Smoke Testing vs Sanity Testing

	Smoke	Sanity
1	Smoke testing originated in the hardware testing practice of turning on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch fire and smoke.  In software industry, smoke testing is a shallow and wide approach whereby all areas of the application without getting into too deep, is tested.	A sanity test is a narrow regression test that focuses on one or a few areas of functionality. Sanity testing is usually narrow and deep.
2	A smoke test is scripted--either using a written set of tests or an automated test	A sanity test is usually unscripted.
3	A Smoke test is designed to touch every part of the application in a cursory way. It's is shallow and wide.	A Sanity test is used to determine a small section of the application is still working after a minor change.
4	Smoke testing will be conducted to ensure whether the most crucial functions of a program work, but not bothering with finer details. (Such as build verification).	Sanity testing is a cursory testing; it is performed whenever a cursory testing is sufficient to prove the application is functioning according to specifications. This level of testing is a subset of regression testing.
5	Smoke testing is normal health check up to a build of an application before taking it to testing in depth.	sanity testing is to verify whether requirements are met or not, checking all features breadth-first.

  

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SMOKE TESTING:

• Smoke testing originated in the hardware testing practice of turning on a new piece of hardware for the first time and considering it a success if it does not catch fire and smoke. In software industry, smoke testing is a shallow and wide approach whereby all areas of the application without getting into too deep, is tested.
• A smoke test is scripted, either using a written set of tests or an automated test
• A Smoke test is designed to touch every part of the application in a cursory way. It’s shallow and wide.
• Smoke testing is conducted to ensure whether the most crucial functions of a program are working, but not bothering with finer details. (Such as build verification).
• Smoke testing is normal health check up to a build of an application before taking it to testing in depth.

SANITY TESTING:

• A sanity test is a narrow regression test that focuses on one or a few areas of functionality. Sanity testing is usually narrow and deep.
• A sanity test is usually unscripted.
• A Sanity test is used to determine a small section of the application is still working after a minor change.
• Sanity testing is a cursory testing, it is performed whenever a cursory testing is sufficient to prove the application is functioning according to specifications. This level of testing is a subset of regression testing.
• Sanity testing is to verify whether requirements are met or not, checking all features breadth-first.

5 common problems in the software development process

Poor Requirements - if requirements are unclear, incomplete, too general, and not testable, there may be problems.

Unrealistic Schedule - if too much work is crammed in too little time, problems are inevitable.

Inadequate Testing - no one will know whether or not the software is any good until customers complain or systems crash.

Featurisms - requests to add on new features after development goals are agreed on.

Miscommunication - if developers don't know what's needed or customer's have erroneous expectations, problems can be expected.

Web Testing

What is Web Testing?

Web Testing in simple terms is checking your web application for potential bugs before its made live or before code is moved into the production environment.

During this stage issues such as that of web application security, the functioning of the site, its access to handicapped as well as regular users and its ability to handle traffic is checked.

Web Application Testing Checklist:

Some or all of the following testing types may be performed depending on your web testing requirements.

1. Functionality Testing :

This is used to check of your product is as per the specifications you intended for it as well as the functional requirements you charted out for it in your developmental documentation.Testing Activities Included:

Test all links in your webpages are working correctly and make sure there are no broken links. Links to be checked will include -
Outgoing links
Internal links
Anchor Links
MailTo Links

Test Forms are working as expected. This will include-
Scripting checks on the form are working as expected. For example- if a user does not fill a mandatory field in a form a error message is shown.
Check default values are being populated
Once submitted , the data in the forms is submitted to a live database or is linked to an working email address
Forms are optimally formatted for better readability

Test Cookies are working as expected. Cookies are small files used by websites to primarily remember active user sessions so you do not to log in every time you visit a website. Cookie Testing will include
Testing cookies (sessions) are deleted either when cache is cleared or when they reach their expiry.
Delete cookies (sessions) and test that login credentials are asked for when you next visit the site.

Test HTML and CSS to ensure that search engines can crawl your site easily. This will include
Checking for Syntax Errors
Readable Color Schemas
Standard Compliance.Ensure standards such W3C, OASIS, IETF, ISO, ECMA, or WS-I are followed.

Test business workflow- This will include
Testing your end - to - end workflow/ business scenarios which takes the user through a series of webpage's to complete.
Test negative scenarios as well , such that when a user executes an unexpected step , appropriate error message or help is shown in your web application.

Tools that can be used: QTP , IBM Rational , Selenium

2. Usability testing:

Usability testing has now become a vital part of any web based project. It can carried out by testers like you or a small focus groupsimilar to the target audience of the web application.

Test the site Navigation:
Menus , buttons or Links to different pages on your site should be easily visible and consistent on all webpages

Test the Content:
Content should be legible with no spelling or grammatical errors.
Images if present should contain and "alt" text

Tools that can be used: Chalkmark, Clicktale, Clixpy and Feedback Army

3.Interface Testing:

Three areas to be tested here are - Application , Web and Database Server
Application: Test requests are sent correctly to the Database and output at the client side is displayed correctly. Errors if any must be caught by the application and must be only shown to the administrator and not the end user.
Web Server: Test Web server is handling all application requests without any service denial.
Database Server: Make sure queries sent to the database give expected results.

Test system response when connection between the three layers (Application, Web and Database) can not be established and appropriate message is shown to the end user.

Tools that can be used: AlertFox,Ranorex

4.Database Testing:

Database is one critical component of your web application and stress must be laid to test it thoroughly. Testing activities will include-
Test if any errors are shown while executing queries
Data Integrity is maintained while creating , updating or deleting data in database.
Check response time of queries and fine tune them if necessary.
Test data retrieved from your database is shown accurately in your web application

Tools that can be used: QTP

5. Compatibility testing.

Compatibility tests ensures that your web application displays correctly across different devices. This would include-

Browser Compatibility Test: Same website in different browsers will display differently. You need to test if your web application is being displayed correctly across browsers , javascript , AJAX and authentication is working fine. You may also check for Mobile Browser Compatibility.

The rendering of web elements like buttons , text fields etc changes with change in Operating System. Make sure your website works fine for various combination of Operating systems such as Windows , Linux , Mac and Browsers such as Firefox , Internet Explorer , Safari etc.

Tools that can be used: NetMechanic

6.Performance Testing:

This will ensure your site works under all loads. Testing activities will include but not limited to -
Website application response times at different connection speeds
Load test your web application to determine its behavior under normal and peak loads
Stress test your web site to determine its break point when pushed to beyond normal loads at peak time.
Test if a crash occurs due to peak load , how does the site recover from such an event
Make sure optimization techniques like gzip compression , browser and server side cache enabled to reduce load times

Tools that can be used: Loadrunner, JMeter

7. Security testing:

Security testing is vital for e-commerce website that store sensitive customer information like credit cards.Testing Activities will include-
Test unauthorized access to secure pages should not be permitted
Restricted files should not be downloadable without appropriate access
Check sessions are automatically killed after prolonged user inactivity
On use of SSL certificates , website should re-direct to encrypted SSL pages.

Tools that can be used: Babel Enterprise, BFBTester and CROSS

8.Crowd Testing:

Crowd sourced testing is an interesting and upcoming concept and helps unravel many a unnoticed defects.

Tools that can be used: People like you and me  . And yes , lots of them!

This concludes almost all testing types applicable to your web application.

As a Web-tester its important to note that web testing is quite an arduous process and you are bound to come across many obstacles. One of the major problems you will face is of course deadline pressure. Everything is always needed yesterday! The number of times the code will need changing is also taxing. Make sure you plan your work and know clearly what is expected of you. Its best define all the tasks involved in your web testing and then create a work chart for accurate estimates and planning