What is database testing?

Testing an application’s database design and structure (database testing) is an essential component of quality assurance. The goal is to identify any errors or problems with how the database has been structured before the application goes into production. Database testing is all about catching bugs in the process that lead to data integrity issues, performance problems, and crashes.

• All applications have a database of some quite stand-alone application or an enterprise system with multiple databases. Database testing is important for all types of apps. Also, many defects are introduced at the interface between the application code and the database layer. These defects might not be detected until they reach production -if they are ever detected at all.
• Database testing helps to ensure that data integrity is protected throughout the process. From design, development, and right up until the application goes live. It ensures that no changes are introduced into production without being validated by quality assurance protocols.
• We can ensure that the application is more maintainable by ensuring the database code complies with best practices for structure, organization, and naming conventions. Problems found in testing can be efficiently fixed before release (and ideally before development even begins). And if all goes well, our final product will be robust, efficient, and easy to use.

The Three Main Phases of Database Testing

There are three main phases to database testing. These include describing the process, identifying errors or defects, and performing validation. We’ll take a look at each of these phases in turn.

• Describing the process is about understanding what needs to be tested, why it needs to be tested, and how best to test it. Software testing mainly involves entering data into forms or screens that interact with the database somehow. Database testing can also include reviewing queries generated by the application or reading data directly from the database tables.
• Identifying errors is about detecting any issues with the design and structure of the database. This can include problems with table relationships (i.e., foreign keys, primary keys), incorrect data types (i.e., dates/times, phone numbers) or invalid values (i.e., non-numeric, alphabetic characters within numeric data fields).
• Performing validation is about making sure that the expected results are obtained. This includes ensuring that queries return the correct results and forms/screens reflect changes to the database structure.

It also includes checking for excessive wait times and incorrect error messages.

Some Common Issues with Database Testing

Testing the database design and structure is not without its challenges. Most of these issues relate to third-party tools or technologies or can be avoided using open source alternatives instead. Let’s take a look at some of the most common problems and how to overcome them.

• Database Virtualization

A common problem with database testing is the use of third-party virtualization tools. These tools allow developers to create an isolated environment (i.e., a virtual database) that represents the production database without impacting or interfering with it in any way. However, problems can arise when attempting to run multiple virtualized instances simultaneously.

Open-source alternatives such as SQLite allow you to run multiple database instances on the same system. Therefore, this approach uses a single file rather than copy-on-write and is easier and faster to use and configure.

• Database Migrations

One of the most challenging issues we face in software  testing is when the database is migrated (i.e., upgraded) at some point during the development process. This can cause application crashes and inconsistent results between testing environments (development, QA, pre-production, production).

The best solution to this problem is never to migrate an existing database that contains data your application needs.

You may also choose to run multiple database instances simultaneously. Here, one instance would be used for development purposes and the other(s) for testing purposes. Or, if this is not an option, you can have separate databases with all testing being done in a pre-production environment.

• Database Integration Issues

Suppose that your application uses several different databases to accomplish its tasks. For example, your user management and profile data may be stored in one while your order history is kept in another.

When you need to test all of these transactions and interactions between databases, it can be time-consuming and laborious (especially when live data is involved). This is because each database must be loaded separately, taking up to several minutes. This also means that you’ll need to load all of your data into each one for testing purposes, which can take even more time.

Final Thoughts

 If the database is so important to your company, shouldn’t you ensure it’s as error-free as possible? We can help! Contact us today for more information on improving quality assurance with database testing. You’ll be glad that you did.

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Software Testing is a crucial part of the Software Development procedure. Still, most companies are not experts at it; that’s why it’s essential to pass away software testing into the responsible hands of experts so that you get to remain focused on important things- like innovating and creating new features.

Even if it’s not difficult to hire experienced software testing engineers, it can be costly to construct and maintain a well-performing, in-house QA Team in Dallas.

Have you ever thought about how to select the most perfect and qualified Software Testing service provider?

This easy 6 step guide puts together the most crucial guidelines to consider while selecting a QA partner. Continue Reading!! 

Know Your Needs and Ask People About It

First, let’s find out how to start with the search procedure.

Initially, you must perfectly understand the service provider you are searching for.

Do you understand Software Testing or development?

In the case of development, you must search for complete-cycle service providers. If you need testing services, we’d recommend you select experts in that particular area.

Çontact friends in the industry and ask them about the best service providers. They would have all kinds of stories to share and provide you with insight into how the providers work in reality.

Have you ever thought about how much technical expertise these guys have? What is the communication happening amongst them? And whether they submit their work on time or not?

Collect information about quality assurance software testing companies that can be looked into further details. The truth is that you can discover automatic lists of top Software Testing providers like this in the TEST Magazine. After that, browse through their web pages and find what is being offered and how they are being presented.

Reach out to them to fix a call and understand their availability. 

Formation of Customized Solutions for Quality Assurance Services

Every Project for testing is different. As most engineers will use the best industry tools and techniques, there is mostly no requirement for custom development for embedding testing into the client’s CI or CD pipelines.

Keep asking your candidates for their previous experience and capability for building custom testing frameworks or integrations with your previous systems.

Discover a testing provider with the best software development capacity. You will be able to find an intelligent solution for every hindrance that pops up by building products and test solutions of high value, like the quality of audio/ video and battery/ data usage testing labs. Your cooperation will be stronger than the essential outsourcing of testing resources in this situation.

Models for Engagement

In the case of the engagement models, you can find a flexible service vendor that can provide services to match your requirements. Based on the project size, the complexity, duration period, and the technology used, the engagement model might vary or be a combination. There are two specific engagement models with some particular features.

• On-site Team
• An important location in the client’s vicinity.
• Engineers with specific knowledge and skills.
• Physical Availability
• Remote Team
• The Most Important Workspace- from the office location of a vendor.
• Fewer Prices

You might question your candidates about whether your engineers are available or not. What is their primary time, and how many resources can they deliver? The resources can be easily outsourced for short period involvement or longer duration projects with the creation of test procedures, tools, frameworks, and continuous testing.

The Team and its Power

Don’t forget that the group of QA engineers, leaders, and managers is responsible for your product’s quality, and it’s a success. Before you sign an agreement, you must confirm that your product is in the best hands. It would help if you also asked your candidates whether the engineers at their place are certified and follow the best guidelines or not. ISTQB is a global leader in the certification of competencies for Software Testing.

Getting the ISTQB certifications depicts that the qa specialists follow the most acceptable practices while testing and entering the bug reports.

You can ask for the specialist CVs before getting them signed to your Project, and you can also organize interviews for testing the technical language or the cultural capacity.

Even if you work with specific technologies, you’ll be able to accrue the benefits from an experienced partner with detailed experience of different testing tools, frameworks, practices and would assist you in selecting the perfect solution for your Project as well as bring together a group of engineers that marks each box on your list of technical capacity and experience requirements.

Whether you are willing to build your QA team from scratch or looking for an additional workforce, don’t be afraid to ask for a pilot project. It will be a special preview of the actual result and quality.

Best Quality Reports

The pilot project is a beautiful way, but these pilot projects are often not accessible. Each Software Testing service provider must have a group of various test reports that can easily be shared with prospective clients and portray the actual outcome of respective services. Give attention to the data and how they are shown. If the paid pilot project isn’t meant for you, there is nothing to worry about; you’ll have a plan “B,” which will come in handy with the test report examples.

Agreement At Service Level

Ok, the company appears excellent, and team interviews were superb. Now, it’s essential to sign up for a contract and begin work.

The contract is signed between the service provider, and the client specifies the output expected from the cooperation. It’s crucial to be straightforwardly matching between both the parties so that your contract must at least include these, like the product quality, reporting, project management initiative, the transfer of knowledge, intellectual property safety, and the central business knowledge.

Final Thoughts

HikeQA has been an expert in the Software Testing business for many years. After working with startups and Fortune 500 companies, we have expanded our team to more than 250 ISTQB certified engineers. We work with a massive range of technology testing solutions, beginning from manual to automated mobile, desktop, and web testing. We allow our clients to ship high-quality products at an unbelievable speed.

Follow the above points, and you’ll surely get a lot of help on selecting the right quality assurance services in Dallas.

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