Software Testing
Software testing aims at ensuring high quality by evaluating the functionality of a developed application or product and finding defects. It checks whether the product meets the client requirements or not and identifies the bugs in the product. This software testing can be categorized as the following.
- Manual testing
- Automation testing
Automation Testing
Functional automation testing is the software testing technique that execute test cases automatically using the code.it uses several automation testing tools to verify that an application works as expected. In this method already defines test scripts simulate user interactions with the software’s functions. Automation testing tools executes these scripts automatically, comparing the actual results with the expected results.
Automation Testing Benefits
The benefits of automated functional testing are many and some are listed below:
- Speeds up the testing process: It speeds up the testing process and helps the developers get enough time to deal with the defects.
- More test cases can be tested: With automated testing, the limitations of manual testing can be overcome, and more test cases can be automated.
- Time management: The time management becomes significant easier since time taken for testing is comparatively lesser.
- Reduce dependency on testers: Automation testing can be run at anytime by scheduling the test scripts without much human dependency.
- Improving the build quality: By automation testing the quality of the product can be improved by multiple test runs using the automated code.
Automated Functional Testing Process
The automation functional testing process is not that difficult and can be completed in eight steps.
- Process Planning: The key step of the process is to set the parameters of the functional testing. What are the testing scope and the steps in the process that needs to be automated. Prepare a solid plan with the person with expertise and scope of the automation testing.
- Automation Tool Selection: It’s important to select the tool that needs to be used. Some of the automation testing tools are Selenium, Playwright, Cypress etc. It’s important to consider few aspects like programming language to be used, Open sourced or licensed, ease of use, adoption time, customer support, ability to support end to end test etc.
- Framework Design: Once the scope of the automation and testing tool is selected, next step is to design a framework that align with your testing needs. Within this framework all testing takes place and this includes the testing standards defining which practice will be used and choosing between data driven, keyword driven and frequent testing methodologies.
- Test Environment Readiness: Install the necessary software and hardware and set up the test schedule for the team to plan around.
- Write Test Scripts: These scripts are used to run the test by themselves. Draft the test scripts according to the project needs.
- Test Data: Create the necessary input test data for the functionality to be tested and determine the output.
- Run the Tests: Once the tests are ready, the team or the tester need to start running the tests as per the plan.
- Analyzing Test Results: When the tests are complete, analyze the test results with expected results and the results will tell you if there are defects and if more testing is needed.
Automation Testing Tools
Automation testing tools are software programs that executes tests on application without human involvement. Below are some of the popular testing tools.
There are a lot of other automation tools like Tricentis Testim, OpenText, Perfecto, Copado, Robot Framework, SmartBear, Test Complete, Postman, Eggplant etc.
Automation Test Frameworks
An automation framework or a framework defines a set of rules or best practices which can be followed in a systematic way to achieve the desired results. A framework is an essential part of automation testing and It is a combination of practices and tools that are designed to help QA teams to test more effectively.
Types of Frameworks
Linear scripting Framework
It is also called as record-and-playback framework, and by using this framework the testers no need to write any code to create methods and the steps are written in a linear sequential order. Here tester records each step such as navigation through the web application, user input’s, and then play’s the script back automatically to do the tests.
Pros:
– No need to write the custom code, hence expertise in test automation is not necessary.
– Fast way to generate scripts and can be done in lesser time.
– Easy to understand since the scripts are in a sequential order.
– Easiest method to get into automation and make it running even with a new tool.
Cons:
– Scripts are not reusable since the data is hardcoded in the scripts.
– Hard to maintain, any change to the web application causes a lot of reworks in the scripts.
Modular Based Testing Framework
A modular based testing framework is a type of test automation framework which enables the creation of small test cases or scripts that aims at specific portions of an application under test. Testers will divide the application into separate units or modules and will be tested separately. Later all these tests will be combined in a hierarchical method. This method generally favors an end-to- end testing and is a realistic approach.
Pros:
– The scripts are reusable, small test cases can be reused to compose larger tests.
– Different teams or people can work on test cases simultaneously.
– Any defects in a module will only affect the related test case, hence it will reduce the cost of maintenance.
Cons:
– Data is hardcoded in this framework; hence multiple test executions are not possible.
– Technical expertise is needed to write the code.
Library Architecture Testing Framework
Library architecture framework is based on the modular framework with some additional benefits. In this approach application is broken down by common objectives, that is similar application flows are identified and later grouped by function. These functions or methods are kept in a library and are called in the test scripts when needed.
Pros:
– Cost effective and test maintenance is easier.
– Can be reused effectively since there is a library of common functions that can be used by multiple tests.
Cons:
– Test data is hard coded, hence any change to test data will cause a change in scripts.
– Technical expertise needed to write and develop the methods.
– More time needed for test case development.
Data Driven Framework
It is a kind of a test framework separates the test data from the test scripts, so the test data can be stored externally. Testers might need to test a feature multiple times very often with different sets of test data. Since test data cannot be hard coded, the tester needs to store and pass the input/output parameters to the scripts from an external data source such as excel, csv, text files, SQL Tables etc. The tests are connected to the external data source and the data is read and populated when needed.
Pros:
– Tests can be executed multiple times using multiple test data.
– Multiple test scenarios can be tested by changing the test data.
Cons:
– It takes a good amount of time to develop the framework.
– Highly experienced tester who is proficient in programming is needed to develop it.
Keyword Driven Framework
This framework is based on keywords that forms the basis of functionality. It takes in parameters and throw relevant output. When a lot of methods needs to be covered in a code, it might end up in repetitive writing for some sections. In this framework, the methods are written separately from the script as keywords. The keywords are written in an external file and is called using the code. The step of each test case is represented using keywords. Tests are represented using an arrangement of keywords and each keyword corresponds to a specific action or operation to be performed on the system under test.
Pros:
– Minimum knowledge needed for scripting.
– Single keywords can be used in multiple test scripts.
Cons:
– Time consuming and complex, initial setup needs a lot of time.
– Automation expertise resources are needed.
– Difficult to maintain the keywords, need to continue building the repositories and keyword tables.
Hybrid Automation Testing Framework
As the name means, it is a combination of different frameworks. Every application is unique and different. Hence to achieve the goals, in agile projects to leverage the advantages of some and compromise the weakness combination of frameworks are used. A hybrid framework can be a combination of any framework mentioned above. Hybrid frameworks achieve more results when compared to other testing frameworks used independently.
Conclusion
Test automation framework increases the speed and efficiency of the entire tests while reducing maintenance costs and risks. In the absence of a proper framework, testing teams will spend a lot of time on drafting test cases and rewriting and thus will waste a lot of time on repetitive effort.
When we choose a test automation framework, always look for a framework that is flexible and supports a wide range of programming languages and applications. In test automation you have a lot of choices, and each choice has its own strengths and limitations, So before choosing the one, its essential to assess the specific requirements of your project carefully.
Authors: Neethu Surendran
