Re: Test Advice for a function

[Rory Hewitt <roryhewitt@xxxxxxxxx>]

David,

I suspect that you (or whoever is making you do the testing) has confused
"testing thoroughly" with "testing everything".

You obviously can't test every possible scenario. However, by testing the
error-handling that occurs when you pass in prohibited values, you
effectively *are* testing every possible other situation.

Of course you should run *some* tests with valid values, but you could do as
little as a single test with valid values (after having confirmed that
invalid values do indeed trigger an error). Of course, all of this depends
on how convoluted your code is, but if it's pretty simple to understand, the
number of 'valid value' tests you run might just come down to a gut feeling.

Rory

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 3:23 AM, David FOXWELL <David.FOXWELL@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I have a really simple function that allows or limits the access to a
> transaction for a client, depending on the kind of contract, kind of
> product, etc, etc.
>
> The function receives the different types of product, etc, and compares
> them to constants, then returns on or off. Simple. There are about 10
> different combinaisons that are restricted, all others pass ok.
>
> My question is how to properly test that function? I could easily select
> clients with all prohibited contract types, products, etc, as these are only
> a few. How should I test all those types that are NOT prohibited?
>
> Thanks.