Will Automation Testing engulf Manual Testing processes?

A very important aspect of IT industry is software testing since it ensures whether everything is working well or not according to the standards and requirements. Software testing aims towards the yielding of desired results as per the business requirements; it should also be bug-free. The evaluation may be classified into two broad categories- one is automation and another manual. Any of the testing methods can be adopted but it actually depends on project budget and requirement. Accordingly it may be analyzed which method will yield more benefits for the project.

Automation testing takes the help of automation tool so that test cases can be executed; it is perfect for large projects. The running tests repeat the predefined so that the program’s real and probable results can be matched. With alignment of results as well as prospects, you can assume that the behaviour is as it should be. In manual evaluation, the tests are run manually without the support of any tools. This is quite an old way to test software. Every software activity is initially tested in this way. However, it is quite cumbersome since several stages are required and each of the processes needs some qualities and innovative, creative, observant, patient and speculative skills. It also involves a lot of time as well as money. With these limitations, these days more and more companies as well as developers are opting for automation as the best means for testing of software. Here are some advantages that it has over manual that is leading to most people leaning in its favour.

Speed- After giving some effort initially towards writing of tests, the performance of automation is significantly faster when compared to corresponding manual ones. This is among the main reasons for most people who choose automation over it. In case of big systems the frequent as well as thorough execution of manual tests takes a long amount of time.

Cost-effective- In automation, the initial costs may be heavy but afterwards everything becomes smoother and there are no concurring costs. On the whole it leads to everything becoming cheaper since just one time payment has to be made; there is no need for multiple payments to be paid for same work. So effectively, automated tests’ cost comes fully-loaded, making it lower than the equivalent manual tests.

More versatile and powerful- It often becomes necessary to check whether performance requirements are met or not when it is used by many users. But for human testers it is impossible to create 100,000 users manually so that they can perhaps check whether statistics generation from the particular number of users will take the same amount of time when used by a single user. Similarly, in case of automation the creation date of objects located in the databases can be changed but the same is not applicable in case of manual testers. The behaviour of systems in future can also be checked. Some similar challenges can be easily tackled by automation but the existing user interface is restrictive when checking manually.

Reliability- Once a test is written and added to test suite performed for each deployment, it cannot be simply forgotten. However, when testing manually some particular tests may be forgotten to perform or some of them can be forgotten intentionally. This helps in reduction of technical as well as human risks. Thus your application is not dependent on the strength of your staff. Even if your staffs are changed, you may be sure that the evaluation will be carried on as usual.

The galore of benefits offered by automation makes it a far more superior alternative to evaluation done manually. It may engulf manual testing processes, but only up to a certain respect since there are some cases in which testing conducted manually yields far better and precise results, where automation does not really prove to be as beneficial.

You can hire testers from top automation testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

You can outsource automated testing services to experts. If you would like to hire automation testers from us or would just like to speak to one of our expert software testers, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

7 Main Practices Of Test Automation In The Agile World

Test Automation – What is it?
Test Automation can be referred to as the use of a specific software for controlling evaluation of a particular software (different from the one that is used in testing) as well as comparing its real life outcomes with the hypothetical ones predicted by the developers of the software. It is all about automating certain repetitive yet highly essential tasks with the help of a specifically formalized testing mechanism that is already pre-set or pre determined and adding certain additional testing mechanisms that are hard to carry out manually.

Now when we talk about automatic test, it provides a lot of benefits to the developers which include detecting bugs as well as errors, reduction of expenses of failure, reduction of time by repeatability and early verification, improvement of resource productivity and so on. However, in order to make sure that the best results can be derived through the process of test automation, it is imperative to follow certain tried as well as tested practices. You will find many but here are seven of them that are considered as golden rules or practices of automatic test.

1. Consideration of Costs and Assets
This is one of the most critical as well as important factors that needs to be taken into account during test automation, especially when it comes to testing automation for mobile devices. The cost factor needs to be taken into consideration at the time of deciding whether a particular company should put automation into use or stick to the traditional manual evaluation of various projects that are being developed. However, when we speak about the cost factor, that should be evaluated along with certain other parameters like time taken, number of heads needed, infrastructure, tools as well as training procedures involved therein.

2. Test Coverage and Re-usability
This is another factor that needs to be considered as well as maintained in a thorough manner as automated testing helps in increasing the depth as well as the scope of tests. Besides, test coverage and re-usability also help improving the quality of the software in a significant way. Processes that are lengthy are at times avoided when conducting manual testing. However, when it comes to automatic tests, they can be conducted without any hiccup whatsoever. That is the reason, one needs to make sure that all these aspects are covered during automatic testing. Hence, it is almost a thumb rule to make sure that as many complex test cases covering as many parameters as possible need to be conducted repetitively to ensure creation of new test cases along with building up features that are more compelling.

3. Using the right tools, methods and technology
In order to yield the best results, one should ensure that the toughest as well as cross platform method of testing is opted. This will not only ensure optimal test coverage but will also guarantee on time results. Again the most appropriate tools should be selected to ensure that all the required parameters are aptly covered and evaluated. Besides, this also guarantees that all the requirements as well as parameters are validated properly.

4. Testing Early as well as Frequently
This is one of the most tried and tested golden rule in automatic test. In order to yield the best results, you need to start the test at the earliest. Again, it is imperative that you conduct the test as frequently as possible. It is an almost established fact that the more you subject a particular software to test, debugging becomes easier. The most remarkable advantage of early testing is that in majority of the cases, bugs that are detected early are easier to be fixed and eliminated than those found during the production or installation of the software.

5. Opt for automated tests which are immune to UI changes
Automated tests that are created with the help of certain scripts as well as keyword tests generally depend upon the application that needs to be tested. While the UI of the particular application can undergo changes, more so during the initial stages thereby affecting the results, there may be times when the automated tests might not work with the higher versions of the particular application. Hence it is imperative to opt for those types of tests which will be immune to these changes in the User Interface.

6. Deciding upon the cases that need to be automated
Though classically speaking all the test cases need to be automated, in reality it is almost impossible to do so. Hence, before you commence you need to decide on the particular cases that need to be subjected to automatic tests.

7. Division of automated testing efforts
As automatic testing encompasses various parameters it is highly important that various QA engineers of different disciplines having a sizeable experience and skills under their belts are engaged in the testing to yield the best results.

There are a lot of other systems that need to be covered while going for automated testing. However, those mentioned are thumb rules that are always religiously maintained to ensure that the tests yield the best results and within the quickest possible time.

You can hire testers from top automation testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide automation testing services. If you would like to hire certified automation testers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Increase Efficiency and Productivity of Mobile Apps with Test Automation

An enterprise can avail several advantages by automating its software testing process. Along with reducing the development and test cycle, a comprehensive test automation strategy can further get higher ROI, along with increasing efficiency and productivity. Each organization also has option to choose from loads of testing tools and frameworks according to specific needs of individual projects. But the test automation strategy of an enterprise must consider some key points to optimize efficiency and productivity with test automation.

6 Ways to Effectuate Your Test Automation Strategy

1) Decide the Test Cases to Automate: Each enterprise has option to automat all as well as selected test cases. Therefore, the test automation strategy must identify what test cases to be automated. It is always a good idea to decide the test cases to automate based on the repetition of the test. If a test case needs to run frequently or perform the same action by using a huge volume of data, it must be automated. On the other hand, the test cases that run only a few times may not be considered for automation.

2) Test Early and Frequently: Unlike manual testing methods, automation testing can be carried out without investing any additional time and effort. Further, the test cases can be reused and used repeatedly to evaluate the application in detail. But each organization must start testing the software as early as possible, in addition to testing frequently to identify all bugs, errors and flaws in the application. The automated unit testing will further make it easier to build automated test suite without any hassle.

3) Pick Customized Test Automation Tools: An organization can further optimize its test automation plan by choosing the most effective tools and frameworks. As it has option to choose from a large number of test automation tools, the enterprise must evaluate the pros and cons of each tool according to the requirements of the project. At the same time, the company must opt for innovative testing tools that enable users to test a software application across multiple operating systems and web browsers.

4) Consider Changes in UI Design: Often test scripts are written by keeping in mind the features and functionalities of the application. So the accuracy of test results will be impacted if the test scripts do not identify the changes in the user interface of the application. The test scripts further needs to be updated regularly to work seamlessly with the current as well as future versions of the application. As the test tools identify and locate a specific object based on a set of properties, the test scripts must be effective in defining the properties exactly.

5) Divide the Testing Efforts: Similar to software development, testing is also teamwork. So the test cases will be written and run by specific testing professional. While planning test automation, you must identify the skill, expertise and experience of each testing professional. The understanding will make it easier to assign tests according to the QA engineer’s skills and experience. It is also important to choose the professionals who have adequate scripting knowledge to write the automated test scripts. The combination of efficient tools and expert QA engineers will deliver more accurate test results.

6) Evaluate Quality of Test Results: The quality of test results is essential to take several important decisions. The accuracy of test results will also have a huge impact on the data-driven applications. Often the data used for testing are stored externally, and accessed from database tables, Excel sheets, XML files and similar data sources. The test cases can be made more reusable and easy-to-maintain by storing the data that will be entered into input fields in external files. Further, the scope of the test case can also be extended without changing the test scripts. At the same time, the testing professionals must put some amount of time and effort to present the test data in a structured way.

The strategy also needs to concentrate on cross-platform automated testing methods to enhance test coverage. Further, an organization can adopt test driven development approach to shorten product launch cycles, while saving time, efforts and resources.

You can hire testers from top QTP automation testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

If you are looking to outsource automated testing and are considering options to hire certified automation testers, please reach out to us. We will be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Cut Down Regression Testing Time by 95%

Despite deploying a high quality technical team, enterprises often find it difficult to automate their software testing process. Along with hiring the right testing professionals, an organization also need to pick the best automation tools to identify the bugs, errors and flaws in the application. If you are looking for an end-to-end automation solution for your web application development project, it is a good idea to choose Selenium. Many reports have highlighted the efficiency and effectiveness of Selenium in cutting down regression testing time by 95%. However, there are also a number of additional reasons that makes the essential to set up a test automation framework with Selenium.

What Makes Selenium a Powerful Software Testing Tool?

Open Source

Most organizations opt for open source tools and frameworks to save money. As an open source automation tool, Selenium can be used without investing any additional funds. Also, each organization has option to avail several Selenium tools including Selenium IDE, Selenium RC, BrowserMob and Sauce RC. So an enterprise can easily set up a customized test automation framework according to the specific needs of individual projects. At the same time, it can also avail the assistance of the large community of Selenium developers and testers to implement the test automation strategy without any hassle.

Support for Major Operating Systems and Web Browsers

The popularity of each web application now depends on its compatibility with major operating systems and web browsers. Therefore, it becomes essential for each enterprise to ensure that the application delivering rich user experience regardless of the user’s choice of operating system and we browser. Along with major web browsers like Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari, Selenium also supports major operating systems. The support for major operating systems and web browsers makes it easier for testers to deliver rich user experience by identifying all flaws in the application without putting any extra effort.

Supports All Programming Languages

Similar to major operating systems and web browsers, Selenium also supports a large number of programming languages including Java, C#, Python and Ruby. The feature makes the tool effective in testing all types of web application regardless of the programming language used by code writers. Further, the features make it easier for enterprises to adopt test driven development approach. Under this approach, automated test cases are written before coding starts. So the programmers have option to use a programming language of their choice to complete the coding rapidly.

Multiple Automated Tests Simultaneously

Most enterprisers aim to build a single test automation framework to test several applications. There are also chances that they have to test multiple applications at a time to shorten software release cycle. Selenium comes with a set of test automation tools that enable users to carry out multiple automated tests at a time. As unit, functional and regression testing can be executed simultaneously, the total test cycles can also be reduced up to a great extent.

Easy to Maintain and Reuse Tests

Many enterprises use test automation tools to reuse and modify test cases without any hassle. Selenium enhances the reusability of testing cases. Along with running the same test script repeatedly, the tools further make the scripts reusable for several projects. At the same time, the features also help users in maintain their overall testing process and test cases without incurring any additional cost. They also have option to implement test metrics to strengthen the decision-making process.

Saves Both Time and Cost

A number of reports have highlighted how Selenium is effective in cutting down regression testing time by 95%. Along with reducing regression testing time substantially, an organization can further use Selenium to shorten release cycles and reduce test cycles. Further, the open source nature of the test automation tools helps organization to avoid the expensive frameworks and tools available in the market. The reduction in development time and testing costs along with enhanced product quality will get higher ROI over a longer period of time.

An enterprise can avail several advantages by setting up a test automation framework with Selenium. But it must consider several options to get and evaluate the test data that is 100% accurate and reliable. At the same time, the organization must keep in mind software testing automation best practices and tricks.

You can hire testers from top selenium automation testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide selenium testing services. If you would like to hire expert selenium testers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Automating Your Mobile App Testing - A Test Driven Development Approach

An enterprise can avail several advantages by automating its software testing. Along with beating competition by launching the application early, the customized test automation tools will further optimize its performance by identifying all bugs, errors and flaws. But each organization must consider some additional points to effectuate its test automation strategy. The software testing strategy can be further optimized by adopting test driven development approach.

Under test driven development approach, the automated test cases are written before the coding starts. The test case clearly defines the improvements and new functionality required, while producing the basic code required for passing the test. Based on the initial test results, the new code is refactored to meet the acceptable standards. If you are planning to make a comprehensive automated testing strategy for your project, it is time to understand why you must try test driven development (TDD) approach.

Top 5 Advantages of Test Driven Development Approach

1) Easy to Check Individual Logics
Under this approach, testing is integrated from the granular levels of the software development process. So it becomes easier to check individual and standalone pieces of logic regardless of frequent modifications. As the application needs to be tested thoroughly once the development process is over, loads of new and modified test cases needs to be run to ensure that the application is running flawlessly. The new approach makes it easier to update the legacy applications by incorporating changes in the current software development process. That is why; the TDD approach can be adopted by both young and old organizations to achieve different objectives.

2) Better Options to Streamline Codebase
As automated test cases are written before the coding starts, it becomes easier for an enterprise to get enhanced test coverage without any hassle. The initial refactoring process further helps programmers to write as well as streamline the code base. Also, it becomes easier for developers to maintain the code base without putting any extra effort. They can avoid writing any additional code if test case is not written or use-case is not available for a specific functionality.

3) Create a Clean Interface
Under conventional testing approach, the programmers write code by focusing mainly on the internal working of the application. So they often ignore to check the code from an API-user perspective. But the TDD approach emphasizes on the test case to be written first. So the APIs generated based on these predefined cases are written from the prospective of an API-user. These techniques also result in building an interface that is both clean and economical.

4) Smooth Incorporation of Changes and New Functionalities
The TDD approach prevents the codebase from becoming dated and monolithic through the refactoring process. The process further makes it easier for developers to optimize and strengthen the code base by incorporating changes. As the process is flexible, the programmers can include new functionalities and features by changing the entire architecture of the application. At the same time, they can make the code more efficient by frequently incorporating fresh and innovative ideas without any hassle.

5) Embrace New Technology without Any Hassle
The TDD approach requires the use-cases to be written as test-cases. So the programmers and code writers can observe the test cases to understand the objectives of writing a specific piece of coding. At the same time, unit tests enable developers to adopt and use new technologies by acting as an efficient learning tool. They can simply refer to a small set of predefined unit test, and understand how to address a specific coding bottleneck. Also, the existing codebase can be accessed by new developers to update the application by including new functionalities.

There are always chances that you may have to put some additional time, effort and money to adopt test driven development. But the initial investment will get you higher returns in the long run by delivering rich and flawless user experience.

You can hire automation testers from top software testing companies in India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide web application automated testing services. If you would like to hire certified automation testers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

What should you choose - Manual testing or automated?

During the development process, we have to be sure that it is the right application being developed and after the process we have to test it the correct way to ensure positive returns on the testing investment. Evaluation techniques like behavioral, static and structural are adopted to find out some bugs but for the test suite there is a major decision that has to be taken- manual or automation. There are some tests which are perfectly suited for automation and manually they are not feasible at all. However, some tests are most effective if done manually. So, it is essential to check the pros and cons of both the types of evaluation to determine which is most productive or efficient.

Automated testing

This process uses automated tools for the running of tests, repeating predefined actions which compare the expected as well as actual outcomes of developing programs. In case the outcomes and expectations align, the project is likely to be bug free. If there is no alignment then some issue calls for address. The code must be looked at, altered and tests must be run continuously so that the expected and actual outcomes align. This kind of evaluation is excellent for large projects, in case of lots of system users or during filling out of forms.

It takes some time to set up the tests but after automating there is nothing to worry about. The tests can be reused and there is no need to fill out repeated information for constant changing of codes. Automatically, everything is done for you.

Though expensive in short terms, in long-term it is very cost-effective; more work is done in shorter time-period. In fact, defects are found faster as well so that the team can react far faster which saves both money as well as time.

Test automation solves the problem of filling out same forms repeatedly which can be very frustrating. While setting up the test coding, considerable thought is needed which involves your technical minds.

Automated tests have results which can be viewed by everybody, unlike that of manual testing. This allows better team collaboration, ultimately leading to better final products.

However, purchasing tools related to this is expensive which makes it imperative to use ones giving full or as full as possible coverage. In fact, the development of evaluation processes takes a lot of time; they have to be run as well. Most bugs in the system are detected by the tests. But despite that there are certain limitations. Some changes related to visual considerations such as font size or image color can be determined only through manual testing.

Manual testing
In this kind of evaluation process tests are run manually by software developers and actual outcomes are compared with program expectations so that software defects can be found. It is perfect for small projects. In fact companies that are short on financial resources can resort to this as well.

This kind of evaluation lowers the short-term costs. Issues that are likely to be faced by real users are discovered. Since they are done manually, the results are far removed from the robotic automation of automated tests. One of the most remarkable benefits of going manual is that it is very flexible. If you think that changing something will change the project’s course, then you will have no problems in accommodating that.

However, some actions will be very difficult to be done manually. The result might be prone to oversights and mistakes. In this case automated testing are better equipped. Also they can be very boring and repetitive- just filling out same things and forms over and over again, this results in not staying too engaged in the process, making room for mistakes. In case of automated testing anything can be added to the program, so that the tests are re-run instantly. But for manuals this is certainly not the case. For changes in software, tests have to be run by hand again, losing valuable time.

Both the kinds of testing have their own unique sets of cons and pros. To decide on which is the best, you should let your common sense to guide in your decision. But preferably both the kinds should walk hand in hand so that you can reap the benefits of both at the same time, making the entire testing smooth and error-free, delivering the best product.

You can hire certified automation testers from top automation testing companies India who can help you accomplish testing within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We provide software testing services. If you would like to hire software testers from us or would just like to speak to one of our expert software testers, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

Top Test Automation Frameworks

With software development becoming more complex and competitive, it has become essential for enterprises to explore options to optimize the application’s performance, quality and reliability. Each developed software application also needs to be tested thoroughly to assess its quality. As software testing requires both time and resources, many enterprises opt for test automation frameworks. Along with speeding up the software testing process, the frameworks are further effective in identifying all bugs, flaws and problems in a developed software. Each business also has option to pick from a wide variety of test automation frameworks. However, one can always consider using some of the testing frameworks that are used widely by software testing professionals across the world.

5 Widely Used Software Automation Frameworks

1) Selenium
Selenium is hugely popular among web application developer to automate web browsers. Along with checking how the internet application works on different web browsers, the developers also use the framework to automate a set on web-based administration tasks. The huge popularity of Selenium has further encouraged many companies to integrate as a native part of their browsers. Based on the requirements of the web development project, a company can choose the Selenium IDE, Selenium WebDriver or Selenium Remote Control. Both Selenium WebDriver and Remote Control are also designed with Selenium Server integration.

2) Watir
As an open source member of Ruby libraries family, Watir supports each application regardless of the technology used for its development. IT supports only the Internet Explorer on Windows. But the testers can use the Watir-WebDriver to test the performance of the web application across major browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Opera. The framework further makes it easier for testing professionals to emulate the exact user behavior by pressing buttons, clicking on links, and filling in forms. At the same time, it also allows testers to check the test results as these will be displayed to end-users.

3) Windmill
As an innovative web application testing tool, Windmill enables testing professionals to automate and debug the applications without putting much time and effort. It is also be best choice for testing the websites designed with huge AJAX and JavaScript functionality due to its effectiveness in facilitating communication between the client-side code and the services. The framework allows testers to check the quality of a web application by using a set of tools like cross-browser test recorder, interactive service shell, JavaScript test integration, and malleable proxy API. Also, the testers can use the Windmill Controller to observe the performance of a website by choosing different options.

4) Squish
Squish is used widely used by enterprises to carry out functional GUI regression tests. The framework launched by FrogLogic can also be used as a powerful tool for GUI test automation across different platforms and technologies. As the GUI testing required both time and resources, many enterprises use Squish to optimize the quality of their applications within a stipulated timeframe. Along with desktop and web application the framework is also used widely for testing mobile and embedded applications. Along with automatic test script recording, and option to run the scripts in batches, the testing automation framework further makes it easier for testers to create, maintain and execute legible test scripts.

5) NUnit
As a unit testing framework, NUnit is hugely popular among Microsoft .NET developers and testers. The xUnit based unit testing tool is also written fully in C#. So it is effective in taking advantages of a number of .NET language features. The professionals also have option to avail advantages of xUnit for several .NET languages. The framework is also being redesigned at regular intervals to take advantages of the innovative and extended .NET language features.

A business can avail several advantages by using a test automation framework. But it is also important to evaluate various frameworks according to a number of factors and specific requirements of the project. You can hire software testers from top automation testing companies India who can help you accomplish testing with the automation testing tools within allocated budgets and time schedules.

We are one of the reputed automation testing companies in India. If you would like to speak to our certified automation testers or would like to know more about the work we have done, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.