What is Smoke Testing?


Smoke Testing

Smoke Testing is a software testing technique that identifies whether or not a software build that has been delivered is error free or not. Smoke testing confirms that the QA team can move on with further software testing. It is made up of a small collection of tests that are performed on each build to test programme functionality. Smoke testing is sometimes known as "Confidence Testing" or "Build Verification Testing."

In layman's words, we're making sure that all of the critical features are operational so that there are no stumbling blocks in the current release.

It is a short and quick bug test of major functionality. It is a basic test that indicates whether or not the product is ready to be tested. This helps evaluate whether the build is faulty enough that additional testing would be a waste of time and money.

The smoke tests certify the construction for more rigorous testing. The primary goal of smoke testing is to discover serious problems early on. Smoke tests are used to evaluate stability of the system and compliance.

A build contains all of the data files, libraries, reusable modules, and engineering components needed to accomplish one or more product functionalities.

You will learn the following in this tutorial −

  • Smoke Testing.
  • When do we do smoke testing?
  • Who will do Smoke Testing?
  • Why do we do smoke testing?
  • How to do Smoke Testing?
  • Advantages of Smoke testing.
  • What happens if we don’t do Smoke testing?
  • Sample Smoke Test Cases Example.

When Do We Do Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is performed anytime the latest software capabilities are built and incorporated with an existent build that is delivered in a QA/staging setup. It verifies whether or not all key features are functioning properly.

The development team publishes the build in QA using this testing approach. Subsets of test cases are selected, and testers perform the test cases on the build. The application is tested by the QA team against the important features. This collection of test cases is intended to uncover construction problems. If these tests pass, the QA team moves on to Functional Testing.

Any error signals that the system must be returned to the development team. We do Smoke Testing whenever there is a modification in the production to assure reliability.

Example – A new registration button is added to the login window, and the build is updated with the new code. On a fresh release, we do smoke testing.

Who Will Do Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is conducted by QA engineers/QA leads after the product has been released to the QA environment. When a new project is released, the QA team decides the primary functionality of the application in order to do smoke testing. The QA team looks for show-stoppers in the app that is being tested.

Sanity test is carried in a development environment on the software to check the accuracy of the application before submitting the build to QA. Typically, it is a narrow and deep examination. It is a procedure that ensures the application under construction satisfies its fundamental functional criteria.

Sanity testing assesses the conclusion of the development cycle and decides whether or not it should move the software product to the next testing step.

Why Do We Do Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is crucial in software development since it verifies the system's accuracy in the early phases. We could save time and effort by doing so. As a consequence, smoke tests restore the system to its original condition. Only when we have completed smoke testing will we begin functional testing.

  • Smoke testing will be used to identify all of the glaring oversights in the release.

  • After the build has been submitted to QA, smoke testing is performed. The majority of problems are discovered during the early phases of software development with the aid of smoke testing.

  • Smoke testing simplifies the discovery and rectification of severe flaws.

  • The QA team can use smoke testing to identify flaws in application functionality that may have been introduced by the new code.

  • Smoke testing identifies the most serious flaws.

Example 1 − Logging window: Clicking the submit button allows you to go to the next window with a valid login and password.

Example 2 − A user seems unable to sign out of a website.

How to Do Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is a manual process; however, automation has the potential to simplify the process. It may differ from one organization to the next.

Manual Smoke Testing

Generally, smoke testing is a manual process. Its techniques differ from one organization to the next. Smoke testing is performed to check that key path travel is as intended and does not interfere with functioning. Once the build has been delivered to QA, prioritized functionality test cases must be selected and examined in order to identify major flaws in the system.

If the test is successful, we will move on to functional testing. If the problem exists, the version is declined and returned to the development team for improvement. With a fresh build version, QA begins smoke testing once more. Smoke testing is conducted on new builds and will be merged with older builds to ensure the system's accuracy. Before doing smoke testing, the QA team should ensure that the right build versions are used.

Smoke Testing by Automation

Regression testing is carried out using automation. We may, however, utilize a collection of automated test cases to perform against Smoke Test. Whenever a new build is available for distribution, developers may use automated tests to validate it right away.

Rather than manually repeating tests every time a new software build is delivered, recorded smoke test cases are run against the build. It checks to see if the key features are still operational. If the test fails, they may instantly fix the build and redeploy it. This allows us to save time while also ensuring a high-quality build for the QA environment.

All manual steps done in the software build are recorded using an automated tool by the test engineer.

Smoke Testing Cycle

This is how the Smoke testing is carried out. Once the build has been released in QA and the smoke tests have been successful, we will move on to functional testing. If the smoke test fails, we stop testing until the build issue is resolved.

Advantages of Smoke testing

Here are a few of the benefits of Smoke Testing.

  • Testing is simple to do.
  • Errors will be discovered early on.
  • Enhances the system's functionality
  • Lowers the risk
  • Improvement is now more accessible.
  • It reduces testing work and time.
  • It is simple to discover and rectify major mistakes.
  • It moves rapidly.
  • Reduces integration issues

What happens if we don’t do Smoke Testing?

If we do not conduct smoke testing in the early phases, problems may be discovered later on when it is more costly. Defects discovered later in time might be huge, affecting the completion of projects.

Sample Smoke Test Cases Example

Test IDTest ScenariosDescriptionTest StepExpected ResultActual ResultTest Status
1Valid login credentials
Check the web application's login feature to confirm that a registered user can log in using their username and password.
  • Start the application.
  • Go to the login page.
  • Input a valid username
  • Input a valid password
  • Press the login button.
The login should be successful.Same as the Expected Result.Pass
2Adding functionality to itemsCapable of adding items to the cart
  • Choose a category from the list.
  • Place the item in your shopping basket.
The product should be added to the shopping cart.The item is not being added to the shopping basket.Fail
3Sign out capabilityExamine the sign-out functionality.
choose the sign out button
Signing out should be possible for the user.The user is unable to sign out.Fail

Summary

Smoke testing should be conducted on every release without miss in software engineering since it aids in the detection of flaws in the initial stages. The penultimate phase before the program build enters the system stage is the smoke test exercise. Smoke tests must be run on every release that is ready for testing. This applies to new projects as well as major and minor system updates.

Before doing smoke testing, the QA team must confirm that the application under test is in the right build version. It is a straightforward method that takes very little time to test the application's stability.

Smoke testing can reduce test effort while improving application quality. Depending on the user and the business, smoke testing can be performed manually and automatically.

Updated on: 20-Dec-2021

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