LONG SET-UP

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Issue summary

Set-up of the initial conditions for the test cases is long and complicated

Category

Design

Examples

1. The initial conditions consist in MS Access databases. Since the structure of the tables can change with every release the original databases have to be updated practically before each run. The update can take hours!
2. The insertion of data in the initially empty databases is rendered difficult by all kinds of triggers

Questions

Do the initial conditions have to be set new for every test? Can they be shared between different tests?
Can the initial conditions be prepared outside of the automated testing suite?
Are there tools available to allow conditions/data sets to be prepared outside of the automation suite?

Resolving Patterns

Most recommended:

• CHAINED TESTS: use this pattern to have previous tests prepare the initial conditions for the following ones
• SHARED SETUP: use this pattern to run the setup only once

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