Conduct load, penetration, and regression testing to ensure your application is tested for stability and security issues.
After reading this article you’ll know:
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General recommendations for tackling the security and stability issues
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Ways to test your applications while building or before going live
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The roles of load, penetration, and regression testing practices
In the dynamic landscape of Betty Blocks, where applications are rapidly developed through a visual development platform, identifying potential stability and security issues can be a nuanced challenge. This article seeks to provide practical guidance for those who are about to go live with their applications, offering insights into ensuring safety. While various testing methods exist, we will spotlight those particularly relevant to the Betty Blocks environment: load testing, penetration testing, and regression testing.
Load testing (for scalability)
Load testing is performed to evaluate how well an application can handle a specific amount of concurrent users, ensuring scalability and performance under various conditions. In the context of Betty Blocks, we want to make sure the product you’re building is capable of handling the expected traffic. That may not only mean the amount of users logging in to the application but also the number of actions executed at the same time (like uploading files to the system).
Imagine your application has a calculator behind it that is capable of handling a certain amount of processes simultaneously. You need to track two key factors: the number of end-users initiating processes and the scale of these processes, whether it involves uploading a single record or a thousand records. This is where you have to understand both the product you’re dealing with and the typical user workflow clearly.
While we offer services to optimize the overall performance of your application, it’s equally important for the builder to ensure that the calculator runs smoothly. Therefore, if you find yourself executing one huge process (while also letting everyone do the same), try to explore batch processing. This literally means breaking down the task into manageable pieces.
Some points to take into consideration regarding load testing:
Clear guidelines: Establish clear guidelines for load testing, specifying the upper limits to prevent overloading the production environment. Carefully consider the scalability requirements of your application and set realistic thresholds for testing.
Rate limiter of data API: Specifically, check how many users it will take to hit the rate limiter of the data API. Understanding this threshold is crucial for optimizing the application’s performance.
Avoid production environments: Stress that load testing should never be performed on a production application directly. Overloading the production environment might lead to unintended consequences, including the blocking or disabling of critical functionalities.
Test on pre-production (acceptance): Instead, conduct load testing on pre-production or acceptance environments that mirror the production environment. This ensures a realistic simulation of user load without risking the stability of the live application.
Talk to support: Do the tests while talking to support. Betty Blocks specialists should be aware of your next moves - this might prevent a lot of issues in the moment and the future.
Penetration testing (for security)
Security is a top priority in any application development process. Penetration testing is the process of systematically probing for vulnerabilities to ensure that your application is resistant to security breaches. Being a repetitive part of the development life cycle rather than a one-time activity, penetration testing ensures the application’s security measures evolve with the dynamic threat landscape and facilitates early detection and remediation.
Before going live, penetration testing becomes crucial for protecting the business’s reputation, complying with legal requirements, and preventing post-launch disruptions. This comprehensive approach ensures a strong and secure application ecosystem from top to bottom.
Let’s draw a use case. An e-commerce platform (an online store) is getting ready to launch. Before going live, the development team does penetration testing to check for threats. Acting like hackers, they are simulating a cyber attack, while the testing team identifies vulnerabilities such as weak encryption protocols and potential entry points for SQL injection. At the same time, the team provides detailed reports with recommendations for remediation, including strengthening encryption and patching vulnerable code. By implementing these security measures before going live, the e-commerce platform protects itself against potential breaches, assuring users that their sensitive data is well-protected.
So, what should you think about before performing penetration testing? Here are some some points:
Create documentation: The testing team should provide detailed reports with recommendations on what needs to be patched up, ranging from critical issues to non-issues. A structured approach, such as creating a top 10 security vulnerabilities list, facilitates a systematic response to identified issues, ensuring a thorough and prioritized resolution.
Third-party experts: Consider engaging third-party security experts to perform penetration testing. Their objective perspective can reveal vulnerabilities that might be overlooked by internal teams.
Communication with Betty Blocks: Proactive communication is a key to success. Inform and coordinate with our support/services teams - they need to know when and how you’re going to execute a certain test.
Legal and compliance check: Verify that the application complies with all legal and regulatory requirements. This includes data protection laws, privacy regulations, and industry-specific compliance standards.
For some companies, penetration testing is not just a best practice but a mandatory step before going live. Recognizing and complying with such standards leads to a smooth transition from testing to deployment.
Regression testing (for operational impact)
Regression testing is essential to ensure that new features and updates do not negatively impact existing functionality. In the context of Betty Blocks, where rapid development is common, regression testing becomes crucial for maintaining application stability. As with almost all kinds of testing, regression testing needs to be performed iteratively, especially at the end of large epics or development cycles. This helps catch any issues introduced during the development process before they reach the production environment.
However, for the Betty Blocks builders heading towards deployment, there are some points to consider:
Review testing plan: Make sure the regression testing plan covers all critical functionalities of your application. Pay particular attention to the less frequently accessed features to guarantee that no aspect is overlooked.
Testing custom components: If builders create custom components, emphasize the need for thorough regression testing. Changes to one part of the application can have unforeseen consequences elsewhere. The custom code often found in low-code applications can change in ways the original creator didn't anticipate.
Environment similarities: Replicate the production environment as closely as possible for regression testing. This helps mimic real-world conditions and ensures that the testing results accurately reflect the application’s performance in the live environment.
Browser and device compatibility: Test the application across various browsers and devices. Regression testing should cover different user scenarios, including those using different browsers, operating systems, and devices, to guarantee a consistent experience for all users.
Automated test cases: Leverage the feature provided by Betty Blocks, allowing users to create and run automated test cases. This feature enables builders to perform regression testing efficiently, ensuring that existing functionalities remain intact. Example: ghost inspector
It's important that testers and developers collaborate in order to lower the risk of both costly delays and halting defects. What is also worth mentioning is user permissions and security measures are intact after updates or changes. Regression testing should include checks for any unintended changes to access controls. Make sure sensitive data remains protected!
Summary
As on any other platforms, Betty Blocks applications require a comprehensive testing strategy. Load testing, penetration testing, and regression testing each play their roles in different aspects of application development: both during the building process and before going live. The points for consideration presented in this article are applicable to many cases but you always need to work out your own best practices with each type of testing so that you can confidently deploy applications that meet the high standards of your industry.