Learn how sanity testing enables stability after code changes and complements regression and smoke testing. Join us in this article to accelerate your software delivery with targeted, efficient validation methods!
Some people see building software as assembling a complex machine, but our experience leads us to think of it more like nurturing a living organism. Each update must be a careful adjustment to keep the system healthy.
Developers face the challenge of making these adjustments without disrupting the delicate balance. This is where sanity testing becomes essential. By focusing on specific areas of functionality from the very beginning, sanity testing helps catch potential issues early. It allows teams to confirm that critical bug fixes or minor changes haven’t introduced new issues.
In short, it plays a crucial role in maintaining the balance between speed and quality, especially when facing tight deadlines. It saves time, reduces risks, and provides the confidence that the software is ready to thrive in its next stage.
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Understanding Sanity Testing
Sanity testing is a targeted approach to software testing that verifies specific functionalities impacted by recent updates. This type of testing is considered functional testing, as it checks that particular functions or bug fixes work as expected and have not introduced new issues. Unlike exhaustive testing methods, it focuses on a limited scope to deliver quick and efficient results.
Key Features
- Quick Validation: Prioritizes immediate feedback by concentrating on areas most likely affected by updates. This rapid approach helps maintain project timelines without sacrificing quality.
- Selective Scope: Focuses on critical functionalities rather than the entire application, enabling teams to address specific risks efficiently.
- Efficiency: Reduces the need for detailed testing across all modules, saving time and resources while promoting stability in crucial areas.
Sanity testing is a subset of regression testing, essential for maintaining software functionality without requiring more extensive testing efforts. This approach—sanity testing limited scope—proves particularly useful in agile and iterative development environments where rapid delivery is a priority.
Now that we understand sanity testing basics, let’s explore its relationship with smoke testing to clarify their unique purposes.
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Sanity Testing vs. Smoke Testing
Although often confused, sanity testing vs smoke testing serves distinct purposes within the software development life cycle. Both methods bolster stability, but their scope and timing differ significantly.
What Is Smoke Testing?
Smoke testing is an essential testing process conducted primarily on a new software build to validate the stability of critical workflows and key functionalities. While it is often referred to as ‘build verification testing’ due to its role in verifying the readiness of a build for further testing, smoke testing is also applicable in production environments. It helps confirm that core functionalities work as expected after updates, deployments, or maintenance activities, supporting both initial validation and ongoing reliability checks.
Sanity and smoke testing complement each other. While smoke testing validates the broader stability of a build, sanity testing delves deeper into specific functionalities to verify targeted updates.
| Aspect | Sanity Testing | Smoke Testing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Verifies specific functionalities in a targeted area, often following changes or bug fixes. | Assesses the stability of critical workflows and key functionalities in new builds or after updates. |
| Scope | Concentrates on individual components or limited areas of the application. | Covers broad and essential workflows across the application. |
| Timing | Conducted after minor updates, fixes, or adjustments to specific functionalities. | Performed immediately after a new build or significant system updates. |
| Purpose | Identifies issues in specific areas to validate recent changes without testing unrelated parts. | Determines if the build is stable enough to proceed with in-depth testing or operate in production. |
| Focus | Targets specific changes or areas of concern for quick validation. | Verifies if the core features function correctly to support further testing. |
| Execution | Primarily manual but can include automated steps for efficiency. | Largely automated to streamline the verification process. |
| Outcome | Confirms functionality in the tested areas to address recent changes. | Validates that the build meets the basic requirements for further testing or reliable use. |
By combining both sanity and smoke testing methods, teams can validate the application’s overall functionality and specific feature reliability. Each approach complements the other, forming a robust foundation for quality assurance.
With these distinctions clear, we’ll dive into the structured sanity testing process to understand how it operates.
How to Perform Effective Sanity Testing?
A structured sanity testing process is essential for achieving consistent and reliable results. With clear steps and proper documentation, sanity testing becomes a reliable tool for maintaining confidence in the system’s integrity.
The Sanity Testing Process
Follow these steps for efficient and reliable planning and execution:
1. Define the Scope
- Identify the modules or components affected by recent changes.
- Focus testing efforts on these areas to save time and resources.
2. Prepare Test Cases
- Design concise yet thorough test cases targeting the affected functionalities.
- Make the test cases specific and straightforward to detect potential issues.
3. Execute the Tests
- Conduct focused validations using manual or automated tools.
- Confirm that the impacted areas function as expected.
4. Analyze Results
- Review the outcomes to spot failures introduced by recent changes.
- Document findings and share them with the development team for further action.
5. Document Outcomes
- Keep detailed records of the testing process for future reference.
- Highlight any anomalies or areas that need additional testing.
6. Integrate with Regression Testing (Optional)
- Use regression tests to validate the broader impact of changes.
- This step supports a comprehensive assessment of software quality.
This process minimizes risks and optimizes the testing effort, reinforcing that the software remains stable and functional. When sanity testing fails, you may requite further testing to address underlying problems and restore stability.
While the process enhances targeted validation, its integration with regression testing adds an extra layer of confidence to software quality.
Sanity Testing and Regression Testing
Sanity and regression testing are two sides of the same coin, working together to uphold software quality. Both approaches serve distinct yet complementary roles.
What is Regression Testing?
Regression testing verifies that recent changes, like updates or bug fixes, do not interfere with existing functionalities. By re-executing previous test cases, it helps confirm the application’s stability after modifications. Commonly automated, it allows teams to efficiently validate functionality across large or complex systems. To keep learning, we recommend you read our article about automated regression testing.
What Differentiates Regression Testing from Sanity Testing?
Regression takes a broad approach, re-executing a wide set of test cases to enable system-wide stability. On the other hand, sanity testing takes a narrower focus, targeting specific areas impacted by changes. It provides a quick check to confirm that recent updates work as intended and haven’t introduced new issues in those areas.
How Do Regression and Sanity Testing Complement Each Other?
Together, these approaches form a dynamic strategy. Sanity testing accelerates the testing process by pinpointing immediate risks, and verifying that critical changes do not disrupt core functionalities. Once sanity testing confirms that updates are stable, regression testing takes over, examining the application as a whole. By running comprehensive test scenarios, regression testing reinforces the software’s stability and prevents regressions in complex systems.
When used effectively, sanity testing detects issues at the surface level, while regression testing dives deeper to protect the foundation. The result is a harmonious process that mitigates risks, reduces downtime and fosters a seamless user experience.
With a clear understanding of their interplay, let’s examine practical examples of sanity testing in action.
Real-World Examples of Sanity Testing
Sanity testing plays a crucial role in validating specific updates and confirming that critical functionalities remain intact. Here are some concrete examples of how sanity testing can be applied to different scenarios:
Bug Fixes in Critical Features
When a critical bug is fixed in an application, such as an issue in a payment system, sanity testing verifies basic functionality and if the fix resolves the problem without introducing new issues. For instance, after fixing a flaw in transaction processing, sanity testing checks that the system can process payments without disruptions.
Hotfixes for Urgent Issues
In cases of urgent patches in production, such as addressing vulnerabilities in user authentication, sanity testing validates the stability of affected components. It checks that the fix does not cause problems in other areas, such as verifying that user accounts remain accessible and secure after the patch.
Minor Changes or Updates
When implementing small updates or enhancements, sanity testing verifies that the changes work as expected and do not affect other parts of the system. For example, after an update to the login functionality, sanity testing confirms that users can still log in normally, without encountering errors in the system.
Beyond these examples, challenges often arise in implementing sanity testing effectively. Let’s explore how to overcome them.
Overcoming Challenges in Sanity Testing
Sanity testing is a great tool, but like anything, it comes with its own challenges. Here are the most common ones, along with how you can tackle them to make the process smoother and more efficient.
1. Ambiguous Scope
- The issue: Sometimes, the scope of testing isn’t very clear, which can cause confusion about what areas to focus on. Without a clear definition, you might miss key components or waste resources on things that aren’t as critical.
- How to tackle it:
- Define the scope clearly: Identify which components or functionalities are impacted by recent changes.
- Align expectations with stakeholders: Make sure everyone, from developers to testers, is on the same page about what needs testing.
- Use a prioritization matrix to focus on the most critical parts that might have been affected by changes.
2. Tool Limitations
- The issue: Sometimes the tools you’re using don’t fully cover your testing needs, especially with more complex applications. This can lead to relying on manual testing, which takes more time and can be less reliable.
- How to tackle it:
- Leverage automation tools like Selenium or TestNG to promote faster and more efficient test execution.
- Integrate with CI/CD pipelines: Automate the testing process by integrating sanity tests into your continuous integration systems, making the entire testing lifecycle smoother.
- Create reusable test scripts: Build flexible scripts that can be reused in multiple tests, saving time and improving coverage.
3. Time Constraints
- The issue: In fast-paced development cycles, time for testing is often limited. This can lead to rushing through tests and, hopefully, not missing any important areas.
- How to tackle it:
- Prioritize key functionalities: Focus on the most important features and those likely to impact users or the business.
- Use efficient test scenarios: Instead of trying to cover everything, focus on high-impact test cases that validate the core functionalities impacted by recent changes.
- Work in parallel: Divide testing tasks among team members to speed up the process and increase efficiency.
Overcoming these challenges enables the testing team to deliver reliable software minimizing delays. For instance, by performing sanity testing with a well-defined scope and automation tools, teams can save time while maintaining quality.
With these strategies in place, sanity testing integrates seamlessly into agile workflows, enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of development teams.
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Sanity Testing in Agile Environments
Agile teams thrive on flexibility, speed, and collaboration—qualities that align perfectly with sanity testing. Here’s how sanity testing supports agile methodologies:
- Rapid Feedback: Provides quick insights into the stability of recent changes, enabling faster decision-making.
- Collaboration: Facilitates seamless communication between the testing team and development team to resolve issues promptly.
- Flexibility: Adapts easily to iterative cycles, promoting quality at every stage of development.
Continuous integration processes often incorporate sanity testing tools to identify issues early and maintain software stability. In agile settings, sanity testing complements system testing and detailed testing to validate overall functionality effectively.
Don’t miss this article! Software Development Methodologies: Choose The Right Approach for Your Team
To wrap up, let’s address some frequently asked questions about sanity testing to solidify your understanding.
FAQs About Sanity Testing
What Is Meant by Sanity Testing?
Sanity testing is a quick check to verify that specific features still work after updates or bug fixes. It focuses on confirming that recent changes didn’t cause unexpected issues in key areas.
What Is The Difference Between Smoke and Sanity Testing?
Smoke testing evaluates the overall stability of the system, verifying if it’s ready for further testing. Sanity testing, on the other hand, concentrates on specific areas impacted by recent changes to verify they function as expected.
What Is an Example of a Sanity Check?
An example is testing the login feature after modifying its back-end logic. The test confirms that the login process still functions as expected and users can log in without issues.
What Is UAT Sanity Testing?
UAT sanity testing checks key features during user acceptance testing to verify that important updates work as expected and don’t introduce major issues before final approval.
How We Can Help You
With over 16 years of experience and a global presence, Abstracta is a leading technology solutions company with offices in the United States, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay. We specialize in software development, AI-driven innovations & copilots, and end-to-end software testing services.
We believe that actively bonding ties propels us further. That’s why we’ve forged robust partnerships with industry leaders like Microsoft, Datadog, Tricentis, Perforce, and Saucelabs, empowering us to incorporate cutting-edge technologies.
By helping organizations like BBVA, Santander, Bantotal, Shutterfly, EsSalud, Heartflow, GeneXus, CA Technologies, and Singularity University we have created an agile partnership model for seamlessly insourcing, outsourcing, or augmenting pre-existing teams.
Our holistic approach enables us to support you across the entire software development life cycle.
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