Definition: Sanity testing is a subset of regression testing. After receiving the software build, sanity testing is performed to ensure that the code changes introduced are working as expected .This testing is a checkpoint to determine if testing for the build can proceed or not.
Description: The main purpose of this testing is to determine that the changes or the proposed functionality are working as expected. If the sanity test fails, the build is rejected by the testing team to save time and money. It is performed only after the build has cleared the smoke test and been accepted by the Quality Assurance team for further testing. The focus of the team during this testing process is to validate the functionality of the application and not detailed testing. Let’s assume that in an e-commerce project, there are mainly five modules- like login page, home page, user profile page, new user creation, etc. There is a defect in the login page when the password field accepts less than four alpha numeric characters and the requirement mentions that this password field should not be below eight characters. So, the bug is reported by the testing team to the development team to resolve it. When the development team fixes the defect and passes it to the testing team. Then the testing team checks if the changes done are working fine. It also checks if it does not have an impact on other related functionalities. Now there is a functionality to update the password in the user profile page. As part of the sanity check, we would need to validate the login page as well as the profile page to ensure that the checks are working fine at both the places. Sanity tests are generally performed on build where the production deployment is required immediately - like a critical bug fix.
