What is Smoke Testing?
Smoke testing is a technique used in software testing to check whether the primary features of an application are working correctly or not. It is a preliminary test that is performed to ensure that the critical functionalities of the software are functioning correctly before proceeding with further testing. We will learn about the sanity test vs the smoke test later. But first, let us look into the advantages.
Advantages of Smoke Testing
The following are the advantages of Smoke Testing:
- Early Detection of Issues: Smoke Testing helps in identifying any significant issues in the application at an early stage, thereby enabling the development team to fix them before the software is released.
- Cost-effective: Smoke testing is a cost-effective technique as it can be performed with minimal resources and in a short time.
- Time-Saving: By detecting the major issues at an early stage, it saves a lot of time for the development team in fixing them.
- Improved Quality: By performing smoke testing, the quality of the software is improved as it ensures that the critical features are working correctly.
Disadvantages of Smoke Testing
The following are the disadvantages of Smoke Testing:
- Limited Scope: Smoke testing has a limited scope as it only tests the primary features of the application.
- Incomplete Testing: Since smoke testing is performed at the early stage of the software development life cycle, it may not be possible to test all the features of the application.
- False Sense of Security: Smoke testing may provide a false sense of security to the development team as it only tests the primary features of the application.
Tools for automating Smoke Testing:
The following are the tools for automating Smoke Testing:
- Selenium: Selenium is an open-source tool used for automating web applications. It supports various programming languages, including Java, C#, Python, and Ruby.
- TestComplete: TestComplete is a commercial tool used for automating desktop, web, and mobile applications. It supports various scripting languages, including JavaScript, Python, and VBScript.
- Appium: Appium is an open-source tool used for automating mobile applications. It supports various platforms, including Android and iOS.
- Katalon Studio: Katalon Studio is a free tool used for automating web, mobile, and API testing. It supports various scripting languages, including Groovy and Java.
Smoke testing is a useful technique used in software testing to ensure that the critical features of the application are working correctly. Although it has its limitations, it is still an essential test that needs to be performed before proceeding with further testing. Automating smoke testing can save a lot of time and resources, and the tools mentioned above can help in achieving this.
Smoke Testing Example
Let’s assume that a software development team is working on a new e-commerce website. Before proceeding with further testing, the team performs a smoke test to ensure that the primary functionalities of the website are working correctly.
The smoke test includes the following:
- Launching the website: The team will launch the website and check if the homepage is loading correctly.
- Navigation: The team will check if the navigation links on the homepage are working correctly and redirecting the user to the intended pages.
- Search functionality: The team will perform a search for a product and check if the search results are displayed correctly.
- Add to cart: The team will add a product to the cart and check if the product is added successfully.
- Checkout: The team will proceed to the checkout page and check if the checkout process is working correctly.
If any of the above tests fail, the team will report the issues to the development team for further investigation and fixing. Performing a smoke test can help the development team identify critical issues at an early stage, thus saving time and resources.
What is Sanity Testing?
In software testing, Sanity Testing is a type of testing that is performed after a software build to ensure that the new changes or bug fixes made to the application have not impacted the existing functionality of the system. This testing is also known as a subset of regression testing and is primarily used to validate the critical functionalities of the software.
Advantages of Sanity Testing
- Quick Testing: Sanity Testing is a quick way of testing software changes, as it is a focused test on a specific part of the system. It helps testers identify if the changes made are working as expected or not.
- Cost-Effective: As Sanity Testing is a type of testing that focuses on only the critical functionalities, it saves time and resources in the testing process. It helps reduce the cost of testing and ensures the quality of the software.
- Time-saving: As Sanity Testing is a quick way of testing, it saves time for testers and developers by identifying issues early in the development process. This helps in reducing the time to market the software.
Disadvantages of Sanity Testing
- Limited Scope: Sanity Testing is a type of testing that is only focused on critical functionalities of the system. This limits the scope of testing and may not cover all the possible scenarios of the software.
- Incomplete Testing: As Sanity Testing is a subset of regression testing, it may not cover all the test cases that need to be executed. This may result in incomplete testing and the possibility of issues being missed.
Tools for automating Sanity Testing
- Selenium: Selenium is an open-source tool used for automating web applications. It supports different programming languages and can be integrated with various testing frameworks.
- TestNG: TestNG is a testing framework that supports both unit and integration testing. It can be integrated with Selenium to automate web applications.
- Jenkins: Jenkins is a continuous integration tool that can be used to automate Sanity Testing. It allows the creation of automated test scripts and the scheduling of them to run at specific intervals.
Sanity Testing Example
Suppose a software application has a login functionality, and the developers have made some changes to the login page. In such a scenario, Sanity Testing can be performed to ensure that the changes made have not impacted the existing login functionality.
The tester would only focus on the critical functionalities of the login page, such as entering a valid username and password, and verifying that the user is successfully logged in. If the login functionality works fine, then the changes made to the login page are considered to be working correctly.
If any issue is found, then the changes made to the login page are considered to be failed, and the development team is informed to fix the issue before proceeding with further testing. Let us now look into the sanity test vs smoke test.
Sanity Test Vs Smoke Test
Smoke Testing and Sanity Testing are two types of testing performed during the software testing process to ensure that the software is ready for further testing. Although both tests are performed before the actual testing process, they are different from each other in terms of their objectives, scope, and timing.
Here is a table that outlines the differences between Smoke and Sanity Testing:
| Parameter | Smoke Testing | Sanity Testing |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | To check if the build is stable enough to proceed with further testing | To ensure that the critical functionalities of the software are working as expected |
| Scope | Wide scope, covers all major functionalities and features of the software | Narrow scope, focused on specific functionalities or features of the software |
| Timing | Performed after a new build or code changes are made to the software | Performed after a new build or code changes are made to the software |
| Frequency | Usually performed once per build | Can be performed multiple times during the testing process |
| Type of Testing | It is a high-level testing | It is a low-level testing |
| Automation | Can be automated | Can be automated |
| Importance | Determines if the build is stable for further testing | Determines if the critical functionalities of the software are working as expected. |
Now, you have learned the difference between Smoke and Sanity Testing. Smoke Testing and Sanity Testing are both important types of testing in software testing.
Smoke Testing checks if the software build is stable enough for further testing, while Sanity Testing ensures that the critical functionalities of the software are working as expected.
Knowing the differences between the two tests can help testers choose the appropriate test type and execute it at the right time to ensure the quality of the software.
Wrapping Up
Smoke testing and sanity testing is preliminary testing techniques in software testing used before proceeding with further testing. They have advantages like early detection of issues, cost-effectiveness, time-saving, etc followed by limitations, such as limited scope, incomplete testing, and providing a false sense of security.
Here, we have also learned about testing tools like Selenium, TestComplete, Appium, and Katalon Studio. We have also learned about the smoke test vs regression test and sanity test vs smoke test, and smoke testing and sanity testing examples. So, next time you face geeky questions about this, you know you can answer them for sure!
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