Introduction
In today’s fast-evolving technological landscape, the realm of test automation has seen significant advancements, not just in quantity but also in quality. Many companies are now turning to test automation using various tools and technologies to achieve their business goals. Automation testing promises increased productivity, faster development, and high-quality delivery in a cost-effective manner. However, a critical question often arises: after investing substantial time and resources in automating the testing process, will this maximize the organization’s ROI? This question is valid due to several concerns:
- Test automation requires hardcore coding skills.
- Changes in product features necessitate test script maintenance.
- Growing product features can increase test automation costs.
- Script failures can lead to false positive or false negative results.
To address these concerns, numerous tools and technologies have emerged, enabling companies to fully leverage the advantages of test automation.
Levels of Test Automation
According to current market standards, there are three levels of test automation:
- Scripting/Coding: This level involves automating unit test cases, which requires coding. It includes creating test programs to test development code, writing code to develop an automation framework, running the suite against multiple test data, and developing comprehensive reports.
- Scriptless Testing: At this level, coding is not necessary to develop your automation test suite. Scriptless test automation involves using specific tools to record tests, which then automatically generate customized scripts. Although some customization may be required, making it not entirely “no-code,” scriptless testing offers significant advantages, which we will cover later.
- Advanced Test Automation Using Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI-powered test automation platforms can significantly reduce the time spent on testing. These platforms monitor web and mobile applications, using machine learning to analyze and validate test cases, mimicking human perception and cognition.
Benefits of Scriptless Automation Testing
- Reduced Automation Time: Scriptless test automation reduces the time needed to automate new features and maintain existing scripts. This accelerates deployment velocity and positively impacts market responsiveness. Large test suites can be developed quickly, allowing saved time to be invested in increasing test coverage and uncovering bugs early in the SDLC.
- Lower Automation Costs: Traditional automation frameworks require in-house resources with strong test automation skills. Scriptless automation opens opportunities for manual testers to transition to automation, reducing training costs. Automation engineers can focus on other critical tasks like white box testing, unit testing, and maintaining quality infrastructure with DevOps.
- Easy Maintenance: Script maintenance is often the most critical phase of the development life cycle. Scriptless test automation simplifies this process, requiring minimal maintenance even for large test suites. This reliability improves product delivery time by reducing downtime caused by script maintenance.
- Enhanced Engagement of Non-Technical Experts: Scriptless automation frameworks allow product managers and other non-technical stakeholders to participate more freely in the automation process. Their input can significantly enhance the framework’s robustness and reliability, ensuring a more comprehensive and effective testing strategy.
- User-Friendly Interface: Modern scriptless automation tools offer intuitive interfaces packed with features like modularity, data-driven testing, keyword-driven testing, functions, assertions, customized actions, and data repositories. These tools enable even non-technical users to create and execute dynamic automation scripts across multiple browsers quickly.
Comparison with Traditional Test Automation
When considering test automation strategies, it’s essential to understand the differences between traditional test automation and scriptless test automation. Each approach has its own set of advantages and challenges, and knowing these can help organizations choose the best method for their needs.
Traditional Test Automation
Overview: Traditional test automation involves writing test scripts using programming languages. This method requires a robust understanding of coding, testing frameworks, and tools. Common frameworks include Selenium, Appium, and JUnit, which allow testers to create detailed, custom test cases.
Advantages:
- High Customization: Traditional automation provides a high degree of flexibility and customization. Testers can write scripts tailored to specific test cases and complex scenarios.
- Control and Precision: With code-based automation, testers have complete control over the testing process, which allows for precise and detailed testing.
- Reusable Code: Well-written test scripts can be reused across multiple projects, reducing the need for repetitive coding.
Challenges:
- Requires Technical Skills: Developing and maintaining test scripts demands a deep knowledge of programming languages and testing frameworks, making it inaccessible for non-technical team members.
- Maintenance Effort: Changes in the application under test often require significant updates to the test scripts, leading to high maintenance efforts.
- Time-Consuming: Writing and debugging test scripts can be time-consuming, especially for large and complex applications.
Scriptless Test Automation
Overview: Scriptless test automation aims to simplify the automation process by eliminating the need for writing code. Instead, it uses intuitive interfaces and recording features to create automated tests. Tools like Pcloudy offer scriptless solutions.
Advantages:
- Ease of Use: Scriptless tools are designed to be user-friendly, allowing even non-technical team members to create and execute tests. This democratizes the testing process and enables broader participation.
- Faster Test Creation: The drag-and-drop interfaces and recording features significantly speed up the process of creating test cases, leading to quicker test development cycles.
- Reduced Maintenance: Scriptless tools often come with self-healing capabilities, which automatically update tests when changes are detected in the application. This reduces the maintenance burden significantly.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Product managers, business analysts, and other non-technical stakeholders can easily participate in the testing process, providing valuable insights and improving test coverage.
Challenges:
- Limited Customization: While scriptless tools offer significant convenience, they may not provide the same level of customization and flexibility as traditional scripting methods.
- Initial Tool Learning Curve: Although easier than learning to code, there is still an initial learning curve associated with understanding and effectively using scriptless tools.
- Dependence on Tool Capabilities: The effectiveness of scriptless automation is tied to the capabilities of the chosen tool. Some complex scenarios might still require coding or advanced configurations.
Comparison Summary
|
Feature |
Traditional Test Automation |
Scriptless Test Automation |
|
Customization |
High (via scripting) |
Moderate (tool-dependent) |
|
Ease of Use |
Requires coding skills |
User-friendly, minimal coding |
|
Test Creation Speed |
Slower (manual coding) |
Faster (recording, drag-and-drop) |
|
Maintenance Effort |
High (manual updates) |
Low (self-healing, automated updates) |
|
Technical Skills Required |
High |
Low to moderate |
|
Collaboration |
Limited (technical team) |
Enhanced (includes non-technical stakeholders) |
|
Initial Setup Time |
Longer (framework setup) |
Shorter (tool setup) |
|
Flexibility |
High |
Moderate |
Pcloudy – Next Gen Scriptless Automation Tool
Pcloudy is an AI-augmented unified app testing suite developed to replace fragmented tool chains in testing with a comprehensive platform. It features Codeless Automation, a comprehensive test infrastructure with over 5000 device-browser combinations, and a test management suite for testing mobile, web, desktop apps, and APIs. Enhanced with AI-based features like self-healing and Visual AI, and bot testing, Pcloudy helps agile teams achieve efficiency, ship faster, and deliver better app experiences to customers.
Codeless Automation Capability
Create and Maintain Tests Without Scripting
One of the standout features of Pcloudy is its codeless automation capability. This allows testers to create and maintain automated tests without the need for any scripting knowledge. Here’s how it works:
Test Recorder
The test recorder is a user-friendly tool that simplifies the test creation process. It enables users to record their interactions with the application, which are then automatically converted into test scripts. Here’s how the test recorder works:
- Start Recording: Users initiate the test recorder and perform the desired actions on the application, such as clicking buttons, entering text, and navigating through different pages.
- Action Capture: The recorder captures each action and interaction, documenting them as test steps.
- Save Test Script: Once the recording is complete, the tool generates a script based on the recorded actions. This script can be saved and reused for future testing.
Self-Healing Feature
The self-healing feature is a sophisticated AI-based capability that enhances the robustness and reliability of test scripts. Here’s how it functions:
- Detect Changes: When the application under test undergoes changes, such as updates to the UI or modifications to elements, the self-healing feature detects these changes automatically.
- Update Scripts: The AI algorithms analyze the changes and update the test scripts accordingly, ensuring that the tests remain functional without manual intervention.
- Minimize Maintenance: This feature significantly reduces the maintenance effort required for test automation, allowing teams to focus on more critical tasks.
By combining the ease of the test recorder with the intelligence of the self-healing feature, Pcloudy’s codeless automation capability empowers teams to quickly and efficiently create and maintain reliable test suites. This not only accelerates the testing process but also enhances the overall quality and consistency of the applications being tested.
How to Create Automated Tests in Pcloudy
Let’s understand the process of creating automated tests in Pcloudy by following these steps:
Log in to the Pcloudy portal, navigate to the QLM tab in the left panel, and select Test.
Click on the Create Test tab, and Select Automated Test Case.
A new window opens on the right-hand side where you can add necessary details such as test case name, set priority, choose an assignee, and add a description of the test case. You can also scroll down on this page and add attachments like images, videos, text files, Excel files, etc. Once done, click the button at the bottom.
An empty test case gets created. Now, click on the Record icon and select the application-specific recorder.
For example, to add steps for testing a web application, choose a web recorder as shown below.
Click the Start Recording button at the bottom of the pop-up window.
The Recorder window opens with a browser window where you can enter the URL for testing. After that, you can perform actions on the URL page, and the recorder will record them as steps.
Once you have performed all the actions, click on the Stop and Save button on the top of the recorder window.
As shown below, the steps are recorded in the test case. Further, we can use the Attach button at the top to add necessary attachments to the test case and use the Run button to execute and view its results.
You can modify recorded test step data by selecting the three dots on the chosen test case step.
From there, you can use options like ‘Set Input Data’, ‘Set Output Data’, and execution settings (Continue on Error, Want Snapshot, Is Negative) to update input or output data and execution settings of steps. You can also delete a step if needed.
Once you click on Set Input data, a panel opens up on the right to enter the required data. Add the data and save it.
You can also add additional steps to your test case by selecting a step and clicking the Add Step button at the top. A new step gets added after the selected step.
By following these steps, you can efficiently create scriptless test cases in Pcloudy. The advanced features of Pcloudy’s codeless automation, such as the test recorder, synthetic test data generation, and self-healing capabilities, ensure that your testing process is streamlined, efficient, and robust.
Conclusion
Both traditional and scriptless test automation have their place in modern app development. Traditional test automation offers unmatched customization and precision, making it suitable for complex and highly specialized testing needs. On the other hand, scriptless test automation provides ease of use, faster test creation, and reduced maintenance, making it ideal for teams looking to streamline their testing processes and involve a broader range of stakeholders.
Choosing between the two approaches depends on the specific needs of your project, the skills of your team, and your long-term testing goals. For many organizations, a hybrid approach that combines the strengths of both methods may offer the best of both worlds.
July 15, 2024
June 15, 2024
