After building software, you’ll need to run across different edge cases to understand how it runs and iron out any chinks in the armor. Automation testing ensures that your software product is reliable, efficient, and user-friendly. Automation testing also plays a critical role in modern QA strategies by enabling continuous testing and faster feedback loops. It saves resources by automating redundant testing tasks and completing them much faster than manually. Investing in the process pays off for repetitive software projects with many test cases.
Automation testing minimizes human error and solves a significant problem in manual testing. In the debate of manual vs automation testing, the latter wins out in speed, repeatability, and coverage for regression and performance tests. Its thorough testing strategy runs multiple test cases simultaneously, in which automation is an integral part of software testing within a short duration. It helps in catching bugs that may go unnoticed. Automation tests help to ensure that the software is reliable and stable within a shorter duration of time when compared to manual testing. With the right implementation, automation testing enhances test accuracy, reduces test cycle time, and supports frequent deployments.
Implementing automation testing in a software company is relatively straightforward:
- Identify the test cases that can be automated. These test cases should be repeatable and cover as much depth as possible.
- Pick an automation testing tool that best suits the software application that needs to be tested. Choosing the right test automation tools is crucial for successful implementation, as they should align with the technology stack and project goals. Set up the automation testing environment and script the identified test cases.
- Integrate automation testing into the software development process, considering every time you add new code to the software, the scripts need to be updated as well.
Automation will help ensure that any existing functionality is not broken and the software runs consistently. Automation testing saves time and resources and ensures thorough testing to minimize human error. Automated software testing reduces the time and cost of repetitive test execution, making it a smart investment for long-term projects. By implementing automation testing and integrating it into the software development process, a software company can ensure that its products are reliable, efficient, and user-friendly. The rise of automation in QA is transforming the way software is validated, allowing teams to shift left and integrate testing earlier in the development lifecycle.
Let’s understand how automation helps in automation works across different landscapes.
Desktop app automation – Beyond use and utility
Automation testing of desktop applications such as Point of Sale (POS) systems and on-premise Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of a business’s operations.
In the case of POS systems, automation testing can simulate transactions and ensure that the system can handle them correctly. It can include testing for proper calculation of prices, taxes, and discounts and ensuring that the system can handle multiple transactions simultaneously without crashing. Automation testing can ensure that the system can adequately address payment methods, such as credit cards and mobile payments.
Automation testing can test on-premise ERP systems by testing the system’s ability to handle different types of data, such as financial and inventory data, and ensuring that the system can handle multiple users accessing it simultaneously. Automation testing ensures the system can adequately control different business processes, such as ordering and invoicing.
Custom frameworks – Tailoring to your business needs
The standard frameworks may not necessarily work for all applications. Custom automation testing frameworks can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of automation testing, especially when tailored to the software’s specific technology and environment. A custom framework allows for a tailored approach that can be more effective in identifying and addressing the unique challenges of the software.
The benefits of having custom frameworks are as follows:
- Writing and maintaining test scripts is more accessible when the software and the custom framework are in the same programming language.
- Custom frameworks work with specific libraries or frameworks, such as Selenium for web applications, which can help streamline the automation testing process.
- They can handle the specific requirements of the software. For example, if the software has a complex user interface, the custom framework can be designed to handle testing that interface more efficiently.
- A custom framework handles data more efficiently. If the software has a lot of data to process, it will increase the maintainability and scalability of the automation tests.
Test scripts can save time and resources and make testing more efficient. Custom automation testing frameworks can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of automation testing by being tailored to the specific software. CI has built custom UI frameworks using Selenium that helped automate parts of the Multi-bin feature. They increase the automation tests’ maintainability and scalability and allow for better code reuse.
UI automation with WinAppDriver
UI automation refers to using software to control another application’s user interface, typically for testing or automating repetitive tasks. WinAppDriver is a Windows Application Driver for Windows applications; it allows for automating UI testing of Windows Applications. It uses the same APIs as Appium and Selenium to interact with Windows applications. With WinAppDriver, you can automate the UI of a Windows Application by scripting actions such as clicking buttons, inputting text, and navigating menus. CI Global’s expertise in writing automation scripts helped automate the UI’s repetitive tasks. From identifying parts of the UI to the IDs associated with the cursor position and the way the fields interact with one another, CI did and continues to do every bit of the process for you to go hands-off with any product you have.
CI Global: From testing to beyond
As a team that built the automation in several product lines across multiple environments like desktop, web and mobile, CI Global has enabled faster product releases, while still focusing on thorough end-to-end testing.
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