Installation of Silk Test Framework
- 1. Test Automation Training Installation of Silk Test Framework Introduction to Software Test Automation Architecture Burak AVCI Test Automation Application Lead www.burakavci.com.tr
- 2. As one of the most popular subjects of recent years, Software Test Automation, which allows you to automate your own products’ tests by installing numerous Framework architectures’ paid or trial versions to your personal computer. One of the main reasons of crafting this presentation is to educate those, who interests in Software Test Automation, on the basics of Automation and how to handle this Automation process on their personal computers. Selenium, which is mainly for Web Browser based products, is well known among the free Framework architectures. As for the mobile devices, Appium Framework is a reliable free Framework architecture. For those, who requests a Framework architecture available to both Mobile and Desktop, there are various licensed products such as; Silk Test Framework, SmartBear TestCompete, HP QuickTest Professional, and Ranorex.
- 3. In General, both licensed and open source Test Automation Software programs are fulfilling the same tasks, licensed Automation products have more advanced structure and offer technical support during the installation of the product. On the contrary, open source software programs do not offer the same technical support when a problem occurs, and the user has the responsibility. Thus, serious companies usually do not consider open source software programs as their automation software. In addition to the aforementioned weaknesses of open source software programs, the security risks and sustainability of these programs also contribute to serious companies’ choice of licensed products. In this presentation, I am going to explain how to install Silk Test Framework’s Trial version, which is a test automation software by Micro Focus, to the personal computers. Firstly, the 45 days trial version will be downloaded from Try Silk Test free for 45 days: www.microfocus.com/products/silk- portfolio/silk-test/trial/ on this website, fill the form and click the download here button. The download link will be sent to your mail address. On this link, click Silk Test 18.5(the latest version)-Software Product to download the software to your computer. The file size is approximately 1 GB.
- 4. To install this software, Visual Studio 2015 should be installed on your computer. Microsoft Visual Studio Enterprise 2015(its latest version and license) can be downloaded from the internet. Run the Silk Text setup file, the installation will be started. Follow the instructions by clicking the next button. When the installation components screen appear, click complete to install all the components such as; Workbench, Open Agent, Silk4NET, TrueLog. I would suggest you to install the all components, which will be useful for automation process.
- 5. As instructed on the first picture, click Next to proceed. Complementary with the explanation on the second picture, I would suggest you to install the software to Program Files as a Default installation.
- 6. You may leave Add Windows firewall exceptions checked, or you may not add it to Windows Firewall onaylı kalabilir veya Windows güvenlik duvarına eklemeye bilirsiniz. When you are creating software architecture with Silk Test Framework, you can write Visual C# and use Silk4NET or you can install Eclipse IDE and using JAVA programming on Silk4J. I will be explaining the first method on Microsoft Visual C# and Silk4NET. Follow the instructions above and click Next to proceed.
- 7. Since Visual Studio 2015 is already installed, the local computer automatically recognized it, as instructed above. Click to Next button to proceed Silk4NET installation. P.S: Silk4NET does not support Visual Studio 2017 currently (valid for 2013 and 2015 versions), thus it will not integrate with Visual Studio 2017. However, the newer versions will be able to integrate with Visual Studio 2017.
- 8. Since I am not using macOS device, I have left empty this tag. But, as it can be seen, Silk Test Framework also supports Apple Mac OS After the completion of installation settings, you can proceed to installation by clicking Install. After installation, proceed as Recommended option below, and choose the Evaluation license, which is valid for 45 days.
- 10. After you are done with Installation and license, click Done to restart your computer. Silk Test Framework is now installed to your computer. After you have restarted your computer, you can open Visual Studio and activate Silk Test Open Agent, by clicking Silk Test and using Silk4NET tab on Silk Test.
- 11. Important installed tools; (I would suggest you to locate them on your desktop as a shortcut) Silk Test: Framework Silk Test Open Agent: Agent Silk TrueLog Explorer: Detaylı Log Analizi Silk Test Workbench: Locator Bulma ve Record
- 12. When you have opened Visual Studio, if you see Silk4NET Start Page and Silk4NET tab among the tabs above, then the integration process has been completed correctly.
- 13. The basic fact of the medium layer, which is also known as Keywords layer,is the Framework methods on Driver layer, such as; Locator, XPath, CSS Selectors, or simplified Locator created within this layer. The choice of creating automation script and test script by the test engineer, and the coding process, is going to be conducted on the Implementation Layer, which is the medium layer of automation. In order to create the first project (Solution), click the New Project on Silk4NET tab. When creating a new solution, type a different Solution Name and Name. The reason for typing solution name and name is to prevent architectural complexity and have a stable and smooth process when creating different projects and layers. Basically, to introduce the architecture of infrastructure (Web Browser, Desktop or Mobile), which will be used for the automation, the layer defined as; Hardware or Driver Layer has been used to set up the connection between infrastructure and automation framework. The methods and quality of the Framework will be determined in this layer.
- 14. Face up layer is the layer, which the test engineer will use and conduct the tests. In this phase, the test engineer does not need to work on the coding. Automation tests can be conducted via Unit Test Class or by writing scripts on Silk Central via using Silk’s Keyword Driven Test feature. The test engineers might have some technical difficulties on Locator, Xpath due to the HTML tag requirement (id, Text, caption) for some tests. In order to overcome this issue and conduct the tests easily, the engineers can use Silk Test Workbench. In the previous slides, I have tried to explain the basics of Software Test Automation. This process is valid for the most of the test automation software programs. If you want to further enhance your skills on test automation, you can check out Test Automation Robot Framework (robotframework.org), Test Automation Frameworks (Free and Licenced), and Cross Browser Testing Tools.
- 16. Sample structure of the architecture I have created has been illustrated on the right. You can craft your Test automation infrastructure by creating Web or Desktop structure. As illustrated on the picture, Framework project buttresses the other projects as well, and thus programmers, who are working on the other products, do not need to create Driver method, due to their completion on the Framework layer. I will explain the other structure in this presentation in the next presentations. In this presentation, you have been familiarized with the basic Framework installation, creating a project on Framework software, and Silk Test software. As an additional information, I would like to mention about PoC Proof of Concept (PoC) can be basically described as a proof of a notion. In BT technologies, it can be also defined as Demo, created by using of the real data. As another definition, PoC is the test of a product on a small scale, which has not reached the production phase. On a mobile PoC; you will be given an APK, which will allow you to create scenario steps such as; login and function, and test these steps on the architecture you have created, to prove these scenario steps are working.