How can I create a bug report [duplicate]

Question

I am studying on websites manual test. I haven't any idea about making a bug report for developer by MS word, excel, powerpoint, PDF, video, screenshot etc. That they can understand easily my report & absence of me they fixed bugs. How to create a report, specially bugs report for developer. Developers need clean & easy report for understanding & also fixing those bugs. Which report will be clean & that report will have details about bugs. Step by step every bug & their fixing issue.

I need some idea with examples that I can understand & created by myself. If anybody know about any tools & websites about manual bugs reporting so please details information to me.

Answer 1

What you should do is ask your customers what they want.

In this case ask your developers what kind of information do they like to receive about any bug and in what format.

Usually prepare a proper story of

1. what you did to generate a specific bug and why exactly do you think it is a bug?

2. What will happen if you don't fix this bug?

Maybe make a video or take a screenshot and annotate it to support your investigation.

Help the developers to improve their productivity by giving suggestions about improvement in the project or the work process itself!

Answer 2

you should have a look @ http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com or specifically http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-write-good-bug-report/ this will help you.

Answer 3

Generic guidelines you can find in a similar question Best guidelines for bug reporting?.

If you're looking for examples of bug reports, I would browse through bug reports for open sources and publicly available projects. It actually makes no sense to link such places. Rather, you need to find an application or programming library that you use or are familiar with. This way, by reading their bug reports, possible workarounds and fixes, you will be able to see which bug reports helped developers and other users and which not. Was it easy for you to understand the failure? Where you able to reproduce it?

Good bug reports are useful also when I don't wear my tester's hat. For instance, when I was trying to design my new flat with 3D tool and I got some error, I found some other guys reporting similar problem in the community support site for this tool. It was easy for me to see it was similar, because steps to reproduce reported by them were similar to my scenario. Plus, there where possible workarounds and solutions listed there.

Note, bugs reports are not necessarily available in bug reporting tools. Online they are called forums, fora, community support, etc.

Answer 4

The short answer: Imagine you're trying to guide someone that's blindfolded through an obstacle course. They'll need to know where they are, details about how to move, and information about what to expect at each step.

Bug reports are similar; you need to use words, pictures, and video to accurately guide them through what you were doing, what you expected, and when it broke down.

We (uTest) have written a lot on this topic in conjunction with our community of 150,000+ testers. Here's one example I found with a quick search -

How to Write a Quality Bug Report

Writing a good bug report is one of the most talked-about topics in the testing world. The art of creating a well-written bug report requires a balanced combination of testing and communication skills. This course provides advice and tips geared towards helping you create bug reports that are informative and actionable, thus improving their value to the customer.

It's a bit too long for a post but here are the areas it covers -

• The Title
• Actions Performed (Steps)
• Expected and Actual Results
• Attachments

There's even more here: http://university.utest.com/?s=bug+report

Answer 5

Defect reporting tools are going to vary at each company. For example; some places use HP's QLM, some places use Target Process, some places just use Word/Excel. (I'm not associated with any of these companies but have used them at clients in the past!)

As far as the content goes... you've kind of answered your own question. The report needs to be clear, concise and factual. Typical bug reports can vary between companies, but generally include the same basic information:

• Description / Summary of the issue
• Prerequisites of the test
• Steps to reproduce the defect
• Expected Outcome
• Actual Outcome
• Branch/Revision info
• Test evidence

The last point is especially useful as a picture says a thousand words and shows the developer exactly what you're seeing (particularly for front-end UI / UX issues)

Good luck with finding a tool to use - you'll find they're largely the same but may have completely different pricing options so may be best off with creating a Word template and good ol' fashion email.

Answer 6

First of all: Something like one perfect bug report for all projects and types of applications does not exist. But you can talk with the developers and stakeholders of the project and discuss improvements of the bug reports you create. After a while you will have reports who everyone like.

Here is an example how I write a bug report:

Preconditions:
The user has an entry in the TODO list.

Steps:
1. Open www.todolist.com
2. Do a login to get access to the TODO list.

Expected:
Each entry in the TODO list has a delete button.

Actual:
No delete buttons are present.

Environment:
Firefox 30
Windows 7 SP1

Test Data:
Username: testuser

• Preconditions are not must, but in some cases they are necessary.
• A step-by-step list to reproduce the bug is easy to read and understand.
• It is important to explain what your expected result is, so the developer know what s/he has to fix.
• Some bugs could be depend on the environment. For example: A layout bug on a website could be present in Internet Explorer, but not in Firefox.
• If you use special test data (e.g. user input, account data) to reproduce the bug, write this in the report.
• Screenshots and videos are also very helpful, especially for layout/GUI bugs.