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Regression Software Testing
In this article, I am going to discuss Regression Software Testing. Please read our previous article where we discussed Defect Management Process in Software Testing. At the end of this article, you will understand the following important pointers which are related to Regression Software Testing.
- What is Regression Software Testing?
- When Should you do Regression Tests?
- Why Do Regression Testing?
- How to Perform Regression Software Testing?
- Mention the techniques for selecting the Test Cases for Regression Testing
- Explain the Strategies for Developing Regression Software Testing
- Example of Regression Testing
- Explain Tools to Perform Regression Testing
- What are the Advantages of Regression Software Testing?
- What are the Disadvantages of Regression Software Testing?
- Difference Between Re-Testing and Regression Testing
What is Regression Software Testing?
Regression testing is a crucial software testing technique employed to ensure that recent modifications to a program or code have not adversely affected its existing functionalities. It involves re-executing a set of previously conducted test cases, either in full or in part, to verify the continued presence and proper functioning of the features.
The primary objective of regression testing is to provide assurance that any new code changes do not produce any detrimental effects on the already established functionality, ensuring that both the new and old code coexist seamlessly. Regression testing tests the updated areas of the code as well as the portions that may be impacted by the changes, ensuring that no new errors have been introduced to the product since the adjustments were made. Regression is the term for anything returning, and in the context of software, it refers to a bug.
When Should you do Regression Tests?
The regression testing can be performed when:
- Whenever a new feature is added to the system and the code is altered to incorporate and incorporate that feature with the existing code.
- When a software bug has been identified and is being fixed through code debugging.
- When the code is altered to make it work more efficiently.
Why Do Regression Testing?
Regression testing is required whenever the code is altered in order to ascertain whether the modified code will have an impact on other areas of the software application. When a new feature is added to the software, regression testing is also required. Regression tests may also be performed after a performance or functional issue has been fixed.
How to Perform Regression Software Testing?
Testing for regression can be done manually or automatically. Test engineers frequently do regression testing utilizing specialized techniques and methods. The steps in regression testing are as follows:
- Test Case Selection: A component with a significant number of code revisions will dictate which test cases are chosen. Testers can divide the tests into two groups: test cases that can be reused and test cases that should be retired. Future Regression test cycles will use reusable test cases, but they won’t take into account test cases that are no longer relevant.
- Time Estimation: After choosing the test cases, the following step is to determine how long it will take to run the tests. Test execution time is influenced by test case production, evaluation, and other factors.
- Automate Test Cases: Depending on the number of test cases after time estimation, testers should choose between manual and automated Regression testing.
- Test Case Prioritization: In this step, testers rank test cases according to recently made code changes to cut down on Regression time and effort. Priority test cases are run first, then those with medium and low priority.
- Test Execution: To detect bugs and make sure the program is operating properly, all test cases are finally performed in the order of priority. You can shorten test execution times and automate your Regression test suites more quickly with automated Regression testing solutions like Selenium.
Mention the techniques for selecting the Test Cases for Regression Testing
- Choose test cases that cover and test the modified sections of the source code and the parts that are affected by these modifications are referred to as “select modification traversing test cases” in this technique.
- Choose higher priority test cases: Using this technique, each test case in the test suite is given a priority code based on its capacity to identify bugs, client requirements, etc. The test cases with the greatest priorities are chosen for regression testing after assigning the priority codes.
- All test cases are chosen in this manner from the test suite that is already in place. Even if it is the most straightforward and secure way, it is ineffective.
- Randomly choose test cases: This method includes picking test cases at random from the existing test suite. It works best when every test case has an equal capacity for defect detection, which is extremely rare. Because of this, it is rarely used.
Explain the Strategies for Developing Regression Software Testing
Regression test suites should be used as efficiently as possible, thus you must develop a solid plan while bearing a few things in mind. You can use the following advice to create an effective regression testing strategy:
- Rerun all current tests: Test engineers need to look over potential trouble spots after the product is released. This can often be challenging, particularly when manual testing is required. Here, automated testing is advised.
- Run critical tests first: Rerunning tests that are related to the essential components of the application should take up the majority of the time spent on regression testing.
- Next, examine the difficult elements: Many programs contain complex and intricate parts, which could cause problems. The functionality must be of the highest calibre even when it is difficult to understand or comprehend.
- Implement exploratory testing: Create fresh tests for the new features of the software version while learning them. This testing will reveal a lot of fresh problems.
Example of Regression Testing
Here is an illustration of a regression test that the Tesla website might require. This company’s website brings in billions of dollars in annual income. Therefore, their websites must always be operational, dependable, and of high performance. You may view every Tesla product on the website’s home page, Tesla.com.
Tesla
The Tesla developers will add a new page to the website, perhaps next to Model Y, when they launch their next product, the Cyber Truck. But when new UI flows are added to a new “Cyber Truck” entry on the home page, great care must be taken to guarantee that the rest of the product’s UI flows continue to operate as intended. This is done by running a Regression test suite. These Regression test cases can be run manually or automatically with the Selenium test automation framework, which is widely used. Let’s imagine one of the Regression tests fails; this indicates that the addition of a new product flow disrupted an old Website function. This bug has to be reported and repaired right away. Every time the Website receives small or large UI flow additions or modifications, this Regression test suite should be run.
Similar to this, fresh test cases should be added to the regression test suite to expand its coverage of UI flows. By using a Regression test suite, any breakdown is quickly identified and highlighted, ensuring that the Website is constantly up and operating.
Explain Tools to Perform Regression Testing
The following tools can be used to create and run regression tests. Before choosing which products to utilize, you should carefully review their needs:
- Selenium: An open-source web automation testing tool called Selenium is used to test websites and web applications. It is regarded as one of the best automated tools for performing regression tests on online applications. Selenium offers support for a variety of platforms and browsers for automated browser testing. With Selenium, you can use LambdaTest to perform your automated visual regression tests on more than 3000 actual operating systems and browsers. You may also carry out Selenium Visual Testing in the cloud with LambdaTest, which delivers a seamless user experience while capturing and comparing screenshots.
- Watir: A Ruby testing framework for web applications is called Watir. It is a free Ruby package that is used to automate web browser testing. Regression test suites are automated using the testing tool Watir.
- Serenity: An open-source framework called Serenity BDD enables you to create automated Regression and Acceptance tests of a higher caliber. Tests can now be more adaptable and simpler to maintain because of serenity. Additionally, it creates thorough test results and keeps you updated on the amount of testing being done on the application.
- Silk Test: Silk Test is a tool for enterprise software applications that automates functional and regression testing. It supports testing for regression, cross-platform compatibility, and localization for various sorts of mobile applications, including web, native, and hybrid apps.
- QA Wizard: A tool called QA Wizard Pro automates functional, regression, and load testing for Java, Windows, and web applications.
What are the Advantages of Regression Software Testing?
Benefits of regression testing include:
- Regression testing improves the quality of the final result.
- It makes sure that any bug fixes or other modifications don’t affect the product’s current functionality.
- Regression testing can be done with automation technologies.
- It guarantees that the problems corrected won’t come up again.
What are the Disadvantages of Regression Software Testing?
Regression testing has a number of benefits, but there are also drawbacks:
- Regression Small code modifications should be tested because even a small change in the code can break the functionality that is already in place.
- It will be a laborious and time-consuming operation to repeat the test if automation is not implemented in the project for testing.
Difference Between Re-Testing and Regression Testing
Retesting | Regression Testing |
Retesting is done to make sure that test cases that failed during final execution now pass following the correction of any bugs. | Regression testing is carried out to ensure that the changed code hasn’t negatively impacted the already-existing functionalities. |
Retesting is effective in fixing defects. | Regression testing is used to make sure that existing functionality is not negatively impacted by code modifications. |
Retesting includes the verification of defects. | Verifying defects is not part of regression testing. |
Retesting is completed before Regression Testing because it is given a higher priority. | Regression testing and retesting might be paralleled depending on the project’s type and the resources that are available. |
A scheduled test is a re-test. | A general type of testing is regression testing. |
In the next article, I am going to discuss Smoke Software Testing. Here, in this article, I try to explain Regression Software Testing. I hope you enjoy this Regression Software Testing article.