Introduction

A TEST CASE is a documented set of preconditions (prerequisites), procedures (inputs / actions) and postconditions (expected results) which a tester uses to determine whether a system under test satisfies requirements or works correctly. A test case can have one or multiple test scripts and a collection of test cases is called a test suite.

<aside> 💡 ISTQB Definition. Test case: A set of preconditions, inputs, actions (where applicable), expected results and postconditions, developed based on test conditions.

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Test Scenario Vs Test Case

Test scenarios are rather vague and cover a wide range of possibilities. Testing is all about being very specific.

Examples.

For a Test Scenario: Check Login Functionality there many possible test cases are.

Test Case 1: Check results on entering valid User ID & Password Test Case 2: Check results on entering Invalid User ID & Password

Types of test cases

There are two types of test cases as mentioned below.

• Formal test cases: Formal test cases are those test cases which are authored as per the test case format. It has all the information like preconditions, input data, output data, post conditions, etc. It has a defined set of inputs which will provide the expected output.
• Informal test cases: Informal test cases are authored for such requirements where the exact input and output are not known. In order to test them the formal test cases are not authored but the activities done and the outcomes are reported once the tests are run.

How to Write Test Cases

Test Case ID. This is a unique number of test cases in the test management system or in a document. As a general rule, all modern test management systems like Jira, TestRail, automatically assign the ID to the newly created test case.