Testing

Testing can be performed on a remote server, free or paid, or on a local machine using one of the Apache/MySQL/PHP packages; conducting testing on your local machine gives you the ability carry out different testing scenarios in a short time.

Setting up a testing machine

The suggested local testing platform is XAMPP it allows PHP 4 and 5 testing, and provides the ability to change the server config and Drake CMS installations far quicker and simpler than on a remote system. Using XAMPP on a windows system also removes file/dir permission issues when installing.

Ensure your server configuration meets the minimum requirements for Drake CMS, See Here for requirements.

Once ready for installation, use one of the following Drake CMS source package:

It is important to note, testers may be allocated particular setups to test and specific areas of Drake CMS e.g. use SQLite as the database and/or only test the Gallery and Downloads components. This will help in the use of testers time and resources.

There are two choices as regards what package is tested and then how involved the Tester wants to be.

The preferred testing is conducted on SVN sources, since bugs in the official release are likely to be already fixed in the SVN trunk.

Beta Tester using the current release

Beta Tester using SVN (preferred)

A Tester at first will not have SVN write access, just read. If a tester wishes to be involved in the development side as well, this involves coding etc, they will need to be cleared by the Lead Developer.

Join the mailing lists shown on the home page, at a minimum, Testers Mailing List

This link is to the Developers Area of the website, the SVN logs are a good way to see what is happening re updates and bug fixes etc..

Any errors that are found, errors in spelling or grammar, layout errors, non operational components/modules/features are to be reported on the Official Tracker at Drake CMS Bug Tracker. When logging a Bug report ensure that the Drake CMS Version and release details along with the server configuration being used is provided in the bug report.

Installation and frontend testing

If you are using a remote webserver with only FTP access and your remote PHP scripts can write to a file on the webserver, you could use the Veloce installer which will let you skip the mass file upload stage.

Once finished placing all Drake CMS files in place, you are ready to start testing. If you have a database backup you could copy it into private/backup and restore it after installation to start testing with some data.

  1. Proof read install instructions on each install level page, confirm spelling, grammar and readability. Are they understood?
    1. Confirm each install stage completes without any PHP notice/warning/error
    2. Conduct an install for for the Gladius DB database system at a minimum and in addition conduct further installs of any other database that the server you are using supports.
    3. Confirm that on the last install page the Front Page and Admin Backend options are both active and that you are able to login to the backed
  2. Once the install has completed go to the FrontPage. 
    1. Proof read all text that is displayed, Menus, module Headings, instructions, welcome messages and any news headlines, confirm spelling, grammar and readability.
    2. Confirm the Comments link at bottom of FrontPage is active and allows comments to be left and displayed.
    3. Confirm position of all screen elements re on screen positioning within the default Template.
    4. Select each menu item and confirm menu item is displayed correctly, this includes the Top Menu if active.
    5. Select from menu, use and confirm following features are active and operate correctly, confirm spelling, grammar and readability of all text shown: 
      1. Search, use module instance and menu instance.
      2. Vote in the default Poll, confirm Poll is displayed from menu.
      3. Select News from menu, Main and Top, select Category that has 0 items and confirm no error, select Category that has 1 news item, confirm item listing is correct, select item confirm news item is displayed correctly. 
        1. Test, export to PDF, Email, Print and Add to Favorites, confirm no errors
        2. At bottom of news item test page navigation, Start, Prev, Next End and individual page numbers.
        3. Confirm links in news items are all active.
        4. Return to Home on menu. 
      4. Confirm Latest News and Popular module listings display correctly.
      5. Confirm Contact submits completes without error
      6. Confirm Guestbook displays without error, confirm Guestbook can be signed.
      7. Confirm Events displays and does not error when a month is selected and the query is submitted. Confirm Calendar module navigation links.
      8. Confirm Weblinks are displayed and are active.
      9. Confirm Gallery displays category, select category, select item, confirm no errors
      10. Confirm Downloads displays category, select category, confirm no errors
      11. Select Forum, click through to Welcome posting, confirm nom errors, confirm all links shown are active and correct. Confirm all functions, buttons etc are active and operate correctly.
      12. Confirm Sitemap compiles and displays without error
      13. Confirm all FAQ's categories are displayed and are active, confirm Questions link to an answer, confirm spelling, grammar and readability of all text shown. Confirm Back to Index link operates correctly, Confirm Submit new FAQ form is error free.
      14. Confirm Registration displays the rego form. 
    6. Confirm Syndicate module is active and displays RSS feeds
    7. Use the Login Module and attempt to login using a random username and password, confirm no login.
    8. Create a user account. Confirm process is error free and login is allowed at Registered user level,
    9. When logged in as a Registered User confirm all of above menu actions are error free.
    10. When logged in as a Registered User, test all User Menu items.
    11. Logout user and Login as Admin, confirm all of above actions are error free.
    12. When logged in as Admin confirm edit option is available when viewing news item. 
  3. This completes the post install Frontend testing, once the admin backend features are tested and additional content is added, the Frontend components need to be re tested with the new content. 

Post Install Admin Backend Testing

  1. Once the FrontEnd testing is complete Login as Admin and go to the Admin Backend. 
    1. Proof read all text that is displayed, Menus, Headings, instructions, welcome messages, confirm spelling, grammar and readability.
    2. Confirm any items that were submitted as a user in the Frontend are displayed for Review and saving or deleting.
    3. Starting from the System Menu, confirm each menu sub item is accessible and all tabs and selection boxes are error free.
    4. Confirm the operation and use of each Admin Menu and sub menu functions.
    5. Add content, categories, sections, news, upload images, downloads etc, delete content that has been added. Confirm display of new content in Frontend.
    6. Change access levels to, Content, Components, Modules, confirm non display or otherwise in frontend.
    7. Add user with different access rights and confirm altered access to Admin Backend etc.
    8. Test sub site creation.
    9. Confirm all subsite features, modules and components are functioning. Confirm all links etc are functioning and have been created in the subsite correctly
    10. Take all sites Offline, confirm not accessible, bring back online.
    11. Finish Formal Testing