In this exercise, you will learn about some of the improvements being made to Microsoft Test Manager 11 that make exploratory testing easier on the software tester.
- Log in as Adam. All user passwords are P2ssw0rd.
Launch Microsoft Test Manager 11 from Start | All Programs | Microsoft Visual Studio 11.
Figure 1
Starting Microsoft Test Manager 11
Microsoft Test Manager allows testers to work with test plans, author and organize manual test cases, execute test cases, file bugs, and post results back to Team Foundation Server.
When you are prompted to connect to a team project, select the VSALM -> DefaultCollection -> FabrikamFiber node and then select the Connect Now button.
Figure 2
Connecting to a team project
In the Testing Center window, select the Add button to create a new test plan.
Figure 3
Adding a new test plan
Enter “Exploratory Testing” as the name of the new plan and then select the Add button.
Figure 4
Adding a new test plan
Select the Select Plan button to open it.
Figure 5
Opening the new exploratory testing plan
You should now be in the Testing Center and connected to the Exploratory Testing test plan.
Figure 6
Testing Center showing exploratory testing plan
Right-click on the Exploratory Testing test plan node and select the Explore option from the context menu.
Figure 7
Starting exploratory testing
Select the Settings button in the bottom-right corner of test runner window.
Figure 8
Location of test runner settings button
Note that we can modify screenshot settings and select an audio recording device here. Since this virtual machine does not support audio, we will not attempt to make a selection. Select the Escape key to continue.
Figure 9
Viewing current settings
Select the green Start button to start an exploratory testing session.
Figure 10
Starting the test runner for exploratory testing
Launch Internet Explorer and load the Fabrikam Fiber intranet portal by clicking on the FF Intranet Portal link in the favorites bar. You should now see the dashboard page.
Figure 11
Launching the Fabrikam Fiber intranet portal
Select the Tickets menu link of the Fabrikam Fiber intranet portal site to view all the service tickets.
Figure 12
Navigating to Tickets screen
Select one of the service ticket links to view the details.
Figure 13
Selecting a service ticket to view details
Note that the Created By and Assigned To fields currently show appropriate values.
Figure 14
Viewing service ticket details
Select the Edit link near the bottom of the ticket details page (you may need to scroll down).
Figure 15
Editing a service ticket
Note that the Created By property still shows an appropriate value.
Figure 16
Edit page for service ticket
Select the Save button. As expected, Created By and Assigned To properties are still the same as they were before.
Figure 17
Saving ticket details
Select the Delete button to delete the ticket (you may need to scroll to the right).
Figure 18
Deleting a service ticket
In the Delete confirmation page, note that the Created By and Assigned To properties are now set to None, which is not what we were expecting. In the comments box of the test runner, enter the text “CreatedBy and AssignedTo are blank when viewing Delete confirmation page.” Press the Enter key twice to leave room for a screenshot.
Figure 19
Delete confirmation page showing unexpected values
Select the screenshot button to add a screenshot of the Delete confirmation page to provide some context.
Figure 20
Location of screenshot button
By default, this will allow you to draw a rectangle to define the area that you wish to capture. Hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse until you highlight the important part of the Delete confirmation page.
Figure 21
Selecting the area of the screenshot
Figure 22
Test runner window showing inserted screenshot
You can double-click on the screen capture to edit it in a paint program to provide additional annotation if desired. By default, MS Paint is used, but you can use your tool of choice by configuring this in the settings dialog that you saw at the beginning of this exercise.
Select the Create Bug button to file a new bug.
Figure 23
Creating a new bug
For the title, enter “CreatedBy and AssignedTo are blank when viewing Delete confirmation page” and assign the bug to Julia Ilyiana. Note that your observations, repro steps and diagnostic data are automatically included. Select the Save and Create Test button to finish filing the new bug.
Figure 24
Creating a new bug as the result of exploratory testing
In the New Test Case window, enter a title of “Confirm that AssignedTo and CreatedBy fields appear on Delete confirmation page.”
In the Steps section of the New Test Case window, locate the row that starts with “Click ‘Delete’ link” and add the following text in the Expected Result column:
AssignedTo and CreatedBy fields should have appropriate values when viewing Delete confirmation page
Figure 25
Adding notes to the Expected Result column for a step
Note that the steps section of the test case now has rich text capability. Figure 26 below shows this capability in action.
Figure 26
Test case steps now have rich text capability
Select the Save and Close button.
Figure 27
Save and close the new test case
After the new test case is saved, we are automatically returned to our exploratory testing task and can continue looking for more bugs. Let’s start by clearing out the observations from the previous bug that we just saved. Press Ctrl+A and then the Delete key.
In the Internet Explorer window, select the Dashboard menu link.
Figure 28
Navigating to the dashboard
Select one of the service ticket links to view the details.
Figure 29
Selecting a service ticket to view details
Select the Escalate button (you may need to scroll to the right).
Figure 30
Escalating a service ticket
The result of the attempt to escalate the service ticket is a HTTP 404 server error.
Figure 31
Escalating the service ticket results in an error
Select the Create Bug button to file a new bug.
Figure 32
Creating a new bug
For the title of the bug, enter “Escalate service ticket results in a HTTP 404” and assign it to Julia Ilyiana.
Figure 33
Creating a new bug as the result of exploratory testing
In the Steps To Reproduce section of the new bug, note that there is a link that allows you to easily scope the repro steps. Select the Change Steps link.
Figure 34
Changing the scope of the repro steps
- In the Change Steps window, click and drag with the mouse to highlight the steps starting with the click you made on the Dashboard link all the way to the click on the Escalate link. This represents the recent actions taken to reproduce the error we just saw. Click the Select button to continue.
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Figure 35
Selecting the repro steps
Your steps may look different from those shown in the screenshots in this lab.
Select the Save and Create Test button.
Figure 36
Creating a new bug as the result of exploratory testing
In the New Test Case window, enter a title of “Ensure that ticket escalation page works” and then select the Save and Close button.
Figure 37
Save and close the new test case
Select the End Testing button in the test runner window.
Figure 38
End the exploratory testing session
In the session summary window for the exploratory test, select the Save and Close button to return to the Plan tab of the Testing Center.
Figure 39
Save and close the exploratory testing session
Note that there are now two formal test cases that are part of the Exploratory Testing suite. By formally capturing these test cases, we can ensure that we test for them in the future. This enables us to use a blend of approaches, both exploratory testing and formal testing, to improve our overall application quality.
Figure 40
Formal test cases were created as part of the exploratory testing session
- This lab presented a quick look at some of the improvements made to exploratory testing in Microsoft Test Manager 11.