Automated test data generation for portals

Automated test data generation is a crucial part of the testing process when working with Power Pages (or any portal-based application). It involves creating synthetic data that mimics real-world usage, enabling you to test features and workflows without using actual customer data. This helps ensure that the portal works as expected under various conditions while maintaining data privacy and security.

In the context of Power Pages, automated test data generation can assist in verifying form submissions, workflows, navigation, user interactions, and much more. The process also ensures that the portal is functional under diverse conditions and that user stories can be thoroughly tested before going live.

Key Considerations for Test Data Generation

1. Data Type: The types of data you need to generate will vary depending on the components of your portal (forms, entities, workflows, etc.). Common data types include:
   • Text (names, addresses, comments)
   • Dates (e.g., registration date, order date)
   • Numeric (e.g., amounts, quantities)
   • Booleans (e.g., isActive, isSubmitted)
   • Relationships (e.g., user-to-record, entity relationships)
2. Volume: Generating enough test data to simulate real-world scenarios is essential. Ensure that the volume of data is large enough to test the portal’s performance but also manageable to ensure testing can be completed in a reasonable amount of time.
3. Data Quality: While the data is synthetic, it needs to be realistic to ensure that the test results are accurate. Random data that looks like actual data can help ensure that all features are tested under conditions close to production use.

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Step-by-Step Guide for Automated Test Data Generation in Power Pages

Here’s a guide for setting up automated test data generation for Power Pages using various tools, such as Power Automate, PowerShell, or custom scripts, in conjunction with Power Platform’s features.

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1. Identify the Entities and Data Points to Test

First, identify the entities and forms within your portal that require test data. These might include:

• Dataverse tables/entities used to store customer, transaction, or product data.
• Forms and views where data is submitted or displayed.
• Workflows and Power Automate flows triggered by data actions (e.g., user registration, contact submission).

For each of these components, list the fields you need to generate test data for. Ensure that you understand the field types (e.g., text, number, date) so you can generate the appropriate values.

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2. Automated Data Generation Using Power Automate

Power Automate can be used to create workflows that automatically generate test data. This approach is suitable when you want to create test records periodically or in bulk without manually entering data.

Steps:

1. Create a Power Automate Flow:
   • Set up a flow to generate records in the required Dataverse tables. The flow can trigger periodically (e.g., every day or weekly) or based on specific events.
2. Use Expressions for Dynamic Data:
   • Use Power Automate’s expression language to generate dynamic test data. For example:
     • Names: Use concat() to generate random names: concat('John', ' ', 'Doe')
     • Dates: Use utcnow() or addDays() to generate dates: addDays(utcnow(), 1)
     • Numbers: Use rand() for random number generation: rand(1, 1000)
3. Create Test Records:
   • Use the “Create a new record” action in Power Automate to insert test data into Dataverse entities.
4. Test with Multiple Variations:
   • Use loops and conditional actions within the flow to generate multiple records with varying data points. This helps simulate different user scenarios.

Example Power Automate Flow:

1. Trigger: “Recurrence” to generate test data every day.
2. Action: “Initialize variable” for random numbers, text, and dates.
3. Action: “Create a new record” in Dataverse with the initialized data.

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3. Generating Test Data Using PowerShell

PowerShell can be used to create test data through automation scripts. This approach allows you to generate and insert data into the Dataverse tables more flexibly.

Steps:

1. Set Up PowerShell to Connect to Power Platform:
   • Install the Microsoft.PowerPlatform.Cds.Client module to interact with Power Platform via PowerShell.
   • Authenticate using Add-PowerAppsAccount to connect to your environment.
2. Create PowerShell Script to Generate Test Data:
   • Write a script to generate test data based on your needs. PowerShell can generate random data and insert it into Dataverse tables.

Example PowerShell Script:

# Install required module
Install-Module Microsoft.PowerApps.Cds.Client

# Connect to Power Platform
Add-PowerAppsAccount -Environment 'https://<your-environment-url>'

# Define the entity name
$entityName = 'your_entity_name'

# Generate random test data
$firstName = "John"
$lastName = "Doe"
$randomEmail = "testuser" + (Get-Random -Minimum 1000 -Maximum 9999) + "@example.com"
$randomDate = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd"

# Create a new record with the generated data
$record = @{
    "firstname" = $firstName
    "lastname"  = $lastName
    "email"     = $randomEmail
    "createdon" = $randomDate
}

# Insert into Dataverse
New-CdsRecord -EntityName $entityName -Record $record

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4. Using Power Apps for Manual Data Generation

For quick, on-the-fly testing, you can also use Power Apps (or canvas apps) to create records in Dataverse tables manually. This approach may not be fully automated but can be useful in cases where you need quick records for specific testing scenarios.

Steps:

1. Create a Power App: Design a simple app that allows you to input test data into a form.
2. Add Controls: Add text input fields for each data point that needs to be tested (name, email, date, etc.).
3. Submit Data: Use a button to submit data to a Dataverse table.

This method is less efficient for large datasets but can be helpful when needing to generate a few records quickly for exploratory testing.

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5. Automated Test Data with Custom Scripts

For more complex scenarios, custom scripts using external programming languages (e.g., C#, Python) can be written to interact with the Power Platform API and generate test data. You can call the API to create records in bulk or automate more complex scenarios such as testing user interactions and workflows.

Example:

You can use Power Platform Web API and a custom script to generate records in bulk. This gives you greater flexibility, especially for integrating with external systems or generating extremely large datasets.