CSCI 693 Research Paper: Sneha RAIRIKAR 1Comparing Software Testing Techniques for Web Applications using various AttributesSneha.S.RairikarS. Rairikar is a MS candidate in computer science at California State University, Chico CA 95926 USA (e-mail: [email protected])Abstract- This paper presents a study involving different types of software testing techniques. Currently, Web Applications play an important role in all the fields, hence it is necessary to ensure their quality by the means of testing these applications. Software testing is nothing but the determination of required results by evaluating the potential of a program or a system with respect to attributes such as accuracy and effectiveness, reliability, average bugs and satisfaction. This paper presents research work in different fields, viz. the test case generation, the detailed testing methods and techniques, Web Application modeling, the testing of executing process of the current application, and the testing measurements. Keywords - Web Application, performance testing, reliability testing, testing model, specialties and attributes of Web Application, QTP tool, Web Application project, test cases, results.1CSCI 693 Research Paper: Sneha RAIRIKAR 21 IntroductionA Web Application is a computer software application that is accessed via a web browser over a network such as the Internet or an intranet [2]. Web applications develop from web sites or web systems, and they make use of different technologies for development of web pages. Dynamic web pages respond according to user input, and to allow users to affect the business logic on the servers. Web applications make use of the navigation and interaction facilities of HTML1 pages to provide and ask information to/from the user.One of the essential activities in software engineering is testing, which is well known justification approach in the industry. It mainly concerns with observing and checking the execution of a software system to verify that it behaves according to a specific set of requirements. According to various experts and researchers, testing is still randomly effective, basically ad hoc and expensive [1]. Due to the special characteristics of Web Applications, traditional testing methods are not suitable for their testing in many aspects. Most of the traditional software testing was done using regression testing and statistical testing for the Web Applications. However, Web Application testing can be further useful if we consider attributes like reliability, performance, average bugs, accuracy and effectiveness, ability to handle user load, satisfaction. For example, ease of automation is more important for Web Application testing than traditional software testing, as Web Applications tend to be modified more often than traditional software. Similarly, performance testing is more critical for Web Applications as users typically expect sub-second response times from them. 1 HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language2CSCI 693 Research Paper: Sneha RAIRIKAR 3In this paper, I compare a few software testing techniques like unit testing, integration testing, system testing, security testing, and try to find out the best technique that can be used for Web Applications. The complete paper is formulated into seven main sections. The first section gives an introduction about software testing and its importance. In the second section, various software testing techniques are described which are used for a Web Application which is to be tested. The third section provides brief information about an example Web Application that I have created for testing a popular social networking website http://www.orkut.com. The fourth section provides information on QTP tool which is used for testing these Web Applications. The fifth section consists of test cases and results. The sixth section points out the a nalysis of experimental results and the comparison between three testing techniques named as – unit testing, integration testing, and regression testing technique. Finally the paper gives the conclusion for the best technique. 2 The various software testing techniques – Software testing is required for asserting reliability of software applications. Testing any web application or software requires to answer few questions like how, when, why, how much, what, where etc. With the help of these questions we can make simple and easy to understand classification of software testing activities. It helps in organizing for future research challenges. The following figure shows the workflow of testing execution [2].3CSCI 693 Research Paper: Sneha RAIRIKAR 42.1 Unit Testing:A unit is the smallest testable part of an application. Unit consists of a single source code, a separate program or a function for which testing is done in isolation. Each test case as well as unit is tested independent of other. This testing is mostly performed by the software developers. They make sure that written code meets software requirements and acts according to the specifications [2]. 2.2Integration Testing:Integration testing verifies functional properties, reliability and the performance of the software. Eg: IPC (Interprocess communication), shared data and separate systems are tested. Various test case scenarios are created to verify that all the modules in the code correlate accurately, e.g. across procedure calls or process activations. This process is generally done after the units are tested i.e. unit testing.4CSCI 693 Research Paper: Sneha RAIRIKAR 5In general it supports a "building block" approach in a verified base where the verified assemblages are added. In extend it supports the integration testing of further assemblages. This approach is used to support the integration testing of further source code.Some different types of integration testing are big bang, top-down, and bottom-up. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_testing) [2].2.3 Regression Testing:Regression testing is done by selecting some test cases which are of high priority, which are taken into consideration for long term use of the product/application according to that or for particular set of test cases