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Software Testing - Domain Testing

Software goes through multiple stages of testing before it is shipped to the customers. This is done to enhance its quality and to reduce the probability of errors being detected at the production.

What is Domain Testing?

The domain testing is a kind of testing in which the least number of inputs are utilized to get the correct output from the software. This is done to confirm that improper data is not accepted as inputs. The software generates the valid output by bypassing incorrect inputs.

Importance of Domain Testing

The domain testing is important for the items listed below −

It is done to protect the complete range of input data. It aims to detect the issues that may come up while handling and processing the data by verifying a specific range of it.
It identifies errors that come up only while verifying a specific range of inputs which may not be detected by other formal and informal testing.
It prevents defects by sharing the knowledge to the developers on the limit and range of data input domains to the software.
It enhances the quality of tests by aligning more and relevant resources to the most critical and important features of the software. This helps to detect more bugs and increase the effectiveness of tests.

Structure of Domain Testing

Identify the Domain

The test team goes through requirements and discusses with the project stakeholders to identify the accurate domain or a group of conditions under which the software should be working as expected.

Split Domains

As the domains are identified, they are broken down into smaller units. The various inputs, states or conditions that the software shall undergo are symbolized by these domains. It increases test coverage and makes testing systematic.

Test Case Selection

The test team selects the tests on the basis of the segregated domains to verify the software characteristics in various circumstances.

Test Data Creation

Within each specific domain, the test data is selected to simulate real life scenarios which includes the boundary values and data which are more likely to detect errors in the software.

Test Case Execution

The test cases are executed and the test team analyzes the behavior of software and compares them with expected results as per the requirements.

Boundary Value Analysis

The test team verifies the data appearing at the edge of the input domains. Since the probability of finding bugs at the boundaries are higher, both the lower and upper boundary values are tested.

Error Handling

The test team tests if the software handles errors with no intermediate crashes, with efficient exception handling and accurate error messages.

Automation

The test team looks for opportunities to automate tests on domain testing.

What is Domain Knowledge?

A domain knowledge is acquiring sufficient knowledge, details, and inputs on a particular topic. It helps in building quality software, increases its efficiency and enables faster development.

Is Domain Knowledge Mandatory for Domain Testing?

It is impossible to perform exhaustive testing of a software without having knowledge on the domain to which it belongs to. For example, a tester verifying an insurance and banking product should have the basic knowledge on the working of insurances and banking.

Strategy for Domain Testing

Every domain consists of a boundary from which it has been described and data closer to the boundaries are tested during the boundary testing. The strategy for domain testing is designed to determine what should be considered for testing, how to segregate values into classes, which values should be considered for testing, and how the outputs shall be generated.

Practical Example of Domain Testing

Let us take an example of a game which decides the prize for the students based on marks they obtained. Here the game is considered as the test case and the marks are the boundary values fitting it into multiple scenarios. For instance −

Students getting more than 70, shall get a pen.
Students getting marks ≥ 80, shall get a pen and pencil.
Students getting marks ≥ 90, shall get a pen, pencil, and pencil box.

Depending on the above conditions, the students are segregated into classes, i.e marks and the boundary values are chosen (highest and lowest marks) in groups. Then various scenarios are designed with the expected outcomes.

What are the Skills Required for Domain Testing?

The skill required for domain testing are listed below −

It is mandatory to acquire domain knowledge for domain testing.
It also needs to have analytical and thinking skills.
It is important to have experience in testing and knowledge on various testing methodologies.
It is required to have good communication skills.
It is needed to have an understanding on creation and execution of test cases.
Every testing activity needs to be performed in great detail.
There should be collaboration among all the project stakeholders in the team.

Advantages of Domain Testing

The advantages of domain testing are listed below −

It enables effective and productive usage of testing resources and materials.
It improves the test coverage.
It resolves issues in the error prone edge data ranges, hence enhances the software quality.
It is a cost efficient testing technique.

Disadvantages of Domain Testing

The disadvantages of domain testing are listed below −

It is sometimes difficult to detect the accurate domain boundaries.
It does not test the entire working of complex software.
It alone does not include every scenario that needs to be tested.

Conclusion

This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Domain Testing. We’ve started with describing what is domain testing, why domain testing is important, what is the structure of domain testing, what is domain knowledge, is domain knowledge mandatory for domain testing, what is the strategy for domain testing, practical example of domain testing, what are the skills required for domain testing, what are the advantages and disadvantages of domain testing.

This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Domain Testing. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.

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