Automation testing is the practice of running tests on a system without human intervention. It involves the use of scripts or programs to execute specific tasks, often repetitive in nature. The main goals of automation testing are to ensure software quality, identify and resolve errors, and detect potential security issues.
Our goal with this article is to provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to incorporate automation into your testing process. This guide will cover all the essential information you need to get started with automation testing successfully. Our aim is to empower you with the knowledge required to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your automated tests. Keep reading to discover valuable insights!
What is automation testing?
Automation testing is a fundamental process in software development that entails running tests on software using scripts or programs, thereby removing the need for human intervention. The primary objective of automation testing is to validate the correct operation of the software and ensure its seamless functionality, devoid of any flaws or disruptions.
Within the domain of software development, automation testing carries immense significance as it plays a pivotal role in identifying and rectifying issues. By automating tests, developers can efficiently detect and address bugs, errors, and vulnerabilities that may exist within the software. Moreover, automation testing acts as a preventive measure, contributing to the overall stability of the software and preventing potential crashes from occurring.
What are Automation testing benefits?
Automation testing is a process of executing tests using test automation tools
to compare the actual results with the expected results. This type of testing leads to an increase in the speed and accuracy of test execution, as well as reduce the errors, time and cost associated with manual testing.
Automation testing tools can be utilised in different types of software dev projects, ranging from web applications to mobile applications. The benefits of automation testing include improved accuracy, increased efficiency, reduced cost, and faster test execution times. Automation testing techniques allow testers to easily identify bugs and defects that may have been missed during manual testing. By leveraging automation tools, testers can ensure that their software projects are fully tested and ready for deployment.
Automation testing techniques
Below are some of the most popular automation testing techniques.
Automation testing techniques fall into two broad categories; functional and non-functional testing. And the testing types below fall within the two categories.
- Integration-testing
- Unit-testing
- Smoke-testing
- Regression testing
- Performance testing
- Security Testing
- Data Driven testing
Functional Testing
Functional testing is the first assessment of freshly changed software. This automation testing technique ensures each software functionality works properly.
The method verifies that the AUT’s user interface works with network apps and databases. High-level software communication layers are tested to guarantee the application’s front end is safe and meets specifications.
Functional testing involves obtaining the desired outcome from a given input. Decoupling the program’s functionality from its backend activities allows testers to discover if updates have caused user-facing concerns.
As software depends more on communication and security, functional testing is becoming a complex and time-intensive procedure well-suited to UI automated testing.
Non-Functional Testing
Non Functional tests look at how an application acts due to external influences, while functional tests evaluate a product’s configuration and installation. Tests focus on security and application management.
These automation testing techniques examine how programs communicate with non-humans.
Keyword-Driven Tests
This automation testing technique employs human language to explain application processes, thus it doesn’t require significant technical knowledge. Keyword-driven tests allow increased team participation. Removing the high technical skill barrier allows for earlier development of test designs, resulting in software that is extensively polished from its birth to maximize efficiency and functionality.
Each term represents a discrete action, so testers can write many scripts. Test findings become easy-to-read test cases that may be changed and reused without platform or programming language concerns.
Integration-Testing
Integration testing guarantees an app’s modules work after code changes. It also catches communication issues between program components that worked as standalones.
This automation testing technique offers tiered testing by first checking paired components, then linking and comparing sets and subsets.
Unit-testing
Unit testing is an automation testing technique that ensures that no code object relies on other modules or external code. Due to testing traffic, isolating every code module isn’t always practicable, especially in big code bases.
Automating unit testing helps test more application components. By splitting the source code into testable objects, developers can make changes without compromising application operation.
Unit testing is frequently automated and focuses on applications requiring a detailed grasp of the code base.
Smoke-Testing
Smoke testing is early functional testing. If an app “passes the smoke test,” its main functionality is working properly.
Smoke testing catches software bugs before release. The automation testing technique
detects user problems cost-effectively.
Running a smoke test before a release allows developers to fix any unforeseen problems or conflicts in the program’s front end caused by source code upgrades.
Regression Testing
After code modifications, regression testing retests the application’s functional and nonfunctional aspects to verify performance.
When programmers repair a bug, the revised code can cause new bugs. Regression testing is an automation testing technique that helps find the faulty change. Continual application development demands regular regression tests.
Automating regression testing helps developers prevent errors from accumulating as they revise products.
Performance Testing
Performance testing measures an application’s performance under diverse settings. The automation testing technique assesses the AUT’s speed, latency, and stability in terms of dependability and resource efficiency.
Performance testing pushes an application to its limits by simulating real-world conditions. They collect and evaluate results to discover operational difficulties.
Performance testing evaluates how effectively an app fulfills performance engineers’ specifications, if available. Software testers utilize automated regression testing to test often against acceptable baselines during product development.
Security Testing
Today’s quick application development uses external libraries. This can introduce security vulnerabilities that aren’t discovered until product launch.
Security testing identifies system risks before hackers may exploit them. In a complicated system with external objects from diverse sources, developers must fix security vulnerabilities during coding.
Automated security testing checks for security weaknesses at each development phase. This automation testing technique helps to create software that protects user data and networks.
Data-driven test
This software testing approach uses a table of test inputs and outputs. First, testers build a file containing best-to-worst test scenarios. Developers use the table’s data as variables in a script.
Data-driven testing creates an automated framework where stored data fuels testing procedures and speeds up developing a new test for each data set.
Data-driven testing is automated. This automation testing technque allows testers to plug in values for many test runs.
What Are Automation Testing benefits?
There are many automation testing benefits, some of which include:
- Improved Quality Assurance: This is an automation testing benefit that can help ensure that your applications and websites are operating correctly and meet your specific requirements.
- Reduced Costs: Automation testing benefit because it can help you identify and resolve errors quickly and before they cause major damage.
- Time Savings: This is another automation testing benefit as it can help you save time by automating repetitive tasks.
- Improved Security: As it saves time, automation testing benefits extend to helping you identify and fix vulnerabilities in your applications.
- Increased Reliability: The last automation testing benefit in this section is reliability. Automation testing techniques can help you identify and fix problems before they cause significant damage.
What Are The Automation Testing processes?
Automation testing is the process of running software tests with the goal of finding defects and ensuring the quality of a product or system. Automation testing is often used in the software development process as a means of detecting errors earlier in the development process and helping to prevent defects from making it into the final product.
The automation testing process can be divided into three main phases: planning, testing, and monitoring.
Planning Phase of Automation Testing Process.
In this automation testing process, you will need to decide which tests to run, what criteria to use for selecting tests, and how to run the tests.
Testing Phase of Automation Testing Process.
In this automation testing process, you will run the tests and check the results.
Monitoring Phase of Automation Testing Process.
In this automation testing process, you will keep track of the results of the tests and make any necessary changes to the software or system.
It’s important to have a well-planned and executed automation testing process for best results.
What are the Test Automation Tools?
Testing is an important part of any software development process, but it can sometimes be annoyingly time-consuming and tedious if manually done. Here I the good news! There are a number of test automation tools for you.
One of the most popular test automation tools for automating testing is Selenium. Selenium is a web browser automation tool that allows you to test web applications. It can be used to test the functionality of a web site, the flow of a web page, and the accessibility of a web site.
Other test automation tools that can be used to automate testing include WebDriver and PhantomJS. WebDriver is a platform-agnostic tool that can be used to test websites on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac. Major browsers can also be used.
How to Select Test Automation Tools for Software Test?
Selecting the best test automation tool is an important decision you need to make if you require successful testing. There are many software tes automation tools available in the market today and it is important to choose the right tool for the right job.
Here are some tips
It’s essential to choose the right test automation tool for the right job. Different automation tools are better suited for different tasks. Tools that are used to manually test software are not as good at testing software that runs automatically. On the other hand, tools that are used to automate software testing are not as good at performing manual tests.
Selection criteria for automation tools
You should consider a few things before selecting test automation tools for software testing. These factors include
The type of software you are testing
The complexity of the test
The resources available to you, your testing strategy, and your automation skills.
Whatever you do, always remember that your automation skills are important. If you are new to automation, you may want to choose a less complex test automation tool that your skills can accomodate.
Automation testing best practices
1. Automate as much as possible
The first automation testing best practices is automate as much as you can. Meaning setting up scripts to run tests, creating test cases, and defining the test objectives must be prioritised. Automated testing can be a lot faster and more reliable if you automate as many tasks as possible.
2. Define the test boundaries
The second automation testing best practice is to define the test boundaries. This means defining the limits of what can be automated and the boundaries of the test environment. Just remember this. Ensure that the tests are valid and accurate within the defined boundaries.
3. Use data-driven testing
The third automation testing best practice is to deploy usages of data-driven testing techniques. Meaning using data to drive the test scenarios. This data can come from user feedback, system logs, or data stored in databases.
4. Use parallel testing
The fourth automation testing best practice is parallel testing. Meaning using multiple processors to run tests simultaneously. This can speed up the test process.
5. Use automated testing tools
The fifth automation testing best practice is your choice of automated testing tools and how you manage them during testing. Meaning using tools to automate the test processes. Take note that there are a number of tools available out there and so it’s very important to find the right ones for your testing needs that will also help you to smash your testing goals.
6. Use test data for regression testing
The sixth automation test best practice on our list is use test data for regression testing. Meaning using the test data to detect and fix regressions. Regression testing is important to ensure that the changes made to the software don’t cause any problems.
Other test automation best practice are;
- Continuously improve your automated testing skills
- Testing with web browser automation
Automation Testing with APIs
According to experts, conducting API testing for your website or application allows you to ensure that all functionalities are operating as intended and promptly identify and address any issues that may arise.
API testing can be effectively performed using various tools, including Selenium, WebDriver, and PhantomJS. Selenium is widely recognized as a popular tool specifically designed for testing websites. It enables testers to automate browser actions and interactions, facilitating comprehensive website testing. WebDriver, on the other hand, is primarily utilized to validate the functionality of both websites and applications. Lastly, PhantomJS serves the purpose of assessing the performance of websites and applications.
By leveraging these automation testing tools, testers can execute API testing to verify the smooth functioning of their software and promptly detect any discrepancies or inefficiencies that require correction.
Automation Testing for Startups
Automation testing is an invaluable technique that can significantly reduce the effort required for testing various scenarios. By implementing automated tests, you can effectively verify the interactions between your web application and critical components like databases, third-party services, and user data.
The advantages of automating these tests are numerous, including a substantial reduction in testing time. Instead of manually testing each interaction, automation enables the efficient and reliable execution of test cases. This frees up your resources to focus on other essential aspects of software development.
We hope you found our blog post on automation testing informative and engaging. It is crucial to grasp the best practices and approaches for successful automation testing within the software development lifecycle. In our article, we explored different types of automation testing and provided practical tips to enhance your testing process.
Our sincere desire is that our post has deepened your understanding of automation testing and equipped you with the knowledge to embark on a successful automation testing journey. Thank you for reading!
If you are seeking to hire highly skilled automation testing experts, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would be delighted to assist you!
