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Exploratory Testing

So far, in this tutorial we have

  • published pre-canned results to a Standalone project
  • written and executed a new test spec from scratch
  • learned how to reference issues from failing tests
  • formally defined a test session consisting of a set of specs for testing a build

This section of the tutorial will now focus on a different type of testing - Exploratory.

Exploratory testing is a test flow that provides additional test coverage and usability assessment, using a non-scripted testing approach.

info

Exploratory testing is non-scripted, no-constrained observational-based testing.

There are two variants of exploratory supported by Testspace:

  • Spec based observations
  • Session based observations
note

Session Observations require a Connected project — see Session Observations in Using a Connected Repo if you want to try it.

Let's do some exploring.

Spec Observations​

Click on the main space, select the Manual tab, and click on the Hello Manual spec.

  • Select the START button to begin execution
  • Select Passed for the status of Test Case One
  • Select Passed for the status of Test Case Two

Now click on Observations, located at the bottom left of the spec dialog, and add comments or images.

note

The ISSUES row's Push new issue option requires a connected Issues provider — this Standalone project doesn't have one yet, so it stays on Do not report for now. See Issues for what's available without a connection, and Using a Connected Repo if you want to see it fully working.

When done select the STOP button and close the Spec dialog when complete.

Recap​

This section covered Exploratory testing using Spec observations.

  • Running a spec, a tester has the option to provide observations, and reference issues even without a connected provider
  • Session-level observations, shared across multiple testers on one exploratory session, require a Connected project — see Session Observations
  • Auto-generating an Issue from observations requires a connected Issues provider — see Using a Connected Repo
tip

That's the whole Standalone walkthrough with one small spec. For a fuller example — version history, includes, variables, and presentational tags across several specs and Test Sessions — see the live Standalone Manual Testing demo →.