What is Automation Testing ? Benefits, Tools, Disadvantage.

  Automation Testing 

Automation

• It is the process of instructing a tool to perform an operation on an application under test.

• Test Automation is the use of software to control the execution of tests and the comparison of expected V/S results.

Disadvantages of Manual Testing

• Manual testing is time-consuming and tedious.

• Requiring a heavy investment in human resources.

• Worst of all, time constraints often make it impossible to manually test every feature thoroughly before the application is released.

Why Automation Testing ?

• Every organization has unique reasons for automating software quality activities, but several reasons are common across industries.

• Improves efficiency of testing.

• Reducing testing costs.

• Replicating testing across different platforms.

• To give consistent and accurate results. 

Benefits of Automated Testing

Fast : Automation tool runs tests significantly faster than human users.

Reliable : Tests perform precisely the same operations each time they are run, thereby eliminating human error.

Repeatable : You can test how the Web site or application reacts after repeated execution of the same operations.

Programmable : You can program sophisticated tests that bring out hidden information.

Comprehensive : You can build a suite of test that covers every feature in your Web site or application.

Reusable : You can reuse tests on different versions of a Web site or application, even if the user interface changes.

Things we do before Automation

• Identify the test cases that cover functionalities of each module.

• Identify what can be tested and what can not be tested.

• Plan the flow of control and sequence of steps.

What to Automate ?

• Tests that will be run many times.

• Tests that will be run with different sets of data.

When to Automate ?

• When the Application under manual test is stable.

• Test cases that need to be run for every build such as Login Module or core functions like Calendar utility.

• Tests that require execution of multiple data called parameterization.

• Identical test cases which have to be executed on different hardware configuration.

When not to automate ?

• It cannot be used when the functionality of the application changes frequently.

• Cannot be used for user acceptance testing because it is done by end users.

• When the project doesn't have enough time for the initial time required for writing automation test scripts.

• Test with unknown or non-quantifiable results cannot be automated such as correct color combination, web site look-n-feel etc.  

Selection of Automation tool:-

• Choosing an automated software testing tool is an important step.
• Generally a good tool should :
•   Tests all functions.
• It should have good debugging facilities.
• It should have clear help file and a user manual.

 

Why testing tools are required in software testing ? Types of tools.

Requirement of Tools:-

• The efficient and time saving way of testing are through the usage of testing tools.

• The tools are used to continuously improve the quality of testing as well as faster performance.

• The tools help to complete the execution without any manual intervention.

• Classify different types of tools according to the test process activities.

• Recognize tools that may help developers in their testing.

Types of tools:-

• Test management tools.

• Requirements management tools.

• Incident management tools.

• Performance testing/load testing/ stress testing tools.

Test management tools:-

• Support for the management of tests and the testing activities carried out.

• Support for traceability of tests, test results and incidents to source documents, such as requirement specifications.

• Logging of test results and generation of progress reports.

Example : Quality Center - An HP product which allows you to deploy high-quality applications quickly and effectively by providing a consistent, repeatable process for gathering requirements, planning and scheduling tests, analyzing results, and managing defects and issues.

Requirements management Tools:-

• Requirements management tools store requirement statements, check for consistency and undefined requirements.

• Allow requirements to be prioritized and enable individual tests to be traceable to requirements.

Example: Gather Space

Incident management tools:-

• Incident management tools store and manage incident reports. i.e. defects, failures.

• These tools enable the progress of incidents to be monitored over time.

• They are also known as defect tracking tools.

Example: Bugzilla

Performance testing/ load testing/ stress testing tools:-

• Performance testing tools monitor and report on how a system behaves under a variety of simulated usage conditions.

• They simulate a load on an application, a database, or a system environment, such as a network or server.

Example: Load Runner.