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Sanity Testing

sanity testing

Introduction of Sanity Testing

Sanity testing is a quick, focused type of software testing conducted after minor changes or bug fixes to ensure that the critical functionalities of an application are working as expected. It checks whether the recent updates have caused any issues in key areas before proceeding with more detailed testing. Unlike comprehensive testing, sanity testing is narrow in scope and aims to confirm the stability of the build for further testing. It’s an essential part of the software testing process to ensure that a build is ready for more thorough evaluation.

 

What is Sanity Testing? 

Sanity testing is a type of software testing that is performed after receiving a new build or release, to ensure that the critical functionalities of the application are working as expected. The primary goal is to check if the build is stable enough for further testing. Sanity testing is often considered a subset of regression testing but is more focused and narrower in scope.

 

Functionality of Sanity Testing

Sanity testing is a focused and basic type of testing aimed at evaluating the core functionality of an application after minor changes, such as bug fixes or small updates. The primary purpose is to verify that the changes made did not break any existing critical functionalities and that the application is still stable.

Key Functions of Sanity Testing:

  1. Core Functionality Validation: Sanity testing ensures that essential features and workflows of the application work correctly after updates. This includes testing critical user-facing functionalities like login, payment, data entry, or any feature that directly impacts the user’s ability to use the application.

  2. Verification of Bug Fixes: After bug fixes, sanity testing ensures that the specific issue has been resolved and that no new issues have been introduced in the same area or elsewhere.

  3. Stability Check: The primary aim is to check the stability of the build. Sanity testing determines if the application is stable enough for more exhaustive testing, such as regression or functional testing.

  4. Quick Feedback for Testers: Sanity tests provide quick feedback to testers and developers. If the critical features work well, testers can proceed with other detailed test cases or tests. If not, the build can be rejected or fixed before further testing.

  5. Identify Immediate Issues: It identifies any immediate issues, such as crashes or failure of core features, ensuring the build is functional enough for further investigation.

 

Example of Sanity Testing

Let’s consider a web-based banking application that undergoes a new release after a security update is applied to its login system. A sanity test in this case would involve the following checks:

  • Login Functionality: Testing if users can still log in with their credentials without errors after the security update.
  • Transaction Process: Verifying that users can successfully make a simple transaction, ensuring the payment gateway works.
  • Balance Update: Ensuring that the balance reflects accurately after any financial transactions.
 

Features of Sanity Testing

  1. Quick and Focused: Sanity testing is performed with the goal of verifying specific functionalities. It is a quick check designed to verify that the most critical features of an application are still working properly after a change or update.

  2. Limited Scope: The scope of sanity testing is narrow. It focuses only on the areas affected by the changes, bug fixes, or patches. For example, if a bug fix is related to user registration, the sanity test would only focus on ensuring that the registration feature works, rather than testing the entire system.

  3. Manual Testing: Although sanity tests can be automated, they are typically performed manually by testers. This is because the scope of sanity testing is small and it allows for quick, hands-on verification of features.

  4. Validation After Minor Changes: Sanity testing is conducted after minor changes or bug fixes, unlike regression testing, which tests a larger scope after major updates or system changes.

  5. Preliminary Check for Further Testing: Sanity tests serve as an initial check to see whether further, more exhaustive testing (such as regression or functional testing) is feasible. If the build passes sanity tests, it moves forward to more detailed testing.

 

Advantages of Sanity Testing

  1. Saves Time and Resources: Since sanity testing focuses only on the critical features and is performed quickly, it saves time and resources compared to running extensive tests on an unstable or unfit build.

  2. Early Detection of Major Issues: It allows testers to identify major issues, such as the failure of key functionalities or crashes, early in the process. This ensures that problematic builds are caught before deeper testing starts.

  3. Improves Testing Efficiency: By performing sanity testing, testers can quickly determine whether a build is stable enough to proceed with more complex tests, streamlining the overall testing process.

  4. Reduced Risk of Delays: By confirming that essential features are working early, it reduces the chances of delays in the software development lifecycle. Teams can move forward to more complex tests or other tasks without waiting for issues to be found later.

  5. Better Quality Assurance: It provides an extra layer of quality assurance before proceeding to more comprehensive testing. This improves the overall quality of the application by addressing critical bugs quickly.

 

Disadvantages of Sanity Testing

  1. Limited Coverage: Since sanity testing focuses only on the affected areas, it does not test the entire application. Bugs and issues outside the scope of the focused functionality may go unnoticed.

  2. Doesn’t Identify All Issues: While it helps in detecting glaring problems in critical functions, sanity testing does not uncover deeper, more complex issues or performance bottlenecks in the system.

  3. Manual Effort: Sanity testing is usually performed manually, especially in cases where automation is not feasible. This can be time-consuming, especially when dealing with multiple builds or frequent updates.

  4. Relies on Tester Experience: Effective sanity testing requires testers to have a solid understanding of the application and its recent changes. Inexperienced testers might overlook potential issues, leading to a false sense of stability.

  5. May Miss Edge Cases: Since the scope is narrow and focused on major functionality, edge cases and scenarios not directly affected by recent changes may be overlooked during sanity testing.

  6. Not Comprehensive Enough: It is not a substitute for more exhaustive testing. Sanity testing does not replace functional, integration, or regression testing, which are necessary to ensure that the application as a whole performs correctly.

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