{"id":8452,"date":"2024-12-01T01:47:26","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T01:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/?p=8452"},"modified":"2025-05-09T10:52:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T10:52:29","slug":"guide-to-functional-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/guide-to-functional-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Functional Testing : Planning, Types &#038; Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This is an In-Depth Comprehensive Functional Testing Tutorial with Types, Techniques, and Examples. Let&#8217;s begin.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Let us first understand what Functional Testing is?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Functional testing is a kind of black-box testing that is performed to confirm that the functionality of an application or system is behaving as expected.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>This is done to verify all the functionality of an application.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>LIST of Tutorials covered in this series:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #1:<\/strong> <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/guide-to-functional-testing\/\">What is Functional Testing<\/a> <strong>(this tutorial)<\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #2:<\/strong><\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/functional-testing-interview-questions\/\">Functionality Testing Interview Questions<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #3:<\/strong> <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/tools\/top-30-functional-testing-tools\/\">Top Functional Automation Testing Tools<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #4:<\/strong><\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-non-functional-testing\/\">What is Non-Functional Testing?<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #5:<\/strong><\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/the-difference-between-unit-integration-and-functional-testing\/\">Difference Between Unit, Functional, and\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/the-difference-between-unit-integration-and-functional-testing\/\">Integration <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/the-difference-between-unit-integration-and-functional-testing\/\">Testing<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #6<\/strong>:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/functional-testing-and-performance-testing\/\">Why Functional and Performance Testing Should be Done Simultaneously<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Tools:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #7:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<strong style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/ranorex-studio-review\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Functional Test Automation with Ranorex Studio<\/span><\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #8:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/hp-uft\/hp-uft-unified-functional-testing-tool-features\/\">UFT Functional Tool New Features<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #9: <\/strong><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/parrot-qa-tutorial\/\">Cross Browser Functional Automation Using Parrot QA Tool<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Tutorial #10: <\/strong><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/jubula-functional-testing-tool\/\">Jubula Open Source Tool tutorial for functionality testing<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Guide to Functional Testing<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/02\/an-overview-of-functional-testing.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8477 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/02\/an-overview-of-functional-testing.jpg\" alt=\"functional testing\" width=\"485\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/02\/an-overview-of-functional-testing.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/02\/an-overview-of-functional-testing-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Introduction to Functional Testing<\/h2>\n<p>There must be something that defines what is acceptable behavior and what is not.<\/p>\n<p>This is specified in the functional or requirement specification. It is a document that describes what a user is permitted to do, so that he can determine the conformance of the application or system to it. Additionally, sometimes this could also entail the actual business side scenarios to be validated.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, functionality testing can be carried out via <strong>two popular techniques<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Testing based on Requirements:<\/strong> Contains all the functional specifications which form a basis for all the tests to be conducted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Testing based on business scenarios:<\/strong> Contains information about how the system will be perceived from a business process perspective.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Testing and Quality Assurance are a huge part of the SDLC process. As a tester, we need to be aware of all types of testing even if we\u2019re not directly involved with them daily.<\/p>\n<p>As testing is an ocean, the scope is very vast indeed, and we have dedicated testers who perform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/types-of-software-testing\/\">different kinds of testing<\/a>. Most probably all of us must be familiar with most of the concepts, but it will not hurt to organize it all here.<\/p>\n<h3>Functional Testing Types<\/h3>\n<p>Functional testing has many categories and these can be used based on the scenario.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>The most prominent types are briefly discussed below:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/unit-testing\/\">Unit Testing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unit testing is usually performed by a developer who writes different code units that could be related or unrelated to achieve a particular functionality. This usually entails writing unit tests that would call the methods in each unit and validate those when the required parameters are passed, and their return value is as expected.<\/p>\n<p>Code coverage is an important part of unit testing where the test cases need to exist to cover the below three:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">i) Line coverage<br \/>\nii) Code path coverage<br \/>\niii) Method coverage<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/smoke-testing-and-sanity-testing-difference\/\">Sanity Testing<\/a>: <\/strong>Testing that is done to ensure that all the major and vital functionalities of the application\/system are working correctly. This is generally done after a smoke test.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/smoke-testing-and-sanity-testing-difference\/\">Smoke Testing<\/a>: <\/strong>Testing that is done after each build is released to test to ensure build stability. It is also called build verification testing.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/regression-testing-tools-and-methods\/\">Regression Tests<\/a>: <\/strong>Testing performed to ensure that adding new code, enhancements, fixing of bugs is not breaking the existing functionality or causing any instability and still works according to the specifications.<\/p>\n<p>Regression tests need not be as extensive as the actual functional tests but should ensure just the amount of coverage to certify that the functionality is stable.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-integration-testing\/\">Integration Tests<\/a>: <\/strong>When the system relies on multiple functional modules that might individually work perfectly, but have to work coherently when clubbed together to achieve an end to end scenario, validation of such scenarios is called Integration testing.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/usability-testing-guide\/\">Beta\/Usability Testing<\/a>: <\/strong>Product is exposed to the actual customer in a production like environment and they test the product. The user\u2019s comfort is derived from this and the feedback is taken. This is similar to that of User Acceptance testing.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Let&#8217;s represent this in an easy flow-chart<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flow-chart.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8460 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flow-chart.jpg\" alt=\"Functional Testing Categories\" width=\"653\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flow-chart.jpg 653w, https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/flow-chart-300x135.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Functional System Testing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/system-testing\/\">System testing<\/a> is a testing that is performed on a complete system to verify if it works as expected once all the modules or components are integrated.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-end-to-end-testing\/\">End to end testing<\/a> is performed to verify the functionality of the product. This testing is performed only when system integration testing is complete, including both the functional &amp; non-functional requirements.<\/p>\n<p><strong>=&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/the-difference-between-unit-integration-and-functional-testing\/\">Difference Between Unit, Functional and Integration Testing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Process<\/h3>\n<p><strong>This testing process has three main steps:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Functional-testing-Process.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-27105 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Functional-testing-Process.jpg\" alt=\"Steps of Functional testing Process\" width=\"259\" height=\"175\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Approaches, Techniques, and Examples<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Functional or behavioral testing generates an output based on the given inputs and determines if the System is functioning correctly as per the specifications.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hence, the pictorial representation will look as shown below:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Functional-Testing-Process.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8461 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Functional-Testing-Process.jpg\" alt=\"Functional Testing Process\" width=\"485\" height=\"73\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Functional-Testing-Process.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Functional-Testing-Process-300x45.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Entry\/Exit criteria<\/h3>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Entry Criteria<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>The Requirement Specification document is defined and approved.<\/li>\n<li>Test Cases have been prepared.<\/li>\n<li>Test data has been created.<\/li>\n<li>The environment for testing is ready, all the tools that are required are available and ready.<\/li>\n<li>A complete or partial Application has been developed and unit tested and is ready for testing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Exit Criteria<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Execution of all functional test cases has been completed.<\/li>\n<li>No critical or P1, P2 bugs are open.<\/li>\n<li>Reported bugs have been acknowledged.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Steps Involved<\/h3>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">The various steps involved in this testing are mentioned below:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The very first step involved is to determine the functionality of the product that needs to be tested and it includes testing the main functionalities, error conditions, and messages, usability testing i.e. whether the product is user-friendly or not, etc.<\/li>\n<li>The next step is to create the input data for the functionality to be tested as per the requirement specification.<\/li>\n<li>Later, based on the required specifications, the output is determined for the functionality under test.<\/li>\n<li>Prepared test cases have been executed.<\/li>\n<li>Actual output i.e. the output after executing the test case and expected output (determined from the required specifications) are compared to find out whether the functionality is working as expected or not.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Approach<\/h3>\n<p>Different kinds of scenarios can be thought of and authored in the form of \u201ctest cases\u201d. As QA folks, we all know how the skeleton of a test case looks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It mostly has four parts to it:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Test summary<\/li>\n<li>Pre-requisites<\/li>\n<li>Test Steps and<\/li>\n<li>Expected results.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Attempting to author every kind of test is not only impossible\u00a0but also time-consuming and expensive.<\/p>\n<p>Typically, we would want to uncover the maximum number of bugs without any escapes with existing tests. Therefore, the QA needs to use optimization techniques and strategize how they would approach the testing.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s explain this with an <strong>example.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">Functional Testing Use Case Examples<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Take the example of an online HRMS portal where the employee logs in with his user account and password. On the login page, there are two text fields for the username &amp; password, and two buttons: Login and Cancel. Successful login takes the user to the HRMS home page and cancel will cancel the login.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Specifications are as shown below:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>#1 )<\/strong> The user id field takes a minimum of 6 characters, a maximum of 10 characters, numbers(0-9), letters(a-z, A-z), special characters (only underscore, period, hyphen allowed) and it cannot be left blank. User ID must begin with a character or a number and not special characters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>#2)<\/strong> Password field takes a minimum of 6 characters, a maximum of 8 characters, numbers (0-9), letters (a-z, A-Z), special characters (all), and cannot be blank.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Example-Use-Case.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-8459\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8459 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Example-Use-Case.jpg\" alt=\"Example Use Case - HRMS Online Portal\" width=\"485\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Example-Use-Case.jpg 485w, https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Example-Use-Case-300x210.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 485px) 100vw, 485px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>The basic approach to testing this scenario can be classified into two broad categories:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Positive testing and<\/li>\n<li>Negative testing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Of course, each of these categories has its sub-section of tests that will be carried out.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Positive tests<\/strong> are happy path tests that are done to ensure that the product meets &#8211; at least the basic requirements that are vital to customer usage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Negative scenarios<\/strong> ensure that the product behaves properly even when it is subjected to unexpected data.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Suggested Read =&gt;\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-negative-testing\/\"><strong>What is Negative Testing and How to Write Negative Test Cases?<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Now, let me try to structure the testing techniques using the flowchart below. We\u2019ll go into detail on each of those tests.<\/p>\n<h3>Functional Testing Techniques<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Testing-Techniques.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-8463 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Testing-Techniques.jpg\" alt=\"Functional Testing Techniques\" width=\"581\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Testing-Techniques.jpg 581w, https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-content\/qa\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Testing-Techniques-300x117.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 581px) 100vw, 581px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#1) End-user based\/System Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>The system under test may have many components which when coupled together achieve the user scenario.<\/p>\n<p>In the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Example<\/strong><\/span>, a customer scenario would include tasks like HRMS application loading, entering the correct credentials, going to the home page, performing some actions and logging out of the system. This particular flow has to work without any errors for a basic business scenario.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some samples are given below:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<div id=\"tablepress-67-scroll-wrapper\" class=\"tablepress-scroll-wrapper\">\n<table id=\"tablepress-67\" class=\"tablepress tablepress-id-67 tablepress-responsive\">\n<thead>\n<tr class=\"row-1\">\n\t<th class=\"column-1\">Sl No<\/th><th class=\"column-2\">Summary<\/th><th class=\"column-3\">Pre-requisite<\/th><th class=\"column-4\">Test case<\/th><th class=\"column-5\">Expected results.<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"row-striping row-hover\">\n<tr class=\"row-2\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">1.<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Fully privileged user can make account changes<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">1)User account must exist<br \/>\n2) User needs to have the required privileges<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">1) User enters the userid and password<br \/>\n2) User sees edit permissions to modify account itself<br \/>\n3) User modifies account information and saves.<br \/>\n4) User logs out.<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">1) User is logged into the home page<br \/>\n2) Edit screen is presented to the user.<br \/>\n<br \/>\n3) Account information is saved<br \/>\n4) User is taken back to login page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"row-3\">\n\t<td class=\"column-1\">2.<\/td><td class=\"column-2\">Another valid user without full privileges<\/td><td class=\"column-3\">1)User account must exist<br \/>\n2) User needs to have the minimum privileges<\/td><td class=\"column-4\">1) User enters the userid and password<br \/>\n2) User sees edit permissions to modify only certain fields.<br \/>\n3) User modifies only those fields and saves.<br \/>\n4) User logs out.<\/td><td class=\"column-5\">1) User is logged into the home page<br \/>\n2) Edit screen is presented to the user only on certain fields. The account fields are grayed out.<br \/>\n3) Fields modified are saved<br \/>\n4) User is taken back to login page<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<!-- #tablepress-67 from cache -->\n<p>This is a basic example of how test cases are authored for situations. The format above will apply to all the below tests as well. For the sake of strong conceptual grounding, I have put in only some simple tests above and below.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#2) Equivalence Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-boundary-value-analysis-and-equivalence-partitioning\/\">Equivalence partitioning<\/a>, the test data are segregated into various partitions called equivalence data classes. Data in each partition must behave in the same way, therefore only one condition needs to be tested. Similarly, if one condition in a partition doesn\u2019t work, then none of the others will work.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>For example<\/strong><\/span>, in the above scenario the user id field can have a maximum of 10 characters, so entering data &gt; 10 should behave the same way.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#3) Boundary Value Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Boundary tests imply data limits to the application and validate how it behaves.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, if the inputs are supplied beyond the boundary values, then it is considered to be negative testing. So a minimum of 6 characters for the user sets the boundary limit. Tests written to have a user id &lt; 6 characters are boundary analysis tests.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#4) Decision-based Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Decision-based tests are centered around the ideology of the possible outcomes of the system when a particular condition is met.<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the above scenario given, the following decision-based tests can be immediately derived:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>If the wrong credentials are entered, it should indicate that to the user and reload the login page.<\/li>\n<li>If the user enters the correct credentials, it should take the user to the next UI.<\/li>\n<li>If the user enters the correct credentials but wishes to cancel the login, then it should not take the user to the next UI and reload the login page.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#5) Alternate Flow Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Alternate path tests are run to validate all the possible ways that exist, other than the main flow to accomplish a function.<\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">#6) Ad-hoc Tests<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>While most of the bugs are uncovered through the above techniques, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/ad-hoc-testing\/\">ad-hoc tests<\/a> are a great way to uncover any discrepancies that are not observed earlier. These are performed with the mindset of breaking the system and see if it responds gracefully.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>For example<\/strong><\/span>, a sample test case would be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The user is logged in, but the admin deletes the user account while he is performing some operations. It would be interesting to see how the application handles this gracefully.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Functional vs Non-Functional Testing<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/what-is-non-functional-testing\/\">Non-functional tests<\/a> focus on the quality of the application\/system as a whole. Hence, it tries to deduce how well the system performs as per the customer requirements as in contrast to the function it performs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>=&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/functional-testing-vs-non-functional-testing\/\">Read the exact difference here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Functional Test Automation<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Can we automate functional Tests?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Automation manual efforts can be reduced, time can be saved, bug slippage can be avoided, and efficiency can be increased.<\/p>\n<p>However, it is not possible to automate each and everything. This testing can be automated, but the user needs to work out the test cases for the automation to be done. It\u2019s important to find the right test cases to be automated along with an appropriate tool.<\/p>\n<p>Automating functional cases can have drawbacks like if the number of test cases are much more and are regressed again and again ( which has to be done ) then the developer might face an issue in committing changes to the code.<\/p>\n<p>Many times while performing defect escape analysis, the prominent and perennial cause of escapes seems to have a lack of test coverage in a particular function.<\/p>\n<p>Again, there are several causes for this to happen like lack of environment, lack of testers, too many functions being delivered, less time to cover all the testing aspects, and sometimes simply overlooking it.<\/p>\n<p>While dedicated test teams might do detailed testing on each sprint or each test cycle, defects will always exist and there will always be defects that might get missed. This is a fundamental need to have test automation in place, thereby having a marked improvement in the efficiency of the overall test process and test case coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Although automated testing can never replace manual tests, having an ideal mix of the two will prove to be vital to have the desired quality in Software projects.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Automation Considerations<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>#1)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/automation-testing-tutorial-4\/\">Select the correct Automation Tool<\/a>:<\/strong> There are several tools available in the market, so choosing an automation tool is a really daunting task! However, you can make a list of requirements, based on which you can select which automation tool to use.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some primary aspects to think of include the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Select a tool that will be easy to use by all the QA members of the team, if they don\u2019t already have the required skills.<\/li>\n<li>The tool can be used across different environments. For <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>example: <\/strong><\/span>can the scripts be created on one OS platform and run on another? Do you require CLI automation, UI automation, mobile application automation, or all?<\/li>\n<li>The tool must have all the features you require. For <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>example<\/strong><\/span>: If some testers are not well-versed with a scripting language, the tool should have a record and playback feature and then support conversion of the recorded script to the desired scripting language. Likewise, if you also need a tool to support automated build tests, specific reporting, and logging, then you must be able to do that as well.<\/li>\n<li>The tool should be able to support the reusability of test cases in case of UI changes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Automation Tools<\/strong>: There are quite a few tools that are available for functional automation. Selenium is probably a hot favorite, but there are some other open-source tools as well like Sahi, Watir, Robotium, AutoIt, etc.<\/p>\n<p>Several test automation tools are available now. But choosing the appropriate tool is very important for the organization. It might depend on the requirement, ease of use, and cost plays a major role here.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Given below are some of the top functional test tools:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Selenium<\/li>\n<li>QTP<\/li>\n<li>Junit<\/li>\n<li>Loadrunner<\/li>\n<li>SoapUI<\/li>\n<li>TestComplete<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>=&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/tools\/top-30-functional-testing-tools\/\">Check this Complete list of top functional automation tools<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>#2) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/manual-to-automation-testing-process-challenges\/\">Pick the right test cases to automate<\/a>:<\/strong> If you want to get the most out of automation, then it is vital to be smart about the kind of tests that you pick to automate. If there are tests that require some setup and configuration on and off during test execution, then those are best left non-automated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Therefore, you can automate tests that:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Needs to be run repeatedly.<\/li>\n<li>Run with different kinds of data.<\/li>\n<li>Some P1, P2 test cases take a lot of effort and time.<\/li>\n<li>Tests that are error-prone.<\/li>\n<li>Set of tests that need to be run in different environments, browsers, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>#3)\u00a0Dedicated Automation Team<\/strong>: This is probably overlooked in most organizations and automation is imposed upon all the members of the QA team.<\/p>\n<p>Each team member has varied experience levels, skill sets, interest levels, bandwidth to support automation, etc. Some individuals are possibly better skilled at executing manual tests, while others may know scripting and automation tools.<\/p>\n<p>In situations like this, it\u2019s a good practice to take an analysis of all the members of the team and have some members dedicated to doing only automation.<\/p>\n<p>Automation activity requires time, effort, knowledge, and a dedicated team which will help to achieve the required results instead of overloading all the members of the team with both manual and automation testing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>#4)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Data-Driven Tests:<\/strong> Automated test cases that require multiple sets of data should be well written so that they can be reusable. The data could be written in sources such as text or properties file, XML files, or read from a database.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the data source is, creating a well-structured automation data makes the framework easier to maintain and makes the existing test scripts used to their full potential.<\/p>\n<p><strong>#5)\u00a0UI changes must not break tests:<\/strong> The test cases you create using the selected tool must be able to deal with potential UI changes. For instance, earlier versions of selenium used a location to identify the page elements.<\/p>\n<p>Hence, if the UI changes, those elements are no longer found at those locations and will, in turn, lead to the mass failure of tests.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, it\u2019s important to understand the shortcomings of the tool beforehand and author the test cases such that there are only minimal changes required in case of UI changes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>#6)\u00a0Frequent Testing:<\/strong> Once you have a basic automation test bucket ready, plan to have more frequent execution of this bucket. This has a two-way advantage: One is that you can enhance the automation framework and make it more robust and the second is that you will catch more bugs in the process.<\/p>\n<h3>Advantages<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Enlisted below are the various advantages of Functional Testing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>This testing reproduces or is a replica of what the actual system is i.e. it is a replica of what the product is like in a live environment. Testing is focused on the specifications as per the customer usage i.e. System specifications, Operating system, browsers, etc.<\/li>\n<li>It does not work on any ifs and buts or any assumptions about the structure of the system.<\/li>\n<li>This testing ensures the delivery of a high-quality product that meets the customer requirement and makes sure that the customer is satisfied with the end results.<\/li>\n<li>This ensures delivery of a bug-free product which has all the functionalities working as per the customer requirement.<\/li>\n<li>Risk-based testing is done to decrease the chances of any kind of risk in the product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Limitations<\/h3>\n<p>This testing is done to make sure that the product works as expected and the entire requirement is implemented and the product is exactly as per the customer requirement.<\/p>\n<p>However, it does not consider other factors such as the performance of the product i.e. responsiveness, throughput time, etc., which are important and very much required to be a part of testing before releasing the product.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\"><strong>Disadvantages<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are many chances of performing redundant testing.<\/li>\n<li>Logical errors can be missed out on the product.<\/li>\n<li>This testing is based on the requirement, if in case the requirement is not complete or is complicated or is not clear, performing this testing in such a scenario becomes difficult and can be time-consuming too.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hence basically, both these types of testing are needed for a quality product.<\/p>\n<h3>Conclusion<\/h3>\n<p>This tutorial comprehensively discusses everything you need to know about functional testing, right from the basics.<\/p>\n<p>Functional testing is an important testing process as it verifies the functionality of a product which is the most required and indeed the most important aspect of any product or application.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>About the Author:<\/strong> Sanjay Zalavadia &#8211; as the VP of Client Service for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.getzephyr.com\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Zephyr<\/a>, brings over 15 years of leadership experience in IT and Technical Support Services.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>I hope that some of the techniques that we&#8217;ve suggested will come in handy for all the readers. Let us know your feedback in the comments section below. We would love to hear from you.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Suggested Read =&gt; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/feature-testing-tutorial\/\">Feature Testing Tutorial<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\t\t\t<div id=\"daexthefup-container\"\r\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"daexthefup-container daexthefup-layout-stacked daexthefup-alignment-center\"\r\n\t\t\t\tdata-post-id=\"8452\">\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"daexthefup-feedback\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"daexthefup-text\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"daexthefup-title\">Was this helpful?<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"daexthefup-buttons-container\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"daexthefup-buttons\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t<div class=\"daexthefup-yes daexthefup-button daexthefup-button-type-icon\" data-value=\"1\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n                <svg>\r\n                    <defs>\r\n                        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class=\"daexthefup-successful-submission-text\">Thanks for your feedback!<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is an In-Depth Comprehensive Functional Testing Tutorial with Types, Techniques, and Examples. Let&#8217;s begin.\u00a0 Let us first understand what Functional Testing is? Functional testing is a kind of black-box testing that is performed to confirm that the functionality of an application or system is behaving as expected. \u00a0This is &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Functional Testing : Planning, Types &#038; Examples\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/guide-to-functional-testing\/#more-8452\" aria-label=\"Read more about Functional Testing : Planning, Types &#038; Examples\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_helpful_pro_status":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-types-of-testing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.softwaretestinghelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}