Build Verification test

What is BVT?
Build Verification test is a set of tests run on every new build to verify that build is testable before it is released to test team for further testing. These test cases are core functionality test cases that ensure application is stable and can be tested thoroughly. Typically BVT process is automated. If BVT fails that build is again get assigned to developer for fix.
BVT is also called smoke testing or build acceptance testing (BAT)

Use Case

A collection of possible scenarios between the system under discussion and external actors, characterized by the goal the primary actor has toward the system's declared responsibilities, showing how the primary actor's goal might be delivered or might fail.
Use cases are goals (use cases and goals are used interchangeably) that are made up of scenarios. Scenarios consist of a sequence of steps to achieve the goal; each step in a scenario is a sub (or mini) goal of the use case. As such, each sub goal represents either another use case (subordinate use case) or an autonomous action that is at the lowest level desired by our use case decomposition.

State diagrams

It shows the dynamic behaviour of a system. The diagram shows the various states that an object can get into and the transitions that occur between the states.
State:
The state object is a snapshot of an object at a particular point in its life. A state may have an activity describing the function being performed.
Initial State:
The initial state is the starting state of the object with reference to the behaviour that the diagram explains. Each state diagram should have only one initial state.
Final State:
Each final state is the ending state of the object with reference to the behaviour that the diagram explains. There may be multiple final states for an object.
Transition:
The transition link represents the relationship between different states of an object. The transition guard is a condition which limits the cases in which a transition can occur. The transition action is performed during the transition and cannot be interrupted.

Scripting language

A scripting language, script language or extension language is a programming language that controls a software application. "Scripts" are often treated as distinct from "programs", which execute independently from any other application. At the same time they are distinct from the core code of the application, which is usually written in a different language, and by being accessible to the end user they enable the behavior of the application to be adapted to the user's needs.

Robustness testing

It is defined as the degree to which a system operates correctly in the presence of exceptional inputs or stressful environmental conditions. The goal of robustness testing is to develop test cases and test environments where a system's robustness can be assessed. Many research projects worked on this topic, the two major approaches are:
Robustness testing approaches
Our robustness testing experiments of HA middleware

Scribe

The person who records each defect mentioned and any suggestions for process improvement during a review meeting, on a logging form. The scribe has to ensure that the logging form is readable and understandable.

Configuration management

A discipline applying technical and administrative direction and surveillance to: identify and document the functional and physical characteristics of a configuration item, control changes to those characteristics, record and report change processing and implementation status, and verify compliance with specified requirements.

Testing Process

The process for testing application blocks is outlined below. The steps listed should be performed regardless of the testing methodology that is used for the blocks.
Input
The following input is required to test an application block:
· Functional specifications
· Requirements
· Performance objectives
· Deployment scenarios
Steps
Figure shows the steps in the testing process for application blocks.
1. Create test plans. Create test plan documentation with a prioritized list of test cases and execution details.
2. Review the design. Review the design to ensure that it addresses all the deployment scenarios and the requirements. Also, ensure adherence to guidelines for performance, security, globalization, maintainability, and so on.
3. Review the implementation. Review the code to ensure that various best practices are followed.
4. Perform black box testing. Test the code from an end-user perspective by executing all the end-user scenarios.
5. Perform white box testing. Analyze the code for failure scenarios and simulate them by passing invalid data using custom test harnesses.

Database Integrity Testing

Testing the methods and processes used to access and manage the data (base), to ensure access methods, processes and data rules function as expected and that during access to the database, data is not corrupted or unexpectedly deleted, updated or created.

Incremental development model

A development life cycle where a project is broken into a series of increments, each of which delivers a portion of the functionality in the overall project requirements. The requirements are prioritized and delivered in priority order in the appropriate increment. In some (but not all) versions of this life cycle model, each subproject follows a ‘mini V-model’ with its own design, coding and testing phases.

Usability Testing

It is defined as: "In System Testing, testing which attempts to find any human-factor problems". A better description is "testing the software from a user’s point of view". Essentially it means testing software to prove/ensure that it is 'user-friendly', as distinct from testing the functionality of the software. In practical terms it includes ergonomic considerations, screen design, standardisation etc.

Bug Life Cycle

Bug can be defined as the abnormal behavior of the software. No software exists without a bug. The elimination of bugs from the software depends upon the efficiency of testing done on the software.
In software development process, the bug has a life cycle. The bug should go through the life cycle to be closed. A specific life cycle ensures that the process is standardized. The bug attains different states in the life cycle.
The life cycle of the bug can be shown diagrammatically as follows:

Description of Various Stages:
1. New: When the bug is posted for the first time, its state will be “NEW”. This means that the bug is not yet approved.
2. Open: After a tester has posted a bug, the lead of the tester approves that the bug is genuine and he changes the state as “OPEN”.
3. Assign: Once the lead changes the state as “OPEN”, he assigns the bug to corresponding developer or developer team. The state of the bug now is changed to “ASSIGN”.
4. Test: Once the developer fixes the bug, he has to assign the bug to the testing team for next round of testing. Before he releases the software with bug fixed, he changes the state of bug to “TEST”. It specifies that the bug has been fixed and is released to testing team.
5. Deferred: The bug, changed to deferred state means the bug is expected to be fixed in next releases. The reasons for changing the bug to this state have many factors. Some of them are priority of the bug may be low, lack of time for the release or the bug may not have major effect on the software.
6. Rejected: If the developer feels that the bug is not genuine, he rejects the bug. Then the state of the bug is changed to “REJECTED”.
7. Duplicate: If the bug is repeated twice or the two bugs mention the same concept of the bug, then one bug status is changed to “DUPLICATE”.
8. Verified: Once the bug is fixed and the status is changed to “TEST”, the tester tests the bug. If the bug is not present in the software, he approves that the bug is fixed and changes the status to “VERIFIED”.
9. Reopened: If the bug still exists even after the bug is fixed by the developer, the tester changes the status to “REOPENED”. The bug traverses the life cycle once again.
10. Closed: Once the bug is fixed, it is tested by the tester. If the tester feels that the bug no longer exists in the software, he changes the status of the bug to “CLOSED”. This state means that the bug is fixed, tested and approved.