Software Testing - Feature Testing

Software testing ensures that every aspect of the software is working as per requirements, and expectations. The feature testing is practiced in organizations to detect probable bugs in any feature of the software before it goes to the actual users.

What is Software Feature Testing?

The feature testing is very important in the software development life cycle as it identifies the defects, problems, and issues in any feature of the software. This type of testing is especially important whenever a new feature is introduced in the software.

The feature testing helps to deliver a high quality, and enhance the user experiences while using the software. Some of the common examples which are covered as a part of software feature testing are listed below −

• Verify the working of a button.
• Verify the data processing.
• Verify the communication between different components of the software.

How does Software Feature Testing Work?

The software feature testing can be conducted by both automation, and manual testing. In the manual process, the test cases are executed to validate the features of the software with the help of human intervention. The manual test execution of the feature test cases are generally conducted at the early stages of the software development life cycle(SDLC) when a new feature is being developed or not yet stable.

Once a feature has been developed completely, and is more or less stable, automation test scripts can be developed to validate that. Some of the popular tools that can be used for this purpose are Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, etc.

Advantages of Software Feature Testing

The advantages of the software feature testing are listed below −

• The feature testing helps to detect bugs before the software moves to production for the customer usage. Thus it ultimately improves the end user experience of the software.
• The feature testing determines loopholes in the logics and algorithms, and irregularities in the software.
• The feature testing enables the testers to pass feedback, improvements, and suggestions on a newly developed feature in the software.
• The feature testing helps to save a lot of time, money and effort while developing a software.
• The software feature testing detects defects in the early stages of the SLDC.

How to Effectively Test a Feature?

• Understanding the Feature − One Should read the requirement or specification corresponding to that feature thoroughly.
• Build Test Scenarios − Testers should Develop the test cases exclusively to test the feature. Hence, the coverage, traceability can be maintained.
• Prepare Positive and Negative DataSets − Testers should have the test data covering all possible negative, positive and boundary cases before the start of the testing.
• How it is Implemented − Testers should know how the feature has been implemented on application layer and the relevant changed to the back end if any. This will give us clarity on the impacted areas.
• Deploy the Build Early − Testers should start testing the feature early in the cycle and report the defects and the same process should be repeated throughout the release builds.

Features Testing in a Software

The features in a software point to its specific characteristics, and functionalities. They are important to ensure the quality of a software. They touch a wide range of behavior that the software should be able to perform as per the requirements.

Let us take an example of an e-commerce application which is driven by at least the below features −

• Sign Up Feature − That helps new users to enroll for the application.
• Login Feature − That helps to login for the existing users.
• Product Search Feature − That enables the user to search through the correct product that he wants to buy or browse.
• Add To Cart Feature − That enables the user to select a product, and save it in the cart for future purchase.
• Payment Feature − That enables the user to complete the payment for the products that he has purchased.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Feature Testing. Weve started with describing what is software feature testing, what are the responsibilities of the test manager in software implementation testing, how the software feature testing works, what are the advantages of software feature testing, how to test a feature in a software, and what are features in a software. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Feature Testing. It is wise to keep practicing what youve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.