The topic, we are going to discuss here is about the generation of the test data for the purpose of testing activity. Test data generation is an essential component of a software testing process, which is used to generate all sorts of test data, in order to test a software application. A little understanding of the term "test data" may assist in understanding the concept of test data generation more easily and effectively. Therefore, let's have a small overview of test data, which are used for testing a software application.
It is an especially designed data, used in testing a particular software application or program. The test data used in the software testing, may either affect the execution of the software program or may get affected itself during the execution.
Basically, a test data is used to test the response and behaviour of a software application, after getting encountered with multiple variant of data. For example, a positive test data may be used to validate the expected or desired outcome produced by the software program, whereas a negative test data may be used in dealing with the unexpected or unusual results.
Now, coming back to the test data generation. The test data needs to be generated in adherence to the set up test environment and should be in synchronization with the developed test cases, to fulfil the requirement of testing a software application. Moreover, it is not necessary to create new test data each time to test a software program. Already used test cases, may be used to identify and extract suitable test data from them.
It is preferred to design and prepare the test data much before the actual execution of the test, as test data generation is a time consuming activity, to ensure the suitable and effective test data for efficiently testing a software application. Simultaneous designing of the test data along with the execution of the tests may extend the duration of the whole testing process thereby going beyond the stipulated deadlines.
Test data may be generated using a Test data generator based on the model that for a program and every path for that program, a set of test data may be generated, which traverses the selected path, resulting into the execution of that path.
Based on the needs and different applied approaches, a test data generator may be categorized into following forms:
Further, a test data may also be generated or produced using any of the following method:
Test data could be generated manually, by the testers. However, to fulfil the need of producing the large quantity of test data, so as to test a program from each possible angle & perspective in an efficient and effective manner, within a short period of time, automated generation of test data with the help of tools is preferred over the manual generation.
Moreover, with the automated generation of the test data, a tester or the testing team may gain following benefits:
Test data are generated for multiple purposes and below given points may be considered, while generating the test data.
In brief, it may be stated that the test data plays a vital role in the execution of the tests and forms a main part of the test environment in identifying the potentially harmful bugs and defects in the application. Therefore, the test data should be selected and generated, with the good amount of dedication and sincere efforts, to ensure the best available data for testing an application.