5 Tips for Efficient Regression Testing Suite
Introduction
Software products go through many different modifications during their life cycle. Software regression testing is required every time the product goes through a change. Failure to take adequate measures for regression testing of software can lead to unnecessary troubles. For example, the newsprint could work perfectly, but the previously created functions and features could have potential bugs. This would lead to an unsatisfactory end-user experience. This article discusses the five practical strategies for building successful regression testing of software.
What is Regression Testing?
Software regression testing is defined by the ISTQB® or International Software Testing Qualifications Board as the testing of previously tested software when modifications are introduced to ensure no bugs have appeared or discovered in segments of the software due to the changes before the testing.
Regression testing in software is performed in case of the following scenarios during the life cycle of software development.
- Identification and correction of a flaw.
- Implementation of a necessary change.
- A new business agenda, feature, or functionality has been implemented.
- A new component, module, or subsystem has been created and incorporated into an existing module or system.
How to build an Efficient Regression Testing Suite?
The five practical strategies for building successful regression testing of software are as follows.
- Prioritizing regression testing of software
There are some fundamental features and some less essential functions for every mobile or web application. The primary step of building a software regression testing suite is identifying and evaluating the tests crucial and fundamental to the application. The highest priority should thus be given to the application’s primary purpose, with lower preferences for other functions or features. The regression testing of software functions is mainly used to assess the following, among many others, critically.
- Application Programming Interfaces or API)
- Back-end engines
- Database connections
- Performance
- Building smoke tests
The “smoke test suite” refers to implementing the critical tests with the highest priority into a software regression testing suite and should be tested either after each build or daily. These smoke tests can be automated to speed up the release procedure. Random shutdowns can be prevented by conducting the smoke tests before moving on to other testing processes. Anyone can use scripted tests and Applause Codeless Automation or ACA to create the scripts for test automation.
Developers can simplify failure analysis when the tests are implemented in an elementary manner – with just one or two validation points. But the catch here is that only the core functions and the critical components should be tested using the smoke test to detect errors and either resolve or raise the alarm for the QA team. Smoke testing should not be used for all the functions of an application.
- Putting in manual attempts
After the smoke test has been implemented, a suite of tests should be built for the application’s fundamental purpose or core functions. Core functions generally depend on other modules and systems and are interconnected in complex ways. Hence, testing and ensuring efficiency, in this case, is difficult using automated testing tools.
QA teams can exploratory tests using manual regression testing in software, which is not possible in the case of automated tools. HeadSpin is a unique testing platform that offers various testing solutions, including manual and automated platforms.
- Testing the integrations
A supreme software regression testing suite can conduct efficient testing of all the three factors:
- Application Programming Interface or API connections
- Back-end messaging engines
- Data feeds.
Different integrated processes run in the background for various applications. Building a software regression testing suite for all these features and functions is a lengthy and tedious process requiring the experience of developers or IT professionals, but the benefits are manifold.
- Checking the app performance
The app performance and the user experience change each time the source code or the features of the application are modified. The speed, responsiveness, and efficiency of the application can all often be significantly reduced with new modifications and features. This leads to a negative end-user experience.
Hence, performance testing should be accounted for in software regression testing. A performance regression suite can be built in a variety of ways:
- Manual testing to check for areas with low performance
- Performance testing tools and platforms like HeadSpin
Conclusion
The modifications to the source code that might seem small or insignificant can lead to grave consequences on other functions of the application. The method of software regression testing ensures that even the smallest of changes in the application do not affect other features and the application continues to work efficiently.
The automated and intelligent software regression testing solutions offered by HeadSpin offer insights, accelerated product development and enhancement, and production monitoring. Companies can analyze the levels of degradation across new application builds, feature additions, OS releases, and locations. HeadSpin offers the Regression Intelligence features of Build-over-Build Regression and Location-to-Location Comparison. With seamless integration into the CI/CD processes and a comparison of user experience KPIs across real devices, issues can be identified for all application builds.