30 Jun What Is Smoke Testing in Software QA?

Smoke testing examines a program’s essential functionality to guarantee that it is ready for further testing. This hinders a QA team from doing a full test on software that is unable to perform basic functions. The term “smoke test” stems from hardware testing in the context of technology.

The power is turned on and a new board is plugged in. If the board emits smoke, the power is switched off and the testing is halted. In technology, the term “smoke test” refers to a quick test of a product’s characteristics. Testing is halted if essential features aren’t working or if key bugs haven’t been fixed so that no more time is wasted installing or testing the build.

Access to the application, signing in with a set of users (admin, regular user), and main modules of a particular application are all common capabilities examined during the smoke test phase.

When is smoke testing done?

Smoke testing is a procedure for determining whether or not the build obtained from the development team is testable. It’s known as a “Day 0” check, and it’s performed at the “build level.” When the build is intended to be a release candidate, a smoke test can also be conducted as part of the build process in conjunction with a more thorough test. When the GUI interface and database are stable, work will commence.

Additionally, when new fundamental functionality is added to a system, smoke testing is frequently performed. However, unlike unit or regression tests, this is not a comprehensive test. When working on a module, a smoke test isn’t always enough to test a change in depth, especially when using new code.

Running a smoke test with each build does not absolve developers of the burden of testing their modifications before committing them to the repository. Before committing a change, developers should perform the smoke test manually.

The purpose of smoke testing

The primary goal of smoke testing is to inform the system test team of their starting position, rather than finding bugs in the software. Smoke testing gives developers a goal and tells them when they’ve reached a certain level of stability. The key to creating an effective smoke test is to construct a collection of tests that are broad in extent rather than in depth.

Importance of smoke testing

Smoke tests are a low-cost way to disqualify defective builds, making it easier to deal with frequent (daily) builds. From one build to the next, smoke testing is frequently automated and standardized. They test things that should work, and if they don’t, it could indicate that the application was build using the incorrect file or that something fundamental is faulty. When it comes to bug fixes and looking for inadvertent interactions between new and existing functionality, a smoke test is the most useful technique.

Characteristics of smoke testing

A smoke test should have the following characteristics:

• Be quick to flee, where “fast” varies depending on the scenario.
• As with any automated test, it should be self-scoring.
• Ensure that the entire system is covered.
• Developers should be able to run it as part of the quality assurance process.
• It doesn’t have to be extensive, but it should be able to detect simple mistakes in a fresh build.

Advantages of smoke testing

• Reduce the risk of integration.
• The ultimate product’s quality is better since it is more likely to find both functional and architectural problems, as well as component-level design flaws.
• Because the test is linked to incremental adjustments, error diagnosis and corrections are simplified (new build then smoke test and then rebuild, etc.)
• It’s sometimes confused with sanity testing, but they’re not the same thing. A smoke test is performed initially, and it doesn’t go any farther.

Who can do the smoke testing?

Because the smoke test is a crucial element of the deployment process, the test team must be familiar with the application’s features that are critical to the application’s functionality. Every module of the application should be tested by the person in charge of smoke testing.

The tester should also be able to approve or reject the delivered build after doing smoke testing. If the build is rejected, the tester should be able to give the development team better feedback and expedite the process.