How to evaluate software error strings?
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Printed Date: 23Aug2025 at 4:23pm
Topic: How to evaluate software error strings?
Posted By: suma
Subject: How to evaluate software error strings?
Date Posted: 02Apr2007 at 10:10pm
How to evaluate software Error Strings?
I came across a discussion about testing software error strings. It's
very interesting and I'd like to share it here with my own comments.
They are 3 people have talked about this. We name them to Tester A, B and C. Their coversation is:
Tester A:What do you think
about this error message? "Error. Your MMS was not sent successfully."
I suppose that the word "successfully" is unnecessary here. We should
not use positive words in the error messages.
Tester B:"Err 0x4edc320a" is so much more precise!
Tester C:An Id can be useful
for reference and lookups, but succinct info. In the error message is
also useful for software usability, testing, and reporting bugs, so I'd
suggest something like: Error: MMS send failed [0x4edc320a]
It seems that they have drawn a conclusion since Tester C has included
all the stuffs in his comments; however, we can examine the error
message string more carefully here. Let's start from Tester C's
comment?
Question 1, is "[0x4edc320a] "
useful for a end-user? I think so, but it only when he call for support
from the software vendor, and normally, he will be quite confused by
the wierd number.
Question 2, can we omit
"[0x4edc320a] " then? From Tester B's comment, we know that we'd better
not since developer need it. Oh, no, stop! Who needs it? It's
developer!
Now we'll reach the core of the problem, that's Error
Strings have at least two purpose, one is for users, and the other is
for developers (including testers). So Error strings should serve these
two purposes too. Tester C's suggestion fits the purpose,
but it is not as good as enough because it makes the user confused.
Then what's the right approach?
My suggestion is that for a same error,
there should be at least two error message strings. One is on UI, like
" MMS send failed.Please check ...". It's for end-users. And the other
is for developers. It should be put into trace or log files, like
"[DDDD-HH-MM-SS-ssss]GPRS Stack initialization failed. Error Code
[0x4edc320a]. Stack Trace ..... ".
Will this bring the software with better usability and traceability?
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