Black box testing

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figaro's picture

A couple of modules exist to aid the Drupal developer in creating functionally correct and robust code. Specifically for testing two types exist : there are the white box testing modules such as simple-test and the black box testing modules such as selenium.
For both types the automation principle applies: it is immaterial whether the test under consideration is duplicated or not, since the cost of conducting the test is negligible compared to manual testing. The cost of testing is in maintaining and coordinating the test sets. I would like to propose to initiate a Selenium test repository containing tests that are run by developers against a module, the core or even an entire installation at will.

When it comes to creating a black box testing repository for Drupal, the following principles come to mind:

  • Testers construct their own tests which may be submitted to a public repository.
  • By mixing tests from the repository a specific test set can be constructed.
  • Each test in the repository has a status, which indicates whether it is included in a test set or not.
  • A test can be associated with a reported bug or issue.
  • Tests in the repository are versioned such that any version can be pulled up at a click's notice . Moreover, tests pertain to a module or core version.
  • Test sets are run from the browser, and the results are reported online.

The ultimate purpose is to create a hardened CMS. Your thoughts and views, including those regarding the whole idea, are welcome.

Comments

Roland Tanglao's picture

At least the last time I checked, selenium automation was only available for Ruby and Perl.

I don't care what tech we use for black box tests as long as it makes running them easy and co-exists well (ideally native PHP of course) with Drupal. Selenium appears to be the leading candidate for Drupal black box testing. I am sure if we get some tests in a repository and demo them working with Drupal via Selenium running on Ruby or Perl, some Drupal developer will take the challenge and port the automation glue code to PHP.

php would be nice

greggles's picture

Yes, php would be nice. But a little python never hurt anyone, right?

I think this is a great idea and I'm very interested in using selenium to test out the modules that I maintain. I've started writing a set of tests for pathauto that I would hope to eventually run via selenium (or something similar).

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Knaddison Family | mmm Beta Burritos

This is a great idea. A

starbow's picture

This is a great idea. A repository of selenium tests would be useful even without any automation, but I bet the 4.7 Selenium.module could be extended to do something simple like running an entire directory.

Testing and Quality Assurance

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