Blockchain app testing Archives

Winning the competition is gradually converting into winning trust, as software success in the market depends on the users’ opinion.

Within gratifying end-user requirements as a top priority of businesses, forward-thinking companies strive to astonish customers and provide reliable software. Recent lockdown events impacted re-imagining business strategies and paved the way for accelerating disruptive trends of shifting towards more digital practices of working, communicating, and interacting with customers.

Blockchain may be of help with that through building users’ trust and improving efficiency, and this is why organizations are applying it to a greater extent each year. Statista report showcases the overall spending on this technology is expected to increase by 4.3 times by 2024.

Blockchain testing is becoming a must-have amid companies that are actively using this innovation, as it helps deliver upscale IT products and get confident in their stable and proper operation.

To provide you with a one-stop overview of holistic blockchain testing, we’ve prepared a list of the top 5 industries where introducing this technology is gaining momentum and blockchain app testing may streamline winning trust in the market.

Top 5 industries having blockchain as a pivot in an IT strategy in 2021

1. BFSI

Accounting for 60% of the technology world market value, it is the most blockchain-oriented sector dealing with valuable resources.

Transforming the classic investment and asset management operations and enhancing their transparency and security, blockchain is protecting financial institutions from malicious activity, fraud, and money laundering. Now, it is possible to quickly identify changes in behavioral patterns, trace reported illicit funds, and get deeper insights into valuating risks of all parties.

2. Retail

Retail is also processing a myriad of transactions. Besides, the evolution of these innovative systems paved the way for other activities, such as tracking the flow of goods or verifying payments through a supply chain.

Blockchain technology allows sellers to contact buyers directly without middle parties’ assistance streamlining the products journey and providing a clear overview of its pathway.

3. Real estate

Dealing with en masse paperwork, the future of real estate is about smart contracts helping eliminate commission rates and enable funding release when conditions satisfy both parties. Owing to expanding blockchain possibilities, it allows storing all the documents and transactions in an online space devoting minimum efforts and money.

4. Healthcare

Switching to the online storage of medical documents, this life-threatening industry is highly susceptible to cyber attacks. 93% of clinics have experienced a data breach over the past three years, and 57% of them have had 5+ cyber incidents during the same timeframe.

Considering growing caution in ensuring the safety of personal patients’ data and their trust to healthcare institutions, blockchain may be of help with that. Providing origin of drugs, medical products as well as transparency around health-oriented supplies and therapies, it can help build confidence and propel the industry towards.

5. Government

By encompassing multiple operations related to financial transactions, registry, processing documents, and applying an old-fashioned approach to their handling, governmental software often operates slowly and is prone to instability.

Implementing blockchain-based solutions may revolutionize legal processes and help eliminate bureaucracy issues. Thus, governmental organizations may build trust with people using smart contracts, intellectual property rights, land registry, and many more.

Blockchain testing: helping get more value

Usually, blockchain initiatives start with proof-of-concept projects that prove value on a small scale. In 2019, the PoC segment held 72.6% of the market share. However, the troubles emerge when moving to production due to a lack of observability.

Blockchain market — Source: www.fortunebusinessinsights.com

So, how to get confident in proper work of blockchain systems? Yes, one of the ways is to apply a comprehensive blockchain testing package helping detect critical defects and ensure smooth going live. a1qa’s experts have gathered 5 QA tips for that.

Tip 1. Functional testing

To be confident in system appropriate operation, one should supplement introducing blockchain app with checking functionality. Testing business logic and covering possible users’ scenarios may contribute to accurately processing blockchain components and transparent and secure activities. Being a cornerstone of software testing, all the industries should consider its execution.

Tip 2. Performance testing

Embracing thousands of transactions worldwide every day, blockchain has the potential to add $1.76 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Considering this drastic increase in the volume of sensitive data processing, companies should perform thorough testing before releasing IT products.

Executing performance verifications may ensure resilient work of the system under heavy load and consistent quality of the software product. It is especially topical for industries handling massive information blocks like BFSI, healthcare, and government.

Tip 3. Integration testing

Connecting blockchain systems to various platforms, companies need to check their solid joint work. Integration checks may be an escape solution. QA experts verify the cohesiveness and operability of intersystem connections across all blockchain app environments and integrated components. So, they can identify critical points and ensure stable interoperability.

Interacting between multiple systems and devices, retail and BFSI are particularly in need of such checks.

Tip 4. Smart contract testing

Real estate and government industries are only planning to introduce blockchain. Dealing with a great number of documents, they are moving to online data storage and processing solutions. To provide apps stable functioning and users’ confidence, companies should consider timely diagnosing these platforms before going live.

Within business logic verification as well as testing digital signature and messaging features, QA engineers rectify software glitches sharply and ensure strict blockchain apps compliance with the pre-defined software requirements.

Tip 5. Security testing

Have you noticed that information is quite a valuable asset requiring thorough protection? Possessing sensitive data, BFSI, government, and healthcare should pay great attention to safeguarding it properly.

But how can companies accelerate obtaining reliable and highly secure ecosystems within market fast pace? The answer is — through security checks. In this very case, QA helps ensure that keys storage and encrypting system effectively ward off potential security attacks.

For that, accounting for multi-layered safety structure in blockchain, QA specialists supervise that one security layer doesn’t affect the other.

These are principal testing types applied to blockchain apps. Of course, companies may harness a range of others depending on the business objectives. What’s more, test automation is also relevant in checking such platforms. It can optimize QA process and speed up time to market that is extremely crucial within fast-paced market evolvement.

Bottom line

Winning trust is becoming a prime factor of business success. To keep up with that and sustain leading positions, companies across different industries should update their IT strategies with technological trends and innovations.

Blockchain is one of the go-to ways to achieve customers’ confidence and provide them with efficient and safe virtual space for processing financial transactions, buying goods, getting medical assistance, concluding contracts, and performing legal operations.

Definitely, blockchain can have the greatest impact on BFSI, retail, real estate, healthcare, and government industries in 2021. So, all-inclusive blockchain app testing can become an indispensable measure to build trust with the target audience and accelerate the achievement of planned business objectives.

If you need professional QA assistance in ensuring the proper work of a blockchain solution, feel free to write to a1qa’s experts.

Digital consumers are impatient when speaking about fulfilling their wishes as quickly as possible. The companies that process such requests faster than competitors do enter their list of top brands.

By being recommended to other customers, the businesses are actively growing and obtaining the desired outcomes, including increased market share, cost reduction, profit growth, etc.

For the digital consumer, it does not matter how the company grants these wishes. But many businesses have already realized that adaptation to the requirements of customers is easier when going through the process of digital transformation.

Today, we will focus on what trends and strategic amendments can help the company pass it with fewer difficulties.

Digital transformation strategy components

Each successful digitalization story begins with creating a strategy. It is no longer enough to invest only in the implementation of new technologies, e.g. connecting social networks to a website or creating a chatbot.

Digital transformation implies a significant change in the business model as well as mindset, starting from the product itself and up to improving customer service items.

Before following digitalization, make sure you have taken into consideration the customer experience issues and adaptation to the upcoming changes.

Boosting customer experience

Step-by-step work on managing CX increases the satisfaction and loyalty of current and potential clients and reduces the risk of their outflow.

Digital transformation rethinks the customer experience paradigm. Now, companies should invest in technology that helps accumulate, analyze, and apply clients’ data.

In addition, any company that is entering the global market should be aware of the importance of generating end-user loyalty concerning its software product. Internationalization and localization of software can ensure successful adaptation of the application to work around the globe. Have a look at what is important to consider when testing such an IT solution in the article by the a1qa expert.

Quick adaptability to the new conditions

Broadly speaking, adaptability is the speed of businesses’ changes. The company has to clearly understand its plans in the market and follow the latest trends. But introducing innovation without a clear understanding of the benefits to a business can be really harmful.

Adaptability also refers to locally tailoring a product to various formats of its usage. For example, not all companies have adapted their websites to mobile phone screens, although since 2017, mobile traffic exceeded that of the desktop.

According to a study by Oxford Economics and SAP, 93% of senior executives surveyed believe that digitalizing a business is critical to survive in the market.

The basis of digital transformation are cutting-edge technologies

For some time, leadership in the market can be preserved with no innovations adoption, but not for long. Read below about technologies that can help to stay afloat and ahead of competitors.

Internet of things

The internet of things (IoT) has become a new stage in the development of the digital world. The main feature of IoT is that there are fewer people online compared to the number of things. According to a Gartner study, the number of things connected to the Internet in 2020 will be over 21 billion items.

IoT connects the objects around us with a global network, where they exchange information and work with no human intervention. How can the IoT technology benefit to a business?

Helps keep track of all business assets. Sensor control systems and detectors quickly identify problems while the system independently takes measures to eliminate them.
Rapidly identifies problems reducing potential business profit losses.
Generates online analytical reports.

Within the IoT trend, digital twinning is used to digitally reflect a real physical object, process, or system and indicate how to increase their efficiency as well as track the technical health and create new technologies.

Here we provide a success story on how this concept was applied to our project.

a1qa was contacted by a company that develops, manufactures, sells, and services analytical equipment for the scientific community to ensure high-quality levels. The system under test consisted of three components: the main processing center, lab, and real devices for water quality indication that were connected to the lab.

To conduct performance testing, the QA specialists would have required to launch the whole laboratory with hundreds of computers and devices. To reduce testing time and save QA budget, a1qa specialists developed a simulator for real devices, which helped mitigate risks and accelerate time to market.

Cloud technologies

In 2009, cloud technology represented 5% of the global IT market ($17 billion). Furthermore, in 2014, business investments in cloud technologies were amounted to over $175 billion. There is no secret that this indicator continues to rise.

Cloud technologies provide convenient network access to the information fund and allow several teams to work on a project at the same time.

According to the forecasts of the international research and consulting company IDC, cloud services will be actively used in 2020 and after. This can allow companies to work anywhere and anytime.

In five years, more than half of the businesses are expected to develop 90% of cloud-based and microservices-related applications. IDC encourages them to think about it now and start working with open-source software communities.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly improved the quality of business processes by quickly managing large amounts of information, accelerating the pace of goods production and task execution, and improving the product-user experience.

For humans, the technology has a familiar and understandable embodiment of the voice assistant. Starbucks is a good example of a company that uses AI to work with clients. Alexa’s cloud-based virtual assistant has become a waiter on the Starbucks network. A user may request: “Alexa, let Starbucks make my coffee.”

AI-based digitizing will require serious financial investments. In order not to lose money in vain, the process of introducing AI technology should begin with the definition of business goals.

Machine learning

Machine learning (ML) is one of the most sought-after technical areas for business. The main idea of ML lies in the self-training process based on a given algorithm.

This technology helps create a new line of new goods and services faster, increase the attractiveness of products for the client, and identify the patterns of user behavior.

How to use this technology? For example, some telecom companies have learned to predict the desire of customers to access a service using machine learning. The client receives an offer before directly applying for it. The user saves his time, and the company gains profit.

Big data

By now, people have formed almost 40-44 zettabytes of information, which is expected to increase by 10 times by 2025 according to The Age of Data of 2025 report.

The concept of predictive analytics is closely related to this big data helping identify patterns and algorithms in it. It is especially relevant for e-commerce brands allowing analyzing information about customers’ behavior and identifying the likelihood of purchasing in the future.

This year, predictive analytics is expected to be an investment for improving customer experience technologies.

Fast and accurate information processing creates new business opportunities. Though, it is important to remember that working with big data is always related to information security issues. The data leakage can result in million-dollar losses for companies and invaluable damage to their reputation.

To protect the brand from such major losses, you can apply to our experts to conduct accurate big data testing.

Blockchain

The analytical company Gartner called practical blockchain one of the strategic trends for 2020. Now, this technology is badly scalable and is adopted in experimental and small projects. According to the experts, by 2023, practical blockchain will become fully scalable.

By helping reduce costs, increase the speed of money transactions, and provide a more secure data transfer from transaction participants, analysts recommend thinking about implementing blockchain in the businesses in 2020.

Bottlenecks of digital transformation

It is worth realizing that digital transformation remains a multi-level and multifaceted process. Although introducing advanced technologies is an investment in the future, one can bring the required profits when searching for new business solutions. Nevertheless, digitalization has its downsides.

While being over-enthusiastic at the start of the transformation, the incorrect ROI definition can also be a key mistake. The world has already seen the launch of ambitious projects and companies seeking to become leaders in digitalization, which resulted in money loss.

Another common mistake is when the businesses create a new division and turn it into a deeply integrated company. Innovations designed for good ROI become a financial burden for companies in the present situation.

What mistakes should be avoided in addition to the two named before? For example, starting the journey of transformation for the sake of transformation to support the trend. It also might be an imprudent decision to ignore the creation of a unified strategy with the chaotic usage of tools and approaches.

The process of ensuring the quality of software products is equally important. Timely testing helps release bug-free software and take care of the customers’ loyalty providing the necessary business outcomes.

Conclusion

Being an ongoing process, digital transformation is rapidly gaining momentum. The companies have to select the needed types and tools based on the specifics of their business. By using new technologies, brands continue to grow and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

However, the path of digital transformation includes some risks as well. In the case of neglecting to build a coherent strategy, choose the right toolset, and ensure software quality a company can lose its profits.

Soon, businesses can face problems of successfully existing outside the digital space. Step-by-step implementation of this process can help stay on the wave.

Are you thinking about integrating the digital transformation into your business? Request an expert consultation to do it right.

The world of blockchain and cryptocurrency is associated with decentralization.

Decentralization eliminates the need of one authority and ensures the privacy of information and security as nobody fully owns the system. What makes it work is cryptography – a method of using digital signatures in a form so that only those network members, who should get access to some piece of data, will get it.

The possibilities of blockchain application are endless – and this is where decentralized apps come into play.

Before we dive into testing specifics, let’s quickly go over some important terminology.

A smart contract is a small piece of code that codifies some business logic and is executed on blockchain in a decentralized manner. Their main functions are to store rules, facilitate rules, and self-execute rules.

Smart contracts help gain autonomy and independence from third-party structures and have other advantages like reliability, security, accuracy, and profitability.

A decentralized application (DApp) is the application that is run on a peer-to-peer network of computers and doesn’t depend on a central computer to send or get information. Decentralized apps use the power of blockchain and smart contracts to enforce the agreement between the parties.

Today, the most popular way to run a dApp is to install it on a blockchain platform (for example, on Ethereum).

And the world of business eagerly embraces smart contracts and dApps. We see now and will see in the nearest future numerous applications in IoT, financial sector, etc. The prime examples include games, DEX (Decentralized Exchange), NFT marketplaces, gambling, blockchain-powered social networks, DeFi (Decentralized Finance).

Now let’s focus on how to test smart contracts and how to ensure high quality of decentralized applications.

Why is it important to test smart contracts?

Due to the immutable nature of blockchain, if any errors are found, a new contract should be created because you cannot change the code of the blockchain-based contract.

Even a minor logic error in the application can lead to serious damages and costs.

For example, a couple of years ago, Parity Ethereum MultiSig wallets were blocked due to smart contracts vulnerabilities. Could the blockage have been avoided? Yes. By means of thorough testing.

What to test in a smart contract?

Testing is the best way for using the contract in different situations without any risk to make sure it’s working properly.

Here are the aspects of the smart contract that a professional QA team should take into consideration:

Digital signature process
Contract code and its changes fixation
Subject of the contract
Tools that are necessary for the contract execution
The terms of execution in the contract code
Events
Errors and sending messages
Changes made in the status of contracts and their balance

How to test a smart contract?

It is necessary to simulate, consider, and predict all possible conditions in the logic of each particular contract:

what events should be initiated
what techniques should be fulfilled
how the status and balance of the contract are changing
to whom and how to transfer funds
what error to cause
check the author of the message and the correct use of the current time.

For example, when executing a smart contract in Ethereum, it is important to take into account the limitation and spending of the Gas value – the cost of a smart contract that Ethereum has set for its launch.

All this is closely related to the security of the agreements. The situation when means are “stuck” in the contract differs just a little from the situation when they are stolen.

Otherwise, the general principle is similar to testing any other code: a set of reference method calls is created in a predefined environment, for the results of which the expected results are written.

How to make software testing process more effective?

In the case of smart contracts, the most accurate solution would be to conduct automated testing, especially considering a large number of validations during contract processing, rapid growth, and network transformation, the presence of multiple nodes and their various combinations.

Often for defect-free work, BDD (Behavior-Driven Development) practices are used, which allows creating documentation and examples along with tests. We have talked more about BDD here.

The elements of dApp

Let’s move on to testing of decentralized applications.

Any application consists of the back-end and front-end. The back-end of a decentralized application has its own internal code that is run on the blockchain.

DApp also consists of an intermediate – a browser (for example, Toshi) or extensions for it (like MetaMask). Front-end can be written in any programming language.

Testing a dApp

Although blockchain applications are still an innovative industry, many methods applied for testing other products are also suitable for dApp checks.

Apparently, there is no difference between a dApp and any other application. Many users do not even know that they have an application where the back-end is a blockchain.

In our previous article, we have discussed the characteristics of functional, security, and load testing that help improve the quality of blockchain-based products.

In addition, other testing types should be carried out:

Smart contracts testing
Transaction testing

This type of testing includes checking the number of operations performed, service fields, hash validity, time of the transaction, data about the author and recipient, and many more.

End-to-end testing

This type of testing is performed to ensure the quality of all the functionality of the application and verify that all dApp parts work as intended. As a rule, end-to-end checks try to predict the behavior of a real user and how he/she will interact with the system.

Integration testing

QA engineers will check the interaction of modules and systems as a whole and the integration of data that reaches the back-end from the front-end.

Read more about the tools to test blockchain-based apps in our previous article.

On a final note

Getting rid of centralization has become a dominant trend and has greatly changed workflows in many industries. First-gen P2P networks, DAO, and other dApps, smart contracts, EOS (decentralized OS) are just beginning to gain momentum and determine what the Internet will be like in the future.

Early software testing can help business successfully take advantage of seamless blockchain technology, solve longstanding problems, and take their place in the competitive market.

No doubt, blockchain is a powerful technology. But not being tested properly, it can cause troubles you may not think about.

Get a free consultation with a1qa blockchain experts and find out how our QA solutions can help improve the quality of your software product.

The history of the blockchain technology, as we know it today, dates back to 2009. This is the year when bitcoin was offered up to the open source community.

Despite being that young, the technology continues to gain momentum and increases its popularity among business owners.

Previously we talked about the specifics of testing blockchain-based apps. Today, we’d like to list the tools that a software tester will make us of to ensure high quality of such an app.

Bitcoin vs. Ethereum

The choice of the tool will be conditioned by the platform the app is built on.

Today, two of the most popular platforms that software engineers use to deploy decentralized applications are Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Although there are some significant technical challenges between the two, what is more important to QA engineers is that Ethereum enables running a smart contract. A smart contract is a self-operating program that facilitates an exchange of money, property or any other valuable items without any possibility downtime, fraud or third-party interference.

Smart contracts are to be tested with specific tools as well. We’ll mention them further.

Tools to ensure quality of blockchain-based software products

If you are entrusted to test any blockchain app, pay attention to various online tools that are available to everyone.

If your app is running on the Ethereum blockchain, Kovan Etherscan can be of help. It’s a testnet that allows to check the correctness of various transactions in a test mode.

When you go to a detailed description of a transaction, you can see, for example, a hash (unique transaction identifier), the transaction time, sender and recipient data, the amount of coins transferred, and the commission fee for validating any transaction.

Testing apps built on Ethereum blockchain

The apps that function on the Bitcoin platform, can be tested with the help of the cloud-optimized platform BlockCypher. It allows to perform stable testing of any public blockchain app. Again, hash, commission fee, amount of coins received and sent – all these parameters will be checked.

The Confirmation field is what differs the Bitcoin testnet from the Ethereum. In order for the transaction to be confirmed, it is necessary to generate at least six additional blocks.

The process of obtaining a cryptocurrency is complicated for a reason. The number of bitcoins is limited (21 million). The founder of the network bitcoin, known under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, foresaw that with the increase in the number of miners, the currency may soon come to its end.

With the increasing complexity of cryptographic ciphers, the miners realized that the process of obtaining currency is more effective if you work in a pool.

Why six? There is a theory according to which for fraudulent payment in the bitcoin system, scammers need to accumulate not less than 10% of the hash of the entire network.

But to deploy computing power of this level, cybercriminals will have to spend millions of dollars. The probability of such a scenario is less than 0.1%. Therefore, the number six is the guarantor of network security.

In addition to these services, you can verify the correct conversion of one cryptocurrency into another. It is necessary to make sure that the logic of the conversion process is not violated, namely:

The address of the correct format is correctly formed.
The relevant rates are applied.
The amount does not go beyond the border limits.
The transferred money has arrived at the desired address.

In addition, there is a paid service CoinAPI, which provides general information on market monitoring, as well as the cost of converting one currency to another.

How to test smart contracts?

Testing of smart contracts in applications based on the Ethereum blockchain should be given special attention because they determine the rules for the implementation of transactions in the blockroom.

The following tools can be of help:

Truffle – the most popular framework that allows to write automated tests on JavaScript and Solidity. The results won’t take long to come.
Populus – the best option for those test engineers who write tests on Pyhton.
Manticore will detect potentially vulnerable code.
Corda Testing Tools will make Performance, Integration, and Functional testing of smart contracts faster and easier.
EmbarkJS is very similar to Truffle but tests are written on JavaScript.

Potential for using blocking technology

Despite the very “young” age, the potential of blocking technology is quite high. Already today, blockage is going beyond the usual field of cryptocurrency. For example, in the sphere of politics, this technology can help to completely eliminate falsification and conduct absolutely transparent elections.

The real estate sales sphere can be significantly improved due to accelerated purchase and sale and reliable data storage.

In addition, already there are start-ups based on the block system that perform identification and confirm access rights.

Conclusion

The capabilities of the block are very extensive, although not all areas of technology are covered today.

Anyway, you should remember that timely, high-quality testing of applications that work on the basis of the blockchain system will help to avoid data leakage and serious material losses.

Blockchain is a popular and technically complicated subject. Initially the technology was created to serve the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. However as time went by the sphere of the blockchain application widened.

Today any product that uses database can be migrated to the blockchain.

However, it goes without saying that any product should be thoroughly tested before going live. In this article, we focus on testing of the decentralized blockchain-based apps.

Before getting down to testing peculiarities and recommendations, look through the list of terms you’ll need to get a better understanding of the article.

Block is a piece of code that contains a list of transactions. The first block in the chain is called the genesis block.
Blockchain is a constantly growing chain of blocks. The copies of the chain are stored on a number of computers (nodes) that partake in the network.
Cryptocurrency is digital money with no physical equivalent.
Bitcoin is a digital payment method and the most popular kind of cryptocurrency these days.
Ethereum is the second most popular cryptocurrency with the large market capitalization (second only to Bitcoin).
Fork is a change to the blockchain protocol that results in a chain split into two chains that will function independently.
Mining is the process by which transactions are verified and added to the blockchain, and also the means through which new Bitcoin are released.
Fee is the commission miners get for verifying a transaction and adding it to the blockchain.
Smart contract is the protocol that digitally facilitates the negotiation or performance of a contract.
Faucets are websites that give away small portions of Bitcoins for free.

Blockchain: what’s in this word for a software testing engineer?

In the first place, the blockchain is the software functionality. In 90% of cases it’s a type of a payment method.

Accordingly, tests should be almost the same as an engineer runs when testing the payment gateway system: transaction process verification, testing all payment components, checking whether additional requirements are met (e.g., terms of a smart contract) and no double-spending opportunities exist.

Three aspects to consider before starting testing blockchain-based apps

1. Specific testing environment

All transactions executed in the blockchain change its current state. In order to add or change any entry, miners’ resources are required. Miners, as you remember, charge fee for verifying a transaction and adding it to the block. That’s why it may appear to be too expensive to perform tests in the live environment.

On one of the a1qa projects, the execution of a single bitcoin transaction cost several hundred USD.

Employing a testnet for running tests will help to avoid losing money and cut down on QA costs. Testnet coins have nothing to do with the actual ones and testers get an opportunity to experiment with the application without being worried of breaking the blockchain.

The team may set up their local testnet or use one of publicly available. For Ethereum-based apps, the Ropsten Network can be used. It uses the same protocol as Ethereum does and allows to get free coins from a pool of the Ethereum faucet. Instantly.

And do not forget to return the left coins to the faucet website. This is the matter of courtesy.

Also keep it in mind that even if you prefer to use the testnet, you will also have to deal with miners who validate transactions in the network. However, they are not that numerous in the testnet as comparing to the real network. So it will take more time to validate the transaction.

To speed up testing, you can set up several virtual networks and start mining yourself. It will take less power than verification of real cryptocurrency transactions.

2. Transactions are irreversible

All blockchain-based apps are decentralized. This is the main idea behind them. Decentralization means that the app resides on numerous computers and its code can be accessed by anyone. As there is no central server, 99% of failures, errors that made it to the blockchain can not be reversed.

Knowing this, it becomes extremely important to make sure all transaction details are correct before sending them to the network. Any missed defect will be a critical one.

It makes the testers’ job even more responsible.

3. All transactions are paid

This point correlates with the first one. The tester’s task is to guarantee the mistake-free process of the transactions adding and processing in the network. However, as any transaction in the blockchain requires the fee, it makes testing process rather specific.

If you test in a real Bitcoin network, remember that besides the input itself, you’ll have to pay to miners to get your transaction processed.

In Ethereum, every transaction a certain number of gas, which is the special currency used in the network. Operations that require more computational resources cost more gas.

It’s also important to know the difference between the gas cost and gas price.

The gas cost is the amount of work that goes into something (e.g. the number of hours of labour). The gas price is similar to the hourly wage you pay for the work to be done. The combination of the two determines the total transaction fee.

Remember: if the gas price is very low, no one in the network will process it.

What types of testing are relevant for blockchain-based apps?

As we’ve already mentioned, testing of the blockchain products slightly differs from testing payment apps and looks like a functional testing of the payment gateway system.

Test plan will take into account the predefined requirements from stakeholders.

A software engineer should consider the requirements and think creatively to generate test ideas and cover the most improbable user scenarios.

High quality of the final product can be assured through the following standard testing types:

Functional testing will help to understand whether all the functional requirements have been implemented by the dev team.

Load testing will help to determine the capacity of the system that directly interacts with the blockchain.

Security testing. The blockchain is anonymous. Any holder of the private key will have access to the wallet and the right to sign the transactions. The system of keys storage and encrypting is yet vulnerable to security attacks. Pen testing will help to identify and eliminate the bottlenecks.

What tools will you need for testing?

The selection of the right testing tools is the first step to successful and effective testing. This is the list that might be considered by those who’ll have to ensure the blockchain-based apps:

Testnet indexing tool. For example, the website ropsten.etherscan.io allows to check the real-time wallet balance and the detailed information on any transaction.
Bug and test tracking tools.
It can be required to set up a local node for the given blockchain. There are various tools with comfortable UI that will help doing this.
API testing tools (Postman, soapUI).
Database testing tools.
Encoding and encryption software.

Will blockchain-based apps benefit from test automation?

Like on any other testing project, decentralized apps can be tested automatically.

What is more, given the sheer number of nodes and combinations that are likely to take part, automation of testing becomes an important need.

Test results can be easily compared by analyzing the real information in the network or sending requests to the testnet indexing website.

How to choose the testing team?

Not so many QA teams can boast of having worked with the blockchain technology. However, the following testing capabilities can compensate for the lack of experience: good knowledge of the customer’s domain, analytical mindset, skills in reading the code and pseudo code.

The tester that will be involved in testing the blockchain apps should follow the development of the technology, its forks and be good at numbers. Yes, there will be a lot of counting job with the blockchain verification.

Afterword

The technology of blockchain catches on and more and more industries open up its opportunities.

Considering the scale of its application, the growing level of users’ competence and the critical status of defects that get into the network, testing must be viewed as an integral part of the development lifecycle.

Book an obligation-free consultation by the a1qa pros and learn how our solutions will help your product hit the mark.

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