OpenOffice Presentation Component's Zoom In Does not Perform as Specified

 

Summary

In this example we are going to perform Specification Based Testing by making sure that the specifications for the Zoom In function in OpenOffice are satisfied. OpenOffice 1.1.0 is an open source multi-platform office suite. Its presentation component has a function Zoom In, which according to specifications, doubles the size of the current window. In reality, it requires the user to select the part that will be enlarged. (Source: qa.openoffice.org)

Application Description

OpenOffice.org is both an Open Source product and a project. The product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office. (Source: www.openoffice.org)

The presentation component in OpenOffice is called Impress. It lets the user create slide shows that can include charts, drawing objects, text, multimedia and a variety of other items. It is also possible to import and modify Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

Test Design

This example demonstrates the use of Specification Based Testing. The specifications (help contents) of Impress state:

For our test we will create a simple situation, where Zoom In can be applied. We will create a new presentation and click on Zoom In.

We would expect that the current slide will be displayed at two times its current size. It is also interesting to note that there is a second use for Zoom In (paragraph 2 of the specification). The way the specification is written, we would expect that clicking on the "Zoom In" button will display the slide at two times its current size, and then if we draw a rectangle around an area of the slide, that area will be enlarged.

Performing the Test

  1. Start by creating a new Presentation document


  2. Let's try a simple case. Select a blank presentation and then a slide with title and text box.


  3. If the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons are not displayed on the left toolbar, they can be started by right-clicking on it and selecting them from the visible buttons.


  4. Now let's verify the specifications. Click on the "Zoom In" icon. The expected result is that the slide will be displayed at two times its current size.

Results/Relevance

The actual result is that nothing happens, but after that, if the user clicks on the slide, it will be enlarged and centered on the area that was clicked.

This behavior is similar to the one described in the second part of the specifications. It is possible that whoever created this feature thought that the specification is confusing and decided to implement only part of it.

This seems reasonable, but the manual should have been updated because the current behavior is not expected by the users that have read the help content. Probably they will spend some time clicking on the icon and wandering why the slide size is not increasing.

Similar Tests/Additional Notes

Most applications change the cursor to a magnifying glass to show that the next click will zoom in an area. In this case, however, the cursor remains the same while it is over the toolbar, and changes only if the user positions it over the slide.

Drawing a rectangular area with Zoom In works as specified.

We can also test Zoom Out. It turns out that it displays the slide at half its size, which is exactly as specified.

Configuration

Testing OpenOffice 1.1.0 on:

Created 14 June 2004 for the CSTER

All images and written material ©Copyright Georgi Nikolov 2004

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