Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Best BlackBerry Shortcuts

Home Screen Shortcuts
Now you'll need to hit your Phone icon or click the green phone button to dial a number and place a call, but you'll have access to all of the following shortcuts from your Home Screen via a single click of the corresponding letter key:
  • WAP Browser -- W
  • Alarm -- R
  • Tasks -- T
  • Calculator -- U
  • Options -- O
  • Address Book -- A
  • Search -- S
  • Notes -- D
  • Profiles -- F
  • Help -- H
  • Lock keypad -- K
  • Calendar -- L
  • Messages -- M
  • Browser -- B
  • BlackBerry Messenger -- N
  • Saved messages -- V
  • Compose -- C

Typing Shortcuts

  • To capitalize a letter with one click, hold down the letter key.
  • To insert a period, click the Space key twice.
  • Turn CAP Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the right Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key.
  • Turn Number Lock on by pressing the ALT key followed by the left Shift key. Turn it off by pressing either Shift key.
  • Type an accented letter or special character by holding the corresponding letter and scrolling left or right with the trackball.
  • Insert the current date into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the D key and Space key.
  • Insert the current time into a message or document by pressing the L key followed by the T key and Space key.

Messaging (E-mail and SMS)

  • In e-mail inbox, press the S key to search for a sender or a word within a subject line, and any mail folder regardless of message was sent or received.
  • Within inbox, access the complete list of messages sent by hitting the ALT key followed by the O key.
  • Within inbox, access the complete list of messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the I key.
  • Within inbox, access the complete list of SMS text messages received by hitting the ALT key followed by the S key.
  • Within inbox, access phone log by hitting the ALT key followed by the P key.
  • Within inbox, access voicemail log by hitting the ALT key followed by the V key.
  • To delete all messages sent or received before a specific date, highlight that date with the cursor, hit the BlackBerry Menu key, select Delete Prior and confirm selection.
  • To enable automatic spell checking of e-mail messages, click the Options icon on BlackBerry home screen. Then click Spell Check and select the Spell Check E-Mail Before Sending option.
  • To do a manual spell check, click the BlackBerry Menu key within a composed message and select Check Spelling.
  • When a message is being spell checked, suggested fixes to unrecognized words can be ignored by clicking the escape key.

When in a list of messages, or when reading a message:

T- Top
B- Bottom
Space bar- next page
Num shift + Space bar - previous page

When in a list of messages:
N- go to Next day
P- go to Prev day

Spreadsheet Attachments:

  1. Change the size of a column by pushing the W key.
  2. Go to a specific cell by pressing the G key.
  3. View contents of a cell by pressing the Space key.
  4. Search for text by clicking the F key, and then type the desired word.
  5. Switch to a different worksheet by pressing V and selecting the desired sheet.

Presentation Attachments:

  1. Skip to the next slide by pressing the N key.
  2. Return to the previous slide by clicking the P key.
  3. Start slideshow by pushing the S key.
  4. Stop slideshow by clicking the Escape key.
  5. Switch to a new view of the slideshow by clicking the M key.

Phone Functions

  1. Multitask while on phone calls by hitting the BlackBerry menu key during a call and then selecting Home Screen. You'll then have access to e-mail and other documents--though most BlackBerrys don't allow for simultaneous voice and data transfer, so Internet access is unavailable while on calls.
  2. Find specific contacts from your BlackBerry home screen by pressing keys for first and last initials, with a space between them. If more than one contact has the same initials, scroll to the appropriate contact.

BlackBerry Browser

  1. Bring up the Enter Web Address field from any Web page by pressing the G key.
  2. Insert a period in Web address by clicking the Space key.
  3. Insert a back slash in Web address by clicking either the Left Shift or Right Shift keys and then hitting Space.
  4. Add an item to bookmarks list by clicking the A key.
  5. Bring up your bookmark list by clicking the K key.
  6. Refresh a Web page by clicking the R key.
  7. Display a list of the last 20 pages visited by hitting the I key.
  8. Open browser options with the O key.

Back to Basics: Starts and Stops

  1. To put device into Standby Mode so keys cannot be pressed while it's not in use, hold down the Mute key for a second or two. Undo Standby Mode by holding Mute for another couple of seconds.
  1. If BlackBerry slows down, starts malfunctioning or freezing, always try removing the battery and SIM card--if the device has one--and waiting a few seconds before reinserting it. Ninety-five percent of the issues Aflac BlackBerry users experience are resolved by simply removing the battery, according to Genet.

Software Test Plan for a mobile application

Software Test Plan for a mobile application

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

This document explains the testing methodology for a mobile application, and is to be used as a guide for the testing activity.

The intended audience for this document: The Project Managers Product development team members Test engineers

1.2 Scope

The scope of testing as explained in the document is to test the operating characteristics of an application that runs on mobile devices supporting J2ME. The tests are organized by requirement category such as usability, functionality, security, etc. The procedure for carrying out testing in terms of preparation of test cases, test environment setup, defects logging and reporting are explained.

The document does not address the following:

  • Content censorship (i.e. assessment against standards for violence, gambling, political messaging etc.) for the purpose of preventing the deployment or sale of an application. Distribution, DRM etc.
  • Testing requirements specific to a particular manufacturer’s (or network operator’s) device, user interface, and standards (e.g. WAP) implementation.


1.3 References Mention the documents of references

1.4 Acronyms

Acronym Expansion
DRM Digital Rights Management
J2ME™ Java™ 2 Platform Micro Edition

2 Test Plan and Strategy

2.1 Unit Testing

2.1.1 Objective

The objective of Unit testing is to verify that a particular module of source code is working properly. Unit tests are designed to test a single class or component or module in isolation. Developers run unit tests, and only for the components they are working on.

2.1.2 Entry Criteria

  • Test cases are reviewed
  • Build is complete and self test done
  • Unit Test environment is set up

2.1.3 Exit Criteria

  • All planned test cases are executed
  • Units are working as per the expected results
  • Defect are fixed in the code and tracked to closure

2.1.4 Logging Tests and Reporting

The developer will fix the defects that are found in unit testing. Additionally, if defects corresponding to other modules or components are found during unit testing, these will be reported.

2.2 System Testing

In System Testing, separate units (packages / modules / components), or groups of units of the application are united and tested as a completely merged application. The purpose of System Testing is to identify defects that will only surface when a complete system is assembled. Verification of the system at this stage might include: functionality, usability, security, installation etc. It is intended to validate the application as a whole.

The rest of this document mainly explains how System Testing is performed by the testing team.


2.2.1 Testing Procedure

The steps in testing consist of:  Creation of all the test scenarios and test cases

  • Preparation of a test case document that has a brief description of the test case , steps to conduct tests and expected result
  • Defect Report generation.

Outlined below are the main test types that will be performed

a. Application Characteristics (AC) – Information about the application is provided to help the testing team in the testing work.

b. Stability (ST) – Focusing on the application being stable on the device.

c. Application Launch (AL) – Once an application is loaded it must start (launch) and stop correctly in relation to the device and other applications on the device.

d. User Interface (UI)

e. Functionality (FN) - Documented features are implemented in the application and work as expected. Sources for the information are user manuals, formatted application specification documents and online documentation.

f. Connectivity (CO) – the application must demonstrate its ability to communicate over a network correctly. It must be capable of dealing with both network problems and server-side problems.

g. Personal Information Management (PI) - The application accessing user information needs to be able to do it in an appropriate manner and not to destroy the information.

h. Security


2.3 Regression Testing

This is an additional step, and is done prior to taking up system testing which is to test new functionality. Regression testing consists of running a set of standard tests to ensure that old functionality has not been broken by new functionality. Regression tests are also run if a new release is made after fixing a number of defects.

2.4 Pass/Fail Conditions

It is expected that an application must pass all the tests in each test category to be successful.

2.5 Test Report

For each report, the following information is provided: • The name of the application

  • The version number of the application
  • Device used for testing
  • Device firmware version

For each error reported, the following information is provided:

  • Description of the error
  • Frequency of occurrence of error: Systematic or Random or Once
  • Location of the error in the application
  • Steps to reproduce the error

3 Schedules for Testing

This will be decided in consultation with the project manager.


4 Risks and Assumptions

4.1 Risks:

The following may impact the test cycle:

  • Device availability
  • Any new feature addition/modification to the application which is not communicated in advance.
  • Any delay in the software delivery schedule including defect fixes. Any changes in the functional requirements since the requirements were signed-off/formulated

4.2 Assumptions:

  • Every release to QA will accompany a release note specifying details of the features implemented and its impact on the module under test.
  • All "Show-Stopper" bugs receive immediate attention from the development team.
  • All bugs found in a version of the software will be fixed and unit tested by the development team before the next version is released
  • All documentation will be up-to-date and delivered to the system test team.
  • Devices, Emulators and other support tools will be fully functional prior to project commencement.
  • In case of lack of required equipment or changes in the feature requirements, the test schedules may need to be reviewed.

5 Entry and Exit Criteria

5.1 Entry Criteria

  • Development of the application is complete
  • Successful completion of unit testing for the applications
  • Release of software to the test environment
  • Dedicated resources are allocated
  • Approved test bed to carry out system testing.
  • Test environment is up and working

5.2 Exit Criteria

The Following is the criteria when the testing will be stopped for this module:

  • All test cases have been executed and at least 95% have passed successfully. The remaining 5% do not impact critical functionality
  • All test results have been evaluated and accepted.
  • There are no showstoppers or high criticality defects unresolved or outstanding
6 Test Metrics

Following metrics will be captured and reported as part of the Test

  • Summary Report
  • Test Design effort
  • Test execution effort
  • Number of Test Cases executed
  • Number of Defects and their classification
  • Test Coverage (Number of test cases executed/Number planned)

7 Logging Tests and Reporting

Some third party applications will be used for reporting bugs found during test execution. The QA team will log defects in the tool as testing progresses.

8 Roles and Responsibilities


The roles and responsibilities of the testing team for the project are as follows:

8.1 Project Manager / Test Manager Responsibilities:

  • Overall responsibility for managing the testing process
  • Approval of test documents
  • Approval of inspections/reviews done as per the test plan
  • Providing resources for the project

8.2 Test Lead

Responsibilities:

  • Requirement gathering
  • Planning and estimating for testing
  • Tracking and monitoring the testing as per the test plan
  • Reporting the project status

8.3 Test Engineer

Responsibilities:

  • Creating the test cases as per the test plan
  • Executing the test cases
  • Documenting the results and logging errors.
9 Deliverables
  • Test Plan
  • Test Cases Document – Document with a description and expected result for each test case.
  • Test Results – The Pass/Fail status of each test cases and the list of issues.