Have you ever wondered how software automation testing differs from traditional testing? Traditional software application testing focuses on making sure specific requirements of the software are met. Automation on the other hand is a continuous process that ensures that your application runs properly 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days per year. This is achieved by using an external mechanism to test to check every possible scenario that may occur during its usage.
Learning software automation can be a challenge. A wide array of automated QA services and testing tools are available to market testers to get started and provide great value to the project in the long run. In this article, we will cover the basics of Software Automation Testing.
Topic Overview
What is Automation Testing?
Automation testing is a software development process that uses programming techniques to execute a predefined set of test cases. These automated tests can be rerun at any time so that the execution of the same test cases can be verified by testers and developers.
Automated testing helps identify defects in an application under test quickly, as it reduces the time taken for performing repetitive tasks like manual testing. It also helps to save time when multiple similar tests need to be performed with different data sets or conditions. In addition, automated tests can be easily repeated on different machines and/or different environments (e.g., different browsers or operating systems).
Why is Automation Testing critical in a Software Lifecycle?
Automated software testing is critical in a software lifecycle for several reasons:
- It helps to ensure that your code works as intended by catching bugs before they make their way into production. This saves time and money and increases your credibility as an organization.
- The main reason automated testing is so important is that it allows you to test every aspect of your app without having to manually perform each test. The tests can be run continuously, meaning that any problems will be detected as soon as they occur. This ensures that the quality of your product remains high at all times.
- Automated software testing uses fewer resources than manual testing—meaning that you can get more done with less effort!
- It offers consistent results. Automated testing is repeatable and reliable, which means that the same test result will always be obtained with the same inputs. This consistency helps developers to maintain high-quality standards while they are working on new code or refactoring old code.
- It improves test coverage and reduces human error risks. Automated tests can be run over and over again in an automated manner, which helps to ensure that all parts of an application are tested properly and thoroughly during development phases, as well as after deployments when regression testing is required for maintaining good quality levels throughout product life cycles.
- It provides more accurate results than manual testers do because it can perform thousands of tests every day without fatigue or boredom from repetitive tasks (which often happens with manual testers).
What tests should be automated?
The first thing to consider is what kind of software test automation you want to do. There are many different types of test automation, including:
Functional testing
Functional testing involves checking that an application or website performs its basic functions correctly. This type of automated testing is often used in conjunction with unit tests since it’s easier to check that a single module works correctly than the entire system does. It also allows you to verify that changes made in one part of the application haven’t broken anything else.
Load/performance testing
Load and performance testing involves simulating heavy loads on your application or website (or even just parts of it) so that you can identify bottlenecks and other problems before they occur during real use. You can do this by using tools like JMeter or Locust, which simulate traffic from multiple users hitting your site at once and measuring how quickly it responds.
Getting Started with Automation Testing
Set a realistic goal
Automation testing is not a silver bullet. It can be a great help, but it’s not going to solve all of your problems. It may even create some new ones! Automated tests are only as good as their test cases and input data; if you don’t design your test cases carefully, you could end up wasting time on false positives (tests that pass when they should fail) or false negatives (tests that fail when they should pass).
The best way to avoid these issues is to set realistic goals for automation testing. You should have one primary goal in mind when starting with automation.
Know what not to automate
Automation testing is not a substitute for manual testing. Automation cannot replace the knowledge and experience of a skilled tester. Automation testing should be used to complement manual testing and not as an alternative.
Automated tests can provide consistent results and reduce test execution time, but they cannot replicate human intuition, judgment, or creativity. Therefore, automated tests must be complemented by manual tests to achieve the best quality possible for an application under test (AUT).
Select the right tools
Selecting the right tools for your automation testing efforts is a critical step. You should choose software testing tools that help you achieve your automation testing goals efficiently and effectively.
There are many automation tools available on the market, such as Selenium, Appium, Robot Framework, etc. Selecting an automation tool depends on various factors like cost, performance, etc. It is best to select a tool that meets your requirements and allows you to perform only those tests that you want to automate.
Select the right test grid
Test grids are a combination of the number of tests to be run and the number of users who will be using your application. For example, if you want to test 10 features in your application and have 100 testers, then you need a test grid of 10 x 100 = 1,000 tests.
How to choose the right automation testing tool?
What is your budget?
Automation testing tools vary dramatically in price, from less than $100 per month to thousands of dollars per month. The cost of a tool depends on its features and how many users will need to use it at once. If your company has a large budget for software development, then you can get more expensive tools with more features. But if you’re on a tight budget, then you’ll want to choose something that gives you what you need without costing too much money.
How many users will need access?
Many companies buy licenses for their automation testing tools so they can use them on multiple machines at once, but this isn’t always necessary — especially if only one person at a time needs access to the tool. Some companies let users “rent” licenses rather than buying them outright, which can save money if your team doesn’t need access frequently or permanently.
What are your team’s abilities?
Another thing to consider when choosing a test automation tool is the skillset of your team. If you have a mix of developers and testers, then you may want to consider tools that can be used by both professionals.
If your team has limited programming skills, you may want to consider tools requiring less coding. These tools often rely on “record-and-playback” functionality, which allows users to record their actions as they go through a series of steps and then replay them at any time. This type of functionality is often referred to as “keyword-driven testing” or “specification-based testing” because tests are written in plain English language rather than code.
If your team has extensive programming skills, then you may want to consider tools that offer more flexibility with custom scripting and API integration capabilities.
What features does my team need?
There are many different types of automation testing tools available, with varying capabilities and price points. To help you decide on the right one for your team, it’s important to know what features will make it easier for you to get work done.
Does it come with robust technical support?
The best enterprise automation testing tools offer robust technical support options, including phone and email support, as well as online resources like FAQs and user forums. They also provide knowledge base articles and case studies to help you get started and keep learning about new features and tools.
How to move from Manual to Automation Testing?
What To Automate?
When considering what to automate, you should consider the following questions:
Is there a repetitive task that I can automate? This is the most common scenario. For example, you keep getting the same issues from your testers because they are using manual testing techniques (such as repeating steps or using the same inputs). In that case, you should consider automating this part of your testing lifecycle.
Is there a process where I need to follow a certain sequence of events to test it? If so, you should also consider automating it. For example, if your application has a login feature, and each time you log in to the application you have to go through a series of steps like creating an account, then logging out and logging back in again with another account, etc., then this may be something worth automating.
Are there any tasks that are difficult to do manually but easy to do automatically? If so, these tasks might also be worth automating.
How to Automate?
The most common way of automating is to use a desktop application that monitors your website for changes and runs tests on those changes. This can be done using Selenium WebDriver or other frameworks.
The simplest way to automate is by using a headless browser such as PhantomJS or SlimerJS. These are browsers that run without a GUI, so you don’t need a separate operating system to run them. You simply install them on your development machine and they can run scripts written in JavaScript or Python.
If you want to build your testing framework, you could use the following languages:
- JavaScript
- Perl
- PHP
Test Automation Maintenance
After a test automation project has been completed, it is important to ensure that the test automation framework continues to work as designed. A key part of this process is maintenance.
The following are some common reasons for maintenance:
Test failures
When a test fails, it is important to determine why and correct the problem. This may involve changing existing code or updating the test script itself.
New requirements
If new requirements come up, it may be necessary to add more tests or update existing ones to ensure that they meet these new expectations.
Code refactoring
As code changes over time, tests can break if they are not updated accordingly. This may require manual intervention or automated refactoring tools like FindBugs and Eclipse JDT Core Refactoring Support (CRS).
Exploratory testing
Automation helps us to explore user interfaces without getting distracted by other tasks like writing or debugging code.
Conclusion
Because of the emergence of higher-end and complex mobile applications, it has inevitably become a necessity to adopt automation to ensure that your organization can meet and exceed expectations in delivering high-quality software.
Automation Testing allows you to test your application against an extensive range of possible scenarios. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are various types of Automation Testing and the kind of testing you choose will ultimately depend on your team’s experience, the project’s needs, and its overall budget.
