Understanding test case design patterns

Goal: Learn the basic patterns for designing tests.

If you have been testing software, you might know that each test has a similar overall structure. Before you can perform the action under test, for example, the posting of a document, first, the data needs to be set up. Then, the action will be exercised. And finally, the result of the action has to be verified. In some cases, a fourth phase applies, a so-called teardown, which is used to revert the system under test to its previous state.

The four phases of a test case design pattern are listed as follows:

• Set up
• Exercise
• Verify
• Teardown

This design pattern was typically the pattern used by Microsoft in the early years of C/SIDE test coding. Like the following test function example, taken from codeunit 137295 - SCM Inventory Misc. III, you will encounter it in a vast number of older test codeunits:

[Test] PstdSalesInvStatisticsWithSalesPrice()
// Verify Amount on Posted Sales Invoice Statistics
//        after posting Sales Order.

// Setup: Create Sales Order, define Sales Price on Customer
Initialize();
CreateSalesOrderWithSalesPriceOnCustomer(SalesLine, WorkDate());
LibraryVariableStorage.Enqueue(SalesLine."Line Amount");
          // Enqueue for SalesInvoiceStatisticsPageHandler.

// Exercise: Post Sales Order.
DocumentNo := PostSalesDocument(SalesLine, true);
          // TRUE for Invoice.

// Verify: Verify Amount on Posted Sales Invoice Statistics.
//         Verification done in SalesInvoiceStatisticsPageHandler
PostedSalesInvoice.OpenView;
PostedSalesInvoice.Filter.SetFilter("No.", DocumentNo);
PostedSalesInvoice.Statistics.Invoke();