Mobile Test Automation Tools
Mobile users around the globe have increased exponentially. As per studies, it’s going to be much higher in the coming years, this means that people are going to use internet services from basic internet surfing to banking, shopping, etc from their mobile devices and we all can agree that even without any study because we all must have felt that trend in recent times. As part of this trend, every company is now looking toward developing its own mobile applications. 1000’s applications are released every month and what makes an app stand out is its quality, and when we talk about quality, ‘Testing’ plays an important role in making an ordinary application a high-quality user-friendly one, and choosing the right mobile test automation tools can be a challenge. Testing is not an easy job either, it is a complex, resource-intensive, and time-consuming one. This is why choosing the right testing tool is of at most importance. Through this blog, we are trying to help you with the decision-making process of choosing the right Mobile Test Automation Tools. Mobile Test Automation Tools Mobile devices are less accessible and less open than standard desktop environments or web-based applications and this makes automation a bit challenging. Appium Appium is an open-source project for test automation. It’s a native, mobile web, and hybrid application on iOS and Android platforms. It supports native, hybrid, and web apps. More Information: Appium SeeTest It’s a cross-platform solution, the same script runs on different devices. Facilitates test to run on several devices concurrently. It records on real devices. It supports Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Phone 9, and Symbian. More Information: SeeTest UFT UFT (Unified Functional Testing) software. UFT provides functional and regression test automation for software applications and environments. UFT is primarily used for regression, service, and functional testing. UFT can be used for enterprise quality assurance. It supports keyword and scripting interfaces. It also features a graphical user interface. TestComplete TestComplete is a functional automated testing platform developed by SmartBear Software. Tests can be scripted, recorded, or manually created with keyword-driven operations and used for automated playback and error logging. It can be used to create and automate many different software test types. It supports Web, Android (operating system), Microsoft Windows, and iOS applications. More Information: TestComplete Robotium Robotium is an open-source tool for Android UI testing. It’s used mainly for automated black-box UI tests for Android applications. It supports web, native, or hybrid mobile applications. Calabash Calabash works well with Ruby, Java, .NET, Flex, and many other programming languages. Calabash is an automated acceptance testing framework. It supports native and hybrid mobile apps. iOS-driver iOS Driver utilizes Selenium and the WebDriver API for testing iOS mobile apps. It is designed to run as a Selenium grid node, which improves test speed as it enables parallel GUI testing. It supports all IOS native, hybrid, or mobile web applications. Selendroid Selendroid doesn’t require any app-code modifications. Tests are written using the Selenium 2 client API. It supports Android native, mobile web, and hybrid applications. Frank It’s an iOS-only test framework combining Cucumber and JSON. It also includes an app inspector called Symbiote, which helps you to get detailed information on your running app. Frank is most suited for emulators and web-based apps. iOS UI Automation iOS UI Automation tool can be used to automate user interface tests for iOS apps by writing test scripts. Through automating tests of UI interactions, you can minimize procedural errors & shorten the time needed to develop product updates. UI Automator It creates functional Android UI test cases to test your user interface (UI) efficiently. Mobile app development and testing tools continue to be developed at a rapid pace and I will be updating them here, so keep checking again for more updates. Also, don’t forget to use our Free Mobile Automation Testing service. MonkeyTalk MonkeyTalk is a complete functional test platform for iOS and Android apps. The scripts use simple keyword syntax and Ant or Java execution engines. It supports native, mobile, and hybrid apps, real devices, or simulators. Need help with Mobile Test Automation? Contact us now!
How do Mobile Web Testing Tools help the Testers?
Mobile technology has over the recent years shown remarkable growth and has evolved to become a multifunctional device that not only communicates, but helps us learn, earn, and have fun. Technology is advancing rapidly and people are now inclined toward high-end smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. Though Android and iPhone are the most preferred platforms for application builders, the Mobile Web platform is gaining momentum. We see some of the leading organizations are increasingly using the mobile web as a platform to reach their consumers. A typical conversation heard in a mobile app development center: Manager: Could you please assess the quality of our mobile web application in the brand-new iPhone series? The customer has reported a few vulnerabilities in the performance aspects. Tester: Oops!!, we haven’t procured those device series so far and have not yet identified the right tool to cross-check the same. The above concerns raised from both sides happen in a large number of mobile web application development centers. Device fragmentation, screen resolution, processing power, etc makes mobile testing very challenging. Having all devices handy is not a practical solution due to the cost; also upgrades and new devices get released frequently. In this article, I would like to touch upon a few mobile web testing tools for testing your site on mobile devices. These are basic web-based emulators, which allow you to check your site on an emulator’s mobile screen. Mobile Web Testing Tools Dynatrace The Dynatrace mobile readiness test evaluates how well your website will perform on a mobile phone. The tool provides detailed reports on Response-Time, Content analysis, Industry comparison reports, etc. Each report provides a score based on an in-depth analysis including suggestions for fixing the issues identified. Price: Free Link: Dynatrace MobiReady The mobiReady score represents how well a particular web page will do across the spectrum of mobile internet devices. MobiReady provides a score between 0 and 5 scores, with 5 being the top and 0 being the least. If a web page scores high on mobiReady the application will be capable of providing a greater extent of user experience on diverse mobile device types. Low-scoring webpages indicate that they might be slow to load, of poor application design, or incorporate components that will crack the user experience on mobile devices. Price: Free. Link: MobiReady W3C mobileOK Checker The W3C validators are hosted on server technology donated and Hewlett-Packard and supported by many more community donations across the globe. This checker performs various tests on a web page to determine its ease and level of mobile-friendliness and usability factors. A web page is certified to be mobile-friendly when it passes all the tests.W3C primarily assesses basic interoperability, usability, and efficiency, and is based on the WS3 Mobile Web Best Practices. It supports various validations such as Validation by URL, File Upload, and Direct Input. BrowserStack BrowserStack provides web-based browser testing with live interactions and a screenshot check facility. It helps to fast access remote browsers, developer tools, and live testing. BrowserStack has a wide collection and access to official mobile emulators distributed across different platforms such as Apple iOS, Android, and Opera Mobile. You can test and analyze your site over a large extent of devices. Since the application is paid, we can perform a responsive test on various devices free of cost. BrowserStack provides a free trial option for 30 minutes of live testing. Price: Plans start at $19/month Link: BrowserStack Perfecto Mobile Perfecto Mobile is one of the leading mobile cloud platform services which provides competence for Mobile Monitoring, Performance Testing, and Test Automation. Perfecto Mobile’s MobileCloud platform facilitates you to associate with real mobile handsets and tablets which are connected to live mobile networks distributed in different geo-locations. It grants you to analyze your test and monitor the processes on each handset and establish the ideal compatibility of your site, application, or service. Screenfly Screenfly allows you to view your website on a collection of device screens and resolutions. It contains various platforms simulators such as Desktop, Tablet, Mobile, and Television as well. All you need to do is to enter the URL and click on GO to get started. Price: Free Link: Screenfly Mobile Phone Emulator This emulator permits you to see your site on a mixture of mobile phones, including Apple iPhone, BlackBerry, HTC, LG, and Samsung. The Responsinator The Responsinator assists you rapidly in getting an indication of how your responsive site will be viewed on the most popular devices, such as Android, iPhone, and iPad. Price: Free Link: The Responsinator Matt Kersley’s Responsive Design Testing This is an addition to the responsive web design testing toolset… Test your site in several widths at the same time. All you need to execute is that, enter the URL into the address bar to test a unique page. Price: Free. Link: Matt Kersley’s Responsive Design Testing Conclusion This article is about the usage and peculiar features of a few handy tools which help mobile web development centers, resolve some of the technical and design hurdles. As you optimize your code for specific devices, it changes the functionality of others. All of these different renderings and interpretations are not to be considered bugs (well some are) but instead features of the device. This might seem like a major issue to developers and designers stuck in a pixel-perfect world, but in real-world scenarios, these contrasts are acceptable, even expected. Not all phones are created equal, it varies in screen size and resolution, installed fonts, colors, HTML and Javascript support, etc. So the best you can do is present the best, most extensible, equivalent design you can which does not mean identical. This is where testing is key! The sooner you accept the above-mentioned tools, the best quality can be ensured while releasing a mobile-friendly web app. Testing is a critical part of any web development process, but especially so for mobile devices due to the various scope of devices and capabilities. Need help? Contact us now!
Selecting the Right Mobile Test Automation Tool
Right Automation Tool selection is like finding the right ride for your journey. If you choose the wrong one, it will make your journey miserable. Automated testing is the backbone of mobile testing. This is more so in mobile testing than web testing, because of the shorter release cycle of mobile apps. The rise in popularity of agile development, continuous delivery, and DevOps is giving further impetus to mobile test automation. The success of mobile testing automation is dependent on the choice of tools. Let’s look at the main criteria for mobile test automation tools selection License cost The license cost of the testing tool is a major factor that can result in a go or no-go decision. There are several free and paid tools available in the market. In general, the market is dominated by free tools. The free tools are able to cover the basic functionality requirements. However, as you move up the testing complexity and volume, not all free tools are able to handle the complexity and volume. It can also happen that you absolutely require a particular functionality that is available in a particular tool. So the decision should be based on both the license cost and your requirements. Can be used by non – programmers Before selecting the right tool make sure the automation tool provides a good amount of inbuilt libraries by which the tester can easily automate the test cases without the tester knowing a lot of programming. Learning Another challenge in selecting the right automation tool is its ease of use. If you are picking a tool that is complex and needs a lot of time to learn, then it may affect the project completion time. A tester would be tied to his computers all day long learning the tool and as consequence doing unproductive work. The short learning curve is, therefore, a must. OS support This is another basic criterion to be considered while you make the Selection. The tool must be able to support different Operating systems in the market both established as well as new (like FirefoxOS).If you fail to select the automation tool which supports all major Operating systems, then you may end up running an automation testing suite on different platforms using different tools. This could lead to more cost, more effort, and less output. Integration Mobile Test Automation can’t be executed in an isolated environment. Mobile testing tools have to be integrated with Build Management and Release Management Tools. It is important for the Automation tool to be in sync with the existing Release and Build Management Tools. Define Test Automation Requirements like Test Cases that are to be automated belong to which category: Desktop Application tests, Unit Tests, Web Based tests, Web Services tests, DB tests. Mobile Testing Tools Selection depends a lot on what kind of tests it is expected to automate. Automated Test Scripting Scripts are very important when performing automated testing and you should consider the automated software testing tools which provide scripting capabilities while selecting the Mobile Automation Testing Tools. Additional features to be considered: Object identification methods Gesture Support Language used Support for Internet Browsers Record and playback mechanism Support for Cross-browser tests Reports Need help? Contact us now!
Everything you need to know about Scriptless Test Automation
Most often, product features are required to be deployed to production frequently, rapidly, reliably, and without any downtime. In the DevOps approach, the time span between code commit and deployment to production is quite short, maybe within an hour. This makes test automation quite challenging. The existence of a framework may not suffice to meet the rapid pace at which software is developed and released. This article talks of a solution to this problem; an approach to building a test automation layer that helps automate test cases by using reusable, ready-to-use functions/keywords. An approach popularly known as Scriptless Test Automation overcomes the issues mentioned above and benefits organizations at the earliest stage. To know more in detail about scriptless test automation we should first understand the limitations of script-based test automation. Limitations of Script-based Test Automation Test automation based on scripting/record and playback is mainly performed on the UI part of the application. Some of the limitations of this approach are” Requires programming skills: A non-technical person will take time to learn/acquire the skill of the script since the scripts are developed using tool-specific languages. Since UI automation heavily depends on the UI components, scripting can start only after all the UI components are created, adding to the delay in keeping at par with the releases. Script creation by different people across different areas may result in variation in the coding style, resulting from higher effort in maintainability. In modern methodologies like Agile, DevOps application codes are committed and built frequently and the changes in UI may break the automation code. The team will need to work on updating the scripts more than working on new areas, thus creating more lag. Projects relying heavily on automation will require a large team to develop/maintain scripts to meet the frequent changes in the environment, application, etc. Script-based automation is always generated by keeping the technical person in the mind. This makes it difficult for others to understand and provide feedback to improve test coverage. Above all, there is a chance of the focus getting diverted from the main purpose of testing, i.e to find regression issues, to fixing script issues. What is Scriptless Test Automation? A simple definition for scriptless test automation would be “an approach to automate manual test cases without creating new scripts in any tool-specific language”. The key highlight of this approach is that it can be used by non-technical users also. It uses already developed scripts – “Keywords” to build up test cases for the automation run. These keywords will be the most commonly used actions like – “Enter Text”, “Click Element”, “Select Option” etc, and can be easily used to build up a suite of test cases. Point to note: Scriptless does not mean script-free. The scriptless approach creates a wrapper that hides the tools and technologies used. Testers do not need to bother about the languages compatible with the tools used for automation. There is a myth: A good framework that contains reusable functions is the same as scriptless testing. However, the scriptless approach is a superior form of a framework that creates a wrapper that hides all complexities of script-based automation. Scriptless test automation needs to be designed by an expert who utilizes experience/expertise to create an optimized set of keywords. Most commonly used arithmetic calculations like finding the average, calculating interest, file operations like reading/writing from/to excel/CSV/plain text, etc, database operations like establishing connections to different DBS, fetching data, etc are converted to keywords and kept ready before the application is ready. This will reduce the automation time and enhance ROI right from the initial stages of implementing test automation. The time taken to fix changes in UI would be lower than in the traditional approach, as all the assets used for automation would be stored in a repository. A change made at the repository will reflect in all instances that utilize the asset. In a scriptless approach, stakeholders can be involved in the initial stage itself and provide appropriate feedback to ensure the test focus is correct How to implement Scriptless Test Automation Following are the steps to implement scriptless test automation Select a well-established framework like Robot Framework, Cucumber Identify the most commonly used keywords Create a central repository that defines assets used in keywords. It can be an XPath / CSS path of elements used in keywords. It can be a key-value pair Keys should be unique and aptly named so that even non-technical persons should identify the asset used Create a global file that defines the custom values(variables) used in keywords. Values to be entered in text fields, selected in the select box, etc. It can also be a key-value pair Same as above, keys should be unique and identify the purpose of the value being used Create scripts for identified keywords Keywords should be created in the English language which is easy for everyone to understand. Keywords should be group-able to create user-defined keywords. Advantages of Scriptless Test Automation Easy to use: Since the keywords are like English words Initial implementation time is greatly reduced: Most of the common keywords are available in global files. The tester then needs to only mention the values for assets and variables. With a lesser number of resources, the desired level of automation can be achieved Suitable for Agile and DevOps methodologies: the Scriptless approach can cope with rapid changes and delivery models. ROI seen at the early stages Need help? Contact us now!
4 Best Mobile App Testing Strategies
Mobile app testing is a relatively new field and so it’s still undergoing changes. This is why many companies are still struggling to put in place a comprehensive mobile application testing strategy. With this blog, we bring out the 4 main challenges to mobile application testing and suggest mobile application testing strategies to tackle those challenges. Delivering a positive experience to the consumers from your mobile application can help elevate your brand. On the flip side, a buggy application can do permanent damage to your brand. Releasing your application without proper testing is like jumping off a cliff without a parachute. No one wants to use buggy applications. Chances are you won’t even hear from your customers again if you provide them with buggy applications. Challenges in Mobile App Testing A lot of Devices The number of new devices & manufacturers has gone over the roof. Different mobile devices are flooding the market. Every mobile app developer wants to support as many devices as possible, but it’s a huge challenge to satisfactorily test the app on each of the devices. Operating Systems Different OS varies greatly in their processing speed and memory size, so even if your device’s response time and overall performance on one OS are great, it won’t be the case when you use another. This is also a never-ending challenge because new operating systems are entering the market (like FirefoxOS). There is a need to ascertain app performance in each of the operating environments. Network There are over 400 mobile network operators in the world. The majority of mobile applications depend on network connectivity to work and it significantly affects mobile applications. Testing on all the possible networks is physically impossible. Short release cycle Unlike web applications which generally have annual releases, mobile application versions have a much shorter release cycle. Each of these versions needs to be tested properly prior to release. Following the whole manual testing exercise each time a new version is inefficient and ineffective. The problem is further extenuated with agile development, continuous delivery, and DevOps increasing in prominence. Mobile App Testing strategies to tackle the above challenges A lot of Devices Testing on many devices adds greatly to the time and cost spent on testing. The best possible solution to this is to use emulators and simulators to run automated tests during the initial phase and include testing with a variety of physical devices prior to release. Operating Systems The best possible solution to this is to use tools that are flexible and can stand the test of the ever-shifting mobile development landscape. Choose a framework that allows for testing on a variety of platforms and languages; this also gives you the flexibility to evolve continually. Network Use any network simulation tools available, and test mobile apps against bandwidth limitations, network speeds, connection dropouts, and more. These network simulation offerings add exceptional value to the testing activities. Short release cycle We believe Automated Mobile Application Testing is the best solution! Automated testing can give developers the power to develop faster and more easily. The mobile marketplace is changing much faster than the web marketplace, and so developers need a way to continue to make changes and improvements to their apps as easily as possible. With Automated Testing, the speed of testing is much higher when compared to the slow and costly process of manual testing. Automated testing will complete the tasks in minutes which can take hours if you do manual testing. Verifying application compatibility with newly released operating systems becomes easy when we use Automated Testing. Also, if you use a cloud testing platform, you can scale your testing to fit your needs without the lead time needed to increase your local infrastructure. Another advantage automated testing provides is cost savings. Manual testing is expensive, but using automated testing can reduce your cost while increasing your testing capabilities. Need help? Contact us now!
Why does Mobile Testing Automation Requires Expertise?
Mobile testing automation is very a critical aspect of the software development process. With agile development, continuous delivery, and DevOps increasing in prominence, Mobile testing automation is now a necessity. But the criticality of Mobile testing automation is not just limited to enabling fast delivery. Its criticality of it comes from it now taking up the role of primary custodian of the quality of the mobile application. A leading customer experience consultancy did a very interesting experiment. The result of these experiments gives further proof of the impact of Mobile testing automation. The purpose of the experiment was to “explore ‘Web Stress’ in relation to application performance and its impact on consumer behavior and buying habits.” As part of this experiment users were asked to complete a transaction while the internet speed was throttled continuously. The result of the experiment showed that as the app performance came down during the lowering of internet speed, users developed a negative opinion of the app and the brand. It would be natural to expect a direct correlation between app performance and user perception of the application. However, the fact that app performance is actually affecting the brand should raise concerns for all organizations. Another study corroborates this fact. In this study, it was found that over 70% of respondents felt that the performance of a mobile app would impact their perception of the brand. And not just performance users are also looking for features. An app is not enough – even one that is always available – if it is simply an online catalog or mirror of the mobile site. Consumers expect a wide variety of features and services that engage, excite, and enhance their experience at the Zero Moment of Truth. Companies therefore continuously come out with newer versions of apps. The typical release cycle of mobile apps can be as short as a week. With this type of delivery timeline, companies can only fall back on automation. Therefore mobile test automation is taking up the role of the primary custodian of the quality of the mobile application and by inference the custodian of the brand image of the company. With the risk of the brand lying in the hand of the mobile apps, organizations can ill afford to treat mobile test automation with kid gloves. More and more organizations are looking for expertise in the area of mobile test automation and in many cases looking beyond their own organizational setup. Added to this is the fact that mobile testing automation is a fairly complex task. Challenges in Mobile Testing Automation The abundance of Mobile devices The Android Fragmentation Report 2014 states that there are 18,796 distinct Android devices (compared to 11,868 devices in 2013). All these Android devices differ in shape and size, with vastly different performance levels, screen sizes, and input methods with different hardware capabilities. To add to this, we have nearly 6 generations of IOS mobile devices, iPads, iPods, Blackberry, and Windows mobile OS devices. Thus, the challenge is to cover testing in all the devices used by a client. The different versions of Operating systems We have already listed a few Operating systems available in the market – iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Blackberry, etc to name a few. And each of these has different versions which add to the challenge. Even though the market has the latest version of OS many of the end-users might be using the older version of the Operating system. So testing should cover the latest and most used versions of the OS. Different Mobile App types A mobile app can be a native app, responsive web app, or hybrid app that has both contents. Testing of each such app type is different than another as their implementation is quite different from one another. A huge number of network providers According to a private survey, there are more than 350 network providers around the world. Each network provider may use different network standards and different kinds of network infrastructure. So the challenge is to test with the different network providers. The team should be aware of the region where mobile apps are to be used extensively. This will help to identify the major network provider in that region. Internationalization Similar to network provider information, the region where mobile apps are used will help to know the language, culture, etc. Apart from the mere translation of content –regional traits, time zones, and target audiences must be taken into account. In conclusion, it can easily be observed that given the risk to a brand that companies carry if mobile testing automation is inadequately implemented and also given the complexity of mobile testing automation, companies should and are looking for expertise in this area. Need help? Contact us now!
API Testing: This solution will solve all your problems
We have heard of many people really struggle with API testing. Many of our fellow colleagues and some of the customers would talk about their problems while doing API testing. We tried to investigate the causes of these problems. We found that in large custom software development projects, API testing is a challenge. In large projects, generally, there are two teams working. One on the back end and one on the front end. The speeds of the two teams never match and each team is waiting for the other to test. The folks developing the front end would either wait for the back-end folks to be ready or would have to spend time creating mock objects for front-end testing. Then there were software development projects which had interactions with external servers. Generally, there is no control over an external server. Again the only way to test the API would be to create mock objects. This would consume a lot of programming time. Generic problems related to API testing Other than these specific cases, there were some generic problems related to API testing. These problems were all-pervasive, across all projects. For example: “testing for error response.” The test case that was often left untested was how the client behaves when the server sends an error response. How does the client behave when an HTTP status of 500 is returned or when a 4xx or 3xx is returned? The client must behave predictably and gracefully but testing this was extremely difficult. In order to solve this problem, we needed a tool that would insert itself between the Web-Client (Browser, Phones, etc.) and the Server (Private, Cloud, or Third Party) and mock the Server. Thus the client would feel that the server is available in all respects and the Client testing can proceed even if the server is not available. We didn’t find a tool that would provide this solution. Hence we went about developing this tool which we have now come to call “iBounce.” Some of the key features of iBounce are: 1. Support MockServices: It introduces itself between the Web-Client and Application-Server and Mocks the Server. The Web-Client can be anything that consumes backend RESTful services – web browsers (HTML/JS), Phones, or other devices. The Application-Server is a server exposing a REST API. 2. Allow Sharing of Test Cases across platforms: iBounce does not per-se do test cases but it defines each interaction between the server and the client. As we call it “The Contract” between the Client and the Server. The contracts between the client and server remain the same regardless of the Phone / Browser used and in this way defines Test-Cases can be shared between devices/web-browser. This supports test automation in many ways and is very useful when we do not have access to a third-party such as Google APIs, AWS Management APIs, Financial Services, or Data.gov APIs. 3. Support File Access: We could load the Contract Information from files. 4. Easy for Non-Technical Use: Designed primarily for non-technical use. 5. Easy to create and validate test cases: We have implemented API capture. This is useful to initially create the Contract / Test Cases between the Server (maybe external) and the client. This makes the operation easy. 6. Have the ability to run from a CI environment: In the CI environments, while executing test jobs for the Client (only), the server and APIs must have already been tested. In many instances, we do not have the server ready or the server is not available for testing as it is a third-party server. In these cases, we introduce iBounce to mock the server and run the test cases in the CI environment. iBounce is being developed in a DevOps mode and is under continuous development and we expect to add many more features soon. Need help? Contact us now!
Front End API Testing – A Neglected Area
How do you test if the incoming API Calls to back-ends are correct? How do you test if the front end behaves properly on APIs returning errors? How do you test the front end before the back end is ready? The New Emerging Architecture With the emergence of Smartphones and HTML5, the front end of application software has clearly separated from the back end. The MVC5 of Microsoft, Java, PHP, Android, and iOS allows a clear separation of the front-end and back-end. in a typical environment, the Back-end applications usually expose themselves as REST API to which the front-end calls using XML or lately JSON. The Gap While there are many tools to test the Back-End, the database access, the API testing, and back-end security, there are few tools to check the API Calls! The problem is aggravated when the APIs are third-party APIs to which you do not have access. What do we do? The only way would be to capture the API calls from our front end Bounce back the expected (contracted) reply from the server and check against that. Such a tool could also return HTTP status 200, 300, 404, 500, and other errors, enabling us to test the front end under different API return values! Test out HTTP and the new HTTP/2 protocols. iBounce – API Testing Tool At InApp we have developed an effective API Testing Tool to do precisely that. We call it iBounce! This API Testing Tool has increased our productivity tremendously by helping us develop the front-end of applications, which consume public APIs, and helped us in developing the Front-End and Back-End by two teams asynchronously. Thus the front-end and back-end teams are not waiting perpetually for each other; Solving a lot of project management deadlocks. Need help? Contact us now!
SaaS Testing Using Cloud: An Emerging Discipline
Introduction More than a decade ago, in the era when technology evolved to bring in virtualization in the mode of cloud computing, a funny reply came from the owner of an organization when one of his subordinates shared a thought on migrating their services to the cloud. The reply was, “I just don’t trust keeping our data in the cloud. Plus if we got rid of the server, where would we keep the coffee maker!!! ?”. Later, after a decade, we witnessed that the cloud and its services became a game-changer and the deciding factor in the existence of many software organizations. Organizations can meet business demands in a quicker way and by achieving scalable costs by using Software as a Service, thus helping them to focus on their core business. Software as a Service (SaaS) testing using the cloud minimizes the hiccups that arise in traditional testing thereby providing infinite effective storage and flexibility via distributed environment. What is SaaS Testing? SaaS is a software distribution model in which applications are hosted by a vendor or service provider and made available to the customers over a network, typically the Internet. SaaS Testing refers to the methods used to ensure that applications built using the software as a service model of development function as designed. It also ensures the performance, security, and reliability of an application by leveraging the cloud-based infrastructure and computing resources to perform for a regular on-premise platform. Objectives of SaaS Testing should be: SaaS deployments should take less time than on-premise software deployments. Software hosted on the cloud should be highly secure, scalable, and reliable. The extent to which the SaaS solution can be customized Why SaaS Testing? SaaS testing is intended to be a speedy and productive manner to get applications released to customers. In agile methodology testing and quality assurance (QA) has become more critical as applications are delivered more rapidly. Since the number of testing increases, more focus should be provided on the quality of the applications developed in a quick and efficient manner. A. Efficient Load Testing There will be times when we are unable to predict the number of users who use the application. So in order to perform efficient load testing, we can approach any cloud service where we can simulate users and easily scale up to the desired load to measure the performance of the application under a large number of concurrent users. B. Replicate real-world usage It also helps users’ data to be moved to large data centers, which are remotely located, with the user being able to access the same anytime needed. C. Reduces the direct price of the equipment It reduces the direct price of equipment maintenance and management and helps attain rapid ROI on application assets and brings about faster time to market. Types of SaaS Testing Functional Testing SaaS Functional testing is performed for both remote and local applications. It consists of testing all features of the system including hardware and software testing. The different types of functional testing are System, Integration, and User Acceptance Testing. Non-functional Testing This type of testing is done to ensure that a web application meets the specified requirements; the way an application operates, rather than the specific behaviors of that application. It includes Security testing, Stress testing, Load Testing, and Performance Testing. Ability Testing Techniques Ability Testing Techniques ensure that the user receives appropriate services from the cloud environment on demand. Under this category, Compatibility and Interoperability Testing, Disaster Recovery Testing, and Multi-Tenancy testing are performed. Testing as a Service in Clouds TaaS aka Testing as a Service is a subset of a SaaS offering, allowing groups to outsource their entire test effort. With this model, the manpower and expertise required to execute the test are provided. This type of cloud testing is an approach that can also be used for specialized types of tests, such as performance, mobility, or security testing. The execution can be performed either on the client site or remotely from the outsourced provider’s test lab/facilities. TaaS Architecture Points to successful SaaS testing Build your understanding of the cloud Before moving your project to the cloud the objective and the strategy should be clearly defined. The organization or the management team should do formal research about the business needs and the limitation of moving the project to the cloud. Formulate your testing strategy The type of test and the risk involved during the test should be analyzed by creating a good test strategy. The duration of the usage of any cloud tool should be predefined and well-documented. Select a service provider A service provider has an enormous amount of experience and stability is the prime factor when choosing the vendor. License, cost, set-up, and tear down of the environment should be thoroughly scrutinized. Execute the test Companies should plan for optimal utilization of test infrastructure since it is a critical phase where applications are tested according to the defined test strategy. Monitor and analyze test results Test results should be monitored in real-time to understand and react to capacity – or performance-related issues. Cloud Testing Tools Needless to say, the emerging popularity of cloud testing has given rise to a set of cloud-based testing tools in the market. The right choice of testing tools depends on multiple parameters including application architecture, context, and customer needs. Here are some of the highly popular cloud-based software testing tools. 1. SOASTA Cloud Test It enables four types of test automation on a single web platform – Mobile Functional & Performance testing and Web-based Functional & Performance testing. 2. LoadStorm It is a load-testing tool for web and mobile applications. It is easy to use and cost-effective. It is ideal to check performance under excessive traffic or usage. 3. BlazeMeter It is used for end-to-end performance and load testing of mobile apps, websites, and APIs. It is JMeter compatible and can simulate up to 1 million users. 4. Nessus It is a widely used vulnerability scanner that
What’s The Worst Advice we’ve ever heard about Test Automation Tool Comparison?
The worst advice you can hear on Automated Testing Tools comparison is “There isn’t any need for using the tools trial version.” In this article, we will explain why a trial is essential when doing an Automated Testing Tools comparison and how we can do this trial systematically. There are many things you need to do while you compare Automated Testing Tools. You do an analysis on the basis of your selection criteria. To know the Automated Testing Tools comparison criteria please read our blog: Automated Testing Tools Selection Headache Solved How to Choose Automated Testing Tools? But finally, just before you take the plunge with the tool you have shortlisted, it is very important to do a trial. Till the time you haven’t gotten your hands dirty with the tool itself, you can’t really tell how useful or how useless it would be for you. Of course, you can’t spend weeks doing a trial. In order to do the trial systematically let me present to you 4 point plan of action: Automate selected scenarios using the shortlisted tools. When doing a trial you can’t run the full set of test cases. You wouldn’t want to waste your time doing so when you aren’t fully convinced this is your tool of choice. Instead, you should choose the test case scenarios and run them on the trial version. Select a complex test case. So which are the test case scenarios, which would be run on the trial version? This is a critical decision. If you choose a scenario that is simplistic, you wouldn’t know if your complex scenarios will run. Therefore choose a scenario that is fairly complex and covers all the critical components of your software. This would ensure that the automation test coverage through this tool is high. It is also important to keep the customer in mind when you shortlist the scenarios. It is important to choose a scenario that is critical to your customer. This is after all the main aim of test automation. Find a Known Issue. Don’t forget the purpose of testing. The purpose of testing is to explore any bugs in your application. The real test of the effectiveness of a tool is in its ability to find a bug. But how do you know if the tool has this ability? Well, if the application has a known bug, automate it and showcase that the issue is identifiable using the script execution Generate and Analyze the Report. Lastly, it is very important to have a close look at the report produced by the tool. Is the report in the format that you need? Is it easily understandable? All these questions are important before you finally end your Test Automation tool comparison. Need help? Contact us now!