Keyword-driven testing

Keyword-driven testing is a technique that separates much of theprogramming work from the actual test steps so that the test steps can bedeveloped earlier and can often be maintained with only minor updates,even when the application or testing needs change significantly. The keyword-driven testing methodology divides test creation into two stages:

Preparing a set of testing resources (the test automation infrastructure).Preparing the test automation infrastructure includes a planning stage and an implementation stage.

Creating tests in the QuickTest Keyword View by selecting the keywords(objects and/or operations) that represent the application functionality youwant to test. This is described in Chapter 5, “Working with the Keyword View.”

Planning Stage

Analyzing the application and determining which objects and operationsare used by the set of business processes that need to be tested.

Determining which operations require customized keywords to provideadditional functionality, to achieve business-level clarity, and/or to maximize efficiency and maintainability.

Implementation Stage

Building the object repository and ensuring that all objects have clear namesthat follow any predetermined naming conventions. You can create objectrepositories using QuickTest functionality to recognize and learn the objectsin your application, or you can manually define objects. The object repository should contain all the objects that are relevant for the tests using this infrastructure.

Developing and documenting business-level keywords in function libraries.Creating function libraries involves developing customized functions for the application you want to test. You may want to develop functions to test special application functionality that is not already supplied by the methods in the QuickTest object model. It is also useful to wrap existing methods and functions together with additional programming to create applicationspecific functions for testing operations or sequences that are commonly performed in your application. The functions you create will be available either as extra keywords or as replacements for built-in QuickTest keywords during the test creation stage.

Although this methodology requires more planning and a longer initialtime-investment than going directly to the test creation stage and recording your steps, this methodology makes the test creation and test maintenance stages more efficient and keeps the structure of individual tests more readable and easier to modify.