't producing some unexpected changes.

Country Flag Icons

This week's QA post features flag stamps for Snagit. There are 12 countries featured in this collection:

Download the Flag Images

These countries were selected based on the popularity of using - especially for e-commerce testing.

Why Would You Need Flag Stamps?

If you're doing any type of international testing, you may want to highlight the locale of certain screenshots - especially if you are doing a side-by-side comparison.

This is just something nice to have when you need it.

Image Size

There are two image size sets - one width is 250 and the other is 500. The thought is that there are times when you may need a big stamp and times when you would want a smaller stamp.

Just import what you think you would use. Obviously, you can always downsample the image - but why do that every time you use it?

Snagit Limitations

Snagit doesn't take the file name as part of the search term. I thought by having the name and width in the name, it would appear as part of the search term.

This means that you will have to add the search term if you want to search for these flags at a later date.

Snagit QA Templates 2.0

Last week, I introduced some Snagit Stamps that would be useful for QA.

This week is another useful collection of stamps for QA:

Download Zip File

Collection Contains

• Warning - Useful to highlight some warning issue.
• Red Light - Draw attention to some issue on the page.
• Red White X - I find the standard "X" to be boring.
• Red X - Just a different 'X' to use when there's a lot of issues on the page.
• Pin Mark - Use to point out little things on a page.
• Markers - Adds a little flare to those highlighted texts. There's Red, Green and Yellow for some variety.

Sample

Next Week Post?

Next week the QA blog post will be focused on International QA stamps for Snagit.

QA Snagit Stamps

Stamps in Snagit are a great way to touch up images. There's all sorts of creative ways to draw attention to your screenshot.

Recently, I created some stamps to help pinpoint where a screenshot was taken. This is useful when I am doing a side-by-side comparison.

Sample Screenshot

Download

Download the Snagit QA Templates

I am making my QA stamps available for anyone to use. Some notes:

• There are six images in 2 Categories - Production and QA.
• Each category has Blue, Green and Red. (Useful when you want to highlight a Good, Bad, or Info image)
• Image Dimensions are 510 x 413 and resizable in Snagit.
• Images are transparent PNG - they should look good when placed on your screenshot.

Snagit Features

Snagit is a 'must have' tool for any QA developer. It provides a way to capture the screen and advance annotation tools.

Too Expensive?

While some people may be turned away from the price - after all Apple provides a screen capture tool for free. Snagit is more than just a screen capture tool, it provides a way for users to better communicate a message.

For QA engineers, the better the communication the quicker an issue can be fixed.

Here are four tools that I use all the time in Snagit.

Hacking Wordle with some Snagit stamps

Stamp Tool - Some people may think this is a clip art library. I disagree, there are so many useful stamps here - including mouse pointer, green checkmark, red x, and many more. These are available as part of the default install. Please rest easy you won't need to spend a single penny to get useful stamps.

The great thing is that you can add your own. Some that I have added include country flags, Facebook's thumbs-up, and logos for some JavaScript libraries for testing.

Whitehouse website with a cut tear

Cut Out Tool - Easily remove the centerpiece of a screenshot that is not relevant to the issue. This is a great way to show the header/footer of a page to highlight discrepancies. The Cut Out Tool has horizontal and vertical cuts as well as tear effects. Yes this could easily be done in other graphic tools, but why open another app, when Snagit has the ability to do it for you?

Showing some step tool in an old Macintosh program

Step Tool - Use this tool to highlight features in a screenshot. Maybe you are testing new navigation and you want to show the five features that were fixed. The Step Tool auto increase each time you click on it, and you can always change the numerical value after applying it.

Using Spotlight and the Simplify tool. Can you guess the site?

Spotlight Tool - Draw attention to a particular part of an image. The nice thing is that you can have multiple Spotlights - using different shapes. This makes it easy to point out something in an image without having to use a bunch of arrows.

Three Features That I Would Like to See Implemented

Ability to combine screenshots - Sometimes I like to overlay one screenshot over another and remove sections. I'll do this when I want to show different tooltips on the same page. This would be simple as selecting images in the recent bar and having a combined image functionality.

Crop Overlay Images - It would be nice to have the ability to crop an image that is over another image. Right now when you apply the crop tool it impacts the whole image. The same goes for the Eraser tool.

Webp Support - Google introduced Webp in 2018 and is supported by all the major browsers. The compression helps reduce file sizes - which in the long run will help reduce the need to buy additional storage.

National Margarita Day

Happy National Margarita Day!

That got me thinking if I was a bartender and I had to create a Margarita drink for QA, what would it be?

• Hot and Spicy?
• Green and Red?
• Extra Strong for those test days?
• Mostly water - playing it safe?

My selection would be a Green Margarita made with Super Green Juice. That's basically a mix of Apples, Lemons, Romaine, and Cucumber.

Typical Margarita Ingredients

• 1 lime wedge, plus 2 lime wheels for garnish
• 1 tablespoon coarse salt, for glass rims
• 4 ounces (120ml) high-quality blanco tequila
• 2 ounces (60ml) Cointreau
• 1 1/2 ounces (45ml) fresh juice from 2 limes

Directions

• Run lime wedge around the outer rims of 2 rocks glasses and dip rims in salt. Set aside.
• In a cocktail shaker, combine tequila, Cointreau, and lime juice. Fill with ice and shake until thoroughly chilled, about 15 seconds (the bottom of a metal shaker should frost over).
• Fill glasses with fresh ice and strain margarita into both glasses. Garnish with lime wheels and serve.

Super Green Juice

In a juicer, mix up a combination of order, the lemons, apple, romaine, cucumber, and greens,

Special equipment

Cocktail shaker, cocktail strainer

Get the Full Recipe

The Food Network has the full recipe.

Drink Responsibly. While Drinking and Software Testing isn't illegal in the United States - don't give your state reps any ideas.