Placeholder text and image generators

Large amount of information is used in the process of testing. The information used in tests as input data is called test data. In the article below,  we will tell you what is a test data , what characteristics it should have, what types of test data are there and look at generators of test texts and images.

What are test data?

Test data are actually the input to the program. In 2016, IBM conducted a study, in the results of which it was found that testers spend from 30 to 60 percent of their working time on finding, creating and maintaining test data. This means that it is a rather long process in testing.

Some test data are used exclusively for positive testing, that is, entering such data for a specific function must give the expected result. As we have test data for positive testing, we also have data for negative testing. This way, we check the ability of the software to handle unexpected or unusual data input. As it was already clear, testing cannot be performed without test data, and poorly selected data may not cover all possible test scenarios, which in turn will affect the final quality of the product.

Let's look through the main characteristics  of the test data:

• each subsequent test must check something that has not been tested before;
• data should be realistic in the context of real-life situations;
• avoid relying on standard data or data created by other testers;
• data should be created according to specific requirements;
• search and selection of test data should be systematic in order not to miss important test cases;
• the first test and the first input data should be the simplest, this is necessary to check whether the software works at all;
• test data has to become more complicated gradually.

Let's also consider the main problems that may occur in the search for test data:

• testers may lack knowledge and skills regarding test data generation tools;
• test data coverage is often incomplete;
• large amounts of data may be required in a short period.

Generating test data

Depending on the testing environment the tester might need to create test data, such creation can be:

• manual
• copying test data from outdated customer products;
• automatic, using special programs.

Usually, all the data must be created before running the test because the creation process takes a lot of time and there is a risk of missing the deadline for testing.

In this article, we will focus on the special services with the automatic generation of test data.

Text generators

GenerateData  is an open-source web application that generates a large amount of data. Using this service, you can easily fill databases on the website and check how efficiently the site can process large amounts of user data.

Among the main advantages of the service:

• easy-to-use
• more than 30 data types can be created (names, email addresses, countries, etc);
• the possibility to save the created data sets;
• more than 10 formats of data generation.

Data can be generated directly through generatedata.com, but in such a case, there is a limitation of 100 records at a time. It is avoidable by creating an account and paying 25$ per year or installing the software locally.

The lipsum.com service, according to many sources, is the fastest and safest generator of random text. All that you need to do is click the «Create Lorem Ipsum» button and you will get 5 paragraphs of well-formatted dummy text.

Advantages of the service:

• standard filling of the template;
• real distribution of letters and indents in paragraphs;
• text generation that is often used in web design and printing.

Generator-Online.com is a project that includes many various generators that are most often used by users. All the necessary (or even more) generators are combined in one service:

• passwords;
• logins;
• numbers;
• cubes;
• QR code;
• names;
• text;
• intimate poses;
• names for animals;
• countries;
• quotes;
• magic ball;
• coin flip;
• movies;
• music;
• HTML colors;
• compliments;
• cards.

You can also choose different parameters depending on the generator type (the number of symbols, text type, first letter, etc.).

The Lorem Ipsum generator is a free online tool with help of which you can generate text with a certain number of symbols/words/sentences/paragraphs. It is also possible to select the text direction (left to right (standard) or right to left (RTL) and format (RTF or HTML).

Unit-conversion.info  is a service in which you can specify the required number and length of strings, also users can indicate the allowed characters for data generation.

Some of the main advantages of the service include:

• random generation;
• data compression;
• possibility to delete the spaces;
• keeping statistics;
• diverse conversion and more.

Lorem Ipsum Generator for randomized typographic filler text is a generator of randomized printing filler. It has many options, a large selection of languages and code, transliteration, Asian fonts, random symbols, diacritics and many other parameters.

Image generators

The placeholder.com service 

This tool generates a placeholder image that can be used, for example, in web design. The service is completely free and easy to use. All you need to do is enter a special URL address in your html and as the result, you will get a placeholder image.

The picsum.photos service 

This service also helps you to get an arbitrary image and display it in your html. You just need to set the size of the image (the width and the length) after the URL and you will get a placeholder image. For example, https://picsum.photos/200/300. In order to get a square image, enter just one parameter (https://picsum.photos/200)

The placeimg.com service 

The peculiarity of this service is that you can choose the text itself, its background colour, font colour, different image width and height and format.

This way we have reviewed the most popular test data services that will be useful for both experienced testers and beginners in this area.