Test Automation
Test automation is the management and performance of test activities, to include the development and execution of test scripts so as to verify test requirements, using an automated test tool.
Types of Automated Testing
- Code-driven — Unit Tests
- GUI(End to End Test Automation)
- API/Service Test Automation — Restful APIs, SOAP
- Mobile Test Automation — Android, iOS, Hybrid
Automated Tools
• Ranorex
• Selenium
• HP UFT( Unified Functional Test)
• Watir
- TestComplete
- Postman
Benefits of a Test Automation Framework
• Costs and efficiency
• Time economy
- Quality
- Reusability
Barriers of a Test Automation Framework
- Need better tools and training
- A lot of testing areas left uncovered
- Lack of experience
- Lack of clear goals
Selenium
Selenium is a suite of open source software testing automation tools used to validate web applications across different browsers and platforms. Multiple programming languages like Java, C#, Python can be used to create Selenium Test Scripts. Testing done using the Selenium testing tool is usually referred to as Selenium Testing.
Selenium Suite Of Tools
- Selenium Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
- Selenium Remote Control (RC)
- WebDriver
- Selenium Grid
Selenium IDE
In 2006, Shinya Kastani from Japan had donated his Selenium IDE prototype to Apache’s Selenium project. It was a Firefox plugin for faster creation of test cases.
IDE implemented a record and playback model wherein, test cases are created by recording the interactions which the user had with the web browser. These tests can then be played back any number of times. The advantage with Selenium IDE is that, tests recorded via the plugin can be exported in different programming languages like: Java, Ruby, Python etc.
Selenium RC
Selenium Core was the first tool in the Selenium project. But, Selenium Core hit a roadblock in terms of cross-domain testing because of the same-origin policy. The same-origin policy prohibits JavaScript code from accessing web elements that are hosted on a different domain compared to where the JavaScript was launched.
Selenium WebDriver
Selenium WebDriver, founded by Simon Stewart in 2006, was the first cross-platform testing framework that could control the browser from OS level. It provides a programming interface to create and execute test cases. WebDriver is an upgrade to RC because it is much faster. Unlike Selenium RC, WebDriver does not rely on JavaScript for Selenium Automation Testing. It controls the browser by directly communicating with it. Each browser has its own driver on which the application runs. The different WebDrivers are:
- Firefox Driver (Gecko Driver)
- Chrome Driver
- Internet Explorer Driver
- Opera Driver
- Safari Driver and
- HTM Unit Driver
Selenium Grid
Selenium Grid was developed by Patrick Lightbody and initially called HostedQA (initially a part of Selenium v1).This is used together with Selenium RC to run parallel tests across different machines and different browsers all at the same time. Parallel execution means running multiple tests at once.
