Jay Harris is Cpt. LoadTest

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Filed under: Testing

I never understood the point of manual test scripts. They annoy me. I view them as nothing more than a candidate for automation. I have never come across a manual script that wouldn’t be better used as an automation script, which of course violates the inherent nature of them being manual test scripts. The only value to manual test scripts is to give them to clients, so that they can run through the new app you just created for them and feel comfortable about the application (and learn about the app as they run through the scripts).

Jonathan Kohl presents the perfect argument about why manual test cases should be extinct. Everyone should read this. Developers should read it, clients should read it, testers should read this, and, most definitely, project managers should read this.

Most bugs will never be found by a manual script. They only illustrate the “conventional” click-path for completing a task, and the developer should have already went through this during their own testing; there is high probability that this path will already work. End-users are never going to follow this path, anyway; they will do something that you entirely don’t expect. They will hit the ‘Back’ button when you didn’t plan for it, or double-click the ‘Submit’ button when you didn’t handle it, or bookmark the third step in a five-step wizard. Scenarios like these will never be tested in a manual script, but could be tested if so much of the industry wasn’t convinced that scripts are the holy grail, and will be tested by any tester worth his salt.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 11:56:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] - Trackback

Filed under: Continuous Integration | Tools

CruiseControl .Net 1.0 has been released. download | release notes

This is a must upgrade for anyone running v0.9 or earlier. There are many updates that I am excited about, most notably the overhaul to CCTray (the client-side build monitoring tool that sits in your system tray). Our developers have had to use Firefox’s CC.Net monitor extension to monitor multiple builds, simultaneously. No more.

We will be upgrading within the next week.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 11:34:32 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] - Trackback

Filed under: Continuous Integration | Tools

MSIExec error code 1605 has been a thorn in my side for quite a while. When an MSI was command-line deployed by one user (manually deployed by me in the middle of the day), it couldn’t be uninstalled by another (automation during the nightly) due to the “Just Me” default. If I installed it through using the UI, and installed it for use by “Everyone”, then the nightly would build just fine. I needed a way to run an “Everyone” install from the command line, but Google wasn’t helping me out. Unfortunately, Microsoft does not seem to have a lot of documentation on this functionality, either.

It further frustrated me this morning when my nightlies were failing again, but only on one server. Of course, I manually deployed the package to this same server to a few days ago. I tried Google again, and this time hit pay dirt. Executing it with ALLUSERS=2 in the command line makes it available for everyone. Apparently, it forces an “Everyone” install for the UI, too.

Finally I can pull the thorn out.

MSIExec /i mypackage .msi … ALLUSERS=2

Saturday, November 5, 2005 11:06:26 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)  #    Comments [0] - Trackback