Topic

Test data for automated tests can be a nightmare to manage. Data must be prepped in advance, loaded before testing, and cleaned up afterwards. Sometimes, teams don't have much control over the data in their systems under test—it's just dropped in, and it can change arbitrarily. Hard-coding values into tests that reference system tests can make the tests brittle, especially when running tests in different environments. In this talk, I'll teach strategies for managing each type of test data: test case variations, test control inputs, config metadata, and product state. We will cover how to "discover" test data instead of hard-coding it, how to pass inputs into automation (including secrets like passwords), and how to manage data in the system. After this talk, you will wake up from the nightmare and handle test data cleanly and efficiently like a pro!