Many time I observed that testers are talking about that bugs was “Not Reproducible,” and I am not able to find the exact steps. Generally, if the defect is unable to reproduce, then they are making them into the “Not Reproducible” category. However, as a tester, I am intentionally calling this as “Hard to Reproduce” because I believe each bug is reproducible in a specific situation; it just matters of finding the exact steps to reproduce.
In the tester’s carrier, almost every tester faces “Hard to reproduce” bug. Every good inspector is like to reproduce steps for the insects, which are hard to replicate. But some testers are panic when the virus is not getting reproducible even after executing similar steps. Following are the few sample responses which I heard from testers:
- The bug is taking a lot of time for the investigation.
- Sometimes the issue is observed only after when we re-start the application.
- This bug is not-producible always. So we have captured the log.
In this article, let’s discuss the following points, which I likely to use while look for the “Hard to Reproduce” Bug.
1. Watch every action; be alert!
Here I want to tell you that you should be sharp-eyed like an eagle and eager to know about every action while trying to corner the bug. Need more observation skills on the application behavior under test. Keeps watch on any doubtful process running on the system. The status bar is in progress from a long time, partially loaded dialog box, slowness around the application, some additional log is getting added in the wood, etc. “Always be on your toes” If you can figure out what is the problem in the first place, then it will help you with bug hunting.
2. Look for Patterns!
The best way to How to reproduce the bug is to identify the patterns because the “Bug likes Patterns.” Search for the Patterns around the similar type of virus, if any, and if you are successful in identifying patterns, then you will be able to locate the bug.
I want to share my experience with this. Last week, when I was doing bug triage (reviewed the bug) reported by my team member and observed that the issues were added under the “Not reproducible” category. So I am curious about such bugs, so I checked the additional information added in the ticket saying the issue about “Unknown database error.” So I thought of searching the team members might have already logged a similar defect. I can find the fault around the “Unknown database error.” When I dig around that defects, then realize that the issue is related to special chars (single quote) added in the input. This is what the critical information received from the cousin bug. When I tried with special chars, then I was able to reproduce the “Unknown database error.”
3. Note down the things you are doing while testing!
List down the thing which you are doing while reproducing the bug-like testing environment, test data you are using, database configurations, any other setting you made, etc. This will help you to reproduce the bug. Consider a case where you followed some steps, and the issue got to reproduce. However, you nothing noted down, then it would be hard to replicate the same steps again. So keep in mind to Capture the complete Test Environment.
4. Not Only Trust But Also Always Verify Bugs!
While doing Hard to reproduce bugs, please don’t trust without verifying the bug. Get the defect report for your reference. While reproducing hard to reproduce the bug, do verification on your own and check if things are working as what they suppose to.
5. Have patience! – (they won’t occur quickly)
While testing such a “Hard to Reproduce” bug, you have to be more patience, which will lead you to get the exact steps to reproduce. Have patience is the key to success while hunting such bugs.
Conclusion:
If the bugs are complicated, then it bound to take more time to reproduce. If there are many such issues added in the queue, then I recommend prioritizing the bugs; the critical bugs must be picked first reproduce. Try to capture a few things while printing bug-like test data, server logs, system logs, application logs, screenshots, etc. Please try to capture the story around the issue and not just steps. The resource time might be a constraint, in this case, so talk with your manager on this if it is taking more time.