Software Testing with Visual Studio 2010

Use Visual Studio 2010’s Breakthrough Testing Tools to Improve Quality Throughout the Entire Software Lifecycle   Together, Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate, Visual Studio Test Professional 2010, Lab Management 2010, and Team Foundation Server offer Microsoft developers the most sophisticated, well-integrated testing solution they’ve ever had. Now, Microsoft MVP and VS testing guru Jeff Levinson shows exactly how to use Microsoft’s new tools to save time, reduce costs, and improve quality throughout the entire development lifecycle.   Jeff demonstrates how Microsoft’s new tools can help you finally overcome long-standing communication, coordination, and management challenges. You’ll discover how to perform first-rate functional testing; quickly create and execute tests and record the results with log files and video; and create bugs directly from tests, ensuring reproducibility and eliminating wasted time. Levinson offers in-depth coverage of Microsoft’s powerful new testing metrics, helping you ensure traceability all the way from requirements through finished software.   Coverage includes   •    Planning your tests using Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) •    Creating test settings, structuring test cases, and managing the testing process •    Executing manual tests with Microsoft Test Manager and Test Runner •    Filing and resolving bugs, and customizing your bug reporting process •    Automating test cases and linking automated tests with requirements •    Executing automated test cases through both Visual Studio and Microsoft Test Manager •    Integrating automated testing into the build process •    Using Microsoft’s Lab Management virtualization platform to test applications, snapshot environments, and reproduce bugs •    Implementing detailed metrics for evaluating quality and identifying improvements   Whether you’re a developer, tester, manager, or analyst, this book can help you significantly improve the way you work and the results you deliver—both as an individual right now, and as a team member throughout your entire project.  

Table of Contents:
Foreword xvii Preface xxi Acknowledgments xxix About the Author xxxi 1 State of Testing 1 Software Testing Challenges 1 The Need for Testers 3 A Different Approach 5 Fixing Communication 5 Increasing Project Visibility 6 What Are the Tools Designed to Do? 7 Metrics 10 Citations 12 2 Software Quality and Testing Overview 13 Software Quality 13 Requirements 14 Business Value 14 Expectations 15 Nonfunctional Requirements 15 Where Do You Build Quality? 17 Process and Quality 19 Software Testing 19 The Testing Mindset 20 Software Testing Strategies 21 Types of Software Testing 22 Test Management 27 After the Product Is Shipped or Deployed 27 3 Planning Your Testing 29 Microsoft Test Manager 30 Test Plans 36 Properties 38 Contents 43 Adding Suites and Test Cases to Your Plan 46 Testing Configurations 48 Managing Test Configurations 49 Assigning Test Configurations 51 Assigning Testers 53 Test Case Planning Workflow 55 Analysis and Initial Design 56 Construction 61 User Acceptance Testing 62 Common Scenarios 64 Scheduling and Tracking Test Case Creation and Execution 64 Feature Driven Development 65 Moving from One Iteration to Another 67 Handling Different Test Configurations 68 4 Executing Manual Tests 71 Using the Test Case Work Item Type 72 Shared Steps 75 Data Driven Test Cases (Test Parameters) 77 Running Your First Tests 79 Test Runner 80 Examining Test Results 92 Test Run Results 93 Detailed Test Results 95 Exploratory Testing with MTM 101 5 Resolving Bugs 107 A Bug’s Life 107 Customer Reported Bug 110 Test Team Reported Bug 110 Triaging the Bug 110 Reactivations 111 Bug Differences and Modifications 111 The Generated Bug 116 How a Developer Uses IntelliTrace 120 Fixing the Bug 122 Associated Changesets 124 Associated Work Items 124 Impacted Tests 125 Setting the Build Quality 125 Assigning a New Build 127 Verifying That the Bug Is Fixed 129 Dealing with Impacted Tests 131 6 Automating Test Cases 135 To Automate or Not to Automate 136 The Automated Testing Framework 139 Creating an Automated Test from a Manual Test 141 Examining a Generated Web Application Coded UI Test 142 Adding Validations 157 Adding Additional Recorded Steps 164 Parameterized Coded UI Tests 166 Handling Issues Due to Inconsistency 168 Resolving the Data Inconsistency 169 Handling Dynamic Values 172 Other Tips 177 Combining Multiple Tests 178 Associating Coded UI Tests and Test Cases 178 7 Executing Automated Test Cases 183 Executing Automated Tests Through Visual Studio 183 Local Execution 184 Local Execution with Remote Collection 184 Remote Execution 185 Executing Automated Tests from the Command Line 190 Executing Automated Tests in MTM 191 Creating an Automated Build 191 Setting Up the Physical Environment 193 Running a Coded UI Test Through MTM 196 Executing Automated Tests with Team Build 202 Automated Testing Gotchas 205 Custom Dialogs 205 Cleaning Up Your Tests 207 8 Lab Management 209 Managing Virtual Environments Through MTM 210 Finishing Virtual Environment Configuration 217 Automated Test Settings 221 Lab Management Workflow 222 Executing a Lab Build 231 Running Automated Tests Through MTM 233 Manual Tests in a Virtual Environment 234 9 Reporting and Metrics 239 Understanding the Reporting Structure 240 Built-In Reports 242 Bug Status 244 Bug Trends 245 Reactivations 246 Build Quality Indicators 246 Build Success over Time 248 Build Summary 249 Stories Overview 250 Test Case Readiness 251 Test Plan Progress 252 Excel Services Reports (Dashboards) 253 Reporting with Microsoft Excel 254 Creating a Generated Report 255 The Testing Measures 256 Metrics 268 What to Measure 271 First-Time Defect Rate 273 Bug Reactivations 276 General Bug Counts 277 Index 283

About the Author :
Jeff Levinson has 16 years of experience in software development in many different roles–developer, tester, architect, project manager, and scrum master at several large companies. Jeff is currently a Senior Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Consultant for Northwest Cadence, which is a company that specializes in Team Foundation Server, Visual Studio, methodologies, and process improvement. In his day-to-day work, Jeff helps teams, organizations, and companies adopt more efficient processes, improve quality, and reduce costs associated with software development. Jeff is a frequent speaker at industry events and writes a twice-monthly column for Visual Studio Magazine Online. This is his fourth book on software development. His other books are Building Client/Server Applications with VB.NET (Apress 2003), Pro Visual Studio Team System 2005 (Apress 2006), and Pro Visual Studio Team System with Team Edition for Database Professionals (Apress 2007). Jeff has a master’s degree in software engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and is an MCP, MCAD, MCSD, MCDBA, and MCT.   Jeff currently lives in Washington State with his wife and two children.  

Review :
“Jeff Levinson has written a remarkable book. Remarkable because it distills a massive amount of information into a clear, readable book that will teach you how to best use the Visual Studio 2010 Testing Tools. Remarkable because it shows not just how to use the strengths of the tools, but also how to work around any of their weaknesses. Remarkable because Jeff walks you through the implementation strategies that can bring real business value, not just to the testing team, but also to test the entire organization. If you are implementing the test tools, this book belongs on your desk. My dog-eared and marked-up copy sits on mine.” –Steven Borg, Owner, Northwest Cadence   “Testing–and testers–don’t get enough respect. By providing a great mix of the what, why, and how of testing with Visual Studio 2010, this book will help change that. More important, it will help make the software we use better.” –David Chappell, Principal, Chappell & Associates   “Jeff has once again written a great book, filled with nice nuggets of testing wisdom. A great addition to your testing and ALM library for anyone using Visual Studio 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010.” –Mickey Gousset, Microsoft ALM MVP and Senior Technical Developer, Infront Consulting Group   “Jeff’s book is by far the most in-depth investigation of the Test features in Visual Studio ALM I have seen. His insight and experience help the readers understand the impact of poor testing and how they can improve the quality of their software. I particularly liked the obvious real-world understanding of the realities of software testing when applied in practice and the effort by the author to show the readers the ways around those realities.” –Martin Hinshelwood, Visual Studio ALM MVP and Visual Studio ALM Ranger   “Software Testing defines much more than the usage of a testing tool; it shows the practical way in which we test at Microsoft Corporation. Additionally, this book provides the definitive process to using Microsoft Test Manager with the rigor that we test here at Microsoft.” –Randy Miller, ALM Architect, Microsoft   “Jeff provides the rare combination of deep, insider knowledge of Microsoft’s 2010 testing tools coupled with pragmatic details about how to plan, manage, and execute testing in the real world.” –Mark Mydland, Director of Test, Visual Studio Ultimate, Microsoft   “With Jeff’s extensive knowledge with Microsoft’s ALM offering, this book will get you started on the right track with all the new testing capabilities offered by the Visual Studio 2010 suite. Whether you are a new or veteran tester, the personal insights the author brings to the testing topic are very interesting and useful….” –Etienne Tremblay, Microsoft ALM MVP