I generally test web apps. And Web apps generally use an email address as the unique identifier. So by test number 2, some of you may have run out of email addresses to test with.

If this happens to you, don’t panic! Because here are the Evil Tester hints and tips for getting more email addresses than you probably ever wanted, but as a tester, have always needed.

Tip #1 – Go Disposable

This used to be my default approach. Pick a mad mailinator address that no-one would ever use and then I’m off and testing.

This works really well when you don’t really care about the privacy of the emails.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disposable_e-mail_address

For a list of disposable providers you can check here – http://www.email-unlimited.com/stuff/temp-email-address.htm

Tip #2 – Hack your email address

Gmail has some well known hacks for getting more value out of your email address.

* + addressing, where you add +somethingunique to your gmail address

http://lifehacker.com/software/top/instant-disposable-gmail-addresses-144397.php

* become mr.l.o.t.s.of.d.o.t.s gmail ignores the . in your email name before the @ so you can stick them in and get unique email addresses.

Other email hosts allow these strategies too, but I’ve only tried this on Gmail. Where have you tried it?

Tip #3 – use 33mail.com

I’ve started using the free services from 33mail.com.

You sign up, get a username then start sending mail to someone@username.33mail.com, someoneelse@username.33mail.com etc.

The emails get redirected to an email address of your choosing.

Tip #4 – Buy Your Own Domain you Cheapskate

When you register a domain name, many hosting companies give you a ‘single’ email address with the domain. What they actually mean is a single mailbox. Where anything @yourdomain gets routed to that mailbox. This effectively gives you unlimited email addresses.

If you want to do automated testing with the email, this may well turn out to be the best route to go down.

Links:
Main Resource: http://seleniumhq.org/

A Nice Users Manual:

mport glob, os, subprocess

#Notes
# Pulls list of folders, then pdf files within each folder, then display that group
# Two paths for files are
#for name in glob.glob(‘C:\\Program Files (x86)\\ComponentSoftware\\CSDiff\\Base Folder\\output-Oracle\\Lube\\*\\*pdf’):
#for name in glob.glob(‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\\Lube\\*\\*pdf’):
# Assumes test-smnoke is installed on local machine at: C:\QA\. Otherwise edit path where applicable.

files = ” # Reset the variable to a blank tp start concantenation
counter = 0 # Limit number of pdfs displayed on one screen, due to max allowed to show

#Show pdfs for the Lube folder
print
print ‘ Displaying the .PDF reports in a Viewer’
print ‘-’ * 42
for folder in os.listdir(‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\Lube’):
folderstring = ‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\\Lube\\’ + folder + ‘\\’
folderstring = folderstring + ‘\\*pdf’
for name in glob.glob(folderstring):
files = files + ‘”‘ + name + ‘” ‘
counter = counter + 1
if counter == 9:
CommandString = ‘”‘ + ‘..\\Foxit Software\\Foxit Reader\\Foxit Reader.exe’ + ‘” ‘ + files
counter = 0
print folder + ‘ Reports:’
subprocess.call(CommandString) # Call the viewer, with the filename(s)
files = ” # Re Set the variable to a blank to start next concantenation
CommandString = ‘”‘ + ‘..\\Foxit Software\\Foxit Reader\\Foxit Reader.exe’ + ‘” ‘ + files
counter = 0
print folder + ‘ Reports:’
subprocess.call(CommandString) # Call the viewer, with the filename(s)
files = ” # Re Set the variable to a blank to start next concantenation

#Show Invoice Replica pdf
CommandString = ‘”‘ + ‘..\\Foxit Software\\Foxit Reader\\Foxit Reader.exe’ + ‘” ‘ + ‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\\Lube\\invoiceReplica.pdf’
print ‘invoiceReplica Reports:’
subprocess.call(CommandString) # Call the viewer, with the filename(s)
files = ” # Reset the variable to a blank tp start concantenation

#Show pdfs for the Demo folder
for folder in os.listdir(‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\ISI\Working’):
folderstring = ‘C:\\QA\\test-smoke\\output\\ISI\\Working\\’ + folder + ‘\\’
folderstring = folderstring + ‘\\*pdf’
for name in glob.glob(folderstring):
files = files + ‘”‘ + name + ‘” ‘
CommandString = ‘”‘ + ‘..\\Foxit Software\\Foxit Reader\\Foxit Reader.exe’ + ‘” ‘ + files
print folder + ‘ Reports:’
subprocess.call(CommandString) # Call the viewer, with the filename(s)
files = ” # Reset the variable to a blank tp start concantenation

Xenu’s Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link verification is done on “normal” links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets. It displays a continously updated list of URLs which you can sort by different criteria. A report can be produced at any time.

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