For Test Session testing, you will be asked to document the time you spend testing the given product. In any other sense, they are no different from any other exploratory test on the test IO platform. We developed this feature to show our customers how much value (= testing time) they get out of a given crowd test. In order to make this data relevant, please only activate the Test Session for the time you actually spend testing. This is also our first step in the direction towards Session-based testing.
In Test Session tests, you will only be able to submit bugs, once you start your Test Session. In order to do it, please go to the Test Overview page; at the top of the page, you will see the Test Session bar that looks as follows:
In order to start your Test Session, simply press the record button on the right:
In the 'New Test Session' window that will pop up as soon as you press the record button, please indicate the time you are going to spend testing the product from the drop-down list. The 'Annotations' field is optional but you can include such details as what specific testing methodologies you are going to use or how and what you are planning to test, anything that could be useful.
The maximum amount of time you can select for your Test Session is 4 hours. The time options in the drop-down menu depend on the overall test duration.
Once you press the 'Start session' button, your Test Session will start and the button to submit bugs will be available to you until your test session runs out. You can go ahead and start testing the product now.
You can always see the count-down of how much time you have left for your Test Session on the Test Session bar:
If you need more time to finish your Test Session and document the bugs you've found, you can always extend your session as long as the test is still running. In order to do it, simply go to the Test Session bar at the top of the Test Overview page and press the 'Extend Test Session' button:
In the pop-up 'Extend session time' window, choose the extension time - how much more time you need to finish your Test Session and briefly (not longer than 2 sentences) describe the reason for your time extension:
If you need to finish testing the product ahead of time, you can always stop your Test Session on the Test Session bar. In the 'Annotations' field, please provide any useful feedback about your testing experience. Here are a number of questions that can help you write useful feedback for it:
What approach did use to find new bugs?
Did you test all features or were you selective, and why?
Which of the following activities did you focus on: bug reporting, Reproduction submissions, User Story executions, and why?
What is the main reason for you ending your Test Session?
Did the test match your expectations? Why/why not?
Remember! You can only have 1 Test Session active at a time. In order to start a new Test Session in a different test, you need to end the running one first.
Summary:
You can only submit bugs/reproductions/User Stories/Test Cases while the Test Session is active.
Only 1 Test Session in 1 test can be active at the same time.
You can see the count-down of how much time is left for your Test Session at the top of the Test Overview page.
You can extend and stop your Test Session at any time.