Concepts: Structure Testing
Web-based applications, (those employing Internet application
technology) are increasingly attractive and popular, especially as this application
technology offers organizations the ability to take advantage of several technology
related benefits, such as:
- Develop an audience of customers, prospects, and business partners
without sending out a single piece of software or paper. Anyone with a browser and
access to the 'net (Internet / Intranet) can simply point their browser to the published
URL and immediately run the application.
- Centralized control and maintenance. The
"thin-client/fat-server" model of web-based applications places the application
components and logic on the web server, centralizing and simplifying control and
maintenance. This also enables developers to automatically distribute the software, once
the application is on the server, it is immediately available for all users to execute.
While offering advantages to those employing this technology, web-based
applications increase the demands of testing. Testing of these web-based applications,
like their non-web counterparts (client/server, legacy, etc.) requires testing to address
the function and performance characteristics of the applications. In addition,
however, web-based applications have the added need for tests that focus on the structure
of the application, ensuring its well formed and all links are valid.
Web-based applications are typically constructed using a series of documents (both HTML
text documents and GIF/JPEG graphics) connected by many static links, and a few active, or
program-controlled links. These applications may also include "active content",
such as forms, Java scripts, plug-in-rendered content, or Java applications. Frequently
this active content is used for output only, such as for audio or video presentation.
However, it may also be used for as a navigation aid, helping the user traverse the
application (web-site). This free-form nature of the web-based applications (via its
links), while being a great strength, is also a tremendous weakness, as structural
integrity can easily be damaged.
Structure testing is implemented and executed to verify that all links
(static or active) are properly connected. These tests include:
- Verifying that the proper content (text, graphics, etc.) for each link is
displayed. Different types of links are used to reference target-content in web-based
applications, such as bookmarks, hyperlinks to other target-content (in the same or
different web-site), or hot-spots. Each link should be verified to ensure that the correct
target-content is presented to the user.
- Ensuring there are no broken links. Broken links are those links
for which the target-content cannot be found. Links may be broken for many reasons, including
moving, removing, or renaming the target-content files. Links may also be broken due to
the use of improper syntax, including missing slashes, colons, or letters.
- Verifying there is no orphaned content. Orphaned content are those
files for which there is no "inbound" link in the current web-site, that is,
there is no way to access or present the content. Care must be taken to investigate
orphaned content to determine the cause - is it orphaned because it is truly no longer
needed? Is it orphaned due to a broken link? Or is it accessed by a link external to the
current web-site. Once determined, the appropriate action(s) should be taken (remove
the content file, repair the broken link, or ignore the orphan, respectively).
| |

|