Any website or app that wants to be successful in the digital market needs to work flawlessly across all platforms, operating systems, and browsers (just websites). But when websites and applications pack more and more advanced features, manual testing gets harder and takes longer.
This gets easier with automated testing. Because thorough testing is necessary for the best possible software to function, automation helps to ease the burden on testers by allowing them to manually test only the necessary components.
It is advisable to leave repetitive tests to machines because human error can occur during them, such as regression and integration testing. Additionally, automated testing offers greater coverage and more precise outcomes, enhancing product quality, shortening market time, and increasing return on investment.
To get results, nevertheless, automated testing needs the appropriate equipment, test automation frameworks, and technical know-how. Certain test automation best practices must be followed in order to successfully build up these comprehensive, iterative, and data-intensive tests. By doing this, testers may balance their resources between manual and automated tests in addition to efficiently planning and carrying out automated tests. The top ten test automation best practices are as follows:
1. Decide What Test Cases to Automate
Selecting which test cases should be automated initially is crucial because it is not feasible to automate every test.
The number of times a certain test may be run determines the benefit of automated testing. Manual testing is preferable for tests that are run infrequently. Test cases that are executed repeatedly and require a lot of data to complete the same task are good candidates for automation.
The following tasks can be automated to maximize the benefits of your automated testing efforts:
- Repetitive tests are carried out on several builds.
- Tests that frequently result in human error.
- Tests that need more than one batch of data.
- High-risk scenarios are introduced by frequently used functionality.
- Tests that are too difficult to carry out by hand
- Tests were conducted using various hardware and software setups and platforms
- Tests that, when done by hand, require a lot of work and time
Test automation success necessitates meticulous planning and design work. First, draft an automation strategy. This serves as a reference for further tests and helps you determine which initial set of tests to automate. Prior to automating tests, you should decide which kinds of tests to automate and establish your automated testing goal. There are several forms of testing, and every kind of testing has a role in the testing procedure. For example, a tiny portion of the desired application is tested using unit testing. Functional or GUI testing would be used to test a specific area of the application’s user interface.
2. Pick The Right Testing Framework Or Tool
Testing automation is totally reliant on tools. When selecting the appropriate tool, keep the following in mind:
- The characteristics of software Which version of the application—web or mobile—is being tested? Use an automated testing tool like as Selenium to test the former. Appium is among the greatest automation tools available for the latter.
- Experience as a Programmer: Select frameworks, languages, and tools based on the comfort and experience of the testers. The most widely used languages for automation testing are C#, Java, JavaScript, Ruby, and Java.
- Is it open source? One may decide to employ open-source tools like Selenium or Appium for automation, depending on their financial situation. It’s crucial to keep in mind, though, that not all open-source technologies are less effective than their equivalents that are sold commercially. For instance, the most popular open-source technology among automated testers worldwide is Selenium Webdriver.
3. Test On Real Devices
Any website must be tested using actual hardware and browsers. Keep in mind that every developer and tester has serious concerns about device fragmentation. All websites must function flawlessly across various device, browser, and operating system combinations. Since more than 9000 different devices are used worldwide to access the internet, every website needs to be optimized for various viewports, setups, and screen sizes.
No emulator or simulator can currently reproduce actual user situations. In order for a website to function in real-world conditions—such as a low battery, incoming calls, a bad network, etc.—it must be tested on actual devices. If access to an on-site lab is not possible, consider a cloud-based testing solution that provides actual hardware.Release a website only after testing it on actual hardware. Visitors will come across mistakes and faults that were easily preventable, and unsatisfactory user experiences will drive away visitors.
4. Divide Your Automated Testing Efforts
Generally, the expertise levels of the QA engineers are taken into consideration when creating new tests. It’s critical to determine each team member’s experience and ability level and allocate your automated testing efforts appropriately. For example, developing automated test scripts necessitates a deep understanding of scripting languages. Therefore, you will need QA engineers who are proficient in the script language that the automated testing technology provides to carry out these activities.
It’s possible that some team members lack experience creating automated test scripts. It’s possible that these QA engineers write test cases more adeptly. It is preferable when an automated testing solution, such as TestComplete’s keyword tests feature, allows users to construct automated tests without requiring a deep understanding of scripting languages. A straightforward string of terms with a predetermined action is called a keyword test, commonly referred to as keyword-driven testing. You can mimic keystrokes, click buttons, choose menu items, invoke object methods and properties, and perform a number of other operations with keyword tests. An alternative to automated test scripts is frequently considered to be keyword testing. They enable users of all skill levels to develop reliable and effective automated tests, unlike scripts, and are simple to use for both technical and non-technical users.
5. Design Comprehensive Automated Testing Solutions Where Possible
Although we are aware that not all tasks can be automated, we also have to admit that many interconnected tasks can occasionally be done so with excellent results. When situations like these arise, it is critical that you seek to develop all-encompassing automation solutions since they will provide the maximum levels of quality and productivity when combined.
It’s also critical to remember that combining automated and manual testing is sometimes the best course of action for testing procedures. To optimize process quality and efficiency, it is crucial in these situations as well to create a well-coordinated solution that seamlessly integrates manual and automated testing.
6. Collective Ownership of Tests
Don’t assign full automation testing tasks to a single tester or engineer. The remaining members of the team won’t be able to make a significant contribution if they don’t keep informed at every stage. The whole team needs to be on board for automation to be properly integrated into the testing infrastructure. As a result, all team members are better able to communicate openly, understand the procedure, and decide which tests to put up and perform.
7. Remove Uncertainty
The goal of automation is to produce reliable, consistent test findings. Testers must determine what went wrong whenever a test fails. However, the amount of time needed to analyze errors increases in direct proportion to the number of false positives and inconsistencies.
Regression packs need to have unstable tests removed in order to remove uncertainty and stop this from happening. Furthermore, because automated tests are occasionally out of date, they may fail to verify important details. Test planning should be done well before doing any testing to avoid this. Always be mindful of whether each exam is current. Make sure that during test cycles, the sanity and validity of automated tests are sufficiently evaluated.
8. Use Data-Driven Tests
A manual test is not feasible if several data points must be examined simultaneously. A human could never conduct tests quickly and without error due to the enormous volume of data and variables involved. By using data-driven automated testing, the process may be made simpler by using a single test and one data set that can be utilized to explore a variety of data factors.
Start your automation testing early in the sprint development process to maximize its benefits. Conduct tests as often as necessary. Testers will then be able to identify bugs as soon as they arise and fix them right away. Obviously, doing this reduces the amount of time and money that would need to be spent in production or even later in the development process in order to repair errors.
9. Avoid GUI Testing Where Alternatives Are Available
One of the trickier and longer tasks is the GUI test. Therefore, it is advisable to employ alternative methods, such as line input and the like, if there is any chance of achieving your aim. Avoiding GUI automation can help you gain a significant competitive edge over your rivals by cutting down on feedback loops and speeding up product development.
There are many more test automation best practices out there, but these are some of the ones that can help you get the most of your plan. Lastly, it’s critical to keep in mind that managing test automation is similar to managing any other software development, meaning that for it to be successful, it must be meticulously planned, skillfully created, executed, and consistently maintained, evaluated, and enhanced.
10. Prioritize Detailed & Quality Test Reporting
QA staff shouldn’t have to spend as much time verifying test findings thanks to automation. Using the appropriate tools, set up a sufficient reporting infrastructure that produces thorough and excellent reports for each test. Sort tests based on parameters like type, functionality of tags, results, etc., if at all possible. After every cycle, a quality test summary report needs to be written out.
Conclusion
To sum up, automated testing is an essential step in the development of any product. It saves time and effort compared to manual testing while guaranteeing the dependability and quality of applications. Organizations may increase the efficiency and precision of their testing, identify issues early in the development cycle, and ultimately provide their customers with better products if they use the appropriate tools and methodology.