{"id":415,"date":"2013-06-07T11:01:09","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T11:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/?p=415"},"modified":"2021-06-16T07:20:59","modified_gmt":"2021-06-16T07:20:59","slug":"why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation and Functional Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios. In this article I want to look at ways generic test data might be generated and how it can be sub-optimal for functional testing.<\/p>\n<h2>The Problem with Generic Test Data<\/h2>\n<p>A lot of generators available today allow an engineer to generate a lot of generic data. \u00a0An example of a generic data generator might be a Name Generator. \u00a0While these have their place in the test data generation universe, they aren&#8217;t ideal for functional testing. \u00a0But why?<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s consider a list that might be generated by a generic Name Generator:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px;\">John Adams<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Betty Smith<\/li>\n<li>Henry James<\/li>\n<li>Jim Bean<\/li>\n<li>Sara Frank<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s lots of great reasons to use this kind of data for testing. \u00a0However, let&#8217;s assume the QA engineer is testing user profile information management. \u00a0There is some sort of login associated to each user. \u00a0The QA engineer logs into the test server and the profile says Henry James. \u00a0Considering there might be tens of thousands of users in the system is there any way for the QA engineer to say with 100% confidence that Henry James is the correct data associated to the login that was used? \u00a0Before you think too hard about this, the answer is no. \u00a0Not without looking at the source of the data to verify.<\/p>\n<p>Random generators suffer from the same limitations. \u00a0Again, while they have their place, it makes functional testing extremely difficult. \u00a0Including automated functional testing with tools like Geb or Selenium.<\/p>\n<h2>The Benefit of Relatable Test Data<\/h2>\n<p>Relatable test data is a way to take various pieces of generated test data and ensure that at a glance you know they are correctly associated to each other. \u00a0Ask yourself how important it is that you see Sara Frank when testing. \u00a0Is seeing Jim Bean proving anything for you? \u00a0Consider this:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Name<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px;\">Name_10001<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Name_10002<\/li>\n<li>Name_10003<\/li>\n<li>Name_10004<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Address<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px;\">street_10001<\/span><\/li>\n<li>street_10002<\/li>\n<li>street_10003<\/li>\n<li>street_10004<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Avatar<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"line-height: 13px;\">image_10001<\/span><\/li>\n<li>image_10002<\/li>\n<li>image_10003<\/li>\n<li>image_10004<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now let&#8217;s assume that the QA Engineer logged in with the username:\u00a0<strong>user_10003@test.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When they visit the user profile page they see:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Name: Name_10003<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Address: street_10003<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Avatar: image_10003<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The QA Engineer is\u00a0immediately\u00a0able to confirm that all the correct data is being displayed.\u00a0An automated test can be scripted to look for specific data points based on the login information and assert with equal confidence.<\/p>\n<p>There are a multitude of testing scenarios where the actual data doesn&#8217;t really matter as much as data being there. However, for functional testing, where the human eye must confirm the data to be accurate or an automated system must be able to assert with 100% accuracy, relatable test data is vital.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Do you need a Test Data?<\/h2>\n<p>Why not take a look at our product? You can request a live demo here to see our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/\">test data generation solution in action<\/a>. You can also see how we compare to generic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/comparison\/\"> test data management solutions here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios. In this article I want to look at ways generic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,349,350],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software-testing","category-test-data","category-test-data-generation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GenRocket Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gregg Bolinger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gregg Bolinger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gregg Bolinger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d080d5f4f0360a599587cad7a67254df\"},\"headline\":\"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation and Functional Testing\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\"},\"wordCount\":527,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Software Testing\",\"Test Data\",\"Test Data Generation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\",\"name\":\"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00\",\"description\":\"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation and Functional Testing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"GenRocket Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GenRocket Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/favicon.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/favicon.png\",\"width\":32,\"height\":32,\"caption\":\"GenRocket Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d080d5f4f0360a599587cad7a67254df\",\"name\":\"Gregg Bolinger\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2986240127c520e001c65f540feb1bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2986240127c520e001c65f540feb1bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gregg Bolinger\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation","description":"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation","og_description":"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios","og_url":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/","og_site_name":"GenRocket Blog","article_published_time":"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00","author":"Gregg Bolinger","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gregg Bolinger","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/"},"author":{"name":"Gregg Bolinger","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d080d5f4f0360a599587cad7a67254df"},"headline":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation and Functional Testing","datePublished":"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/"},"wordCount":527,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Software Testing","Test Data","Test Data Generation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/","name":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-06-07T11:01:09+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-16T07:20:59+00:00","description":"First let me just say that any kind of test data is better than no test data. That said, some test data is better than others for certain testing scenarios","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/why-relatable-data-is-important-for-test-data-generation-and-functional-testing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Why Relatable Data Is Important for Test Data Generation and Functional Testing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/","name":"GenRocket Blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"GenRocket Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/favicon.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/favicon.png","width":32,"height":32,"caption":"GenRocket Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d080d5f4f0360a599587cad7a67254df","name":"Gregg Bolinger","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2986240127c520e001c65f540feb1bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c2986240127c520e001c65f540feb1bd?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gregg Bolinger"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10778,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions\/10778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genrocket.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}