What Is Automation Testing?

In the field of software, different types of simulations play a vital role. These simulations are nothing but automation done through some scripts and software tools to make a process work automatically without any human effort. This also saves a significant amount of time, increasing the accuracy and efficiency of the work.

What Are the Components of Automation Testing?

The following are the components of automation testing:

Test Automation Framework: It is simply the set of rules and guidelines according to which the scripts of automation testing are designed. It also provides all the necessary software tools to ensure that test cases are built properly and work effectively. It makes the whole process more structured, ensuring consistency, reusability, and scalability of the simulations created.

Test Scripts: To ensure the behaviour of a software is as per the expectations, a set of instructions is written in a programming language or some scripting language for the automation testing. These scripts are known as test scripts, which are further implemented by automation testing tools.

Test Data: To execute the automation test cases, the required inputs needed are taken as test data. It is essential to validate the different scenarios, also making sure the software handles and maintains all the inputs properly and detects potential issues as well.

Types of Test Data are:

• Static Test Data

• Random Test Data

• Dynamic Test Data

• Boundary Test Data

• Valid Test Data

• Invalid Test Data

Automation Tools: To execute the automation test scripts, test data, and integrate them with other required tools, some applications are needed, which are known as Automation tools. These tools are specifically designed to manage all the data and report results, which is very crucial in order to cover all the testing activities.

Best Practices for Automation Testing

The following are the automation best practices to follow:

1. Decide Which Tests to Automate

Not all tests can be automated, as some require human judgment. Start your automation plan by identifying tests that will benefit from automation. It is advisable to automate tests with the following characteristics:

• Require repetitive actions with large amounts of data.

• Are prone to human error.

• Need to use multiple data sets.

• Extend across multiple builds.

• Must run on different platforms, hardware, or OS configurations.

• Focus on frequently used functions.

2. Divide Tasks Based on Skill

Assign test suite and case creation tasks to individuals based on their technical expertise. For example, if a test requires a proprietary tool, team members of varying skill levels can create test scripts with minimal effort. However, if using an open-source tool, automation tests will require someone with coding expertise for that specific tool.

3. Collective Ownership of Tests

Do not rely on a single tester or engineer for entire automation testing projects. The entire team must stay updated and involved to integrate automation successfully into the testing infrastructure. This ensures transparent communication and informed decisions about setting up and running the right tests.

4. Remove Uncertainty

Automation aims for consistent, accurate test results. To prevent false positives and inconsistencies, eliminate unstable tests in regression packs and ensure tests are up-to-date. Proper test planning and regular assessments of automated tests are essential.

5. Pick the Right Testing Tool or Framework

Choosing the right tool is crucial for automation testing. Consider the following:

• Nature of Software: For web-based applications, use tools like Selenium. For mobile-based applications, consider Appium.

• Programmer Experience: Select frameworks, languages, and tools that match testers’ expertise, such as Java, JavaScript, Ruby, or C#.

• Open Source or Not: Depending on budget constraints, choose open-source tools like Selenium or Appium. Remember, open-source tools are not inferior to commercial ones; for instance, Selenium Webdriver is highly favored by automated testers globally.

7. Keep Records for Better Debugging

When tests fail, maintain records of the failures, including text and video logs, to identify the reasons for test failure. Select tools that feature mechanisms for automatically saving browser screenshots at each test step. This helps detect where errors occur. For instance, BrowserStack Automate video records each test run as executed on the remote machine.

8. Use Data-Driven Tests

For analyzing multiple data points, manual testing is impractical due to the volume of data and variables. Data-driven automated tests simplify the process by using a single test and dataset to efficiently work through various data parameters.

Conclusion

While manual testing has been beneficial for years and worked well for all types of testing, automation testing has raised the bar, making the whole process more efficient, accurate, consistent, and time-efficient. Indeed, there are challenges with automation testing, including high investment or skill set requirements; still, the opportunities it provides are immense and profitable.

While putting automation testing over manual testing, it is important to acknowledge the fact that ultimately it all comes down to human efforts no matter what, the success of automation testing entirely depends upon the efforts of the developers who are writing test scripts, creating the test cases and carefully planning and collaborating to make the automation possible.