What are the best ways to handle edge cases and boundary conditions in end-to-end testing?

1 Identify edge cases and boundary conditions

The first step to handle edge cases and boundary conditions is to identify them. This requires a thorough understanding of the system requirements, specifications, and assumptions, as well as the user personas, goals, and behaviors. You can use various techniques to identify edge cases and boundary conditions, such as brainstorming, user stories, use cases, data flow diagrams, decision tables, boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, and error guessing. The key is to cover as many possible scenarios as you can, and prioritize them based on their likelihood and impact.

2 Design test cases and test data

The next step is to design test cases and test data that cover the edge cases and boundary conditions. You should follow the best practices of test case design, such as using clear and concise descriptions, defining the expected results, adding comments and references, and using traceability matrices. You should also consider the test data that you will use to trigger the edge cases and boundary conditions, such as invalid, null, empty, negative, large, or extreme values. You should use realistic and representative data that reflects the user context and environment, and avoid hard-coding or reusing data that might cause conflicts or inconsistencies.

4 Analyze and report issues

The fourth step is to analyze and report the issues that you find during the test execution. You should use a systematic and structured approach to analyze the root cause, severity, priority, and impact of the issues. You should also use a bug tracking tool or system that allows you to report the issues clearly and accurately, such as Bugzilla, Mantis, or Redmine. You should include all the relevant information, such as the test case ID, test data, steps to reproduce, expected and actual results, screenshots, logs, and other attachments. You should also follow up on the issue status and resolution, and verify the fixes.

5 Review and improve test cases

The final step is to review and improve the test cases based on the feedback and learning from the previous steps. You should evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the test cases, and identify any gaps, redundancies, or errors. You should also update the test cases to reflect any changes or enhancements in the system requirements, specifications, or assumptions. You should also optimize the test cases to reduce the execution time, resource consumption, and maintenance effort. You should also document and share the best practices, lessons learned, and tips for handling edge cases and boundary conditions in end-to-end testing.