Contact us anytime to know more — Abhishek P., Founder & CFO CISIN
Non-functional testing must be carried out. What distinguishes functional testing from testing that is not functional? This article will outline the variations and provide you with a description of the most common non-functional test types.
Functional and Non Functional Testing are two major categories that can be applied to software testing. We'll talk about various kinds of testing as well as the distinctions between functional and non-functional testing.
Functional testing involves evaluating how programs interact with other systems, users, and other applications. It is described in this article how TestComplete supports functional testing.
How to construct a project and functional tests are covered in this post. It also illustrates how the QA testing process can be automated. The conclusion includes a functional test example that was automated.
Functional Automation Testing
Functional testing makes sure all advanced features and programs are usable in the mobile devices world and adhere to all requirements.
Any modifications to project functionality, as well as any dependent functionality, must be tested. continuous Testing by hand can be time-consuming. The time needed for regression testing can be cut down with the use of test automation frameworks.
Regression testing and types of test cases can both be automated. This enables QA to test additional regions of the application for a more extended period. Also, it contributes to the assurance of product release quality.
Products, as a result, function better and are more stable. Also, it aids in QA process acceleration. Automated testing will reduce the cost of bug fixes and raise the caliber of applications.
The purpose of functional testing is to evaluate the application system. It emphasizes critical features, usability, and mistakes.
Software or programs are put through functional testing to ensure they work as intended. This test examines how the software under the test behaves.
To direct the testing of the application, a document known as a requirement specification or software specification is generated. This document serves as the foundation for creating test data and compiling a list of test cases. The program is tested in virtual environments to ensure that it yields the desired outcome.
The term "Black Box Method" refers to this. Although most of the work is done by manual intervention, it is pretty efficient at finding bugs.
Automated testing that focuses on an application's functionality is known as functional testing. It deals with the interaction between the user and the rest of the system, to put it another way.
A testing team of testers who are not connected to the developers has typically carried out functional testing.
Tools For Functional Testing Most Frequently Used
- Selenium - A free tool that automates any web application, Selenium.
- QTP- This functional testing tool from HP JUnit is simple to use. This can be used in unit and system testing and is generally utilized for Java applications.
- SoapUI- SoapUI Online service testing is the primary use for this open-source functional testing tool. It is compatible with JDBC, SOAP, and HTTP protocols.
- Water- Watir You can test web applications for functionality with this tool. It utilizes the ruby scripting language and facilitates testing conducted in a web browser.
- Appium - Appium is a free and open-source tool for testing mobile application automation.
Functional Evaluation Should Be Prepared Using These Essential Criteria
- Data preparation and testing based on function specifications
- Business needs provide the basis for functional testing.
- Determine the functions' outputs based on their functional requirements.
- carrying out test scenarios
- The expected and actual outputs should be compared.
The Following Testing Can Also Be Covered By Functional Automation Testing
Unit Testing
A unit can be as tiny or as large as you wish, even just a single line of code or a single procedure. You can get an overview of the application via these tests.
Read More: What is and How Important is Software Development Automation
Smoke Testing
A set of test cases that are run before the beginning of more in-depth tests is known as smoke testing in the software development industry.
To make sure that an application's key features and functionalities operate following the application specification, smoke testing is employed. Before conducting any system testing, this testing is conducted. To do more thorough testing, it verifies that crucial functions are operating correctly.
This saves time and enables you to test the build once more if required. This method of application testing is comprehensive.
Integration Testing
The effectiveness, efficiency, dependability, and compatibility of the elements that have been effectively connected are checked by continuous integration testing.
Integration testing is carried out when two or more software functions or components are brought together to form a system. This essentially tests the software's functionality when its parts are brought together to form a single unit.
Acceptance Testing
The comfort and usability of the application are assessed. Clients or end users are given a trial version of the product to make sure it functions in real devices.
Beta testing, also called end-user testing, is what this is.
Interface Testing
It is possible to tell whether different parts of testing frameworks or systems can communicate with one another by conducting interface testing.
By doing this, it is made sure that all of the connections between the modules are working correctly and that any errors are fixed.
Sanity Testing
With this kind of testing, a single functionality or defect that has been fixed is tested. It examines if the functionality performs as expected and determines whether any additional issues are brought on by changes to associated components—this specific method of testing the program.
System Testing
To make sure the program complies with real-world requirements, the complete application programming language process is tested.
Regression Testing
Rerunning the tests that have been impacted by code modifications is a process for testing called regression. Regression testing is done following the first testing.
With the new changes, the program is tested to ensure that the bug has been fixed and that it functions as intended.
UAT
Clients and end users test the product as part of the UAT process to ensure that it satisfies their needs.
Localization
Any flaws or weaknesses in the software are found and fixed during localization testing. The user interface's functioning, language translation, font scripting, and resource translation may be impacted by this.
This procedure tests the software's usability once it has been translated into an application in another language.
Globalization
Testing for globalization ensures that the product is capable of processing all forms of foreign input. By doing this, functionality is preserved, and the code can accept any foreign support.
The Benefits of Functional Automation Testing
These are the principal advantages of functional testing for software QA.
User Satisfaction
Software must perform satisfactorily for both end users and business clients, and functional testing makes sure of this.
The software must be straightforward for users to use. They do not desire programs or software that is riddled with errors or contains unintended cool features.
Defect-Free Guarantee
Any mistakes or bugs that might have happened throughout the development process of mobile apps will be found and fixed during functional testing.
The software will run more effectively as a result. It will be possible to design software that is bug- and loophole-free.
Enhanced Function
Any application flaws can be found via functional testing. In cases where there was a chance for improvement in the characteristics or code of the program, developers would accept the test findings and make the required adjustments.
The functionality of the program will ultimately be enhanced by this. This test will also show whether the application is functioning as it should.
Better Security
Security flaws will also be examined during functional testing. It would be possible for the program to decide if it is secure for users to store sensitive data.
Drawbacks to Functional Automation Testing
It's essential to keep in mind that your QA testing plan is only as good as your strategy before we discuss the limitations of software automation.
Automation testing implementation issues may arise during QA.
Time in the Early Stage
As soon as automation testing starts, this constraint can be anticipated to happen. The only viable option is to generate quality test cases, but doing so requires internal resources, Evaluation, and effort.
The expense of upgrading your test plan and parameters during the QA process is something that businesses must always pay for. It is valuable, but it could cause important initiatives with tight deadlines to take longer than expected.
It's Expensive
Money may be a cost to a firm, just like time. It requires a significant initial expenditure to integrate automation testing properly.
The acquisition of automation tools and resources is just one aspect of automation testing. The costs of putting these changes into practice are also involved. Outsourcing is one efficient technique to make sure automation testing doesn't break the bank.
Risk to the Human Element
Testing can be done without using human subjects. Creativity and native experience may be affected by this. The human mind can read between the lines and find a solution, whereas a test script cannot report on flaws.
Some QA testing procedures, such as subjective validation, adaptation to newly developed functionality, testing while the strategic functionality is still being developed, and testing in areas that are user-focused, cannot be automated.
Non-Functional Automation Testing
You can test an application's non-functional sections for performance, usability, reliability, efficiency, and other factors using non-functional testing.
In a multi-tiered setting, clients encounter numerous difficulties. Performance, security issues, usability, and other requirements must be met by live systems for customers. Applications need to be adaptable to satisfy customer needs.
Unfortunately, various problems including data theft, sluggish reaction times, and slow performance make it challenging for users to use the programs.
The performance of the application is one example of an aspect that is more complicated than others. Through this testing, the software's quality is ensured.
A product needs to perform well under challenging circumstances. It ought to be dependable, accurate, stable, correct, and long-lasting. An application that operates effectively and without hiccups under all circumstances is referred to as software.
Testing these is essential since they are the most vital facets of quality. This practice is called non-functional testing.
By examining factors including usability, performance, and accessibility, non-functional testing is used to validate an application's functionality.
The functionality of the application is not changed by these attributes. Still, they do improve the user experience as a whole. We offer a range of non-functional testing as part of our services to help with the early detection and prevention of flaws in digital platform lifecycles.
You can test your software's non-functional characteristics, such as dependability, load testing, performance, accountability, and so on, using non-functional testing.
The main goal of non-functional testing is to evaluate the system's reading speed using non-functional criteria. Non-functional testing is carried out after functional testing. To ensure that customers are satisfied, functional testing is just as crucial as non-functional testing.
Non-Functional Testing Is The Objective
- Non-functional testing can increase an application's usefulness, portability, effectiveness, and maintainability.
- Minimize the hazards posed by the application's non-functional components as well as the costs of production.
- Gather metrics data for internal study or application performance analysis.
- Check the technology usage and behavior of the product.
Why Non-Functional Testing Is Necessary
The importance of functional testing is equal to that of non-functional testing. It is crucial to have both because teams must execute various testing kinds.
Applications that have not undergone functional testing are more dependable and user-friendly. It can be challenging to finish on time, especially if you're under pressure to meet deadlines. Non-functional testing can result in a bad user experience and harm to a brand.
Increased user traffic may also cause applications to crash. Accessibility issues may result in fines for noncompliance. Also, danger might be their safety.
Because non-functional testing might be risky, businesses look for methods to incorporate it into their sprints.
Both functional and non-functional testing must be successful for freshly created software. Functional testing confirms the software's underlying functionality. In contrast, non-functional tests confirm the software's capacity to operate in a given context.
The foundation for program installation, setup, and execution is laid out in this text. Metrics and measurements are gathered and produced via non-functional testing for use in internal research and development.
Non-functional testing offers in-depth knowledge of the technologies utilized and how a product behaves. This aids in lowering the cost and risk of software manufacturing.
The Primary Non-Functional Testing Criteria
Security
The purpose of security testing is to identify and stop various threats. In addition to denial-of-service assaults and other cyberattacks, these dangers also involve data theft and breaches.
The distinctions between functional and non-functional testing are simple to understand once you are familiar with the concepts. To confirm that software is secure for data transfer over the network, security testing is used. This testing, which should be done in the significant regions, will concentrate on user authentication, authorization, and access to data according to their responsibilities (admin, moderator, and composer).
Reliability
It guarantees that the program operates and runs consistently for the predetermined amount of time and under the given environmental circumstances.
Recovery
Determines how rapidly the system can recover after a crash, hardware failure, or other system issues. Recovery testing is a non-functional test.
The system or application is made to crash to test its ability to recover.
Stability
Stability testing is done to make sure the product will last and continue to work as intended.
Usability
Usability testing is done from the viewpoint of the end user to make sure the system is simple to use. This kind of testing is concerned with the User Interface and how user-friendly it is.
Usability testing's most important factor is:
- Who will be using the system?
- Find out what requirements their company has.
- You can try to act in the same way they do.
- Do you have experience in role-playing? Learn something.
Scalability
Scalability Testing evaluates any performance attribute, such as the capacity to handle more or fewer user requests.
These criteria are used to evaluate scalability: Responsive time, throughput, and user count for performance testing, as well as CPU and memory consumption thresholds, network activity, and requests to and responses from the Web applications server.
Efficiency
Efficiency testing counts the lines of code and testing resources that a program uses to carry out a particular task.
Software Test Efficiency is calculated by dividing the total number of test cases and the time spent on them by the entire operation time. It is often measured in hours.
Performance
A specific application is put to the test to see how it will react in a situation that simulates a particular workload in a realistic setting.
It is rated based on how well it can operate in a specific amount of time. Real-time testing of the application's capacity for handling large amounts of data. To verify its dependability and accuracy, the application is tested in challenging environments.
Portability
To determine if a product or object can be transferred easily from one situation to another, the practice of portability testing.
It gauges how much work is involved in moving between different environments.
Advantages Of Non-Functional Automation Testing
- More security is offered by it. A system's ability to resist online threats must be maintained.
- The simultaneous loading of the system is ensured.
- As a result, the system is more effective.
- Given that the situations are always the same, it is not necessary to test them more than once.
- Compared to other testing strategies, it takes less time.
- Boost your software's efficiency
- and elevate levels of security
- Simpler software interface
- Ensure that the software satisfies the needs of the users.
Non-Functional Automated Testing's Drawbacks
- Every time the product is updated, non-functional tests are conducted.
- Users must pay for a re-examination of the product when there are software updates. As a result, programming is costly. Updates to software can result in costly software.
Conclusion
To summarize, a variety of testing techniques are required to raise the caliber and usability of the software. Functional and non-functional testing come in two different varieties.
On the other hand, functional testing seeks to confirm that the software satisfies business requirements and performs as intended. Smoke testing, regression testing, and sanity testing are all types of functional testing.
On the other side, non-functional testing objectives aim to test a wide range of components, including usability, security, performance, and so forth.
Non-functional testing includes activities like stress and load testing. A crucial component of any testing strategy is non-functional testing. It must be flexible enough to scale to your testing needs.
To confirm a system's functionality and track down bugs, employ functional testing. For the program to comprehensively cover all potential areas, it needs to be used in conjunction with other types.
