End to End Testing is a common method of testing an application’s functionality. It involves checking its flow from beginning to end. The tester must also test the application’s behavior once it is integrated with an external interface.
This testing phase usually takes place after system and functional testing are completed. Technical end to end testing is a method of testing the behavioural flow of an app. It involves testing from the beginning to the end of user interaction to identify any dependencies or flaws in the application’s workflow.
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How E2E Testing Plays An Important Role In 2023?
The Agile world is a web-based environment where applications are interconnected with and integrated with other systems. This makes the entire application flow more complicated. End-to-end testing makes sure that the application is tested at all levels – from the front end to the backend, as well as its interfaces and endpoints. Let’s find out why it’s important.
Health and Back-end End-to-end testing tests the backend as well as the database layer of the application. Because the core functionality of the application depends on the back-end and database layers, testing this layer ensures that the application can perform critical functions accurately.
Problems in Distributed Environment: End-to-end testing allows you to test applications that are based on SOA, cloud environments, or both. It is also useful for applications that have multiple components and require an all-around review.
App Behavior Validation In Multi-tier System: For applications with complex architectures or workflows that are subdivided into multiple levels, the end-to-end testing ensures both the overall functionality and the functioning of each layer. It also helps identify the behavior of connected systems.
Ensuring Interaction Accuracy: Front-end testing is involved to ensure that the application behaves correctly and provides consistent user experiences across different platforms, devices, and environments.
Reusability and Repeatability of Test Cases: In different stages of an application’s lifecycle, end-to-end testing allows you to run repeatable test cases. It increases test coverage and gives the owner confidence in the application’s performance.
We have now seen the reasons why E2E testing is necessary. Let’s look at how it is done.
Steps To Perform End to End Testing
Let’s take a look at the main activities you should include in the end-to-end testing.
- Before you start the testing phase, make sure to thoroughly analyze your requirements.
- Following all prerequisites, set up the test environment.
- Analyze the minimum and recommended hardware requirements.
- Take a look at the main system and its subsystems.
- List all the responsibilities for each system.
- Describe the standards and test methods to be used.
- Create test cases, and trace the requirements matrix while you do so.
- Before you test each system, save the input data and output results.
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Parameters You Should Consider While E2E Testing
Let’s now discuss the most important parameters involved in end-to-end testing.
i) Test Case Preparation: It is important to keep track of where the test case preparation is at the moment. This can be tracked by the tester in the form of a graph. This graph shows the progress of test case preparation (current and planned).
ii) Weekly Test Progress: This report shows a percentage of test completion. Weekly comparison of the current, failed and not executed test cases is made with the planned report.
iii) Details about Defect: This report shows the percentage of defects that have been closed or opened within the past week. A weekly distribution of defects is made based on criticality and priority.
iv) Availability Of Environment: This report shows a comparison between the total testing time and the actual hours spent.
Major Difference Between End to End Testing Vs. System Testing
Let’s now discuss end-to-end testing. Before we get to the good stuff, let’s first define system testing. This is a type of black box testing in which the application is tested after integration with an external system. Testing is done from the user’s perspective, taking into account real-world conditions.
It is so different from end-to-end testing! Well,
i) While system testing only validates the integrated software system, end to end testing tests both the main and interconnected systems.
ii) System testing tests features and functions of the system, while E2E testing examines the entire flow of the system.
iii) System testing only considers functional and non-functional testing. E2E testing includes all interfaces, but backend systems are not.
iv) Once Integration testing has been completed, system testing can be started. End-to-end testing takes place immediately after the system testing has been completed.
v) System testing can be done using automation as well as manual methods. The process of testing an entire system becomes more complicated because it is difficult to automate testing external interfaces. Thus, manual testing is recommended.
E2E Testing: Best Procedure You Can Follow
An typical end-to-end testing can take a lot of time and be very complex if done manually. But, there are some best practices that will help you ensure smooth testing and cost-effective management. Let’s have a look at these best practices.
a) Test from an End User’s Perspective: Think and act like a user. Focus more on the features than the implementation. You can use documents about acceptance testing and user stories to help you capture the user’s perspective and create test cases accordingly.
b) Limit Scenarios Including Exception Testing: Use End to End Testing only for typical user scenarios. Integration testing and low-level unit tests are best for exception scenarios.
c) Risk Analysis: This is a crucial thing to think about. Focus on the parts of your application that are most at risk. This is where a risk assessment matrix can be very useful.
d) Keep an Order: As test cases become more complex and have more components, the chances of failure increase and it becomes harder to troubleshoot them. How can you avoid it? To avoid errors, perform unit testing and integration testing before you start E2E testing. After E2E testing has started, you can run smoke and sanity checks along with other high-risk scenarios.
e) Manage your Environment: Check that the system used to run the test cases is competent enough. Before testing begins, make sure you have documented the requirements. It is easier to adhere to the production environment’s system requirements. To keep your staging area as close as possible to production.
f) Teardown and Setup Optimization: Make certain that you have everything in place to begin the job quickly. Clear the test data once testing is complete. The environment can then be used for any other round of testing.
Conclusion
The testing industry is becoming a vital part of software development. E2E testing can prove very beneficial if the right solution is found and best practices are used. Hopefully, this blog has helped you to know more about E2E testing and how to successfully perform it.
