Takeaway: Clients and users are not always the same entity. Clients pay for the product. Users use the product. Clients and users can have different success criteria for your product. Client-User balance Clients and users may not always have overlapping needs. Clients and users can have different success criteria for your product. As the client, I may care about: * […]
Client-User balance
Python Mechanize – the missing manual
Problem: The online documentation for Mechanize in Python is lacking. Case in point, this question on stackoverflow remained unanswered until we added the answer. This post hopes to provide you with the key missing pieces. We love Python at Qxf2 Services. We chose the Mechanize module to test REST services and automate a lot of our test setup tasks by […]
A simple test runner for Windows
Problem: Developing a reliable test runner for your automation takes time. At Qxf2, we would rather spend our time improving the quality of the tests and making automated checks more robust. This post will show you a quick way to develop a test runner on Windows. Testing teams usually have many automated test scripts that execute one after the other. […]
CAS automated login
Does your application uses CAS for authentication? Unless your CAS server has already been configured to allow for scripted login, automating login for applications that use CAS could be tough. One way we automated the login operation for an application that uses CAS for authentication was to mimic the browser. Python is the language of choice at Qxf2 Services. To […]
Add ‘all’ to questions
Alice was crossing the street, lost in her iPod, unaware of traffic. Bob was in his Toyota Prius driving towards Alice. Unknown to both of them, the traffic signal had a bug causing the walk sign to overlap ever so slightly with the end of the green light. Bob saw Alice and slammed the brakes. Unfortunately, the Prius’ braking system […]
Over what time frame?
Takeaway: Ask “Over what time frame?” When to use?: As always, it depends. I usually ask “Over what time frame” when I seem to be agreeing with multiple sides of an argument. “Over what time frame?” is a powerful question to set context, especially in early stage software and/or recently formed teams. Why? Because the quality of a solution is […]
Dropbox: Symbolic links on Windows
Dropbox is a neat little tool for automagically storing your data on the cloud and accessing them across different machines. At Qxf2 Services, we use a combination of Dropbox and Evernote to store and backup non-confidential data. I personally would use FolderGrid when I really *need* to share confidential files. All files stored under your designated Dropbox folder are synched […]
Sign up: ‘State of testing’ survey
Wondering what the current state of testing is? Want to identify trends in our profession? Do you know what testers around the world identify as their top challenge? Joel Montvelisky (PractiTest, QA Intelligence) and Lalit Bhamare (Tea Time with Testers) are conducting a survey on the current state of testing. They plan to conduct a yearly survey – please join […]
Dear Google, I am NOT on a mobile device
Qxf2 uses Google Apps for Business for our email, calendar, collaboration, documents, etc. I like the Google suite of products – nearly hassle free to setup and maintain for a small company. For the past couple of days, I notice that the calendar prompts me to download their mobile app even though I am NOT on a mobile device. Dear […]
Punjab National Bank – how about correcting your ad??
I saw this ad at the Jayanagar 4th Block branch of PNB. It drove me …. it drove me … ummmmm … lets say to blog about it. The ‘silver’ tier is represented by a rook, the ‘gold’ tier is represented by a knight and the ‘diamond’ tier is represented by a bishop. The problem is that the rook is […]