Software automation testing pdf

Test Automation requires a skilled tester with knowledge of the automation tools and the software being tested to set up the test cases and perform the testing [10]. Table 1: Advantages and Disadvantages of Test Automation Advantages Disadvantages Improves accuracy and quick finding of bugs Choosing the right tool requires considerable effort, compared to manual testing time, and evolution plan.

Saves time and effort by making testing more Requires knowledge of the testing tool. Figure 1: Categories of Test Automation Tools 1 Unit Testing Tools Unit testing involves testing the most basic units of code, the Unit Testing tools are used to aid unit testing process.

Practically, unit testing tools are the most used tools to automate tests [12] and are easily integrable as a framework within a development environment such as NetBeans. Developers can write test cases in an executable language and the test cases can be executed automatically. Unit testing tools are used to tests the correct working of a particular unit or method as well as to check code structure and ensure correct observance of programming practice [15] and also ensure correct working of individual units [14].

Functional testing bases its test cases on the specifications of the software component under test. Functional testing tools are tools that are used in functional testing process. Functional testing tools test functions by feeding them input and examining the obtained output in comparison with the specified test oracle expected output in the given test case.

Functional testing tools evaluate the compliance of a program with specified requirements [16]. It measures the number of lines, statements, or blocks of code tested using automated test suites. Code coverage testing is an essential metric to understand the quality of Quality Assurance QA efforts made [17]. As test cases are developed, code coverage tools highlight aspects of the code which may not be adequately tested and which require additional testing [18], it shows how much of software code is not covered by automated tests and is therefore vulnerable to defects.

Various Test management tools have a diverse set of features with distinct ways of managing testing. But they commonly offer the possibility of streamlining the testing procedure and permit snappy access to data analysis, and simple correspondence over different venture groups [20]. Performance Testing is testing perform to determine how the software will perform in terms of responsiveness and stability under various conditions and workload.

It can also serve to investigate, measure, validate or verify other quality attributes of software, such as scalability, reliability, and resource usage [21]. Performance testing tools are used to evaluate the performance of software or component in resource usage, throughput and stimulus-response time with specified performance requirement. According to Khan [22] Load and Stress testing are the two performance testing; [23] added Endurance and Spike testing, while [21] added: Soak, Breakpoint, Configuration, Isolation, and Internet testing among the other performance testing types.

Automation Framework comprises of a combination of tools and practices that are designed to help in executing software testing more efficiently [25]. It includes the physical structures used for test creation and implementation as well as the logical interaction between components such as coding standards, test-data handling methods, object repositories, processes for storing test results, or information on how to access external resources. Importance of Test Automation Framework While testers can still script or record tests using an automation tool, however, integrating it with an organized framework typically provides additional benefits.

A well-defined test automation framework will help the testing team in; achieving higher reusability of test components, developing scripts that are easily maintainable and, obtaining high-quality test automation scripts. Utilizing a framework for automated testing will also increase test speed and efficiency, improve test accuracy, and reduce test maintenance costs as well as lower risks [25].

Test automation frameworks provide support foundation to a variety of automated software tests including: Unit testing, Functional testing, Performance testing, and soon [27]. Types of Test Automation Framework There are various types of test automation framework with each having its architecture and may differ from each other based on their support to different automation key factors like reusability, ease of maintenance and soon [24].

Some of the most common test automation frameworks are explained below. Here, the tester records each step such as navigation, user input, or checkpoints, and then plays the script back to conduct the test in a sequential order without the need to write code to create functions. A test script is created for each part and then combined to build larger tests in a hierarchical approach.

These larger sets of tests will begin to represent various test cases. The key to achieving modularity is by decomposing the functionality and recombining the modules [26]. The modular automation framework is also known as functional decomposition framework [27].

It identified similar tasks or functions within the software that need to be tested and grouped them by function instead of dividing the software under test into various independent modules or units to be tested in isolation each with its test scripts. Thus, the software is ultimately broken down by common functions or objectives. These functions are kept in a library which can be called upon by the test scripts whenever needed [25].

Compared to the Modular Based Framework, this framework has a higher degree of reusability because there is a library of common functions that can be used by multiple test scripts. Test scripts are connected to the external data source and told to read and populate the necessary data when needed [25].

Unlike in Linear Automation, Modular-based, and Library Architecture frameworks, this framework separates test data from the test script, thus allowing testers to test the same function or feature of software multiple times with different sets of test data without the need to modify the test script. With this approach, keywords are also stored along with their associated objects in an external data source, making them independent from the automation tool being used to execute the tests.

Keywords are part of a script representing various actions being performed to test the software. It leverages the advantages of some frameworks and avoid weaknesses of others. Every software is different, and so should the processes used to test them. As more teams move to an agile model, setting up a flexible framework for automated testing is crucial.

A hybrid framework can be more easily adapted to get the best test results [25]. The process of framework evaluating and selecting requires detailed planning and effort. When choosing a framework, it is crucial to consider the right test automation tools to implement the framework with and ensure that it can easily accommodate various automation tools and changes in the software under test thus, achieving smooth tools integration and ultimately helping in achieving successful testing.

The rapid and unparalleled change in technology affects how organizations develop, validate, deliver, and operate software products. There are various testing automation tools each having its strengths and weaknesses and serving for a different purpose. A detailed analysis of those various tools should be performed before selecting any tool.

Budget, application type, testing requirements, skills required to use the tool are among the factors need to be considered [29]. The investigation process requires a lot of effort, time, and planning. However, the time and effort spent during tool evaluation can go a long way in ensuring a successful testing project [30].

Going towards low MTTR means an improvement in all three of these categories: testing process, effectiveness, and tooling. And that is where effective DevTestOps will play a major part. Thus, DevTestOps is expected to be one of the test automation trends in According to Gartner, Multi experience is going to be the future of app development.

The result is the emergence of multi-experience development platforms, which are used in developing chat, voice, augmented reality and wearable experiences in support of the digital business. More than ever, companies are now focused on releasing their own products on multiple kinds of devices including wearables and augmented reality, thus enabling the users to experience the products in different ways. Mixed Reality Market is expected to see major growth in the future. The trend is for sure a development trend, but, testing has to catch up to maintain an uncompromised quality.

Thus in , Testers will be seen embracing the multi-experience testing and figure out ways to automate this testing. There are multiple ways in which testing is being democratized at present and the trend is expected to grow. The two trends that need attention here are:. With the advent of multi-experience development, the number of devices needed for testing a simple development is increasing exponentially.

And the markets being global and every product being released in multiple countries, testing on a large number of devices by different kind of people is required. This is where Crowdsourced testing is going to prove to be very useful. The democratization of automated testing is also on the rise. This also makes it possible for other team members including Developers, Project Management, Product Management and stakeholders to get involved in test automation as and where needed.

There are multiple commercial testing tools like Saucelabs , Testsigma , TestComplete that offer to store the automated test cases on the cloud such that they become a complete package for testing. The only problem that could sometimes bother their users is sometimes the delay they face in testing execution and seeing the results because of the cloud being hosted in a faraway location. The Cloud Computing trend is expected to evolve better by transforming into a distributed cloud in Here, the content hosted on the cloud could be accessed from the nearest cloud instead of a fixed location of the cloud, thus improving the speed and efficiency of executing the hosted test cases and getting the results.

Introduction of Hyper Automation and Autonomous things is going to make processes super efficient for sure but the biggest concern is going to be security. Hence, testing and automation will also need to focus on the security of these processes using AI in to keep them safe and secure for use for all. Testers and Organizations have been looking for tools that could solve the above problems and with new technologies available to solve these problems like NLP, AI, ML, Autonomous things.

Inclusion of automation into the Agile Methodology the right way has been a challenge since and organizations have tried to come out with tools that can help make Agile as automation-friendly as possible.

With AI and ML seeing rapid adoption in all fields, will also see such tools being adopted widely and is expected to continue to be a test automation trend. According to the top future technologies for , with all the advances in technology in terms of User Experience and multi-experience development, UX Design will be a highly valued skill and with it, the tools and people that understand the designs and are able to test them will be highly valued.

Some stats that prove that user experience should not be taken lightly ever:. The automation testing software can also enter test data into the System Under Test, compare expected and actual results and generate detailed test reports. Software Test Automation demands considerable investments of money and resources. Successive development cycles will require execution of same test suite repeatedly.

Once the test suite is automated, no human intervention is required. The goal of Automation is to reduce the number of test cases to be run manually and not to eliminate Manual Testing altogether. Test Automation is the best way to increase the effectiveness, test coverage, and execution speed in software testing.

Automated software testing is important due to the following reasons:. Test cases to be automated can be selected using the following criterion to increase the automation ROI. Test Tool selection largely depends on the technology the Application Under Test is built on. For instance , QTP does not support Informatica. So QTP cannot be used for testing Informatica applications.

The scope of automation is the area of your Application Under Test which will be automated. Following points help determine scope:. Automation Scripts are executed during this phase.

The scripts need input test data before there are set to run. Once executed they provide detailed test reports. Execution can be performed using the automation tool directly or through the Test Management tool which will invoke the automation tool.

Example: Quality center is the Test Management tool which in turn it will invoke QTP for execution of automation scripts. Scripts can be executed in a single machine or a group of machines. The execution can be done during the night, to save time. Test Automation Maintenance Approach is an automation testing phase carried out to test whether the new functionalities added to the software are working fine or not.

Maintenance in automation testing is executed when new automation scripts are added and need to be reviewed and maintained in order to improve the effectiveness of automation scripts with each successive release cycle.

Selecting the right tool can be a tricky task. Following criterion will help you select the best tool for your requirement-. Tool selection is one of biggest challenges to be tackled before going for automation. First, Identify the requirements, explore various tools and its capabilities, set the expectation from the tool and go for a Proof Of Concept.