Mao Li: June 2011

http://www.embeddedstar.com/weblog/2009/08/23/pragmatic-ui-tests/

Required Fields
If the screen requires data entry on a specific field, designers should identify the required fields with a red asterisk and generate a friendly warning if the data is left blank.
Data Type Errors
If the screen contains dates, numeric, currency or other specific data types, ensure that only valid data can be entered.
Field Widths
If the screen contains text boxes that allow data entry, ensure that the width of data entered does not exceed the width of the table field (e.g. a title that is limited to 100 characters in the database should not allow more than 100 characters to be entered from the user interface).
Onscreen Instructions
Any screen that is not self-explanatory to the casual user should contain onscreen instructions that aid the user.
Keep Onscreen Instructions Brief
While onscreen instructions are great, keep the wording informative, in layman’s terms, but concise.
Progress Bars
If the screen takes more than 5 seconds to render results, it should contain a progress bar so that the user understands the processing is continuing.
Same Document Opened Multiple Times
If the application opens the same document multiple times, it should append a unique number to the open document to keep one document from overwriting another. For example, if the application opens a document named Minutes.txt and it opens the same document for the same user again, consider having it append the time to the document or sequentially number it (Minutes2.txt or Minutes_032321.txt).
Cosmetic Inconsistencies
The screen look, feel, and design should match the other screens in your application. Creating and using a style guide is a great way to ensure consistency throughout your application.
Abbreviation Inconsistencies
If the screens contain abbreviations (e.g. Nbr for number, Amt for amount, etc), the abbreviations should be consistent for all screens in your application. Again, the style guide is key for ensuring this.
Save Confirmations
If the screen allows changing of data without saving, it should prompt users to save if they move to another record or screen.
Delete Confirmations
If a person deletes an item, it is a good idea to confirm the delete. However, if the user interface allows deleting several records in a row, in some cases developers should consider allowing them to ignore the confirmation as it might get frustrating to click the confirmation over and over again.
Type Ahead
If the user interface uses combo boxes (drop down lists), be sure to include type ahead (if there are hundreds of items in a list, users should be able to skip to the first item that begins with that letter when they type in the first letter).
Grammar and Spelling
Ensure the test cases look for grammar or spelling errors.
Table Scrolling
If the application lists information in table format and the data in the table extends past one page, the scrolling should scroll the data but leave the table headers in tact.
Error Logging
If fatal errors occur as users use your application, ensure that the applications writes those errors to a log file, event viewer, or a database table for later review. Log the routine the error was in, the person logged on, and the date/time of the error.
Error Messages
Ensure that error messages are informative, grammatically correct, and not condescending.
Shortcuts
If the application allows short cut keys (like CTRL+S to save), test each shortcut to ensure it works in all different browsers (if the application is web based).
Invalid Choices
Do not include instructions for choices not available at the time. For example, if a screen cannot be printed due to the state of the data, the screen should not have a Print button.
Invalid Menu Items
Do not show menu items that are not available for the context users are currently in.
Dialog Box Consistency
Use a style guide to document what choices are available for dialog boxes. Designers should not have Save/Cancel dialog on one screen and an OK/Cancel on another. This is inconsistent.
Screen Font Type
Ensure that the screen font family matches from screen to screen. Mismatching fonts within the same sentence and overuse of different fonts can detract from the professionalism of your software user interface.
Screen Font Sizes
Ensure that the screen font sizes match from screen to screen. A good user interface will have an accompanying style guide that explicitly defines the font type and size for headers, body text, footers, etc.
Colors
Ensure that screens do not use different color sets as to cause an inconsistent and poorly thought-out user interface design. Your style guide should define header colors, body background colors, footer colors, etc.
Icons
Ensure that icons are consistent throughout your application by using a common icon set. For example, a BACK link that contains an icon next to it should not have a different icon on one screen versus another. Avoid free clip-art icons, opt for professionally designed icons that complement the overall look and feel of your screen design.
Narrative Text
Having narrative text (screen instructions) is a great way to communicate how to use a specific screen. Ensure that narrative text appears at the same location on the screen on all screens.
Brevity
Ensure that narrative text, error messages and other instructions are presented in laymen’s terms but are brief and to-the-point.
Dialog Box Consistency
Use a style guide to document what choices are available for dialog boxes. You should have not have Save/Cancel dialog on one screen and an OK/Cancel on another, this is inconsistent.
Links
If your application has links on the screen (e.g. Save as Spreadsheet, Export, Print, Email, etc.), ensure that the links have consistent spacing between them and other links, that the links appear in the same order from screen to screen, and that the color of the links are consistent.
Menus
If your application has menu items, ensure that menu items that are not applicable for the specific screen are disabled and the order in which each menu item appears is consistent from screen to screen.
Buttons
If your application has buttons (e.g. Submit, OK, Cancel, etc), ensure that the buttons appear in a consistent order from screen to screen (e.g. Submit then Cancel).
Abbreviation Inconsistencies
If your screens contain abbreviations (e.g. Nbr for number, Amt for amount, etc), the abbreviations should be consistent for all screens in your application. Again, the style guide is key for ensuring this.
Delete Confirmations
It is a good practice to ask the user to confirm before deleting an item. Create test cases to ensure that all delete operations require the confirmation. Taking this a step further, it would also be great to allow clients to turn off specific confirmations if they decide to do this.
Save Confirmations
It is good practice to ask the user to confirm an update if updates are made and they navigate to another item before explicitly saving. Create test cases to ensure that all record movement operations require the confirmation when updates are made. Taking this a step further, it would also be great to allow clients to turn off specific confirmations if they decide to do this.
Grammar and Spelling
Ensure that you have test cases that look for grammar or spelling errors.
Shortcuts
If your application allows short cut keys (like CTRL+S to save), ensure that all screens allow using of the consistent shortcuts.

BlackBerry? Persistent Store:

Class and Demo code:

Class: BerrySyncPersistentStore?.java

package BerrySync?.data;

import net.rim.device.api.system.PersistentObject?;
import net.rim.device.api.system.PersistentStore?;

public class BerrySyncPersistentStore? {

*

Static Utility Functions

*
public static void SaveData?(long _key, Object _data) throws Exception {

Create a persistent data store
PersistentObject? _store;
_store = PersistentStore?.getPersistentObject(_key);

Store Persistent data
synchronized(_store){

_store.setContents(_data);
_store.commit();

}

}

public static Object LoadData?(long _key) throws Exception {

Create a persistent data store
PersistentObject? _store;
_store = PersistentStore?.getPersistentObject(_key);

Retrieve persistent data
Object _data;
synchronized(_store) {

_data = (Object)_store.getContents();

}
return _data;

}

}

Class: Record.java

package BerrySync?.data;

import net.rim.device.api.crypto.AESKey;
import net.rim.device.api.crypto.InitializationVector?;
import net.rim.device.api.util.Persistable;

public class Record implements Persistable{

public String _data;
public String _payload;
public String _collection;
public String _id;
public String _modified;
public int _ttl;
public int _sortIndex;
public AESKey _key;
public InitializationVector? _iv;

}

Demo code: in FetchScreen?.java

Private inner classes

*
final private class SaveOB implements FieldChangeListener? {

public void fieldChanged(Field field, int context) {

try {

Record _data = new Record();
_data._data = "data 1";
_data._id = "id 1";

long _key = 0x4ee5665b495a4912L;
BerrySyncPersistentStore?.SaveData?(_key, _data);

_storeArea.setText("Save Object" + " | " + _data._data + " | " + _data._id);

}
catch(Exception e) {

_networkArea.setText(e.toString());

}

}

}

final private class LoadOB implements FieldChangeListener? {

public void fieldChanged(Field field, int context) {

try {

long _key = 0x4ee5665b495a4912L;
Record _data = (Record)BerrySyncPersistentStore?.LoadData?(_key);
if (_data == null) {

_storeArea.setText("Load Object" + _data);

}else{

_storeArea.setText("Load Object" + " | " + _data._data + " | " + _data._id);

}

}
catch(Exception e) {

_networkArea.setText(e.toString());

}

}

}

Mao Li

Thursday 30 June 2011

35 Useful Test Cases for Testing User Interfaces

BlackBerry Persistent Store Demo

BlackBerry Transports & Persistent Store

Thursday 23 June 2011

GUI testing tools

List of GUI testing tools

Open Source GUI testing tools