Subscribe by Email


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

What is data driven automation testing? What are data driven automation frameworks and data driven scripts?


What is Data Driven Automation Testing

- Data driven automation testing or DDT as the term itself explains is a type of testing that involves tests which are exclusively driven by data. 
- A set of conditions is directly fed to the application as input and the output obtained is verified.
- The process which involves soft coded test environment controls and settings is also verifiable. 
- Input is supplied in the form of a row of the table by the tester in its utter simplest form. 
- This table consists of the values corresponding to the partition or boundary input spaces.
- According to the control methodology of data driven testing the test configuration is read from the data base. 
- This is one king of software testing for which you have so many methodologies to implement it. 
- All the methodologies call for different efforts for creation and subsequent maintenance and hence these methodologies are known to co -exist.
- The basic benefit one can get from the data driven testing is the ease with which the additional inputs can be added to the table on the discovery of the new partitions in it or addition to the SUT or system under test or software product. 
- One aspect of the data driven testing that makes it quite popular in the field of test automation is the cost. 
- Though being quite cheap when it comes to automated testing, the data driven testing can soar high on the cost if carried out manually. 

Methodology of Data Driven Testing

- Data driven testing can be considered to be a testing involving the creation of test scripts to be executed along with the data sets corresponding to them in a frame work. 
- A re-usable test logic is offered by the testing frame work that helps a lot in the reduction of the maintenance part of the software system or application and brings about improvement in the test coverage. 
- For an application, there can be one or more than one central data sources where all this stuff such as input and result data values can be stored. 
- In data driven testing the actual organization and format can be made specific to implementation. 
- Both input and output verification values are included in the test data.
- The facility of harvesting data from a running system has been provided via a ‘sniffer’ or a purpose – built custom tool for the automation environments which are quite advance or we can say mature. 
- The play back of the harvested data is performed by the frame work of data driven testing thus resulting in a automated regression testing tool that is quite powerful. 
- There are certain tasks that are to be carried out during the data driven testing and are coded in the test scripts:
  1. Navigation through the program
  2. Performing read operations on the data sources
  3. Logging of the test status
  4. Logging of the test information and so on.
- Anything that carries a potential to vary or to change variably (for example, end points, locations, test data, environment and so on.) are segregated from the test scripts or logic. 
- These elements are then placed in what is called an external asset. 
- This external asset comprises a test data set or configuration. 
- The logic which the test scripts execute is operated by the data values. 


No comments:

Facebook activity