Testing¶

Testing is an important part of your online store development. Basically, there are 3 main things you probably need to test:

Order placement and your e-shop settings
Website’s layout and appearance
Registration of customers and partners

In most cases we recommend you use the Development mode for testing. This mode does not work with the real data and you will not be able to change your real orders, customers or partners information. Each test of your website has to be done in the preview of your website.

Preview¶

Preview displays your current project and all its changes. When you want to test the changes and functionality of your website, you have to use the preview. Preview is displayed with the Preview button located in the Website Editor, on a particular product detail, in Author Tools module and so on. In every application where you can make changes to your website this button is available. Click it and a window with particular website preview will appear in a new browser tab. Pay attention to its URL address - it always states that the preview is being displayed (the URL address begins with the word preview and it also contains the number of the particular project you are working with).

All orders, user registrations and so on (see below) are separated from the real data. It means that an order placed in the preview mode is not real and will be erased with project approval (or deletion). These preview data can be seen in BizBox admin in case you are working in the Development mode. When the particular project is approved (or deleted), the data created in the preview will be erased as well.

The preview of a project can also be accessible to someone outside BizBox. Use the Preview application located in a particular website settings and generate a URL token that can be distributed to anyone, who should be able to see (or test) the project changes.

It is highly important do know, that most of the applications do NOT display the preview data. Products, Pricelists, website codes, Templates, files in the File Manager or Author Tools are the same in the Development and Business mode and you work with them in both modes the same. The difference is only in applications that are affected directly from the website and are displaying the data gathered from it.

Applications displaying the preview data in the Development mode¶

Sales:
- Contacts - displays contacts gathered through registrations, from placed orders or manually created in this application
- Companies - displays companies gathered through registrations, from placed orders or manually created in this application
- Contact Groups - displays groups created in this application
- Newsletters - displays real newsletters (lists - particular records) but the addresses listed on it are gathered from the preview of the current project or manually created in this application
- Partners - displays partners gathered through partner registrations or manually created in this application. Notice that the Partner Tier application always displays the real data. Data from Partner Tiers are not a part of the Development mode. It means that in the Development mode you work with the real tiers in both modes. If you make a change here, it will be a part of the project changes and it will be in effect if you approve the project.
- Orders - displays orders placed in the preview and manually created in this application
- Invoices - displays invoices connected to the orders from this preview
- Proforma Invoices - displays proforma invoices connected to the orders from this preview
- Credit Notes - displays credit notes connected to the orders from this preview
- Refunded Payments - displays refunded payments of preview orders
- Manual Dispatch - displays preview orders containing products with manual dispatch
- Withdrawals - displays withdrawals connected to preview orders
- Claims - displays claims connected to preview orders
- Events - displays data from preview orders
Products and Administration
- Stock supplies - in the preview are never visible the real stocks and its supplies. Each product has the preview amount set to 20 units which you are able to buy.
Pricelists
- Vouchers - notice that the Test Preview Vouchers tab is in the detail of a particular record of vouchers. Codes defined here are used in the preview mode. You are unable to use the real codes in preview and in case you want to test this feature, you have to define and use preview vouchers.
Website Editor
- Website Users - displays users gathered through registration or manually created in this application

Editing data in other applications directly affects the project changes (which is displayed in the preview) and will take place in when you approve it.

Note

If you are in Development mode, you cannot manually create a real order (or customer or partner or anything else listed on the list above). You have to change your mode to Business where you work only with the real data and the preview data are not displayed at all.

Note

You can to test (preview) your website in the Business mode as well. The difference is that you will not see the data in BizBox admin. The preview data are displayed only in the Development mode.

Testing Orders¶

Order testing will probably be the most used type of testing because you need to be sure that your online store is working perfectly. Apart from that there are lots of various settings and features which you need to test for implementation (such as automatic voucher issue, discounts, vouchers, cart attachments, order detail displaying, e-mail sending and much more).

To place a test order, please switch to the Development mode. In the Development mode you will be unable to display real data (real orders), only the test orders/data. They behave the same as the real orders, but there is no impact on the real data (such as stock supplies or sales statistics).

When you have successfully switched into the Development mode, you can click the Preview button (Current Project) in the CMS module in the Websites application where you select the website you want to display and test. A new tab with your online store appears. Find a product you want to buy, insert it into the shopping cart and place the order. After that, you can check your e-mail for an order confirmation e-mail (if you set up its delivery) and go back to the BizBox Admin. Here, in the CRM module the test order will be displayed in the Orders application.

You can work with it just as with a normal order - you can edit it, mark it as paid, refund it, change its state and so on.

Testing Checkout¶

We highly recommend you to pay attention to the checkout process. Be sure that all necessary fields are marked as required (bb:required=”true”) in the Checkout widget, available delivery and payment methods are displayed correctly and particular parameters which are responsible for price display are used properly (that the place for total amount actually displays the total amount).

Insert incorrect values to particular fields where validators are (or should be) applied such as e-mail field with its email validator (validator=”email”) and see if it works correctly.

Testing E-mails¶

In the E-shop Settings there is a tab named “E-mails” which serves to define which e-mails (template) will be sent for which payment method (the available payment methods are taken from the checkout connected to particular E-shop Settings).

If you want to test the sending of Order Confirmation E-mails, go to the preview mode and place an order for every payment method you offer. In the BizBox Admin you can subsequently make these orders as paid and see if the Purchase Confirmation E-mail will be sent as well.

Testing E-shop Documents¶

In the E-shop Settings there is a tab named “Documents” which allows you to define particular templates used to generate PDF documents (invoices, proforma invoices, credit notes and more - see the e-commerce templates help-site). To test it, you have to be switched in the Development mode where you will be able to create test orders and work with them in BizBox Admin in the CRM module, in the Orders application.

Go to the preview mode of the current project and place an order. The type of used payment method should be selected according to the document you want to test (don’t forget the settings for its generation in the E-shop Settings application). If needed, go to the CRM module, run the Orders application and mark the particular order as paid (most probably the invoice will be generated). This makes the refund button active and you can also test the credit note.

Testing Website¶

If you have made some changes to the website (its code, template, CSS, JS or settings), you probably want to know how it looks. A preview of a website is not conditional on Development (or Business) mode. It is displayed equal in both modes.

Go to the Sales module, run the Websites application, mark the website to which you have performed some changes and click the Preview button located in the toolbar (select the current project option). A new tab with the website which contains the current changes will appear.