Author: Dwarika Dhish Mishra

Write Test Cases For Pen, Interview might ask to write by pointing pen lying on the table. But what if you start writing test cases without asking some questions with the interviewer. I know some interview think like you are asking questions means you are out. But most of the interviewer will like this approach because the solutions are always part of the question.

One thing that I want to mention here, Everyone shows interest in negative test cases, So always try to negate the positive test cases. Because the system is not meant to perform which is not expected from it… So there is an equal number of test cases that can be written as positive test cases. So chill friends and don’t be panicked.
So before starting to write test cases for Pen. I would ask you to ask these questions

• What kind of pen ( ball pen/ ink pen/ gel pen / multi refill pen).
• Who is the user?
• Where it will be used (surface)
• Max or min temperature for its use.

All the above questions will decide your test cases, But for time being I am picking simple ball pen. Because this is the most used pen type in today’s world.

So why not we start to write test cases for Pen. But our test cases will be divided again into 4 categories.
Philosophical – Look and Feel
Economics – Cost
Operational – Functionality
Value addition – Impact on end-user

Read: Write Test Cases for ATM
Test Cases For lift

Look and feel aka UI Test Cases

• Check pen is intact as a whole. balls are intact as mentioned with the nozzle of the refill.
• Check pen design, its grip and its length ( Pen with length 1 meter can also write things but how hard it will be to hold it straight) as per the specification.
• Check the material of the pen. Because this might changes shapes with changes in weather.
• Check colour is as per specification.
• Check company branding/ logo on the pen.
• Check inscribed text o brand text is readable.
• Check material is not harmful to human.
• Check build of the pen, Just by dropping pen from some height
• Check usability of the pen while keeping refill in some viscous liquid of same nature. It should work (Although no one does this)
• Check pen is correctly working in normal weather conditions from temp range 0 to approx 50-degree Celcius.

Cost

• Check how many refills are used on one page of writing.
• Check availability of refill | this is needed for ease of refill manufacturing per unit of time as per its user count.

Operational aka Functional Test Cases

But before moving ahead with test cases creation for pen, why not we understand how ball pen works and what are the scientific causes that help ball pen to write on surface.

• Check grip handling during the writing.
• Check the kind of metal used for a ball in pen (Only brass/steel/tungsten).
• Check ink output while keeping the pen vertical on the surface without any movement. (It should not spill ink from the pen).
• Check ink dries quickly or not.
• Check is waterproof or not
• Check ink coming out easily or not because this is going to change the user experience.
• Check ball size because this is going to control the thickness of text.
• Check ink output through ball pen when keeping outer pressure less than the pressure inside ink ( This is one extreme condition).
• Check ink doesn’t clot if kept for long duration like a month or something or in the extreme hot condition it should not come out from refill.
• Check ink of the pen coming smoothly on all surfaces mentioned in the specification.
• Check if the ink is not coming out when kept in flights or if made for space scientists where pressure and gravity are approx zero.
• Check refill writing length. Long time back Link pen were advertising that their pen can draw up to 5 KM.

Value addition:

• Check the speed of writing.
• Check aroma, if it is pleasant then more and more people will get attracted to this pen.
• Check ink type which becomes readable at a certain temperature. ( Made for James Bond 🙂
• Check if the user can write within the water on a certain surface up to certain depth. ( Because nowadays people are marring within the water ) .
• Check to refill of ink (If this can be done easily then this is a great ease for end-user)
• Drop pen vertically on the tip on a hard surface, Ball should be intact. ( this is necessary because people with kids might face this situation multiple time)

So after these long list of test cases, I am concluding it here and hopefully, this will benefit you in your next Interview.