Types of Regression Testing or Get Over the Groundhog Day

by TestFort News Editor on 05/23/2018

Regression testing is a demanded type of automated and manual testing. Tech progress defines what’s trendy and what’s not, hence businesses have to adjust their digital products to stay up-to-date.

And you adjust. But then you find out that updates influenced the old functionality of your website or application. So you find out there are numerous automated testing tools on the web that promise you to fix errors. And you use them, but no matter how many test cases you run, there are still too many glitches on your website. And you think about that Groundhog Day movie because it relates to the testing process when it’s done wrong. Everything you do repeats over and over. To stop it once and for good, let’s figure out more about the regression testing.

When to do regression testing?

Before answering this question, it’s important to make it clear what is regression testing exactly? So you have your application developed and released to the market and a bit later you realize that some of the functions don’t work and the design is a bit out-of-date. This means the app requires a bit of polishing here and there.

After you whip up the development team to carry out the “construction works”, there’s a high probability of new changes affecting the app’s behavior. And not always in a good way. Regression testing is usually chosen by QA engineers as the solution to identify all inconsistencies in the code and report on what needs to be fixed.

Web, mobile, and desktop regression testing

Websites and mobile apps tend to be updated more often than software. Mainly because phones win mobile vs desktop usage battle.

Web-platforms are usually updated in terms of design to fit user needs. The main issue that occurs after improvements are implemented — something doesn’t work properly. Either it is a button, social post sharing, or hover effects. They’re always minor, always difficult to notice, and are always very annoying for users. And here is where website regression testing jumps in to clean the mess.

Read also: Is Regression Testing Mere Time Wasting?

Mobile apps are not just in vogue, they devour all our free-of-duty time. And working time. And before-sleep time. Mobile applications are great helpers though and are irreplaceable ways of entertainment, planning, and information access. This means, they are expected to be impeccable, which is a common problem for creators. Mobile regression testing solves the issue of development flaws. Even if the app is already released in the Play Market or App Store, it still can be fixed and improved.

Notwithstanding the fact that desktop apps are not used as often as mobile, they also need to be upgraded. You can already guess what usually comes along with upgrades. Bugs. Lot’s of them. Desktop regression testing is carried out for the purpose of their elimination.

Types of regression testing

Three major types of regression testing to be highlighted are partial, complete, and unit regression.

Partial regression is considered one of the most common types. You can guess that it implies only partial changes to be made in the code and tested after. For instance, you have a well-functioning web-service which needs just a few updates. After you implement those, it’s crucial to test whether all parts — old and new, interact without errors.

Complete regression is sometimes a somewhat time-consuming process, but it is certainly worth it. It takes place in complex projects and implies multiple changes which lead to a totally new look and/or workflow for an app. As a result, complete regression usually impacts the root code too and requires numerous testing sessions to deliver a renewed high-quality solution to the end-user.

Unit regression has a resemblance to the partial regression. It is usually conducted during the unit testing stage and presupposes temporary “switching-off” of other functions except those to be tested. It does not focus on the product integrity but on the flawless performance of specific parts.

Automated vs manual testing

Both automated and manual testing are necessary to conduct whenever you want your digital product to be of great quality. However, when it comes exactly to regression testing, the choice of solution highly depends on the type of regressions. For instance, partial and unit regressions can be tested manually, while complete regression is better to be tested automatically.

Manual regression testing has the main indisputable advantage which is a code coverage. It is a bit more reliable than automated regression testing. Still, for bigger projects with repetitive test case scenarios — automation is a must. It saves dozens of hours and turns out a more cost-effective way of testing projects with plenty of changes implemented.

Now, when you have a clearer idea of what is regression testing, you also understand why it should be done by professionals. Now, it is time to hand over your project to the provider of testing services. Our QA team of 100+ people is ready to assist you. We possess 17 years of experience in testing, knowledge of the global standards, and the latest testing techniques. Contact us to receive a top-notch testing service from an award-winning team.

Learn about other testing types we can complete for you:

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