Exercise 2: Creating an Empty Test Case to Run an Exploratory Test

In this exercise, you will learn how to create an empty test case in order to run an exploratory test.

1. In Microsoft Test Manager 2010, select the Plan tab at the top of the window and then select the Contents link to view the included test suites.

   Figure 1

   Test plan contents window for Iteration 2

2. Right-click on the Iteration 2 node and select New test case from the context menu.

   Figure 2

   Creating a new test case

3. For the Title, enter “Exploratory Testing”.

4. Select the Save and Close button to save the new test case.

   Figure 3

   Location of Save and Close button

5. Select the Test tab at the top of the window and then select the Run Tests link to load the tests that are currently available to run.

   Figure 4

   Loading tests that are ready to run

6. Select the Exploratory Testing test case and click the Run button to launch the Test Runner.

   Figure 5

   Selecting the new exploratory test case and starting a test run

7. After the Test Runner launches, select the Create action recording option and then select the Start Test button to begin manual testing.

   Figure 6

   Launching the Test Runner with action recording turned on

   Note:

   Action recordings keep track of actions taken by the tester. This is a key feature as it enables “fast forwarding” for future test runs and records more details for reviewing later.
8. Wait until Test Runner has completed initialization and then start Internet Explorer from the Windows Quick Launch bar.

9. Load the Tailspin Toys application by selecting the Tailspin Toys favorite link from the Favorites Bar.

   Figure 7

   Tailspin Toys application

10. Select the New Planes picture on the Tailspin Toys home page and note that it does not take you to a product listing for planes, but rather just reloads the home page. We have just found a bug that we would like to file as a work item to be fixed, which we will do in the next exercise.

    Figure 8

    Selecting a link does not work as expected

    Note:

    You can see the actions that have been recorded by selecting the expansion icon in the bottom-right of the Test Runner window that is labeled “X action(s) captured”, where X is the number of actions captured.

Next Step

Exercise 3: Filing an Exploratory Bug