View source for THINK OUT-OF-THE-BOX

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=<span style="font-size: 16px">Pattern summary</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">The best automation solutions are often found by concentrating on what the test case is trying to check and forgetting how it is executed manually</span>
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Category</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">Design </span>
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Context</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">This pattern is always valid</span>
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Description</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">When tackling some automation problem, it pays to look for unconventional solutions</span>
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Implementation</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">There are quite a few ways to implement this pattern. Here some ideas:</span><br /> 

* <span style="font-size: 16px">For a start [[KEEP IT SIMPLE]] and [[ TAKE SMALL STEPS]]. Once you better understand the problem try to think about it from different viewpoints</span>
* <span style="font-size: 16px">Can you automate some of the tasks surrounding the test automation? For example, as part of pre-processing for a given set of tests, perhaps some data needs to be set up in a database or file. Write (or ask someone to write for you) a small utility or script to populate the data you need. This can then be called as part of the set-up for that test, and this helps toward [[UNATTENDED TEST EXECUTION]].</span>
* <span style="font-size: 16px">[[ASK FOR HELP]]: ask a tester about different ways to get the same results or ask a developer how the functionality you want to test is implemented</span>
* <span style="font-size: 16px">[[SHARE INFORMATION]]: Explain to testers, developers or other automators your problem, maybe all together you come on a better solution</span>
* <span style="font-size: 16px">Search in internet forums how other people have solved the same problem</span>
* <span style="font-size: 16px">Sleep over it: sometimes in the evening a problem hovers like an impregnable wall, but in the morning suddenly the wall has become much lower!</span>

=<span style="font-size: 16px">Potential problems</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">If you don't get a better idea immediately, use what you have: a not so good solution is still much better then no solution at all</span>
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Issues addressed by this pattern</span>=
''<span style="font-size: 16px">[[ COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT]]</span>''<br /> ''<span style="font-size: 16px">[[HARD-TO-AUTOMATE]]</span>''<br /> ''<span style="font-size: 16px">[[MANUAL MIMICRY]]</span>''<br /> ''<span style="font-size: 16px">[[MULTIPLE PLATFORMS]]</span>''<br /> ''<span style="font-size: 16px">[[UNAUTOMATABLE TEST CASES]]</span>''
=<span style="font-size: 16px">Experiences</span>=
<span style="font-size: 16px">If you have used this pattern, please add your name and a brief story of how you used this pattern: your context, what you did, and how well it worked - or how it didn't work!</span><br /> <span style="font-size: 14px">.................................................................................................................[[Main Page]] / Back to [[Design Patterns]] / Back to [[Test Automation Patterns]]</span></div>