Website Testing Guide: Smoke Testing with BugBug 

Smoke testing, often termed as "build verification testing," is a software testing process that focuses on the preliminary assessment of a software build's functionality. This type of testing aims to detect major issues early in the development cycle, ensuring that the basic operations of a software application are stable before undergoing more rigorous testing phases. By implementing smoke tests, developers can quickly identify and address critical problems, streamlining the development process and enhancing product quality.

What Is Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing involves conducting a series of basic tests on a software build to verify that the most crucial functions operate as expected. The term "smoke test" originates from the hardware testing practice in which a device is powered up for the first time, and if it does not smoke, it passes the test. In software, if the smoke test passes, it means the software is stable enough to proceed to more detailed and specific testing.

When to Perform Smoke Testing?

Smoke testing is essential at several stages of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), primarily:

• After a new build is compiled: Smoke testing is typically the first test conducted after a new build - including minor updates or patches - is deployed.

• Before critical phases of testing: It acts as a gatekeeper before the build is released for more exhaustive testing phases such as integration testing, functional testing, and regression testing.

• During continuous integration: In agile development environments, smoke testing is integrated into the continuous integration pipeline to automatically test every new build or version of the software.

Check also our guide on Automated Smoke Testing.

How to Set Up Smoke Tests with BugBug?

BugBug is a modern tool designed to simplify the process of creating, managing, and executing smoke tests. Here's how to set up smoke tests using BugBug:

1. Create an account and set up your project: Start by signing up on the BugBug website and setting up a new project by linking your software's repository.

2. Define your test environment: Configure the test environment where the smoke tests will run. This could be a staging or a production-like environment.

3. Record your smoke tests: Use BugBug's intuitive interface to create your smoke tests. You can record real actions in the incognito tab in Chrome.

4. Schedule and automate tests: Schedule your tests to run automatically after each build is deployed - using BugBug's built-in fully customizable schedules

5. Analyze test results: After each test run, BugBug provides detailed reports and results which help in quickly identifying any critical issues.

Benefits of Smoke Testing with BugBug

Smoke testing involves conducting a preliminary check of an application's functionality after a build to ensure critical functionalities are working as expected. BugBug enhances smoke testing by:

1. Quick and Efficient Test Creation: Since smoke testing often needs to be performed quickly to validate the stability of a build, BugBug's codeless, easy-to-use interface allows for rapid test creation and execution.

2. Preference for data-testid Attributes: BugBug prioritizes more stable selectors like data-testid, which are less likely to change, ensuring that smoke tests are more robust and less likely to fail due to minor UI adjustments.

3. Email Inbox Integration: This feature can be particularly useful in smoke testing to verify critical workflows that involve email interactions, such as account creation or password resets.

4. Variables and Hover Step Recording: These features allow for testing dynamic and complex interactions easily, which is important in smoke tests to ensure that all parts of an application's UI are responsive and interact as expected.

5. Profiles: Profiles allow you to create custom presets for different variable values. You can use these profiles to override default variables with specific values when running tests or suites. This feature is particularly beneficial for managing multiple development environments.

Smoke Test Example for E-commerce

For an e-commerce application, a smoke test could include the following scenarios to ensure the basic functionality of the platform:

1. Homepage Visability Test: Verify that the homepage loads correctly without any errors.

2. Login Function Test: Ensure that the user can log in using valid credentials.

3. Logout Flow: Ensure that the user can log out.

4. Password Reset Flow: Check if password reset option is working correctly.

5. Main Navigation Display and Associated Links: Check main navigation, menu and redirections of main links.

6. Product Search Test: Test the functionality of the search bar to find products.

7. Add to Cart Test: Check that a product can be added to the shopping cart.

8. Checkout Process Test: Run through the checkout process to confirm that it completes without issues.

9. Test payment process: Successful Payment: Test a payment using valid payment details to ensure the transaction can be successfully completed. Verify that all supported payment methods (e.g., credit card, PayPal, digital wallet) can initiate a transaction. You don't need to test all scenarios - just ensure each method can reach the transaction processing stage.a]

10. Contact flow and Contact support flow: Verify that users can easily find and access the support interface from main navigation or user dashboard.

Each of these tests should be automated in BugBug to run quickly and efficiently, providing immediate feedback on the health of the application after each new software build or update.

By leveraging BugBug for smoke testing, development teams can enhance their productivity and the reliability of their software releases, ensuring that any significant issues are addressed promptly before they escalate into more severe problems. Smoke testing serves as a crucial checkpoint in the SDLC, safeguarding the application against potential defects that could impair functionality or user experience.

Happy (automated) testing!