Basics of Silk test

1) What is SilkTest?

Ans. SilkTest is a software testing automation tool developed by Segue Software, Inc.

2) What is the Segue Testing Methodology?

Ans. Segue testing methodology is a six-phase testing process:

1. Plan - Determine the testing strategy and define specific test requirements.

2. Capture - Classify the GUI objects in your application and build a framework for running your tests.

3. Create - Create automated, reusable tests. Use recording and/ or programming to build test scripts written in Segue's 4Test language.

4. Run - Select specific tests and execute them against the AUT.

5. Report - Analyze test results and generate defect reports.

6. Track - Track defects in the AUT and perform regression testing.

3) What is SilkTest Host?

Ans. SilkTest Host is a SilkTest component that manages and executes test scripts. SilkTest Host usually runs on a separate machine different than the machine where AUT (Application Under Test) is running.

4) What is SilkTest Agent?

Ans. SilkTest Agent is a SilkTest component that receives testing commands from the SilkTest Host and interacts with AUT (Application Under Test) directly. SilkTest Agent usually runs on the same machine where AUT is running.

5) What is 4Test?

Ans. 4Test is a test scripting language used by SilkTest to compose test scripts to perform automated tests. 4Test is an object-oriented fourth-generation language. It consists of 3 sets of functionalities:

1. A robust library of object-oriented classes and methods that specify how a testcase can interact with an application’s GUI objects.

2. A set of statements, operators and data types that you use to introduce structure and logic to a recorded testcase.

3. A library of built-in functions for performing common support tasks.

6) What is the DOM browser extension?

Ans. Document Object Model (DOM) browser extension is a SilkTest add-on component for testing Web applications. DOM browser extension communicates directly with the Web browser to recognize, categorize and manipulate objects on a Web page. It does this by working with the actual HTML code, rather than relying on the visual pattern recognition techniques currently employed by the Virtual Object (VO) extension.

7) What is the VO browser extension?

Ans. Virtual Object (VO) browser extension is a SilkTest add-on component for testing Web applications. VO browser extersion uses sophisticated pattern recognition techniques to identify browser-rendered objects. The VO extension sees Web pages as they appear visually; it does not read or recognize HTML tags in the Web application code. Instead, the VO extension sees the objects in a Web page; for example, links, tables, images and compound controls the way that you do, regardless of the technology behind them.

8) Is there any problem in using scripts created on v6.0 to 6.5 or higher versions?

Ans. Moving from lower to higher version should not be a problem.... This is a general statement and cannot be true at all instances. I faced problems with scripts working in 6.5 not running in 7.0 because some of the recognition patterns used each changed. And in some situations, finally landed two paths of the script to perform same action based on version. PS: Did not encounter any problems from 6.0 to 6.5.

9) What is SilkTest project?

Ans. A SilkTest project is a collection of files that contains required information about a test project.

10) How to create a new SilkTest project?

Ans. 1. Run SilkTest.

2. Select Basic Workflow bar.

3. Click Open Project on the Workflow bar.

4. Select New Project.

5. Double click Create Project icon in the New Project dialog box

6. One the Create Project dialog box, enter your project name, and your project description.

7. Click OK.

8. SilkTest will create a new subdirectory under SilkTest project directory, and save all files related to the new project under that subdirectory.

Jonckers Successfully Deploys Borland(R) SilkTest(R) and Automates Software Testing

Jonckers Translation &Engineering, Microsoft Service Vendor of the Year 2007, today announced the successful adoption of Borland(R) SilkTest(R) for automated software testing. Borland SilkTest was evaluated over several months in a pilot functional testing project after being chosen from a competitive selection process.

Jorge Estevez, Group Engineering Manager for Jonckers stated, "The adoption of Borland SilkTest offers our clients the ability to quickly and cost-effectively release dependable products to their global markets. Investing in this technology is critical to the long-term success of
Jonckers and the localization industry at large, Borland's product proved to be far ahead of its competition both during the pilot evaluation and in ongoing customer projects."

Wolfgang Karas, Regional MD at Borland Software, said, "Jonckers is a valued partner and a recognized innovator in the localization industry, and Effective software testing is a vital component of their products
Dependability. The challenge for software delivery teams is to balance cost and time to market with dependable quality. It is our understanding that Jonckers selected SilkTest because it helps them effectively address this Challenge -- which in turn leads to greater customer loyalty."

New automated testing processes have now been rolled out across Jonckers' global testing centers in the Czech Republic, Vietnam and China. Estevez noted, "Being able to scale software testing in this way means we can pass on financial benefits to our customers, strengthening our
commitment to provide the most cost effective solutions possible in our market place."

A white paper on the benefits of Automated Testing is available for download at http://www.jonckers.com.

About Jonckers

Jonckers, MS Service Vendor of the Year 2007, is focused on delivering software, eLearning and multimedia localization services to the world's best companies. Jonckers achieves localization excellence through an ERP controlled global network of wholly owned offices spanning Asia, Europe and the US allowing Jonckers to deliver low cost global resources without
sacrificing quality. Please visit http://www.jonckers.com for more information.

Borland, SilkTest and all other Borland brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Software Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

LoadRunner Vuser Technology

The actions that a Vuser performs during the scenario are described in a Vuser script. When you run a scenario, each Vuser executes a Vuser script. The Vuser scripts include functions that measure and record the performance of the server during the scenario.

To measure the performance of the server, you define transactions. Transactions measure the time that it takes for the server to respond to tasks submitted by Vusers. For instance, you can define a transaction that measures the time it takes for the server to process a request to view the balance of an account and for the information to be displayed at the ATM.

You insert rendezvous points into Vuser scripts to emulate heavy user load on the server. Rendezvous points instruct multiple Vusers to perform tasks at exactly the same time. For example, to emulate peak load on the bank server, you insert a rendezvous point to instruct 100 Vusers to simultaneously deposit cash into their accounts.

You use the LoadRunner Controller to manage and maintain your scenarios. Using the Controller, you control all the Vusers in a scenario from a single workstation.

When you execute a scenario, the LoadRunner Controller distributes each Vuser in the scenario to a host . The host is the machine that executes the Vuser script, enabling the Vuser to emulate the actions of a human user

Vuser Types

LoadRunner has various types of Vusers. Each type is designed to handle different aspects of today's client/server architectures. You can use the Vuser types in any combination in a scenario in order to create a comprehensive client/server test. The following Vuser types are available:

GUI (Windows and UNIX)

1. RTE (Windows and UNIX)
2. Database (CtLib, DbLib, Informix, Oracle, and ODBC)
3. Web
4. TUXEDO
5. APPC
6. Windows Sockets
7. Baan
8. Java
9. DCOM
10. PeopleSoft

What is Client/Server Load Testing?

Modern client/server architectures are complex. While they provide an unprecedented degree of power and flexibility, these systems are difficult to test. Whereas single-user testing focuses primarily on functionality and the user interface of a single application, client/server testing focuses on performance and reliability of an entire client/server system.

For example, a typical client/server testing scenario might depict 200 users that login simultaneously to a system on Monday morning: What is the response time of the system? Does the system crash? To be able to answer these questions-- and more--a complete client/server performance testing solution must

1. Test a system that combines a variety of software applications and hardware platforms
2. Determine the suitability of a server for any given application
3. Test the server before the necessary client software has been developed
4. Emulate an environment where multiple clients interact with a single server application
5. Test a client/server system under the load of tens, hundreds, or even thousands of potential users

Introduction to Load Runner

LoadRunner is an industry-leading performance and load testing product by Hewlett-Packard (since it acquired Mercury Interactive in November 2006) for examining system behavior and performance, while generating actual load. LoadRunner can emulate hundreds or thousands of concurrent users to put the application
Through the rigors of real-life user loads, while collecting information from key infrastructure components (Web servers, database servers etc). The results can then be analyzed in detail, to explore the reasons for particular behavior.

LoadRunner is divided up into 3 smaller applications:

The Virtual User Generator allows us to determine what actions we would like our Vusers, or virtual users, to perform within the application. We create scripts that generate a series of actions, such as logging on, navigating through the application, and exiting the program.

The Controller takes the scripts that we have made and runs them through a schedule that we set up. We tell the Controller how many Vusers to activate, when to activate them, and how to group the Vusers and keep track of them.

The Results and Analysis program gives us all the results of the load test in various forms. It allows us to see summaries of data, as well as the details of the load test for pinpointing problems or bottlenecks.

Consider the client-side application for an automated teller machine (ATM). Although each client is connected to a server, in total there may be hundreds of ATMs open to the public. There may be some peak times — such as 10 a.m. Monday, the start of the work week — during which the load is much higher than normal. In order to test such situations, it is not practical to have a testbed of hundreds of ATMs. So, given an ATM simulator and a computer system with LoadRunner, one can simulate a large number of users accessing the server simultaneously. Once activities have been defined, they are repeatable. After debugging a problem in the application, managers can check whether the problem persists by reproducing the same situation, with the same type of user interaction.

India all set to rule software testing market

India is all set to become a leader in the software testing market with an increasing number of software development companies outsourcing their software testing work here. Industry analyst firm Gartner has pegged the worldwide software testing market at $13 billion and the global market for outsourced testing services to be around $6.1 billion, of which India is expected to corner a 70% share.

Software testing implies checking any IT system prior to implementation for multiple aspects like functionality, reliability, usability, security, compliance and performance. Market players like Hexaware and AppLabs believe that the need for outsourcing software testing has grown due to the high level of complexity and multiple intersection points in modern software.

“The winning combination of cost, communication, exposure to various domains, testing principles and test tools gives a clear edge to India in software testing,” said Hexaware Technologies global delivery head and chief software architect Ramanan RV. While software services are growing at an average of about 10-12% globally, testing is growing at over 50% every year. The market opportunity for Indian offshore testing companies is seen at around $8 billion by year-end, from $2-3 billion a year ago.

“Indian businesses have matured in terms of making IT central to all business processes. Hence, there is a very high level of business dependence on error-free software code,” said AppLabs president and CEO Makarand Teje.

A global case in point is eBay, which experienced a 22-hour outage of its website in 1999 due to software flaws. It cost eBay $5 million in revenue and an 11% drop in share price. The outage affected 1.2 million customers who were either trying to sell or buy something on the website.


Along with the growth witnessed in off shoring of software testing to India, the average deal size of such projects is also on the rise. A few years ago, the average deal size for an outsourced testing project was about $50,000-60,000, requiring a few testers. That has now grown to about $2-4 million per project.

According to Gartner, India will require around 18,000 testing professionals every year over the next three years to fulfill the demand seen in the software testing market.

How to apply for Software Testing Certification exam?

Many readers don’t know how to apply and prepare for these Testing and QA certifications. I will briefly guide here about the certifications available and the locations where you can give the exams.

Certifications In software testing some history:

In 1980 Quality Assurance Institute (QAI) established an association to represent Quality Assurance professionals. Currently many beginners and advanced level certifications are offered by QAI. Certifications like CSQA (Certified Software Quality Analyst), CSTE (Certified Software Test Engineer), CSPM (Certified Software Project Manager) and Some Advanced level certifications like CMST (Certified Manager of Software Testing), CMSQ (Certified Manager of Software Quality).

Normally people having these certifications are recognized as proficient in Quality Assurance. (As what they believe) But there is definitely a plus when it’s comes to your promotion. Other advantage of having certification what I feel is you will brush up the testing knowledge and methodologies while preparing for exam.

There are some prerequisite you should meet before applying for these software Testing certifications. These depend on the certification you are applying for plus some common prerequisites like:

• 4 years degree from reputed college + 2 years of IT experience OR
• 3 years degree + 3 years UT experience OR
• 2 years degree + 4 years IT experience OR
• 6 years IT experience OR

AND Should be worked in IT field for the last 18 months.

To apply for the certification fill out the form available at Testing certification application form. Please check which certification you want to pursue and then fill the form accordingly.

Please note that the application fee for any fresh certification is US $350 in which you can also get the exam guide CD. You must mail or fax the above filled application form to the appropriate address provided in the application form with your fees payment.

Note that these certifications exams are conducted in the location of your choice. Your application is first reviewed by QAI board and on approval further notes are sent to the local exam centers approved by QAI. You can check the current year schedule and locations of testing certification here.

For example if you want to give software testing certification exam in India, Pune center (MIT college) you must fill the application form before 15th October 2009 and can give the exam on 15th December 2009. Total 2 retakes are allowed for any certification. If you still not cleared the exam then forget about the testing certifications and even Testing.

More guides on available certifications and filling the form can be found here