Label persistent test data with deletion dates by Mark Seemann
If you don't clean up after yourself, at least enable others to do so.
I'm currently developing a software library that interacts with a third-party HTTP API to automate creation of various resources at that third party. While I use automated testing to verify that my code works, I still need to run my automation code against the real service once in while. After all, I'd like to verify that I've correctly interpreted the third party's documentation.
I run my tests against a staging environment. The entire purpose of the library is to create resources, so all successful tests leave behind new 'things' in that staging environment.
I'm not the only person who's testing against that environment, so all sorts of test entries accumulate.
Test data accretion #
More than one developer is working with the third-party staging environment. They create various records in the system for test purposes. Often, they forget about these items once the test is complete.
After a few weeks, you have various entries like these:
- Foo test Permit Client
- Fo Permit test client
- Paul Fo client from ..id
- Paul Verify Bar Test Client
- Pauls test
- SomeClient
- michael-template-client
Some of these may be used for sustained testing. Others look suspiciously like abandoned objects.
Does it matter that stuff like this builds up?
Perhaps not, but it bothers my sense of order. If enough stuff builds up, it may also make it harder to find the item you actually need, and rarely, there may be real storage costs associated with the jetsam. But realistically, it just offends my proclivity for tidiness.
Label ephemeral objects explicitly #
While I was testing my library's ability to create new resources, it dawned on me that I could use the records' display names to explicitly label them as temporary.
At first, I named the objects like this:
Test by Mark Seemann. Delete if older than 10 minutes.
While browsing the objects via a web UI (instead of the HTTP API), however, I realised that the creation date wasn't visible in the UI. That makes it hard to identify the actual age.
So, instead, I began labelling the items with a absolute time of safe deletion:
Test by Mark Seemann. Delete after 2021-11-23T13:13:00Z.
I chose to use ISO 8601 Zulu time because it's unambiguous.
Author name #
As you can tell from the above examples, I explicitly named the object Test by Mark Seemann. The word Test indicates to everyone else that this is a test resource. The reason I decided to include my own name was to make it clear to other readers who to contact in case of doubt.
While I find a message like Delete after 2021-11-23T13:13:00Z quite clear, you can never predict how other readers will interpret a text. Thus, I left my name in the title to give other people an opportunity to contact me if they have questions about the record.
Conclusion #
This is just a little pleasantry you can use to make life for a development team a little more agreeable.
You may not always be able to explicitly label a test item. Some records don't have display names, or the name field is too short to allow a detailed, explicit label.
You may also feel that this isn't worth the trouble, and perhaps it isn't.
I usually clean up after having added test data, but sometimes one forgets. When working in a shared environment, I find it considerate to clearly label test data to indicate to others when it's safe to delete it.
