Level 12. Testing Desktop Applications

After this battle, Endor will be ours!

Desktop applications are programs whose operation requires an operator, that contain the complete functionality within themselves, and that can run on their own on any computer, isolated from other applications. Microsoft Word, Excel, Notepad, the game Mario – these are all examples of desktop applications.

Testing Specifics

The era of computer technology began with desktop applications. Long before powerful web servers appeared that could take on the main computational load, desktop applications ruled the IT world unchallenged. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, and now more and more development goes into web and mobile applications. Still, desktop applications are quite relevant to this day, and over my career I've had to test them more than once.

It's worth pointing out that functional testing of desktop applications is no different from other kinds and, on the contrary, is the most classic. So you may wonder why we only cover it at level 13. The blame lies with the tricky nuances of configuration testing. Desktop programs are strongly dependent on the operating system. As a result, you need to be able to create many virtual systems for testing and to have the skills to administer Windows, macOS, and Linux workstations. We'll go through this and more in a detailed checklist for desktop software.

Installation Testing

Undoubtedly the biggest difference in desktop testing is installation testing. You will need to check that the program installs, updates, and uninstalls correctly. About the only similar thing you'll find is in mobile testing. It's quite a complex area, because a large number of factors can affect installation. For example, whether the user is an administrator or not.

If the application launches on all the declared work-environment configurations and can perform a few core functions, smoke testing can be considered passed

A graphical interface demands heavy use of computer resources and, often, multithreading from the application, which makes checking for memory leaks and deadlocks mandatory (for example, moments when one thread of the program cannot get access to resources locked by another thread, which in turn is stuck in an infinite loop)

2. Program Settings

Updating an Installed Program (preserving settings and user data)

Check:

• Launching the application for the update
• Checking for updates
• Updating the application
• Update sources

Expected result: information about the update is displayed, the program is updated

Authentication

Check authentication via:

• A password on the local system
• An SMS password
• Active Directory
• A hardware key
• A fingerprint

Check the complexity requirements for the password and login

Expected result: logging in to the program works with each of the methods

Keyboard

Check the keyboard settings:

• Keyboard layouts
• Switching between layouts
• Choosing the keyboard model

Expected result: the keyboard layouts can be used in the system and in applications

Appearance (GUI)

Check the settings for:

• Style
• Colors
• Icons
• Fonts
• Windows
• Splash screen at startup
• The icon in the task manager, the Start menu, and alt-tab

Expected result: the configurable parameters work, and the default settings can be restored

Autostart

Check launching the program after adding it to “Autostart”

Expected result: the program launches correctly while KDE is loading

System Notifications

Check the system notification settings:

• System notifications and errors – correct and manageable error handling
• System sound alerts

Expected result: all notifications work, the notification settings work correctly, and the sound alerts set by the user work correctly

Personal Data

Check the personal data settings, changing the password, and changing user data:

• User profile
• Paths to system data

Expected result: the settings work for each user separately

Working with Storage Devices

Check how the program works with data storage devices:

• Partitions on the same disk
• External hard drives
• Flash drives
• External USB drives. The ability to work fully with USB drives formatted as ntfs right away, without additional manual mounting (ntfs-3g used by default)
• CD
• DVD
• Cameras
• Camcorders
• SD cards
• MMC cards
• CompactFlash cards
• MemoryStick cards

Expected result: working with partitions on a disk, working with additional disks and data storage devices (flash drives, USB drives, CD/DVD discs, memory cards), and automatic detection of additional devices after connection without any additional setup.