Microsoft Test Manager (MTM)– binding parameters

  1. Those of you who like to use your mouse be aware when binding parameters to input fields. After getting your parameter value you cannot go to the input field and right click then select the Paste option.
  2. Reason: the action recording recognizes and records this action as a mouse click action.

You have to use CTRL+V or you can just type the value into the input field.

After entering the value (either way above) you have to remove focus from that field. I find tabbing works 95% of the time or clicking in a white space.

If your parameter does not get marked as bound try again. Remember, parameters only work with input fields. They will not work on controls like radio buttons at this time.

Testa Smile 

Microsoft Test Manager(MTM) – multiple instances on desktop

At this time you cannot have more then one instance of Test Manager open on a desk top with out doing the following:

Made another copy of the MTM.exe and MTM.exe.config  files found on your C:\ drive under Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\IDE

Then you have two instances of Test Manager for opening, this comes in handy when you need to look at different area’s of MTM at the same time.

Testa Smile

Microsoft Test Manager and Infragistic Controls

If your developers are using Infragistic controls and your using Test Manager you will not be able to create action recording. Jeff Levinson advised me that:

“Playback won’t work with the infragistics controls (unless it is a web app because MTM actually works against the DOM in a web app and not against the controls directly). The Infragistics controls won’t be recognized if you try to add them to a UIMap (again – unless this is a web app) because they don’t support the interfaces to allow MTM to interrogate the control.”

You can however play around with the Coded UI tests. A client I recently worked with was able to create CUI test recordings and play them back where Infragistic controls existed. Note this was not using action recordings to create.

If your development team is using Infragistic controls please contact Infragistics requesting they add the interfaces to allow MTM to interrogate their controls. Telerik at this time is the only company that has added support for their controls and MTM.

Testa Smile

Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) – Test Case steps

I am seeing people talking about having a test case with up to 50 and even 100 steps. I might be mad but isn’t that a lot of steps in one test case? When I talk to test teams my recommendation is no more then 10 steps per test case.

Make usage of Shared Steps that can be used to navigate through an application. Make usage of other test cases that will get your test case to the right spot in the application. Use the MTM ordered test feature to organize test cases to run in a specific sequence when needed.

I like to tell testers about the KISS principle of design.

Keep it simple and straightforward.

Keep it simple and short.

The KISS principle states that simplicity should be a key goal in design, and that unnecessary complexity should be avoided. This applies to code design as well.

Test Cases you’ve kissed will be easy to understand, maintain and report on.

Testa  Secret telling smile

 

Microsoft Test Manage MTM– test run pausing and resuming

Questions about the ability to pause a test case during execution then restart it has come up in discussions a few times. Thought I would share that it can be done and how.

In the Test Runner you click the Pause button…

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In the Test Runner next click the Return to the Testing Center icon…

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Once back in the Testing Center in the window header will be a new icon that when clicked returns you to the Test Runner ….

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Clicking the Return to Test Runner icon opens Test Runner with a Resume button that when clicked starts your test execution where you left off.

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Note:

Closing Test Manager  will close the paused test run and set it to Failed.

During a Test Run pause, if you start another Test Case Run the message below is posted. image

Save and/or Don’t Save ends the paused test run setting it to Failed. (original test run stops)

Cancel stops the newly select test case run and returns you to the Test Center with the icon displays to resume the original test.

If there are things about Test Manager you would like to see changed add a backlog item or vote on the one’s already added. Microsoft is looking for our input on what changes people want and by voting on them how important it is to you.

A backlog item already exists for allow you to pause one test run and start another then return to the paused run. If this is important to you click below find this backlog item and vote.

Visual Studio UserVoice

Testa Smile

 

Microsoft - Search Work Items for TFS 2010

Check out the add-in tool that allows you to do searches for work items and it can be downloaded free. If your still using VS2008 or VS2005 there is a version of this tool available for them too.

Search Work Items for TFS2010 

Examples of work item searches with this tool:

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Blog on how to use click here.

Enjoy Testa Smile

 

The Testing Planet– The Evil Tester Question Time

Just released the July edition of The Testing Planet.

The Testing Planet - Issue 5 - July 2011

Available for your Kindle

Testa … enjoy reading about testing by testers.

TesTrek 2011 in Toronto – Nov. 7th to 10th

Sign up for an Object Sharp workshop on Exploratory Testing at TesTrek 2011 in Toronto, Ontario on November 11th at 1:30pm. Myself and Dave Lloyd will be presenting plus giving you hands on experience doing exploratory testing. See how to overcome the challenges of tracking the steps you took, reporting bugs and retesting exploratory bugs.

Experience and Overcome the Challenges of Exploratory Testing

In 1983, the term Exploratory Testing was introduced. Prior to that, we called it ad-hoc testing. Exploratory testing is said to be a mindset, a way of thinking, freestyle testing that liberates the tester to explore. Testers, through experience, know their applications inside out; they are the users in reality. Freeing testers to explore and use the application has been proven to identify more bugs then traditional scripted testing. However, there are obstacles and challenges related to this freestyle testing. Join this workshop to explore those obstacles hands on and learn how we can overcome them. Explore an application with known bugs and see if you can find them.

  • Experience exploratory testing using the Microsoft Test Manager Tool.
  • Do your own exploratory testing on a Virtual Machine in the cloud.
  • Discover the difficulties of exploratory testing, how to track the steps, report the bug, and perform retesting.
  • Participate in idea generation for overcoming the issues of exploratory testing.

Sign up for the first TesTrek hands-on workshop.

Testa Smile

Agile–not just for software development

Very interesting article on turning the school system in the US to being Agile. The article talks about turning the 12 principles of Agile Software into “Schoolware”. Interesting concept Canada should look at this too.

Agile School Education

From the article:

The Twelve Principles of Agile Schools

We follow these principles:

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the needs of children and their families through early and continuous delivery of meaningful learning.

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in a learning cycle. Harness change for the benefit of children and their families.

3. Deliver meaningful learning frequently, from a couple of days to a couple of weeks, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

4. School and family team members work together daily to create learning opportunities for all participants.

5. Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a team is face-to-face conversation.

7. Meaningful learning is the primary measure of progress.

8. Our processes promote sustainability. Educators, students, and families should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances adaptability.

10. Simplicity-the art of maximizing the amount of work not done-is essential.

11. The best ideas and initiatives emerge from self-organizing teams.

12. At regular intervals, teams reflect on how to become more effective, then tune and adjust their behaviour accordingly.

Where else can we be Agile?

Testa

 

Agile– retrospectives

Retrospectives after a sprint can be fun, challenging and at times trying. It is not a finger pointing session but a chance to reflect on what was good or bad about the last sprint. All team members should participate if they aren’t this would be the first issue to address. One way to get participation is by having one member start by sharing a good experience.The group then takes turn discussing this experience. Often other good and bad experiences come from that discussion. During the discussion a ball can be used to toss to the person that is talking. The ball becomes the signal that a member is talking and should not be interrupted. When the member is done they toss the ball to another member. This keeps the session moving, gives everyone a chance to talk and it can be fun. All good and bad items should be put on a white board. Each bad experience should have a plan to resolve. This is not to say that every bad experience can be resolved in the next Sprint, it may take a few Sprints. One bad experience teams encounter is getting the business involved and/or getting the business to address User Story questions in a timely manner. If you read Lisa Crispin’s articleExperimenting” she gives a great example of how her team addressed a bad experience using faces to rate User Stories. A happy face given to User Stories that were documented well and the team was able to assign to a Sprint. A sad face was given to User Stores that were badly documented and/or waiting on the business for information. The User Story face rating was shared with the business and it was known going into a Sprint the business information needed and that if it was not obtained the Story would not be done. Read the article it is very interesting.

I think we should add to the Product Back Log work item a field that can be used for face rating. It can be done! 

Testa, ALM MVP