The purpose of a test case is to describe how you intend to empirically verify that the software being developed conforms to the specifications. In other words, you need to be able to show that it can correctly carry out its intended functions. The test case should be written with enough clarity and detail that it could be given to an independent tester and have the tests properly carried out.

TEST CASE DESCRIPTION

Purpose:

Describe the features of the software to be tested, and the particular behavior being verified by this test.

Requirement Traceability:

A cross reference to the numbers of the requirements (in the system specification) which are being verified in this test.

Describe all the steps necessary to setup the software environment necessary to carry out the test.

Write the actual input data to be provided and the expected output for your actual working product.  You must provide the actual input data values, not just a description. For example, "Enter a new wholesale price" is wrong. "Enter a wholesale price of $23.50" is correct.  For the expected results you must provide the actual values not just a description. For example, "The updated retail price is displayed" is wrong. "The retail price of $49.99 is displayed"  is correct.

 Be sure to include any manual calculations necessary to determine the expected outputs. (For example, if the program converts Fahrenheit temperature to Celsius, show the hand computations you did using the conversion formulas to arrive at the expected results).  

Often the test data can be shown in tabular form, with a column of input items and the corresponding column of expected outputs. If the test input is contained in an external data file, you can provide the file name and have the file contents listed on a separate page.

• Example Test Case (Pizza International - GUI)
• Example Test Case (LOC - console)
• Example Test Case (Task List - GUI)
• Example Test Case (Hangman - console)

• Bad Examples. Study these to avoid common mistakes.
• More Bad Examples.