Test Cases For Search Functionality: Testsigma Example

Search can be an important functionality for any application that has a good amount of content. For example, for a website, search functionality can allow users to look for specific blog titles, products, features, and more without having to browse through the entire site. Similarly, for a mobile application that hosts content, what would you do if Netflix did not have a search functionality?

As search is such an important functionality to have, making sure it works as expected is important too. So, in this blog,  we discuss the test cases for search functionality.

Where Would You Use Search Functionality?

Any website is vast, made up of web pages, including hundreds of blogs, product pages, product feature pages, guides, documents, resources, and much more. How would you access a particular product feature or a guide page among many such pages? Search functionality is useful in these situations. And as mentioned above, search functionality is also useful in many other places as well, such as OTT platforms, social media platforms, news portals, voice assistant devices like Alexa, and smartphones. Some of the websites also have a search feature with filters to add more options for the users.

Clearly, with requirements at these many places, search functionality is an important aspect of any development process that must receive sufficient attention. And to test this feature, you need a well-laid-out list of test cases, both positive and negative. Let’s discuss them in detail.

Positive Test Cases for Search Functionality

For any kind of search functionality, you can create and run the below-mentioned positive test cases. These cases cover different scenarios to verify that the search functionality performs the right operation and delivers accurate results.

• Enter a valid search term and expect relevant results to be displayed. Searching for “cat food” on an e-commerce website should show a list of cat food products as a result.
• Enter multiple valid search terms and ensure that the search function can handle them appropriately. Searching for “blue dress” on a fashion website should show a list of blue dresses.
• Verify that the search function is case-insensitive. Searching for “apple” or “APPLE” should yield the same results.
• Test if the search function can find exact matches and prioritize them in the search results. Searching for “iPhone X” on a mobile phone website should display the exact matching product as the top result.
• Apply additional filters (such as price range, category, or location) along with the search term and verify that the search results are displayed accordingly. Searching for “laptop” and applying a filter for “under $10000” should display laptops within the specified price range.
• Test the search functionality with many results and verify that the results are displayed on pages with appropriate navigation options. Searching for “books” on an online bookstore should display a certain number of books per page and provide a pagination option for browsing through the results.
• See that searching for irrelevant terms or products should show messages like ‘search item not found’ to the users. For instance, searching for ‘phone chargers’ on the grocery application should display such a message.

Negative Test Cases for Search Functionality

Some of the negative test cases for search functionality help identify potential issues in the search functionality. It ensures that appropriate error handling and user feedback are implemented.

• Submitting an empty search term and checking that an appropriate error message is displayed. Leaving the search field blank and clicking on the search button should prompt a message like “Please enter a search term.”
• Entering an invalid search term and verifying that the search function handles it properly. Searching for “@#$%” or a string of random characters should result in a message like “No results found” or “Invalid search term.”
• Entering a search term that does not exist in the system. Searching for a specific product or item that is not available in the inventory should display a message like “No results found” or “Item not found.”
• Apply invalid filters or combinations of filters and verify the search function. Applying a price filter with an unrealistic range (e.g., $10,000,000 – $1) should display an error message like “Invalid price range” or ignore the invalid filter.
• Testing the search functionality with search terms containing special characters. Searching for “C++” or “iPhone 12+” should not produce any errors or unexpected behavior related to the special characters.

Test Cases Using Search Operators

In some cases, you can use certain operators to refine your search results. Majorly, there are three popular search operators:

Exact match search

The search engine should return results that contain the exact phrase being searched without any variations or synonyms. For instance, entering the searh query [blue electric car] on Google will list down results that matches exactly with the query. The format for exact match on Google is [search term].

Phrase match search

The search engine should return results that contain the phrase in the order given in the search term. Typing “blue electric car” on Google will give results with same phrase along with extra words before or after the keyword. The syntax for phrase match is “search term” on Google.

Broad match search

The search engine should return results that contain the phrase in any order and returns results if the search term is present in them. This option takes the search term and gives results that remotely similar to it. Entering blue electric car will return car options, blogs, Wikipedia results, and more.

Broad match option takes synonyms and misspellings to show all the results available.

Advanced Search Functionality

Advanced search filters are mainly a part of online search engines rather than e-commerce websites. For instance, Google and Yahoo! Have certain advanced search filters that you can use to refine your search results. An example of an advanced search filter is making it language specific. Another example could be narrowing down the search results to a specific location or area.

Usually, online shopping sites do not have such advanced filters as normal filters function sufficiently to guide the users in searching.

How to Automate Test Cases for Search Functionality? Explained with Testsigma

To automate search functionality, you can simply choose a test automation tool that supports validating the search functionality without worrying about installing libraries and supportive drivers.

Here, we are demonstrating the automation of a search functionality test case with Testsigma.

Testsigma is a test automation tool that runs on the cloud and requires no external installation of extra files. It is codeless and AI-based, making it an easy and powerful tool to start your automation journey for any feature of your website or application.

With Testsigma, there are two ways to write tests – 

1.  Testsigma recorder that turns every interaction with the website into test steps 
2. Writes your own test cases using NLPs. 

To verify the search functionality on a website, you should run multiple tests – positive as well negative.

For this example, let’s assume that you have to validate the search option present on the blog page of Testsigma.

First, create a test under ‘Test Development’ option in Testsigma tool.

Create a test case with Name and URL to be tested.

Going with the record approach for test step creation, select the Record option on the top right corner, and perform the below actions:

• Identify the search box
• Enter search term into the box
• Click on the search icon or press enter
• Select the first result that comes up
• Verify if the search query is present on the clicked result page

The below image shows how the test steps include recognizing the URL, the search button, and entering the search term in the search field. The results should broadly match the search term entered in the search field. The test cases consist of a verify statement that checks if the search query is present on the blog page.

Search functionality test using Testsigma

Tools for Automating

There are several tools you can use to automate the test cases for search functionality. Let’s discuss their features.

Testsigma

As mentioned in the above section, Testsigma is a no-code, cloud-based, AI-powered test automation tool that offers testers the ability to write and run test cases in plain English using NLPs. They can easily create new tests in the tool and write and run the test steps to check about anything on their website. Some of the features that are extremely useful in Testsigma are:

• Codeless automation, hence knowledge of a scripting language is not needed.
• Supports web, mobile, and API testing.
• Provides the option to create test reports and analyze them.
• Integrates with third-party tools, including CI/CD tools.
• Has the capability to run parallel tests.
• Checks functional and non-functional aspects of the application and website.
• Self-healing tests for better maintenance.
• Smart test recorder.

Functionize

Functionize aims to simplify test automation by leveraging AI and NLP capabilities, reducing the need for extensive coding and maintenance efforts. The tool focuses on intelligent test creation, adaptive maintenance, and efficient test execution, enabling teams to achieve faster and more reliable software testing. Some of the features of this tool are:

• Parallel test execution.
• Intelligent test recorder.
• Use of NLPs for writing test cases.
• Support for third-party integrations and collaboration platforms.
• Useful reporting and analytics option.

Eggplant

Eggplant is a test automation tool that specializes in functional and user-centric testing. It offers a range of features and capabilities to help organizations ensure the quality and performance of their software applications. Here are some key features of Eggplant:

• Offers image-based testing.
• Focuses on user experience testing by simulating user interactions.
• Supports test automation at different levels, including GUI testing, API testing, and database testing.
• Enables testers to perform data-driven testing.
• Provides a visual representation of the tests being executed.
• Promotes test script reusability.

TestRigor

TestRigor is a no-code test automation tool that empowers manual QA testers to create automated tests using plain English commands. It supports various types of applications, including web UI, native and hybrid mobile apps, mobile browsers, and APIs. Some features of testRigor are:

• Supports web, mobile, and API testing.
• Integrates seamlessly with CI/CD and Test case management tools.
• Cross-platform and cross-browser support.
• No-code test automation tool.
• Offers test maintenance capabilities.

Summary

Search is an important functionality on every website and application that helps users find a specific post, product, or feature among hundreds of available on the site. And testing this functionality requires you to understand the basic features of how search should work and what more advanced filters you need to verify.

You can either run the test cases manually, or you can employ an automation tool, such as Testsigma, to perform end-to-end testing of your search functionality. Testsigma has many certain features that help you to write test cases easily within minutes. Take snapshots, save test data, manage reports and analytics, and share the tests with your colleagues for feedback. Truly, it is a one-in-all test automation tool that assists you with web, mobile, and API testing. For more details, visit our website or register for a free demo.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you write a test case for a search filter?

There might be multiple test cases for a search filter. For example, some of them are verifying selecting/deselecting a filter, ensuring all the filter options are proper, the results displayed are as per the filter options, and clearing all the filters selected. You can create test steps for these filter options and automate them using a tool.

How do you write test cases for sorting functionality?

To write test cases for sorting functionality, first understand how the sorting functionality should work. Every website will have its own specifications. And after that, create test cases to verify if the results are being displayed as per the selected sorting, if you are able to view all the sorting options, and if you can select/deselect the options available.