Managing Tests

Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Testers provides a variety of ways to view and manage tests.

Test Manager

Test Manger is the center of the tester's universe when it comes to creating, locating, running, and managing tests. It provides a highly customizable view of all the tests in the system that supports standard grouping, sorting, filtering, and column-selection features. Figure 7-1 shows the Test Manager providing a single interface for all types of tests. Test Manager also allows testers to define custom test lists so that they can manage and run tests as a group. For example, Figure 7-2 shows two lists defined on the left that contain the tests for the Shopping Cart and User Profile parts of the application. Testers can create categories around any criteria. For instance, they might create one list that contains some critical unit test that runs as part of a build-verification process that runs every hour. Testers can also add many additional columns to the display to show important information, such as the test owner and links to any associated work items.

Figure 7-1

Test Manger, which provides a powerful interface for locating, organizing, and running tests

Test View

Although Test Manager provides comprehensive access to all loaded tests, sometimes testers might want a simpler view that provides quick access to a focused subset of tests. Test View provides exactly that experience. Figure 7-2 shows Test View displaying some tests. Testers can run individual tests from Test View.

Figure 7-2

The Test View window presenting a simplified interface to manipulate tests

Test Projects

Visual Studio 2005 Team System introduces a new project type called a test project. Test projects are designed to provide a container to hold all tests. Perhaps the greatest benefit of this design is that test projects can be stored in a source control system just like any other project. This means tests get all the benefits of source control, such as revision auditing, versioning, and rollback. This applies to all test types, not just unit tests. So even if someone incorrectly modifies the HTTP request in a Web test, they can always retrieve a previous version of the test from source control. Figure 7-3 shows Solution Explorer with a test project.

Figure 7-3

Test projects, a new project type designed to hold test items