Testing Block Chain Applications: 5 Important Factors

August 28th, 2018

The block chain is a rising technology that offers applications a long way beyond secure payments.
While blockchain is usually considered in the context of cryptocurrencies and financial services, this technology has a wide array of potential applications.
This is the reason why block chain-enabled innovations are getting more widespread.

As it develops into a stage for digital revolution, blockchain grants an unsettled and cost-saving option to the current consolidated exchange and record-keeping components that exist in worldwide companies today.
Similarly, as with any new innovation, the achievement and reception of blockchain are asserted upon its versatility. With blockchain, in any case, trust in the agreement is major to the probity and consistency of all blockchain transactions. Owing to the obvious reasons testing block chain application is cardinal.
Let’s discuss challenges and factors for Testing Block Chain Applications:
1. Smart contracts
Smart contracts are major elements of the validation technology in a blockchain. A smart contract is an arrangement of standards as programmable constructs that are proficient in automatically imposing themselves as predefined requirements are satisfied.
So, for what reason do we feel that testers are critical when Testing Block Chain Applications over different kinds of frameworks?
Basically, in light of the fact that once an agreement is sent to a blockchain, it can never be substituted.
Majority of the Blockchain key notions can be produced and tested in a general way, though smart contracts are the exception.

Also Read : How to write a neat Bug Report? Complete Guide

We can’t allow errors in that code. So, you must be exceptionally sure the testing that is conducted is of a high-grade quality and that every factor that ought to be secured has been secured. The key factors to consider while Testing Block Chain Applications are:

Approve the techniques for smart contracts similarly as in API testing.
Validating the strategies.
Confirming the boundary value.
Validating the conditional statement.
Testing all the APIs for the smart contract independently.

2. Security
Blockchain appears to show up in the news to either announce the developing value of bitcoin or the theft of bitcoin, bringing up the conspicuous issue: is bitcoin safe?
Numerous layers of security are incorporated with deciding identity. Sadly, once the character layers have been hacked, the prompt exchanges can’t be halted. The variety of keys may confuse theft, at the end of the day, anything that can be entered can likewise be stolen, by shortcomings, for example, lackluster caching or tools like sniffers.
Some testing should be considered for a safe transaction utilizing blockchain by beating hurdles.
These testing factors will offer a direction to test adequately with right validation and a verifying way for the applications based on blockchain technology.
The testing factors are as follows:

Access and authentication
Authenticating data provided
Private keys
Secure hash, a consensus algorithm
Wallet signature process
OWAPS guideline for web and mobile application
Vulnerability evaluation

3. Performance
As blockchain advances, the member user experience will center as much around trust as transaction handling speed.

The performance test ought to be connected to blockchain as per the viewpoint of a customer application end user, reactions required from smart contracts, and system interfaces.
Also, testing the size of the system and its capacity to process transactions is basic, as it enables you to distinguish software and hardware bottlenecks ahead of time.
This can likewise enable you to make sense of the potential expenses of running the application in the cloud or different situations.The key factors are as follows:

Performance testing in blockchain incorporates
Recognizing execution bottlenecks
Describing the metrics for tuning the framework
Surveying whether the app is prepared for production
Anticipated transaction size
Network latency depending on block size

4. Node testing
The quality of the blockchain prevails in having the shared ledger be precisely the same at every single node, with a similar set and string of transactions.
This is accomplished through an agreement over all nodes on the sequence in which exchanges are added to the system.
Testing for flexibility of transactions includes testing the consensus protocol to guarantee exchanges are saved in the best possible flow under typical conditions and additionally in situations where nodes flop simultaneously or enough nodes don’t take an interest in the network for a timeframe.
One approach to test this would be by imitating Byzantine nodes. Versatility likewise should be checked by approving the ledger after nodes that restarted or rejoined the system match up with other approving peers. The key factors are as follows –

Every single heterogeneous node should be autonomously tested.
Validate the block for its legitimacy to make a prolific transaction.

5. Block size
Block size will probably fluctuate on the basis of the use of the blockchain. Consequently, the payloads in the block will also differ in value.
For some blockchains, fewer than 100 bytes per block is assigned for non-payload. As of this written work, there is right now a settled maximum confinement of 1MB for every block of Bitcoin.
Keep in mind that different exchanges can be allocated to one block. The fact of the matter is, testers need to assess:

How changing block size affects performance?
By what means will the block be managed?
What happens when the quantity of new information going into a block surpasses the maximumblock size for that blockchain application?

WHAT TOOLS WILL YOU NEED FOR BLOCKCHAIN APPLICATION TESTING?
The determination of the correct Testing Block Chain Applications tools is also the important step for effective and successful testing. Here is the list that may be considered by those who’ll need to guarantee the blockchain-based applications are functioning properly:

Tools for Bug and Test Tracking.
Testnet Indexing Tool. For instance, the site ropsten.etherscan.io permits checking the continuous wallet balance and the complete data on any exchange.
It can be needed to set up a local node for the given blockchain. There are different tools with agreeable UI that will efficiently do this.
API Testing Tools. Such as soapUI, Postman.
Encoding and encryption program.
Database Testing Tools.

Final thoughts….
Testing Block Chain Applications are very unique in relation to testing customary apps. And in addition to all the typical problem-solving techniques, we need to consider things like:

how our application will function when incidents outside of our control influence the system?
if individuals can front-run our exchanges,
and also, whether our transactions will turn out to be excessively costly, making it impossible to legitimize the presence of our application.

This is only the start of a checklist of potential testing challenges for blockchain applications testing.Testing ought to go beyond.

None of this Testing Block Chain Applications matters when you can’t duplicate real-world contingencies all the while. That is the reason, aside from all the testing schedules and innovation, you need to connect with subject specialists amid the testing stage. This could be your front-end engineers or business people who are basically customer friendly programmers. They know the wants from the customer encounter viewpoint.