Integration testing ensures that all your components work together seamlessly within your app before deployment. And when paired with continuous integration, your software product is destined to win the championship.
You can think of it like assembling a team of all-star athletes and hoping they play well together. Can the players cooperate so that their strengths blend into one winning strategy? Or will an MVP fight so much with a teammate that you’re kicked out of the game?
You can develop strong components in isolation. But if they don’t “play nicely” with others within your software application, you’re left with a broken system.
In this complete guide, we explore answers to your most pressing questions, including:
Software integration testing is a type of software test that validates the interactions between components within an application system. This type of QA testing is often referenced as string testing, thread testing and I & T (Integration & Testing). When following integration testing best practices, QA engineers verify that modules are logically integrated within the software and tested as a group.
To prevent integration testing challenges, we recommend running both types of software integration testing in every development cycle. After all, what is integration testing in software engineering without testing every level of the application? Integration testing best practices always includes performing these two distinct types of testing:
One of the biggest integration testing challenges that QA teams run into is finding the right approach for running these kinds of tests. It’s difficult to follow integration testing best practices if a certain approach isn’t compatible with your testing cycle or project. Fortunately, your team has multiple options on how to run tests with integration testing tools.
Identifying the software testing tools you need is critical when implementing integration tests. Your QA team can enjoy even more benefits of integration testing simply by integrating the right set of integration testing tools within your QA process. We at QASource recommend considering these testing tools for your software integration testing process.
When best practices are in place, there are so many advantages that software integration testing can deliver to your development cycle and software application. With a full understanding of what integration testing is, your team is bound to experience these integration testing benefits.
Undetected defects deployed into production can be costly, especially those that impact the security or user experience of your product. Integration testing prevents this by catching the bugs associated with component integration during testing so that your consumers always experience an optimal interface. Catching integration issues during QA reduces problems within the product in the future, thus allowing your developers to focus more on product enhancements instead of product fixes.
Essentially, your software system consists of a series of components that work together. Since integration testing focuses on how well these components interact, your QA testers must create test cases that cover all interaction points. This means that more of your product code must be tested for verification, thus allowing your team to confirm with confidence that your application is ready for market.
In integration testing, test cases can still be run even when some of the modules are not ready for QA. This gives your testers more time to discover any issues in component interaction, meaning your developers have more time to fix these issues. When issues are discovered during the early stages of testing, it reduces the chances of these bugs getting into your software system.
Does your team need help carrying out these best practices for software integration testing? Choose to partner with a leading software testing company like QASource. Our team of testing experts specialize in a variety of QA services with years of experience performing integration testing for applications across domains. We can guide your team through the process of implementing integration testing within your QA processes so that your product always promises a quality experience for your end-users. Get a free quote today.