Advanced Techniques for Mobile Test Data Management

In this blog, we will explore some smart tactics for effective mobile TDM, such as data refresh, dynamic data generation, data monitoring, and so on. These tactics will assist you in achieving faster and better testing outcomes.

What is Test Data Management?

Test Data Management (TDM) is the process of planning, designing, storing, and managing the creation of test data for mobile app testing processes.

It involves the creation of a database that is applicable and dedicated to a series of tests. The aim of TDM is to ensure that teams have access to high-quality test data before we proceed with testing.

Why is Test data management strategy important?

Test data management strategy is a really critical aspect of software testing. It ensures that the data used for testing is accurate, consistent, and secure. Here are some reasons why TDM is important:

• Early preparation
  Stay one step ahead of the QA process and prepare test data before you dive into the testing activities to save time efficiently.

• Test coverage
  Accurate and diverse test data can help uncover issues that might not be visible with limited or inaccurate data.

• Speeds up the testing process
  Proper management of test data can speed up the testing process by ensuring that the right data is available at the right time.
  

• Securing test data
  Test data often mirrors production data. Without proper management, sensitive information can be exposed during testing. TDM includes data masking and other techniques to protect sensitive data.

Tactics for effective mobile TDM

Now that we know why test data management is important, let's look at various tactics we can use to improve the quality of our test data.

Data Refresh Strategies

Regularly refreshing your test data ensures that it remains up-to-date. This could involve restoring databases from a recent backup or generating new data sets that reflect recent changes in your application’s data schema.

Impact on TDM

• Ensures data relevancy.
  
• Reduces the risk of outdated data.

Dynamic Data Generation

Creating data dynamically for each test using tools or scripts to generate data on-the-fly based on your mobile app testing requirements.

Impact on TDM

• Ensuring data uniqueness.
  
• Reducing data clashes.

Here is an example of generating dynamic test data:

import java.util.Random;

public class TestDataGenerator {
  private static final String ALPHABET = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz";

  public static String generateTestData(int length) {
    Random random = new Random();
    StringBuilder testData = new StringBuilder(length);

    for (int i = 0; i < length; i++) {
      int index = random.nextInt(ALPHABET.length());
      char randomChar = ALPHABET.charAt(index);
      testData.append(randomChar);
    }

    return testData.toString();
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Generate a random string of length 10
    String testData = generateTestData(10);
    System.out.println(testData);
  }
}

Test Data Monitoring and Cleanup

Regular monitoring and cleanup of test data. This involves setting up automated jobs to delete old data or using monitoring tools to track data growth.

Impact on TDM

• Maintains the testing environment's health.
  
• Prevents data bloating.

Various open-source monitoring tools:

Data Versioning and Rollback

Keep versions of your test data for an extra layer of data security. This is particularly useful when testing database migrations or other changes that modify your data.

Impact on TDM

• Provides data security.
  
• Facilitates the testing of data modifications.

Test Data provisioning via automation

Automating the provisioning of test data. This tactic involves using scripts or tools to automatically populate your test databases before each test run.

Impact on TDM

• Speeds up the testing process.
  
• Reduces manual errors.

Here’s an example of how you might use Java to automatically provision mobile automation testing test data using JDBC.

import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.Statement;

public class TestDataProvisioning {

  public static void provisionTestData() {
    try {
      // Establish a connection to the database
      Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mydatabase", "username", "password");

      // Create a Statement object for running SQL queries
      Statement stmt = conn.createStatement();

      // SQL query to insert test data
      String sql = "INSERT INTO mytable (column1, column2) VALUES ('testdata1', 'testdata2')";

      // Execute the SQL query
      stmt.executeUpdate(sql);

      // Close the connection
      conn.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
    }
  }

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    // Provision test data
    provisionTestData();
  }
}

Data masking and subsetting

Data masking is the process where we mask the original test data with random characters or data. Subsetting is the process of creating a smaller instance of your database.

Impact on TDM

• Maintaining data privacy and security.
  
• Reduces storage requirements.

‍A before-and-after diagram showing how data masking changes sensitive data.

Leverage cloud storage

Cloud storage provides scalable and flexible storage options for your test data, making it easier to manage large volumes of data.

Impact on TDM

• Provides scalable storage solutions.
  
• Facilitates easy access to test data from anywhere.

Data purging and archiving

Data purging is the process of permanently removing data that is no longer needed. Archiving is the process of moving data that is not currently needed.

Impact on TDM

• Helps in maintaining the performance of your testing environment.
  
• Ensures compliance with data retention policies.

Data dependency mapping

Understanding the dependencies between different data sets can help you better plan your tests.

Impact on TDM

• Assists in designing tests.
  
• Prevents data conflicts.

Test data preconditioning

Precondition your test data by setting it to a known state before each test. This means you have to define the expected values and attributes of your test data.

Impact on TDM

• Improves test consistency.
  
• Reduces the risk of test failure due to unknown data sheets.

Conclusion

The goal of test data management is not just to manage data, but to manage it in a way that maximizes the effectiveness of your testing. With the right strategies, you can turn TDM from a challenge into a strength.If you still have any more concerns regarding mobile test data management or mobile automation testing, reach out to Alphabin’s official support page.