What is Test Automation? A Comprehensive Guide for 2024

Testing automation has recently become a major trend. So, you might be curious to know, what automation testing is? It’s the practices that involve the use of some specific software tools for the execution of various pre-scripted tests on a software app before it gets launched in the market. The software tools can automate various repetitive tasks and thus ensure both the performance and quality of the final product. It doesn’t require any manual intervention.

This entire process can improve testing; increase test coverage and thus ensure a higher accuracy. That’s the reason why it has become the most necessary component in today’s advanced software development practices and continuous integration /continuous (CI/CD) deployment pipelines. 

Why Transform From Manual to Automated Testing?

Well, the main reason to transform from manual to automated testing is to improve accuracy, efficiency, and scalability in software development. Automated tests can function at any time, identifying defects quickly, and ensuring a highly consistent quality. It works effectively when it comes to reducing human errors and thus also can save time with the ability to handle several repetitive tasks.

It enables a test automation engineer to concentrate on even complex scenarios in the most effective way. Automated testing is also capable of offering support for CI/CD by offering quick feedback on code changes. It accelerates a more agile development process.

What Kinds of Software Tests Should Be Automated First?

It’s advisable to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks, including regression tests to identify bugs fast in new code changes. You can automate unit tests that work effectively to identify various individual components. These are perfect because of their simplicity and also frequent execution.

The next you can automate is integration tests, which ensure modules, work properly and also get benefits from automation. Besides, smoke tests and performance tests are the other two types of tests you can consider automating. Apart from this, you can also focus on those tests that deliver fast and reliable feedback while minimizing manual effort and increasing efficiency. 

What Kinds of Software Tests Should be Done Manually?

Manual testing is a perfect option for exploratory testing, ad-hoc testing, and usability testing. When it comes to exploratory testing, it enables users to use their both experience and intuition to find certain defects even without several predefined test cases. You can do usability testing manually to determine the user-friendliness of software and also its overall user experience.

The main reason is it requires human judgment. Ad-hoc testing is all about informal testing that is conducted even without any proper planning or documentation. It allows professionals to find out several unexpected issues. Apart from this, manual testing is quite necessary to verify complex test cases that are complicated to automate, for testing several latest features or also changes for regression testing. 

Difference between Manual Testing vs Automated Testing

So, you might be interested to know the difference between manual and automation testing, right? Manual testing, as the name suggests, is performed manually even without using any specific software. It ensures a fully flexible and also ad-hoc approach where QA professionals can adapt to changes dynamically. They can use their experience and intuition to find out several potential issues. This kind of testing is necessary, especially for exploratory testing, usability testing, etc. that needs any human judgment. Meanwhile, the entire process is time-consuming, can lead to human error, and is less scalable for larger projects.

Automated testing, quite the contrary, is a process that involves using various automated software tools that can conduct the process automatically. This approach works effectively for data-intensive, repetitive, and regression testing. The entire process of automated testing is less time-consuming and functions fast and repeatedly at any time of day. It offers quick feedback and also ensures a higher consistency in test execution.  It, however, needs an initial investment to set up several test scripts and also maintain them properly. Automated testing is the best choice for those larger projects. 

Automation Testing Types

Automation testing is available in different types. Every type of testing serves its specific purpose. Let’s get a detailed look at some of the most popular types of automation testing;

Unit Testing

As mentioned above, unit testing is useful to verify various individual components for functionality.

Integration Testing

Integration testing involves the assessment of various combined modules for the right interaction.

Functional Testing

Functional testing serves its core purpose of ensuring the software functions as per the requirements.

Regression Testing

Regression testing can check several new changes that don’t disrupt its existing functionality. 

Smoke Testing

Smoke testing provides a fast check of several basic functionalities.

Performance Testing

Performance testing is capable of determining stability, speed, and capability.

Load Testing

Load testing is capable of examining system behavior under peak loads.

UI Testing

UI testing can validate the user interface. 

Acceptance Testing

Acceptance testing can confirm the software can match the specific needs of the business.

Test Automation Frameworks 

So, what is the test automation framework? Test automation frameworks are the most vital tools that ensure automated testing of software apps. These frameworks can offer a fully structured and standardized way of writing, managing, and executing various test scripts. It ensures efficiency, consistency, and reliability in the entire testing process.

Some of the most vital components of test automation include libraries for handling user interface, test data management, reporting tools, and also integration with several other software development tools. 

Some of the popular test automation frameworks include;

• Linear scripting framework
• Modular testing framework
• Data-driven framework
• Keyword-driven framework
• Hybrid framework

Automation Testing Process

Automation testing is the process of automating the entire process of manual testing. The main purpose of automated testing is to increase both efficiency and accuracy of the software development process. It starts with test planning, where appropriate automation tools and frameworks are chosen according to the actual requirements of projects. Test case development can translate manual test cases into automated scripts. 

You can execute these scripts, produce test results, and then find out several issues. CI/CD ensures a seamless integration process of automated testing into the complete development pipeline. Post-execution analysis offers a complete insight into performance and test coverage. It allows the team to iterate and enhance test scripts for future releases. 

Criteria to Select Automation Tool

Choosing the right automation tool is highly important to optimize efficiency and minimize errors in any organization. So, you need to be familiar with what automation testing tools. Let’s understand some of the necessary criteria that can help you make a better decision. 

Scalability

You can select a tool that should be able to scale as per your business requirements. Make sure the tool that you choose can handle the increased workloads even without degrading performance. 

Integration and compatibility

Your selected tool should integrate perfectly with your existing systems and also technologies. You should also ensure its compatibility with multiple platforms and apps to minimize implementation friction. 

Easy to Use 

The selected tool should have an intuitive interface and also straightforward usability. It can reduce the learning curve for staff and thus can boost the adoption rate.

Security  

While selecting the software tools, you need to focus on those tools that are available with powerful security measures for the prevention of sensitive data. It also ensures full compliance with industry regulations.

Functionality

You can analyze the features of tools against those of various automation needs. It should have automation abilities that are relevant to your business processes, including scripting, scheduling, or workflow orchestration.

Support and Documentation

You can also find the trusted vendor support and comprehensive documentation necessary for troubleshooting and continuous improvement.

Cost and ROI

You can determine the overall cost of ownership, including implementation fees, licensing fees, and also potential ROI through efficiency gains and error reduction.

Best Practices for Test Automation

To make your test automation process effective and efficient, you can implement the best software testing process. It’s quite essential to focus on test coverage, and necessary functionalities when you automate those time-consuming and repetitive tasks.

You can then maintain the test script regularly through refactoring and code reviews to ensure better maintainability, readability, and also higher efficiency. You can also use a version control system to manage test scripts, which enables collaboration and tracking most effectively. 

You can conduct a clear and concise test case that should be fully independent and also can run in any order. It should promote scalability and reliability. It’s also necessary to integrate several automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline to detect issues as soon as possible during the development cycle. You can use data-driven and parameterization techniques to improve test coverage even without duplicating efforts. 

Popular Automation Tools

Automation tools allow teams to ensure both the reliability and quality of their software. Let’s have an in-depth look at various popular automation tools;

1. Selenium

Being one of the most popular and open-source automation frameworks for web apps, selenium is available with several tools that offer complete support for test automation for multiple operating systems and browsers. With the use of Selenium WebDriver, testers can write in several programming languages like Python, Java, C++, and others. 

2. Appium

It’s another open-source automation tool that QA professionals use for testing mobile across multiple platforms, be it iOS or Android. It supports a range of programming languages and ensures professionals can write tests with the use of WebDriver API. The tool is capable of automating both hybrid and native mobile applications.

3. Katalon Studio

It comes as comprehensive solutions for both web and mobile apps. It has the capability of integrating various essential components with a complete set of features for mobile and web testing. The tool is available with built-in test reports and a user-friendly interface and also offers complete support for different scripting languages including JavaScript and Groovy.

4. Lambda Test

Lambda test is a cloud-based cross-browser testing platform that permits QA professionals to run even automated selenium scripts on a scalable cloud grid. It supports 2000+ browsers and also browser versions. That’s the reason why it’s considered to be a perfect choice to ensure compatibility across multiple environments.

5. Cucumber

Cucumber is another leading software development tool, which is ideal for behavior-driven development (BDD). It offers great support and collaboration between different professionals be it testers, developers, or business stakeholders. It uses plain text format including Gherkin for writing tests.

6. Cypress

It’s one of the advanced JavaScript-based frameworks developed for the web. It ensures quick, reliable, and easy-to-write tests mainly due to its complete architecture and also direct access to various DOM elements. It’s available with features like snapshots, automatic waiting, and real-time reloading. 

Advantages of Automation Testing

As far as the advantages of automation testing are concerned, these are available in plenty. It provides a plethora of advantages in terms of reliability, efficiency, and also cost-effectiveness. Be it data-driven testing or regression testing, one can automate repetitive tasks with maximum speed while ensuring a higher consistency.

Another advantage of automation testing is it can improve the overall test coverage by running tests across multiple environments and configurations. It minimizes the likelihood of error and also ensures a comprehensive validation of software under multiple conditions.

Automation also brings the possibility for early detection of any issues and facilitates quick debugging. It also reduces any risk of major issues in production. Automation can minimize dependency on human resources when it comes to testing. 

Disadvantages of Automation Testing

Though automation testing has numerous advantages, it has certain disadvantages as well. Let’s have a look at some of the major disadvantages of automation testing;

• Automation testing requires an initial investment in terms of both time and resources.
• It requires more skilled personnel who need to go through the steep learning curve for complex systems.
• Automation testing often struggles with user interface changes. Automated testing also relies on several UI elements. Any changes to the interface can cause test failures, which need frequent maintenance to keep tests updated.
• The maintenance overhead tends to become substantial, specifically for a dynamic development environment.
• Automated testing works on several predefined scripts that can overlook several nuanced issues that a human tester can find out with the help of exploratory testing.     

Conclusion

So, after going through the above debate of manual testing vs automation testing, you may now have understood everything about test automation. No matter what type of software you are planning to develop, you can go for automated testing for better results. You can hire a reliable software testing company that has vast experience in this horizon. 

FAQs

1. What is test automation?

Test automation is the process that involves using various tools and scripts to control the execution of tests properly compared to actual outcomes with expected results. It focuses on increasing coverage, efficiency, and accuracy in software testing processes. 

2. What is a true example of test automation?

Well, the true example of automation testing of checkout of an eCommerce website with the use of selenium WebDriver and also a scripting language including Python. Scripts tend to stimulate user actions and also can verify various expected outcomes. 

3. What are the differences between automatic and manual testing?

Automatic testing is the use of various software tools for conducting testing to generate reports. It has an immense capability to increase repeatability and efficiency. Manual testing is the process that generally relies on a human tester to execute the testing process step-by-step.

4. What are some of the popular automated testing tools?

Some of the popular automated testing tools include Selenium WebDrivers for web apps, Appium, Katalon Studio, lambda test, cucumber, cypress, and many others.  

5. What types of testing can be automated?

Well, you can automate a variety of testing like performance testing, functional testing, and integration testing. 

6. Why use test automation?

The main reason for using test automation is it increases efficiency with a proper execution of repetitive tests quickly and with a higher consistency. It enhances test coverage and minimizes human error.

7. What is the process of automation testing?

The entire process of automation testing involves several steps like selection of the right tools, scripting test cases, execution of tests with the use of automation tools, and more.