Smoke Testing: A Complete Guide with Types and Example

Today, every enterprise wants high-quality and bug-free applications. To fulfil this demand enterprises conduct various type of testing. But before moving the software to the test environment it is essential to check the basic functionalities of the application. If the basic functionalities do not work as expected, it is considered worthless to move ahead with the testing process. This is where smoke testing comes into the picture. It validates that the critical functionality of the application work as expected. Let us now try to understand more about this testing type in detail.

What is smoke testing?

It is a functional software testing method that is conducted on the initial build of the software to ensure that all the critical functionalities of the software work as expected. The main aim of this testing method is to determine whether the build is stable or not and is it worth further test the product or not. It is also known as ‘Build Verification Testing’. This test has got its name from a hardware testing type where a smoke test is performed on pipelines to check whether it catches fire when it is turned on for the first time.

When smoke testing is performed?

Usually, this test is performed at the beginning of the software testing lifecycle to find defects in the initial build of the software. Also, whenever any change is made in the software build or a new build is deployed, this testing is performed. If this test is not performed, some bugs can occur in later stages that can adversely affect the quality of software.

What are the different types of smoke testing?

There are three types of this testing method which are described below:

Manual Smoke Testing: Manual smoke testing is performed to ensure that the critical path navigation is as expected and it does not affect the functionality of the software. The build is released to QA teams and teams ensure that the high priority features work flawlessly. If the test succeeds, teams’ further test the product and if the test fails, the build is sent back to corrections for development teams.

Automated smoke test: In this testing type, automated test cases are used to perform a smoke test. In this test, recorded smoke test cases are reused with the help of the record and playback feature. It verifies whether or not the main features are working properly. If the test fails, the corrections are done and the build is subsequently redeployed. It aids in saving the team's time and efforts.

Hybrid smoke test: Hybrid is the combination of manual and automated smoke tests which includes the use of human efforts and skills along with automated tools to the efficiency of smoke testing.

What are the examples of smoke testing?

· Test Description – To check the video launch functionality

· Steps - Go to the video page and click the video

· Expected results – Smooth playback of the video

· Actual result – Video player not popping up

· Test status – Fail

Conclusion

Smoke testing plays an important role in validating the build of the software. It helps to find defects in the initial build of the software and helps teams to decide whether it is feasible to conduct further types of tests on the software or not. Leverage smoke testing from a next-gen Quality Assurance Services to achieve high-quality software.

About the author: I am a technical content writer and I write articles on various IT-related topics. In this article, I have tried to share my views on smoke testing.