Introduction to Software Testing Automation
Before moving towards what is inclined in Software Testing Automation, let’s look for Automation Testing Myths, which need to be clear before moving to the upcoming technology enhancements-
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Is Testing all about Automation?
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An increase in Automation testing will remove Manual testers.
To answer the above question for Software Testing Automation testing myths, let’s look up what Automation testing is and what we will achieve in upcoming years in automation testing. Testing is of two types.
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Manual Testing
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Automation testing
To go through the reality behind the myths mentioned above, automation testing is responsible for completing repetitive tasks with better accuracy and in a shorter period. So, testing is not all about automation. The process automates tasks for which scenarios and cases are prepared manually after understanding the whole working functionality. Manual testers need automation testing to remove the headache of performing repetitive tasks repeatedly with manual efforts, which could be saved to apply to more complex requirements understanding.
80% of testing is only a repetition of the checks that the software already possess, Artificial Intelligence will be helpful to automate the processes in an efficient way instead of a human tester. Taken From Article, Artificial Intelligence in Software Testing
What are the latest trends in Software Testing Automation?
Below is the structure showing the latest enhancements in the upcoming years.
Cloud-based Software Testing
Cloud-based testing means testing the software with resources in the cloud. Cloud software testing is necessary after drifting to the Cloud, and testing with the cloud is possible with any public, private and hybrid cloud. The area covered in Cloud-based Software automation testing will be
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Network-based cloud testing
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It Tests the coverage of the data flow control over different networks with different bandwidths and tests the successful transfer of data.
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Infrastructure-based cloud testing
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It focuses on the failure recovery and storage policies with Secure connection of networks.
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Application cloud-based testing
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It covers the functionality, end-to-end working, Browser compatibility, and production workflow with cloud testing.
To look at the benefits of cloud-based testing, we can say that users need to pay for the time the infrastructure is in use, parallel testing over platform, browser, and devices, continuous delivery, and better scalability is enabled.
Choose a testing tool that can automate applications that you are planning to use — ideally, any application under test (AUT). Source: The 3 Main Test Automation Factors
Cloud-based Collaboration Testing Tool
Cloud-based collaboration testing tools allow geographically located testing professionals to divide their work over the team by creating tasks and prioritizing them to complete the testing effectively and on time. Major usable tools are below, with their speciality of making teams work together with cloud technologies-
Asana
Asana is a cloud-based SaaS that provides a collaborative approach to testing. Many testers can log in and work collaboratively by assigning tasks to each team member and setting their priorities. Listing your team board, calendars, and big charts creates your way of working.
Jira
This platform, Atlassian JIRA, handles bugs and project issues. With this software's help, roadmaps for project and test management are possible simultaneously.
Trello
Trello is a project management tool beneficial for testing management and provides project information to the Trello board. The best quality is to show who is working on what is a clear view.Software testing is an important process that ensures customer satisfaction in the application. Source: Artificial Intelligence in Software Testing
Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence is the computer science technique that introduces intelligent machines with the Machine learning method's help to do the tasks without human efforts with multiple & large datasets to learn about the process/software. In the field of software automation testing, it benefits in many forms, such as.
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It helps in Unit testing by using RPA, an AI-based technology, to create automated processes for performing any task.
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AI/ML algorithms help create the most used test cases and scenarios by reading the application's observations and preparing the data set to train the model for the application's action in certain situations.
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According to the researchers, Machines can better remember visual patterns. Therefore, AI/ML machines will also help develop GUI testing and visual testing tasks.
Demand for IoT & Big Data Testing
IoT, which refers to the Internet of Things, is the science that connects the internet connectivity to household objects such as Voice controllers, Air quality monitors, wireless high-speed internet, Connected appliances, electric farming equipment, Wearable health equipment, Smart factory equipment, Smart home security systems, Wireless inventory trackers, Biometric cyber-security scanners and a lot more. Tests which is most important in IoT are-
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Security and connectivity testing
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Integration Testing
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Network testing
Blockchain is the new frontier for secure transactions. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean blockchain solutions are managed securely. Taken From Article, X-Force Red Blockchain Testing
Blockchain Testing
Blockchain is a secure and indestructible digital record book with cryptography and data encryption to link different records or blocks in the chain. The types of testing done with blockchains are:
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Node testing
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Integration testing
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Functional testing
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Performance testing
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Security Testing
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The maximum Block size should be 1 megabyte, and testers must remember this while automating blockchain testing.
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Chain size
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Connection of Blocks
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Encryption And Decryption of data
Robotic Process Automation
RPA testing makes it time-consuming to complete tasks early and can be performed with manual attention. To create a task for testing in RPA, it consists of already created processes that only need to be dragged and dropped to prepare a testing process.
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It makes testing tasks easy by a codeless process, which helps ease the maintenance of syntax.
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The accuracy is achieved for all the testing tasks as bots, not humans, perform the work.
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Productivity increases as the time consumption is reduced and the number of executions increases.
Demands for Cybersecurity & Risk Compliance Testing
As digital competence increases, the number of threats to cyberattacks is also rising. Security is securing the transactions and protecting the end-users' privacy. As the digital world is increasing daily, cyber-attacks will continue at a higher level in the upcoming years. Security testing approach enhancements will be a hot topic for several more years.Autoscaling CI/CD to support parallel testing
Only one developing branch is used to execute the CI/CD pipeline build's monolithic approach. Suppose any bug or error causes product or application delivery delays and needs more application changes to resolve the issue. Autoscaling of CI/CD parallels the parallel execution of multiple feature branches with a developed branch to handle this issue. On the count of tests that need to run under the pipeline, the grid-scale hub increases the nodes' count in use and activates the hub's connectivity. Such autoscaling of the pipelines will significantly increase the testing outcomes for a particular application.
The quality assurance and software testing process of software development is as necessary as the actual code had written. Taken From Article, Software Testing Best Practices and Solutions
Why do we need an Automation Testing tool?
An automation tool for software testing helps project team members and organizations automate their project testing. With the help of automation tools, the organization can replace human efforts in some repetitive tasks. As a result, organizations will deliver their products with greater efficiency and without any delay.
How to Choose the Best Testing Automation Tools?
While testing a specific project, a team faces many challenges in manual testing or with their current software testing tool, so there is a need for an automation tool that fulfils the team's requirements. There are some following points below which should be followed for choosing the best automation tools-
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User Interface—The User interface plays a vital role in automation tools for software testing. The tool should be easier for the team to use.
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Documentation - The automation tool should have a clean documentation process with easily exportable test cases and outcomes.
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Usability- The tool should be user-friendly and easily accessible.
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Script languages— The automation tool must be selected based on the scripting languages supported by the chosen tool. It should not be specific to one scripting language only.
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Version Control - There should be a way to extract the history data and revert to the team's local changes.
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Integrations—While selecting the tool, Integrations with other Bug tracking tools and plugins should be measured. The tool should be able to integrate with any bug-tracking tool, like JIRA. It should also be supported by various operating systems and browsers.
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Pricing - Pricing is an essential factor to be considered.
Application leaders driving DevOps initiatives require effective test automation to succeed in this Magic Quadrant. Taken From Article, Magic Quadrant for Software Test Automation
What are the Top 5 best Testing Automation Tools?
As organizations move towards digital transformation, there is a need for the quality of the software and the time it takes for a particular organization to build a particular project. The main demand is that your software should be error-free and secure. The demand for automation tools for software testing is at its peak as the organization replaces manual testing with automation testing. Following are some software automation testing tools that will best fit the difficulties in automation over some time-
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Selenium
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TestComplete
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Katalon Studio
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TestProject
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Subject7
Below are the key features of the top 5 tools testing automation tools
Selenium
It is clear from the above visual that Selenium is a software testing automation tool for testing web applications through automation testing. It is an excellent open-source automation testing tool that can be supported with multiple browsers, various operating systems, and supported with multiple scripting languages.
Features of Selenium
- This tool helps in creating complex automation scripts.
- This can be used as a base for other software automation testing tools.
- Selenium works with various programming languages like Java, C#, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
TestComplete
It is one popular software automation testing tool used to test desktop, mobile, and web applications. TestComplete works with multiple scripting languages.
Features of TestComplete
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In this tool, scripts are reusable.
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This tool automatically generates complex test scripts without writing any code.
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This tool's user interface is much better than any other tool.
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Visual playback functionality is available in this tool.
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This tool supports data-driven and regression testing.
A test automation pattern is a method of taking care of an issue or problem in test automation that has worked for some individuals. Taken From Article, Domain Driven Testing for Test Automation
Katalon Studio
This tool is like an all-in-one test automation solution. Katalon Studio is a software automation testing tool for web and mobile applications. It supports integration with a variety of bug-tracking tools.
Features
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This versatile tool supports operating systems like Linux,macOS, and Windows.
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This tool consists of hundreds of built-in keywords for writing test cases.
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This tool does not require any high-level knowledge of programming languages.
TestProject
TestProject is a free cloud-based test automation platform for testing web, Android, and iOS applications on all operating systems. This tool has advanced built-in recording capabilities and can be used by recording web pages.
Features
- This tool does not require complex setup and configurations.
- This tool provides a detailed dashboard for a better understanding of test case reports.
- This tool does not require a deep knowledge of coding languages.
- The test cases and results can be shared and exported to all team members.
Subject 7
Subject7 is a cloud-based automation testing platform that supports end-to-end automation testing for web, mobile, and desktop applications, databases, web services, load testing, security, and accessibility testing.
Features
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This tool supports integrations with Bug-tracking tools like JIRA and Jenkins.
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The subject7 tool helps test functionality with thousands of steps and captures videos of successes and failures.
What is the most used testing tool?
The top 5 digital testing tools are:
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Monetate
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Optimizely
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Visual Website Optimizer
Latest Trend in the Software Testing Automation
On looking at the increase in the It industry with evolving technologies such as-
Element discovering approach
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API understanding of how the Elements are working
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Configuration handling
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Automation tools understanding
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Knowledge of Functional testing
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Test plan creation and document creation
As the world changes, enhancements in each sector are happening. The above are the technologies/Processes evolving the testing infrastructure, such as AI/ML, Autoscaling of CI/CD, Big data testing, Cloud Testing, and IoT Testing, at a larger scale to work. Testers must enhance their skills according to the listed skill set to manage testing process changes.
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