Category Archives: Automation Testing Tools

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Is Robotic Process Automation changing the Test Automation Game?

RPA has taken the IT world by storm. I won’t say that it is the newest thing in business because it has been there around for about 10 years now. But now is the time when it is spreading like wildfire. More and more companies want to adopt it.

To set the context, let’s look at how AI has broken all the barriers of our imagination. I bet that a few years ago when we used to see robots in movies, we would think that they are just part of our imagination or even if we considered them to become reality someday, we always thought that the day to be many years away. But what we never imagined was that technology will progress so much so soon. Today Artificial intelligence is making machines more and more human-like. They want machines to not only follow our instructions but to think, and possibly also to exhibit emotions. It is almost like humans want to assemble humans in labs. No wonder then that a robot named Sophia was very recently even given citizenship of Saudi Arabia.

Now going back to Robotic Process Automation. Going just by the words,  it seems like  Robots automating processes. The catch, however, is that that when we say Robot, we don’t mean an actual physical robot, but a virtual one –  the automation program.

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What’s the big deal about RPA in Software Test Automation?

Many could argue that in traditional Automation also we were creating automation programs. So what is all the hype about?

The key distinctions according to me are :

  • It is script less: Coming from a Manual testing background it was always a challenge for me to always keep learning the latest scripting languages but now I don’t need to learn any programming language to automate a test scenario. You just need to be good with your logics and should be able to think out of the box scenarios.
  • Focus is back to product quality: I am not saying that in Traditional automation the product quality was getting hampered, But in my own experience I feel that when I was working on Automation via scripts, most of my time was getting consumed in writing code and at the end of the day, only very few scenarios were automated, and I was not able to cover as much scenario and I didn’t have the time to dive into variety of scenario. So I feel that out of two 1 thing was always getting compromised either the Coverage or the deadline. But with RPA tool this problem of mine has been resolved to a great extent.

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How things work when Automating Test cases with RPA

There are many RPA tools available in the market like UI Path, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism and many more. You can use any (FYI: I am not promoting any specific tool).

There are few basic criteria on which all the RPA tools are based on:

  • Already defined user actions: Most of the user actions that one can think of while automating a test case like the click of a button, mouse hover, opening browser, typing into a text box and many more, they are already defined and the user doesn’t have to code.
  • Built-in decision logics and looping statements: The best part about using RPA tool for creating scripts was, I didn’t have to worry about the syntax of my decision logic and adding loops, for example, do-while, for, etc. They are built-in and I just needed to use them.
  • Configuring of user events through Parameters: Every user action or event that we use can be easily configured using its parameters. Almost every property of a user event is made available so as it can be customized as much and as easily as possible.
  • Easy to create variables: RPA tools make it very easy to create a variable without stressing upon the syntax.
  • Error handling: If there is an error that occurs while configuring the user events or in the full flow, RPA tools have very good error handling mechanism. It helps the user to narrow down the area of error and also gives very clear and specific error messages making it very convenient for the user to correct the error.

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What RPA has changed in my Automation Testing approach?
  • So as I said above, for me RPA has put the focus back to thinking about logic, covering some out of the box test scenarios, rather than spending hours just automating the basic functionality.
  • RPA has improved my testing coverage also, as I am able to cover number and different types of scenarios.
  • Thanks to RPA, I am able to automate the test scenarios faster as I don’t have to write every single line of code on my own.
  • Another advantage of using an RPA tool is, I face less number of errors while automating a test case. As in RPA tool, they have built-in codes for most of the logics and I just have to make sure that I use them in correct flow.
  • With RPA tool, I was able to manage my scripts much easily as most of the times it just making tweaking into the properties of the built-in user actions.
  • Also when I create my scripts using RPA tool, they are more easily readable and I am able to explain them to another person in a better way
  • Being from a manual testing background, it was always a big challenge for me to always keep on learning the latest scripting languages but now I don’t have to invest my time learning the coding languages.
  • I can invest my mind in more decision making tasks rather than some boring and repetitive tasks that can be done by machines also.

Now, when I extract the essence of all the benefits, the bigger picture that I get is RPA helps to increase Test Automation Coverage, reduces the time required, hence reducing in the process the cost of Testing and in turn increasing the Company’s profit.

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Having said that, I did face some challenges while automating test scripts with RPA tool

1) I was not able to automate everything
Having worked with different scripting automation tools, I feel that there are some scenarios which I can’t achieve using RPA tools like I am not able to automate scenario which deals with complex Database entries, multiple formats of input or unstructured input data.

2) It executes at a slower pace
When I execute a script created via any RPA tool it executes at a UI speed but when I run a script created using scripting languages, it is much faster. So I feel that RPA is comparatively slower than the processes automated using traditional automation.

3) Not much available on Web, so need to explore yourself
Test Automation using RPA is relatively new. So there are many built-in user actions and functionalities of different tools that you have to explore on your own and not much help is available on the web. So that was also one of the challenges that I faced.

4) It can increase a company’s Test Automation cost
When I started automation using RPA, most of the RPA tools that I came across were paid and just 1 or 2 had free versions available and that too had not much-advanced features contrary to the open-source scripting tools available in the market. So I feel that this can also prove to be a disadvantage as it will increase the cost of Automation for a company.

But I feel that the pros somewhere outnumber the cons and the proof of this is that more and more companies are investing in Test Automation using RPA. So in my opinion, if you are the one who wants to adopt RPA in Test Automation, then the time to act is now.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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Google Puppeteer

Puppeteer : Is it time to ditch Selenium?

Google has introduced a new library based on Chromium’s dev tool protocol. The library grants high-level API to interact with chromium and handle most tasks which you can perform using Chromium dev tools. The library is implemented in node.js and is really easy to get started once you install required packages using the node package manager.

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Why Puppeteer?

Puppeteer flexes its muscle where selenium misses out. It is not just limited to interactions with the web application under test performing tasks like for e.g. interacting with dom, submitting forms, generating screenshots and pdf of web pages but also in intercepting network activity, throttling CPU and network, generating timeline trace and mocking API amongst some. The puppeteer can be easily be used to write end-to-end automation test suites with the benefit of getting a detailed timeline of the performance of all the assets (images, javascript files and so on).

Engineers can easily switch between headless and non-headless modes. While writing the automation suite, non-headless mode gives a good view of how the browser is interacting with the application under test and helps in debugging; just like in Selenium. But in production, we can execute suite in a headless mode as it reduces execution time and save resources.

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Is it really that Good?

Yes, it enjoys the goodness of async code execution. You can always perform multiple tasks simultaneously following the latest javascript async await conventions. You can test the behavior of your application under different screen sizes. The network can be throttled on demand to find out how your application will run at low internet speeds. For e.g. if you want to test the error messages in an application when a user loses internet connectivity, puppeteer can easily handle such a scenario. Mocking APIs can also be achieved with utmost ease. For instance, if you want to test your “payment completed” screen but don’t want to go through the payment gateway flow, you can easily perform it with puppeteer by mocking the API response. With a detailed performance matrix, puppeteer can easily be used for performance testing.

So what are the drawbacks?

Google puppeteer supports only Chromium and Chrome out of the box. Third party implementations are available for Firefox and Internet Explorer. But they are experimental as of now and are missing a good chunk of the firepower. The documentation available is minimal as compared to selenium.

Why should you prefer Puppeteer over Selenium?

The targeted audience is the major deciding factor. If it majorly comprises of Chrome users you should go ahead with Puppeteer. Other factors include performing automation tasks which are not possible with selenium, like testing Chrome extensions, mocking API calls and so on. Selenium follows WebDriver protocol and has been from a very long time in the market compared to puppeteer hence itis better documented compared to puppeteer.

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Conclusion

Puppeteer is a powerful library which has revolutionized the automation testing by overcoming functionalities missing in WebDriver protocol used by Selenium. Although it is still in the early stages, it promises a bright future, backed up as it is by the illustrious Chrome dev tools team.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 19+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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Selenium vs Appium : Which Tool is Best Suited for Software Testing?

Selenium vs Appium

Quality Assurance (QA) testing is a crucial part of any software development process. It ensures that the software application seamlessly performs the expected tasks, and meets the requirements set forth by the stakeholders.

Testing software manually is a tedious and time-consuming process. The process leaves a lot of room for human error, which can harm the software’s performance. That’s why about 73% of organizations are looking to adopt automated testing.

Automation tools like Appium and Selenium offer a more efficient approach to software testing by providing automated test scripts that can be reused for future projects. In this article, we will explore the pros and cons of both tools and discuss the best use case conditions for both Selenium vs Appium.

Comparing Two Widely Used Test Automation Tools: Selenium vs Appium

Appium

Appium is an open-source test automation tool used for mobile application testing. The tool is a mobile-based testing framework that encompasses the philosophy of “write once, run anywhere.” This means that the same tests written for one platform will also run on another. Appium supports test automation for both Android and iOS applications, allowing testers to use their preferred programming language to write tests.

The Appium architecture is built on a client-server model, with the server code written in node.js. Appium Clients are written for each platform (Android, iOS), and send out HTTP requests to the Appium server through the JSON Wire protocol. The server then responds with code that can be understood by the application under test. This allows for cross-platform testing.

The Appium server is responsible for interpreting the instructions from the client libraries and translating them into commands that can be understood by the device under test. It also acts as a proxy between the client and the device, ensuring that all of the necessary commands are sent properly to the device.

Appium also has an Inspector feature, allowing testers to take a deep dive into their applications and view elements inside of their apps. This provides testers with crucial information when debugging issues related to UI tests, such as element locators or XPath selectors which allow testers to interact with elements in an application more accurately.

Benefits of Appium

  • It is a versatile and powerful tool that tests all types of applications, web, native, and hybrid across multiple platforms.
  • Appium allows testers to reuse code snippets between projects, reducing development time and costs associated with writing complex tests from scratch.
  • Doesn’t require the recompilation of applications.
  • Appium does not require any coding knowledge for its operation.

Weaknesses of Appium

  • The scripts written in Appium have to be maintained, as they can break.
  • The debugging process can be time-consuming when tests fail due to a network latency issue or any other issue related to the test environment.
  • Doesn’t support parallel testing.

Selenium

Selenium is another open-source automated testing framework. It is primarily used as an automation tool for web applications. The tool supports popular browsers and every operating a system like Windows, Linux or MACOS, etc.

Contrary to Appium, Selenium is not a single tool but a tool suite, consisting of four components: Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, Selenium WebDriver, and Selenium Grid. Each piece caters to the different QA testing needs of an organization.

Selenium IDE enables testers to record and playback test scripts while they browse the application. It is best suited for small projects where complex logic isn’t needed. Selenium RC acts as an HTTP proxy and allows developers to automate UI tests for any web application. Lastly, Selenium WebDriver is used for writing more sophisticated tests, with support for various programming languages like Java, Python, Ruby, etc.

Benefits of Selenium

  • Selenium makes it possible to run parallel tests on different machines or browsers simultaneously.
  • Allows integration of third-party plug-ins such as SauceLabs.
  • The debugging process is quite straightforward when compared to Appium.
  • The scripting process can be done quickly and easily as it supports a wide range of programming languages.
  • Selenium has a bigger community than Appium that actively contributes to the tool and documentation.

Weaknesses of Selenium

  • Selenium cannot automate mobile applications.
  • The setup and configuration of Selenium is a time-consuming task.
  • Selenium doesn’t provide end-to-end testing solutions and heavily relies on external libraries.

Suitability of Tools

  • Appium

It is best suited for organizations whose software experience extends beyond web-based applications. The tool is designed to test any kind of application. IT firms use this tool to automate tests on mobile devices and to write tests that can run on Android and iOS platforms. Software companies are also utilizing Appium for testing complex gaming applications and IoT devices that have several moving parts and interactions.

  • Selenium 

Organizations whose primary focus is web application automation should prefer Selenium over Appium as the tool suite can be used to automate all types of tests for browser-based software. Furthermore, companies looking to run parallel automated tests on different machines or browsers simultaneously can opt for Selenium. IT firms leverage this tool for testing complex websites like eCommerce and eLearning platforms which can have hundreds of pages and different user flows.

Related Case Study – AUTOMATED TESTING OF AN IOS HEALTHCARE MONITORING APPLICATION By Mindfire Solutions

Conclusion

Appium and Selenium are two of the most popular automated testing frameworks for software. Both tools are open sources and allow organizations to save time and cut-down costs involved in QA testing.

The decision of which tool to use between Selenium vs Appium depends on the specific requirements of the project. Appium is best suited for organizations looking to test mobile applications and IoT devices. On the other hand, companies with a primary focus on web automation should opt for Selenium as it supports all types of tests for browser-based software.

If you are looking to leverage Appium or Selenium for testing your software, Mindfire Solutions can assist you in the process. Our highly-skilled QA engineers can define the most effective test cases that ensure the software delivers a seamless experience for its users.

Contact Mindfire Solutions to know more about us.

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Best Automation Testing Tools For 2018

Best Automation Testing Tools For 2018

A steady increase is being noted in the number of enterprises implementing agile methodology to deliver software applications rapidly. Many enterprises adopt DevOps – as an extension of agile methodology – to deliver high quality software applications by unifying software development and IT operations. Both agile methodology and DevOps emphasize on continuous delivery and test automation. The enterprises should coordinate the manual and automation testing efforts to get the best results. Continue reading Best Automation Testing Tools For 2018

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