Are you looking to boost your app testing strategies while elevating their accuracy? The integration of automation testing is the best solution to all your problems. This is because, with this advanced technique, you can use specialized software tools to execute tests and compare actual and expected outcomes.
This implementation not only helps you save time and effort but also helps enhance the accuracy of the testing instances. With this article, we will dive deep into the power of automation testing and explore how it can boost accuracy and efficiency through various automated testing processes.
Understanding Automation Testing
In the starting years of app development, they forced the testers to manually check the functioning of all the elements in the app. This process was time-consuming and inaccurate due to errors that can arise due to human involvement.
Automation testing has blessed the testers with a wide selection of tools to run the test cases automatically and compare the actual and expected results. This process also helps generate detailed test reports to find errors and implement the required troubleshooting processes.
Unlike manual testing, automation testing does not require human involvement as it will extract all the needed data and testing parameters from pre-determined automation test scripts. The testers can also reuse various segments of the existing scripts in future app development projects.
So, automation testing is vital in reducing the total effort and time required during the app testing life cycle.
Advantages of Using Automation Testing
While using automation testing to verify the performance of modern apps, the testers can implement the following benefits:
- Since it can run the test instances automatically without any human trigger, it saves much time compared to manual testing instances. Moreover, eliminating human involvement also ensures that the testers can run the test cases 24 hours a clock, even beyond working hours.
- As mentioned, vast segments of existing automation test scripts are reusable in future app projects. So, the testers do not have to write the entire test script at every automation testing instance.
- Due to the removal of human involvement, automation testing also eliminates the possibility of human errors and ensures a consistent test execution process. This process ensures accuracy in removing errors and delivering high-quality apps to end users.
- With automation testing, it is possible to run many test cases across different configurations and testing environments. So, including testing massively helps app-developing companies boost overall testing coverage.
- The early execution of automated test instances ensures that the testers can detect critical bugs at the earliest stages in the development cycle before they become serious concerns.
Main Components of Automation Testing
Before understanding the advanced strategies for executing automation testing, let us know the main components that are responsible for the proper execution of automated testing instances:
Automation Testing Framework
The automation testing framework will provide a structured set of guidelines, best practices, and coding environments for designing and implementing the automation testing solution. This framework will also allow the testers to organize the test scripts, manage test data, and report the test cases in a practical format.
To better understand the scope of an automation testing framework, we have mentioned some of the most popular automation testing frameworks in the present market:
Selenium WebDriver
Does Selenium WebDriver require any formal introduction? It is one of the best options for executing automated web app testing. Testers can use this framework to implement their preferred programming languages when writing test instances. It also supports advanced features like parallel test execution to further streamline the test automation process.
Appium
It is the most commonly used automation testing framework for verifying the performance of mobile apps. It supports various mobile platforms like Android, iOS, and Windows. Appium also uses the same API for all the testing platforms to unify the testing environment.
Robot Framework
This is yet another open-source automation framework that uses a keyword-driven approach supporting test automation for mobile, web, and desktop applications.
Automation Testing Tools
If we go through the current market, we will see that multiple tools are readily available for executing automation testing. However, this comprehensive list of tools can also give rise to a lot of confusion, especially for newcomers in this industry.
So, to simplify this knowledge, we have created a list of some other most popular tools that offer comprehensive testing solutions:
JUnit
It is one of the most famous automation testing tools for executing unit testing on Java-based apps. While using JUnit, the app testers can also implement an efficient test data management system to track all the test instances, including the failed test cases.
LambdaTest
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform that lets you run manual and automated tests at scale with over 3000+ real devices, browsers, and OS combinations. It supports automation frameworks like Selenium, Cypress, Playwright, and Appium.
This platform ensures that the testers can efficiently manage and execute the test instances with minimal effort. It also provides advanced features like comprehensive test reporting, life test logging, and native bug tracking.
Finally, LambdaTest provides access to various outdated browser versions and legacy devices to further extend the compatibility of the currently tested app.
Jenkins
The testers can integrate Jenkins, a popular open-source automation server, with their test instances. Using this server, the testers can integrate various agile methodologies like continuous integration and continuous delivery.
The advantage of this process is that it allows the app-developing companies to run the development and testing processes simultaneously. So the testers can streamline the app delivery process and find errors as soon as possible during the physical development cycle.
Strategies for Automation Testing
Now that we have completed understanding all the basic concepts related to automation testing, it is time to divert our focus to some of the most advanced strategies for test automation:
Regression Testing Automation
Regression testing verifies that any new addition to the app infrastructure helps the properly functioning and existing elements.
So, by automating these testing processes, the testers can ensure the system can automatically initiate the test instances whenever the system detects any small change within the app infrastructure. To automate these test cases, the testers can use tools like TestNG or the Selenium WebDriver.
Functional Testing Automation
Functional testing helps the testers to verify whether the software app behaves as expected from a customer perspective. So, by integrating automation tools like the Selenium WebDriver, the testers can automate the functional test instances. Some of the most essential components of functional testing include API testing, interface testing, and database testing.
By implementing, teams can ensure consistent behavior across different app versions. Implementing automated functional testing is crucial to providing customers with a seamless and consistent experience.
Load and Performance Testing Automation
The testers can use load and performance testing to ensure the app’s performance under expected load conditions. App-developing companies can integrate tools like Gatling and Jmeter to perform this process.
These tools also help to automate the performance and load analysis testing by simulating multiple users who will be accessing the app at the same time. This process also helps to understand the core app infrastructure’s stability when subjected to overwhelming traffic.
The automation of this process enables the testers to identify crucial performance bottlenecks and vital scalability issues at the earliest phases of the development and testing cycle.
API Testing Automation
The testers can validate the proper functioning and performance of multiple App Programming Interfaces using API testing. Testers can automate this process using tools like Soap UI and Postman.
These tools will perform automated API testing by sending requests to the API endpoints and validating the upcoming responses. The inclusion of API automation allows app testers to test the functioning of various scenarios, including error handling and security, in a systematic format.
Cross-Browser and Cross-Platform Testing Automation
The proper inclusion of automation testing allows the app developing companies to integrate advanced testing processes like cross-browser testing and cross-platform testing. These test cases involve verifying the performance of an app across multiple devices, browser versions, and operating systems.
Using this process, the testers can also verify the consistency of the application on outdated browser versions and old devices.
Challenges of Automation Testing
Finally, let us conclude our discussion by going through some of the significant challenges of implementing automation testing in the present industry:
- It can be challenging to continuously maintain the automation test scripts as the apps undergo frequent changes. So, the testers must follow best practices like modular test scripts and scripting locators while regularly renewing and updating the test cases.
- It is a complex process to manage the automation test data due to including large data sets or multiple dynamic content. The testers must manage the data carefully, including data isolation, data cleanup, and strategies for data generation, which will help ensure the test’s reliability and repeatability.
- Automation testing must be implemented on the correct test instances to use its full potential. For example, test cases that require unique inputs at every iteration cannot utilize the potential of automation testing. App development companies should pick repetitive test instances like unit and regression testing for test automation.
The Bottom Line
So, considering all the factors we explored in this article, we can safely conclude that automation testing is the most powerful technique for boosting the efficiency and accuracy of modern software testing processes. App-development companies can automate testing processes, improve coverage, and enhance app quality using automated frameworks and strategies.
However, determining the success of an automated testing process requires careful planning, effective collaboration, and the implementation of continuous testing. Moreover, by addressing all the automation testing challenges discussed in this article, the testers can harness the complete potential of automation testing to deliver high-quality applications to the end users quickly.
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