You Are Not Done Yet: Undo and Redo

You are not done testing yet unless...

You have tested undo and redo. If your application doesn't support undo then you're off the hook, but otherwise, be sure you've done the following:

• Consider whether each user action should be undoable.


• Consider whether each user actions should be redoable.


• Tested one level of undo


• Tested multiple levels of undo


• Tested one level of redo


• Tested multiple levels of redo


• Redo more times than you've undone. In some applications redo is more a "do again".


• Tested intermixed undos and redos


• Verified that each undoable and redoable command is listed correctly in the undo and redo UI


• Tested undo and redo across document saves (some applications toss their undo and redo stacks when you save)


• Tested undo and redo across document close+reopen


• Tested undo and redo across builds, if your application builds code or uses built code (such as allowing the user to reference custom control libraries). The issue here is that the contents of that built code might change - how do you redo an addition of a custom control that no longer exists in the library?

Simple undo/redo testing is easily done manually and will usually find bugs. These bugs are typically simple programmer errors which are easy to fix. The really interesting bugs are usually found by intermixing undos and redos. This can certainly be done manually, but this is one case where automated test monkeys can add value.

You can decide to have one person test undo and redo across your entire application, but I find it works best to have each person test undo and redo for their areas.

Posted by The Braidy Tester at 07:30 AM  Permalink