After meeting Shmuel Gershon, probably the most energetic and enthusiastic tester on the Planet, at EuroSTAR 2010, I was introduced to a man of many talents. Not only does he like to read, write and talk about testing but he’s also adding back to the community in other ways with probably the most useful tool I’ve ever used whilst testing.
I introduce to you…….Rapid Reporter.
In essence, it is a reporting tool that allows you to jot down your thoughts, bugs, tests, notes, configs and setups as you test. Things I would have normally used Notepad++ for or a simple writing pad. But the tool is more than that really because it not only allows you to write down your testing notes, but it frees you up from breaking your lines of enquiry/testing by being so simple and easy to use.
The interface is incredible lean and minimalist and everything is pretty much controlled from the keyboard. It allows screenshots and rich text and pushes it all out in CSV format afterwards meaning it’s fairly generic.
It’s got some neat little features like the transparancy setting which I find myself using a lot whilst running multiple desktops, each one cluttered with various heads-up feeds or information radiators or browsers. Another neat feature is the countdown of session time and warning when you exceed the session time set. Nice.
Rapid Reporter has become my favourite little tool of choice now and no testing session starts without it running in the background. It’s proven invaluable when troubleshooting, retrospectively analysing sessions and tracking what sequences/patterns show bugs. I find myself typing more notes than I would have traditional entered and I also list out a lot more data than before which means more data when logging defects or replicating bugs.
So why not give it a download and see how you get on with it. And don’t forget to check out Shmuel Gershon’s blog too.
Hi Rob,I downloaded and tried this tool with my team last month and it was very well received.The subtlety of the interface is a real plus point, as you mentioned it doesn’t take your focus away from testing but still allows you to keep comprehensive notes. From a managerial point of view, I love the love the ability to collate similarly structured logs and grep for nuggets of information.The testers particularly liked the simplicity of the screenshot capability. Two clicks and it’s saved for you as an efficient JPG, rather than clunky and cumbersome PNG/BMPs. ClassyMarvellous tool.Del.
Hi Del,Yeah it really is a great tool. So glad to see that you’ve been using it with business success too. That is fantastic news. Thanks for taking the time to commentRob..