Automation testing

Prepared By:
Mona Mohammad Abd El-Rahman.
(QC Engineer at Ibtikar Technologies Co.)

 What is Automation testing ?
 Why Automation testing is important ?
 Levels of automation testing.
 Automation testing Framework.
 Framework approaches.
 Automation lifecycle.
 How to choose automation tool ?
 Types of automation testing tools.
 When to automate and by whom ?
 Supporting practices.
 Skills to be learned.

What is Automation Testing ?
The use of special software (separate from the
software being tested) to control the execution
of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes
with predicted outcomes.

Why Automation Testing is important ?

Why Automation Testing is important ?
 Automated Software Testing Saves Time and Money.
 Testing Improves Accuracy.
 Increase Test Coverage.
 Automation Does What Manual Testing Cannot.
 Automated QA Testing Helps Developers and Testers.
 Team Morale Improves.

Levels of automation testing:
• Testing at source code level with variety of
input arguments to observe the output.
Code
Driven
• Testing at GUI level via keystrokes, mouse
clicks to UI controls etc. and observes the
changes that results in user interface.
GUI
Driven

Automation testing framework:
An integrated solution that sets the rule of
automation of specific product. It integrates the
function libraries, test data sources, object details and
various reusable models.
Data
File
Driver Script
Actual OutputExpected Output
Compare

Framework approaches:
 Record and Playback.
 Linear scripting.
 Modular scripting.
 Data Driven approach.
 Keyword Driven approach.

Record and Playback
 Capture interactions with the system and replay it.
 Popular approach among commercial tool.
Benefits Problems
- Very easy and fast to create initially.
- No programming skills needed.
- Single change in UI breaks all the
test.
- Hard to maintain.
(Plenty of separate test scripts)
- System must be ready before
automation starts.
(Doesn’t accept acceptance test
driven development).

Linear scripting
 Non-structured scripts interacts directly with SUT.
 Can use any programming language.
 Also produced by capture and replay tools.
test
Script
1
test
Script
2
SUT

Benefits Problems
- Fast to create initially.
- Flexible.
- Can use common scripting
languages.
- No license cost.
- Creating tests requires
programming skill.
- One change in the system may
break all the test.
- Hard to maintain.
(Plenty of test scripts).
- No reuse of code.

Modular scripting
 Driver script “drive” test execution.
 Interaction with SUT done by functions in test library.
SUT
Driver
Script
1
Driver
Script
2
Test Library
Function 1
Function 2
Function 3

Benefits Problems
- Reuse of code.
- Creating new tests gets faster.
- Easy to maintain.
(Changes in the system will cause
changes in small areas in test code)
- Drivers scripts are simple.
- Novice programmers can easily edit
in drivers scripts.
- Building test library requires
initial efforts.
- Requires High programming skills
(to create test library).
- Test data embedded into scripts.
- New tests requires new driver
scripts.

Data driven approach
 Test data taken out of test scripts.
 One driver script can execute multiple similar tests.
 New driver script still needed for different kind of
tests.
SUT
Test Library
Function 1
Function 2
Function 3
Driver
Script
1
Driver
Script
2
Test
Data 1
Test
Data 2
Parser

Benefits Problems
- Test libraries provide modularity.
- Creating and editing existing tests are
very easy.
- Maintenance responsibilities can be
divided:
a) Non programmers maintain test
data.
B) Programmers maintain
automation test code.
- Test cases are similar.
- New kinds of tests requires new
test scripts.
- Creating driver script requires
programming skills.
- Initial effort creating parsers and
other reusable components are
big.

Keyword driven approach
 Not only test data but also directives (keywords)
telling how to use the data taken out of the test
scripts.
 Keywords and test data associated with them drive
test execution.
SUT
Test Library
Keyword 1
Keyword 2
Keyword 3
Test
Framewor
k
Test
Data 1
Test
Data 2
Test
Data 3

Benefits Problems
- All same benefits as data driven
testing.
- Tests can be constructed freely
from keywords.
- All tests can be executed by one
framework.
- Initial efforts in really big.
But, there is online open source
tools available.

Automation testing lifecycle :
Decision to
automate
Test tool
acquisition
Automated
tests
introduction
Process
Test Planning,
Design and
Development
Execution and
management
of tests
Test program
review and
assessment

How to choose automation tool ?
Imagine your self the tool decision – maker and
purchaser …
How will you think ?

 Do you have necessary skilled resource to allocate for
automation tasks?
 What is your budget?
 Does the tool satisfy your testing needs?
Is it suitable for the project environment and technology you
are using?
Does it support all tools and objects used in the code?

 Does the tool provide you the free trial version so that you
can evaluate it before making a decision?
Also does the tool have all features available in trial version?
 Is the current tool version stable?
Is the vendor company established with good customer
support as well as online help resources and user manual?
 How is the tool learning curve?
Is the learning time acceptable for your goals?

 Do you want automation tool for only your project needs or
you are looking for a common tool for all projects in your
company?
 Which testing types does it support? Tool which supports
maximum testing types (Unit, functional, regression etc.) is
always a better choice.
 Does the tool support easy interface to create and maintain
test scripts?

 How easy it is to provide input test data for complex or load
tests?
 Does it provide the powerful reporting with graphical
interface? Clear and concise reports will always help you to
conclude the test results quickly.
 Does it integrate well with your other testing tools like
project planning and test management tools.
 Is the vendor provide initial training.

Types of automation testing tools:
Commercial tools
 Good ones tends to be expensive.
 Often hard to integrate with:
- Other automation tools.
- Version control and continuous
integration tools.
 Hard or impossible to customize.
 Risk of product or company
discontinuation.
Ex. Quick test professional (HP),
Functional tester (IBM), SilkTest,
TestComplete, Testdroid … etc.
Open source tools
 Large variety.
(Some are great – other are not).
 Normally easy to integrate with
other tools.
 Free.
 Can be customized freely.
 Can never die.
Ex. Selenium, Robotium, Jmeter,
SoapUI … etc.

When to automate and by whom ?
After Development
Often by different team.
Typical in waterfall projects.
Slow feedback loop.
Collaborative automation
Automation considered to be
integral part of development.
Typical in Agile projects.

Supporting practices:
Version Control
Test data and code should be stored
the same way as production code.
Recommended to store with
production code.
Lots of great open source alternatives
available (Subversion, Github, etc.)
Continuous integration
Key to full scale automation.
Tests are run automatically when:
a) New tests are added.
b) Code is changed.
Can also have scheduled test runs.

Skills to be learned:
 Scripting languages.
 Regular expressions.
(A must when parsing textual outputs)
 Xpath and CSS Selectors.
(A must when doing web testing)
 SQL.
(A must with databases)
 Using version control.

Feel free to contact anytime …
mona.m.abdelrahman@gmail.com

Automation testing

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