User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is an important step in the software development process as it helps ensure that the product meets the needs and expectations of the intended users. A generic template for UAT can serve as a useful guide for planning and executing this phase of testing. In this article, we will take you through what you need to know to effectively use a generic template for User Acceptance Testing or even create your own custom template.
Using our Generic Template for your User Acceptance Testing
Define your Scope
The first step in using a UAT template is to define the scope of the testing. This includes identifying the specific functionality that will be tested, as well as the specific users who will be involved in the testing process. It is also important to identify any constraints or limitations that may impact the testing, such as time or budget limitations.
Go Through the Test Cases
Next, as seen in our generic template, you need to have a list of test cases that will be executed during the UAT phase. These test cases cover all aspects of the UAT functionality, including its usability, performance, and security. The test cases have also been organized in a logical and easy-to-understand manner and aligned with the overall goals and objectives of the project. We have provided a list of cases that cover Signup, Authentication, Basic App Usage, Dashboard, My Account, Device tests, Browser tests, etc. You can decide to modify this depending on your specific requirements.
Document your Results
The template has a section for documenting the results of the UAT testing. In this section, you should provide a summary of the testing results, as well as any issues or defects that were identified during the testing process. It is also important to include any recommendations for addressing these issues, as well as any follow-up actions that will be taken to ensure that the software meets the needs of the intended users.
Track the Progress of Testing
Another important aspect of the UAT template is tracking the progress of the testing. The test date, comment, and status columns of our template all work together to help you track the progress of your tests. You can add the schedule for the testing, as well as a list of the specific tasks that need to be completed in order to complete the testing on time. It is also important to include information on how the testing results will be communicated to stakeholders, such as project managers, developers, and users.
Figure 1. Generic Template for User Acceptance Testing
Additional Customi­zation Options for the UAT Template
Optionally, a section for risk management can be included. In the section, you can identify potential risks associated with the UAT process, such as the possibility of defects or issues being discovered during testing, and how these risks will be mitigated. This section could also include a plan for how to handle any unexpected issues that may arise during the testing process.
Also, you may include a section for training and support where you can provide information on how to train users on the software, as well as how to provide support during and after the UAT process. It can also include information on how users can provide feedback on the software, and how this feedback will be used to improve the software.
Conclusion
Testup:io’s generic template for User Acceptance Testing serves as a useful guide for planning and executing user-oriented tests. It includes a comprehensive list of test cases, a section for documenting the results, a section for tracking progress and a section for comments. The template will be reviewed and updated regularly, as necessary, as we are committed to ensuring that your UAT process is effective and efficient.
Test automation has become an essential part of modern software development as it allows for the efficient and consistent testing of web-based software. With the increasing complexity of web applications, it is essential to have effective test automation strategies in place to ensure the quality of the software. Although test automation is a powerful tool in software development, but it is not an all-in-one solution. When done improperly, automated tests can consume resources without providing significant value. To maximize the benefits of test automation, a comprehensive testing strategy must be developed. This includes identifying key flows, selecting the appropriate cases for automation, and avoiding common pitfalls. This article provides a guide on the best practices for test automation and how to apply them effectively.
What’s an automation test strategy?
An automation test strategy is a plan for how to use automated testing tools and techniques to determine the quality of software. It outlines the types of tests that will be automated, the tools and frameworks that will be used, and the approach that will be taken to implement and maintain the automated tests. It also defines the scope of the automation effort, including which parts of the application will be tested, and how often the tests will be run. The objective of an automation test strategy is to optimize the testing process by increasing its efficiency and effectiveness, while also minimizing the time and resources required as compared to manual testing.
Types of automated tests
Automated testing and manual testing share similar characteristics in terms of their types and objectives. The key differentiation between the two lies in their execution – while manual tests are executed and evaluated by a human tester, automated tests are executed through a script and the results are analyzed by the automation tool. Understanding the different type of automated tests and when to use them is crucial for developing an effective test automation strategy.
The major types of automated tests include:
Unit tests: These tests focus on individual units of code, such as functions or methods, and are used to ensure that they are working correctly.
Integration tests: These tests check how different units of code work together, and are used to ensure that the system as a whole is functioning properly.
Functional tests: These tests focus on the functionality of the application, and are used to ensure that the application is working as expected from the user’s perspective.
Performance tests: These tests check how the application performs under different load conditions and are used to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.
Security tests: These tests check for vulnerabilities and potential security breaches in the application.
Acceptance tests: These tests ensure that the application meets the requirements and expectations of the end-user or customer.
Steps to build an automation testing strategy
An automation testing strategy should be customized to meet the specific requirements of a project. While there is no universal method that applies to all situations, there are steps and recommendations that can be used to develop an effective automation testing strategy.
Step 1: Establish clear goals and objectives
An effective automation testing strategy requires clear and measurable goals, as it is difficult to determine success without them. Once the goals have been established, the following steps should be geared towards achieving them. The goal can be as simple as automating priority test cases for critical flows. Defining the scope of the automation testing in the initial stages also helps to prevent wasted time and resources. Without a clear scope, automated tests may overlap with manual testing or some tests may be overlooked due to confusion over whether they should be automated or tested manually. This can be a significant issue for large QA teams, and it is important to establish a precise scope to avoid such problems.
Step 2: Define requirements
This step emphasizes on the need to collaborate with stakeholders to establish automation priorities, define goals and key performance indicators (KPIs), and document the testing needs. It is important to identify the types of testing required to fulfil these needs which will inform the selection of suitable tools in a later stage.
Step 3: Evaluate Risks
In this step, focus on identifying and prioritizing areas with the highest potential business impact and automate them first. A risk-based approach can assist in this process. By prioritizing correctly, it will enable a logical order for automation, and also allow you to know when to stop automating. For instance, continuing to automate low-priority tests can be costly and may not provide much value.
Step 4: IdentifyAutomation Test Cases
At this stage, the focus should be on determining which specific flows and features of the application need to be automated. Prioritize the areas that have the highest business impact, but also take into consideration the stability and complexity of the flows. Automating test cases that are likely to change frequently in the current or upcoming sprints is usually not cost-effective. If test cases have been previously created, highlight the parts that should be automated based on the established goals, risks, and requirements.
Step 5: Set up test data and environment
Managing the test environment and data is a vital, yet frequently overlooked aspect of an automation testing plan. Compliance with regulations such as GDPR can limit the use of data, making synthetic data a viable option. It’s beneficial to store test data in external files for easier maintenance, as changes to the data should not affect the test code. The test environment should be stable and, if necessary, testing artifacts should be cleaned up after the testing run is completed.
Step 6: Pick the Right Tool and Framework
When it comes to selecting the right tool and framework, it is important to consider the specific needs of the project and team. For example, if the team is more familiar with using Selenium, then it may be a better fit than Appium which is mainly used for mobile automation testing. Additionally, creating a proof of concept (POC) using different tools and frameworks can help in showcasing the best fit for the project. It is important to choose a tool that is flexible, easy to use and can integrate with other tools and technologies.
Step 7: Monitor your Test
Monitoring progress is crucial to understanding the current state of testing and identifying what still needs to be completed. Two effective ways to do this are:
Utilize a test management tool to keep track of the automation status of tests, using statuses such as planned, automated, and outdated.
Create a backlog and monitor progress in a ticket management system to easily assign tasks.
It is important to include this tracking information in the overall testing strategy and make sure all team members are aware of the chosen methods.
Step 8: Reporting
Investigating failed tests and identifying problems is a vital part of the automated process. However, it can often take longer than expected to correct underlying issues. Typically, failed tests are caused by one of four areas: Technical issues with the testing environment, defects within the application, obsolete automation scripts and bugs in the automation scripts. All these underlying issues should be reported to the technical team in charge of them.
Step 9: Establish a maintenance protocol
Test automation is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires ongoing attention. To ensure your test suite remains relevant and effective, it is essential to formalize the testing process. The first step is to create a system for updating scripts as necessary, but it’s also important to establish clear priorities and timelines. Keep in mind, every out-of-date test is a potential vulnerability that could make its way into the production environment. By implementing a robust maintenance protocol, you can mitigate this risk and promote the longevity of your test suite.
In addition to these strategies, it is also essential to have a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline in place. This pipeline allows for the automated execution of the test cases and can be integrated with the software development process. This ensures that the application is tested at regular intervals and that any issues are identified and resolved quickly. A CI/CD pipeline like Github actions or Travis CI also allows for the identification of regression issues and the tracking of the test results over time.
Choose the right test automation tool
The ultimate game changer that will help you effectively apply all the strategies discussed above is to choose a best-in-class test automation tool. Testup.io is a great option in this respect; it is a visual-based no-code test tool that gives you fast results. Aside from this, your organization can now take advantage of seamless User Acceptance Testing (UAT) with testup.io. Our app allows users (both developers and non-developers) to automate User Acceptance Tests faster than the time it would take to manually test the software. This means that from a timing perspective, the business benefits of automation can begin to be realized on the second automated run. The good news is that we have also created a generic User Acceptance Testing template for your use. Ultimately, it helps cut costs significantly and guarantees that your application satisfies the user’s requirements. Click here to get started with testup.io for automated tests.
End to end testing is a method of software testing where a software application will be tested from start to end with the entire system flows with all dependencies related to the application. The purpose of the end-to-end testing is ensuring that an application is tested from a user perspective by stimulating real world scenarios so every operation will be validated with integration with components and data integrity.
End-to-end testing is one of the most complicated and challenging testing techniques in software quality assurance. End-to-end testing is important to any kind of software application as it ensures a quality user experience in the application which is a key objective of software applications.
The end-to-end testing process needs to be well planned in order to achieve success in the execution of the end-to-end testing. In order to be successful in end-to-end testing, organizations need to follow best practices and strategies.
Maximize Test coverage
Plan what needs to be tested before starting the end-to-end testing. The test coverage should touch upon all the end-user scenarios through the test cases so every feature will be tested through the end-to-end testing process. In order to maximize the test coverage, a detailed analysis of the requirement document and identify important user workflows in the given requirements documents. The focus should be on critical features of the system, the test coverage of the critical features should be higher than the non-critical features. Maintaining a requirement traceability matrix will be helpful to maximize the test coverage.
However, test coverage shouldn’t target only on the requirement itself; it should cover other aspects of the system such as alternative user workflows, how the system should respond during errors, how the system should respond to network failures and how the system is directing the user to use the system. A complete test coverage of the product can make the end to end testing process more useful for organizations.
Walk in your end user’s shoes
During the test design phase, we should always think in a user perspective towards the application rather than focusing on implementation of the application. Each user-based workflow should be defined properly in test plan/design flow targeting key features.
When defining the end-to-end testing scope for the application, be mindful about what the end goals of the user are? Are the goals achieved in a user-friendly manner? Are the applications up to the expectations of the user? Answers of these kinds of questions need to be analyzed thoroughly on planning the test plan of the end-to-end testing strategy.
Getting into the user’s mindset is complicated for a software development team. The best techniques to achieve this will be creating a mind map of user workflows and making the maximum use of user stories with personas so a clear understanding of the workflow can be derived through these techniques.
Use an efficient Test environment and meaningful test data
End to end testing needs a stable environment without interruptions in order to execute a successful end to end testing workflow. End to end testing needs an environment which has enough capacity to handle multiple test runs, multiple user stimulations and with zero down times during tests. In order setup such environments it should be planned ahead considering the depth of the tests and environment
The data used for the testing should be meaningful where it should be generated from a user perspective. Using dummy data for end-to-end testing won’t be effective where those data are not meaningful and if the end user will never input such data for the system. In order to create meaningful data the domain of the application should be considered and it should be prepared based on it.
Organize the tests systemically in the right order
It’s important to find the defects in the system as early as possible where fixing defects in the final stages will be costly. Each type of testing should be planned and executed in the right order and end to testing will take place after unit, system, and integration testing.
The tests in the end-to-end suite need to be arranged based on the system priorities. The teams should decide the order of the tests to be executed in an efficient manner which makes sure that all the critical workflows are tested before mini features are tested. The critical failures can be identified early by setting up the tests in the write order.
The structure and organization of the tests based on the understanding of the system requirements are fundamental to the end-to-end testing process.
Make use of Automation tools
End to end testing is a time consuming task and there are instances where repetitive tasks are involved. Doing end to end testing manually requires lots of time and effort. The modern software systems get complicated day by day and there is a need for frequent releases with new updates based on the market requirements so testing teams need to perform frequent end to end testing multiple times.
In order to overcome such challenges, making use of automation tools can be beneficial. Automating end-to-end testing through tools will save time and solve repetitive tasks in the process of end-to-end testing.
Automations tools can be selected based on company preferences and there are several tools in the industry to choose from. Automation tools can be categorized into two types: test automation tools require coding and codeless automation tools. The tools that require coding are powerful customizable based on the needs of the end-to-end strategy. However, there is a downside of using coding-based automation tools where it requires separate teams to write the code in a specific programming language and maintain it where manual testers need to be trained to be an automation engineer.
The codeless automation tools will solve problems such as programming skills in testers, debugging time and dependent on programming languages. The codeless automation tools are easy to integrate, scripts can be created easily and testing reports can be generated easily.
Testup is a codeless automation tool that can solve many of the end-to-end testing faced by the organization. The tool is easy to set up in minutes and the tool is focused very much on usability aspects. Complex test scenarios can be easily manageable through it and tests will be robust which covers most of the quality aspects of end-to-end testing. Give it a try!
One of the worst things that can happen to a web or mobile application is for it to be riddled with bugs upon deployment. This will limit the application’s ability to solve the problems for which it was built. But that’s not all, it will also negatively impact user experience and trust in your brand, making you lose users to competitors. However, there is one way forward, Testing!
Testing is the process of trying out the features of your application before deployment and they are majorly two types: Manual Testing and Automated Testing. Manual Testing involves an individual downloading or accessing the application, clicking on buttons, checking out features to see if they work, and navigating through pages to confirm if they are well linked. It is worthy of note that this method of testing is prone to inaccuracy due to human error or negligence.
Automated Testing, on the other hand, is a process that involves using an automation tool to execute test case suites and predefined actions on a software application. The testing tool takes real outcomes and compares them with the expected result to generate detailed test reports. This method is the most effective way of testing as it is fast, more reliable, and efficient.
In this article, we would be sharing ways through which Automated Testing can help you save time and money.
1. Grows User Retention
Users have a low tolerance for faulty applications. According to an article by TechCrunch, 88% of people say they would abandon an app if they encountered bugs or glitches. Results also show that most apps are buggy because they went through Manual Testing which was unable to properly spot possible bugs and errors before deployment.
With Automated Testing, there’s a significantly lower chance of encountering a bug or app failure. This is because Automated Testing is more meticulous and less prone to human error such as fatigue or loss of interest during testing. With Automated Testing, you get to keep your users and reduce your churn rate, thus helping you grow revenue.
2. Builds Confidence in Your Brand
Most of the apps in App stores are buggy. According to a survey by Compuware, 56% of app users say they have experienced one form of error or the other while using an app. They also said this led to them losing confidence in the app’s reputation and brand, prompting them to give bad reviews of the App.
Through Automated Testing, you can significantly reduce the chances of your app ever getting a bad review. This is because you will be able to detect bugs much earlier before deployment and fix them before making your app available online or in the App store.
3. Encourages Focus on Developing More Features
Automating your app testing gives your engineering/software team more time to be creative, think outside the box and come up with new, exciting features that will keep your users hooked. This is because less time is spent on testing. Furthermore, it boosts the confidence of the engineering/software team, giving them the necessary wherewithal to explore new ideas without fear of building a feature that could break the app.
4. Improves User Experience
The major reason anyone would want to use your app is that it solves a particular problem they currently face. A fundamental part of user experience is how well your app can solve the problems faced by your users. Above all else, this would be the factor that determines whether users come back to use your app or switch to a competitor.
With Automated Testing, you can ensure that your users do not experience an app failure that would compound their problem rather than help them solve it. This helps you increase the number of transactions and activities on your app, thus resulting in more revenue.
5. Encourages users to talk about your App
Because many apps are buggy, an app that does what it says it does and works without bugs will stand out in the marketplace. This alone could even be enough marketing for your business in the form of word of mouth. And with this form of marketing comes a significant boost in sales and revenue. For instance Dropbox, a Google Drive competitor grew to become a $10 billion app majorly based on Word-of-Mouth alone. Getting the goodwill of your users also builds brand loyalty, scalability, retention rate and reduces the chances of your users jumping ship to use a competitor.
6. Faster release of App to market
Automated Testing saves you a lot of time. According to the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), software testing is the 5th Phase and it typically takes between 1-2months if performed manually by the QA and testing team. However, with Automated Testing, you can complete the Testing phase of the Software Development Life Cycle in days, not months hence giving your app a faster time to market.
If your app is developed to solve a novel problem, this could be the difference between you having a First Mover Advantage over your competitors and gaining market share without worrying about whether your app is bug-free or not.
7. Improved Return on Investment
Most times, the reason businesses are skeptical about using Automated Testing is because it is more expensive than Manual Testing, and this is reasonable in the short-term. However, the long-term benefits of using Automated Testing greatly supersedes the short-term benefits of saving cost by performing Manual Testing. This is because Automated Testing saves a lot of time, energy and gives you a bug-free version of your app. Furthermore, Automated Testing encourages scalability – enabling you to reach more users and grow revenue over a short period.
Conclusion
It is quite obvious that the benefits of Automated Testing greatly outweigh that of Manual Testing. So if you want to build scalable, bug-free apps faster, Automated Testing is the way to go. However, it is worthy of note that the success of your Automated Testing depends largely on the tool you choose to perform the test. There are so many out there that it can be very difficult to choose the one that is best for you.
Testup is a Visual Automation Testing Tool that makes it extremely easy to test your application. It is easy to set up, does not require coding, and can handle complex testing scenarios. You can get started with a free trial of Testup by clicking here.
Automated testing is all the rage in agile contexts these days. There’s no wonder since it works great for many types of testing and helps QAs execute complex test cases located on various platforms and involve a lot of data. It also benefits organizations in multiple ways, such as increasing the productivity of the test team, enhancing software quality, and reducing the time to market.
However, organizations have to face a lot of challenges when trying to apply automated testing into their development process. The seven most common challenges that make the transformation from manual testing to automation more difficult are the following:
If you believe that 100% automation is possible, you are dreaming. You can’t automate each and every single test case. Some tests will be difficult to automate due to technology constraints. Specifically, in areas such as compatibility, user interface, or recovery, most of the testing needs to be done manually. For example, some testing frameworks will not support test cases that run across several browser sessions or different devices. Therefore, before you start thinking about automation, you have to come up with a list of criteria that test cases must fulfil in order to be automatized.
The ROI on automated tests varies depending on several factors. Thus, you have to decide which test cases are critical and need to be given a high priority when automating. Normally, it’s the areas that are
exposed to risk,
of importance to clients,
or feature complex business logic.
Recognize these application areas and test case specifications to ensure that your automation efforts payback.
It’s a good idea to automate test cases that run in different environments, with different sets of data or large volumes of data. In contrast, you shouldn’t try to automate test cases that needed to be run once or twice like test cases for a rarely used feature.
2. Difficulties in Picking up the Right Automation Tool
This is a major challenge most development companies go through when introducing automated testing. Test automation requires tools and development teams to find it difficult to choose the right tool for various reasons, as listed below.
Testers are lacking the necessary skills to make the most out of a particular automation tool.
Selected tools are not offering 100% test coverage.
The cost of automation tools exceeding the test budget.
Not knowing if the tool they need exists.
Various steps can be followed in order to mitigate these issues. For instance, if your testers don’t know how to use a specific automation tool effectively, you can arrange a training session with its provider, prepare an online course for them, or recruit a consultant who can help your testers to master it. If you’re still searching for the right automation tool, reach out to the testing community. Forums like Stack Exchange are a valuable source of information.
Among numerous automated testing tools available in the market today, Testup is a new player that stands out of all the rest due to its excellent and unique features. It enables easy setup for users with a high focus on usability and supports complex test scenarios to boost your software quality.
Testup covers all the essential use cases such as Front-end testing, End-to-End testing, CI/CD, Test-driven development (TDD), Robotic Process Automation(RPA) and many more. Codeless test automation is one most impressive features of Testup that saves enormous time for developers. In the future, Testup is likely to address most of the challenges organizations face when trying to adapt to automated testing.
3. Lack of Communication and Collaboration within the Team
Automated testing usually requires more communication and collaboration between team members than manual testing. You cannot run a successful testing process if the team fails to get involved adequately in setting automation targets and goals. Therefore, the team members need to be actively involved there.
Automation depends on historical test data, experience, and sometimes even proof of concept that can be obtained only through your team. Thus, the entire team should stay on the same page for automated testing to work properly.
Furthermore, you need to gain solid team management support on hand before you start with automated testing. It is also important to build a collaborative working environment where team members can communicate with each other regularly to deliver test results timely with minimum risk.
4. Difficulties in Choosing a Testing Approach
This is another most significant challenge automation engineers face when trying to go ahead with automated testing. They need to find out the right test automation approach to suit their needs. For that, they may need to ask the following questions from themselves:
How can we reduce the implementation and maintenance cost of test suites?
Will the selected automation tool be able to generate useful test reports?
Will these test suites last a long period of time at our company?
The above points are highly important when it comes to an agile development environment where the testing application constantly changes, and test automation should be implemented to identify these changes, helping the team stick into a cost-effective maintenance strategy. Therefore, you should consider embracing an automation solution that automatically detects these changes and updates or re-validates the test.
5. High Upfront Costs
Test automation will involve high costs at its initial phase. These costs associated with setting up a test automation suite hold back many companies from incorporating automated testing into their development process.
Therefore, make sure to analyze and create a test automation framework including elements like libraries of reusable functions before proposing the automation suite to the management. You need to add hardware costs as well as software costs, including licensing costs if you intend to use paid software. Even if you pick an open-source solution, you still have to consider some costs, such as maintaining and providing training.
Convincing the management that test automation is worth all the effort might be a difficult task. However, the potential ROI is a clever argument there, so prepare an automation strategy along with a complete budget and go for it.
6. Not Having Skilled Resources for Automation
In automated testing, the teams have to design and maintain the necessary test automation frameworks, along with test scripts, build solutions, and many other vital elements. Therefore, the teams need to have a solid understanding of the design and implementation of the automated testing framework to work as expected. That’s the reason why you should build your team with testing resources who possess strong programming skills and test automation skills.
However, with Testup, organizations can eliminate the demand for skilled resources in automated testing since it is a no-code automation tool.
7. Understanding the Prospects of Stakeholders and End-Users
It doesn’t matter how perfect your testing tools or resources are – you have to always bear in mind that testing can’t be conducted in a vacuum. It serves a specific objective which is basically improving your software product.
While automated testing is a great option for automatically checking your software for bugs, humans still need to carry out non-automated testing scenarios. These tests return plenty of useful information to make optimal decisions for improving the system, not in the view of developers but the end-users.
Because of that, it’s important to make sure that the management, your testing team, and other stakeholders all understand and accept the expected results of your test automation strategy before implementing it.
Bottom Line
While test automation can bring plenty of benefits to testing teams and organizations, it can be difficult to implement due to various issues and constraints. Anyway, if you identify the challenges involved in introducing automated testing and prepare well for them, your organization can reap the benefits of it.
To guarantee the quality of products, it is important that product development companies embrace testing. That’s not all, the way this test happens is also crucial. Over the years, manual testing has proven to be an approach laden with so many cons than pros. A way forward out of this is test automation. With test automation, companies have an incredible opportunity to increase the efficiency and coverage of software and product testing. Among many other benefits, test automation reduces time, gets rid of human error, reduces expenses, and provides better insights for product improvement.
However, just like every technological solution, test automation comes with its complexities. Therefore, if not implemented properly, it can bring disappointment. In this article, we will explore the possible reasons why test automation may fail you and thereafter provide a viable solution that you can leverage on, moving forward.
Test Automation Failed You: Why?
Setting unrealistic Expectations
Expecting 100% automation is practically impossible. Therefore, the beginning of the failure of test automation is when a team sets their expectations so high that they cannot be achieved. As much as possible, expectations should be realistic. This fundamental axiom also applies to test automation.
Use of a Poor Test Automation Tool
If we start counting the number of test automation tools available today, we will lose count. The market is flooded with too many tools than you can imagine. For this reason, it becomes difficult to separate the quality ones from the noisemakers. However, while it may be difficult, it is not impossible. The most important factor to consider when choosing a test automation tool is your testing needs and primary goals. The reality is that every tool has its unique capabilities and your team needs to focus on finding the one that effectively aligns with your needs and requirements. Generally, we recommend Testup as a viable and affordable no-code test automation tool. Later in this piece, we will highlight the reasons why you may want to consider using Testup.
Disregard for Parallel Execution
One reason why some companies fail at test automation is that they get themselves caught in complex test suites that take forever to execute. In such a situation, test cases that are on queue end abruptly after timeout. Ultimately, the quality of the test gets compromised. In a nutshell, what this implies is that sequential execution of test cases offers nothing but a fast way to fail at test automation. A proven strategy is to embrace parallel execution as this allows multiple tests at the same time.
Buggy Test Environment
It’s often said that proper prior planning prevents poor performance. Every action in this world requires proper planning. This is even truer when it comes to test environments. If what you have is a buggy test environment, that’s already a turn-off for your test operations and a disappointment is inevitable. Therefore, you need to test on a staging environment to ensure that your code works perfectly well before proceeding to the production pipeline.
Ignoring Important Test Reports and Metrics
It’s surprising that some developers are willing to carry out a test on their product but are too much in a hurry to pay attention to critical test reports. Your guess is as good as ours, a failure of the test automation is imminent in such a scenario. Why carry out a test in the first place if the test reports will eventually get ignored? The best approach is to critically examine test reports to analyse possible faults and errors that lead to test failures. By doing this, you can address such errors and faults and make the test better on the next try. After all, the beauty of failure is the opportunity it offers you to make necessary improvement. Beyond getting a successful test result, a critical analysis of your test reports and metrics also helps you and your team to save time and resources.
Web Elements with Undefined IDs
With a non-computer vision approach to testing, it is compulsory for developers to assign IDs to web elements. Not doing this is a recipe for test failure because it becomes problematic for automated scripts to find the web elements on time. Therefore, to make sure that there is a seamless synchronization of the script, you need to assign IDs to web elements. A better way, however, is to use a test tool with computer vision and which requires no interaction with developers.
Inadequate Understanding of Test Procedure
When the testing tool being used requires human interaction, then, it becomes important for the tester to have a thorough understanding of the test procedure. Otherwise, failure is assured. When this happens, it is even costlier for companies. This is the reason why it is crucial for institutions to assign test automation to those who know how to implement it. Another issue is the inability to identify when test automation is necessary. Fortunately, there are test tools that require little or no human interaction these days especially with the success of codeless test automation tools like Testup and others.
Selecting the Best Test Automation Tool
As stated earlier, we recommend Testup as a robust test automation tool to choose for testing your product or software. Why Testup?
Succinctly put, Testup offers a brand new, computer-vision and codeless testing approach that mimics human actions. As a result, end-to-end tests become easy to maintain and highly understandable. Most test automation tools use a non-computer vision approach which means they require human interaction before they can be effectively used.
Also, code-based testing approaches like Selenium Python requires a developer to create and run the test; this in itself defeats the existence of test-automation in the first place. In addition, the approach is very expensive. Testup solves this challenge as it leverages a no-code approach to test automation.
What’s more? Unlike many test tools, Testup’s visual approach creates an easy to understand, easy to debug and easy to maintain series of actions with clear images.
Conclusion
As you have read in this article, there are great possibilities to fail at test automation if things are not done properly. As we have listed a few reasons why companies get disappointed, we have recommended a viable solution to avoid all possible pitfalls and enjoy the sumptuous benefits of test automation. To get started, check out Testup!
It’s no longer news that coding skills are becoming less of a barrier to building, launching, and testing a great website or application. Today, no code tools offer businesses the opportunity to achieve sustainable digital transformation. As succinctly put by Forbes, no-code or low-code solutions help in building powerful applications that can help any organization scale, without the need to write any code.
One of the no-code tools shaping the e-commerce world is Shopify. If small businesses can build an online presence by creating a website through Shopify, it also makes a lot of sense for them to have an opportunity to test their websites through a no-code test tool. Testup has now addressed this concern. Therefore, this article will give you a practical guide that you can follow to test your Shopify website. Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!
Testing a Website Built with Shopify
The first step is to have a website created using Shopify. We have developed that already, and it is named Jamiu Marketplace. The website is shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1
Now, let’ get started with testing the website.
Sign up and log in to your Testup account. Click on Go to App, which is displayed at the top right-hand corner of the page. Then, click Create Project; afterwards, click Create Test. Complete the necessary details requested under the Settings tab. These include the website’s URL and name of the test case. After this, click Edit to begin the testing. The testing page appears as follows; with the Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side and while a list of checks and inputs are on the right-hand side.
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area and click play as check. As seen in figure 2, the Testup AI finds every area recorded; therefore, the page is good.
Figure 2
Now, let’s see if the search button is working. To do this, we first need to check that the search input field is visible. Therefore, we select an anchor area for the search button. Then, we schedule a click and play the action. The search field appears. The result is shown in Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 3Figure 4
Afterwards, we schedule a text input for the search field by typing a search term, say cloth and pressing the play button.
The suggestion “Search for ‘Cloth'” appears. WE can select it as an anchor area and click on it. After playing the action the search results for “cloth” appear on the browser page as shown in Figure 5.
This indicates that the search feature on Shopify’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 5
Conclusion
Codeless test automation is an opportunity that businesses and organizations need to seize and utilize well as it is already shaping the test automation landscape. Fortunately, tools like Testup offers an affordable option without compromising the quality of the test. Getting started is easy, and you can start with a free trial; just make a single click.
Long before now, test automation tools and frameworks have made testers to spend a significant amount of time on programming. As a matter of fact, most testing automation tools were developed with programming in mind. Unfortunately, testers are not programmers, and it is incredibly time-consuming to make testers go through the rigour of programming to test websites and applications. This led to the question; why not take coding away from testing? In a bid to answering that question, Testup has provided an excellent avenue for testers to enjoy a no-code test automation tool. With Testup, testers can test their websites and applications very fast and without the need to master programming.
Therefore, in this article, we will look at how you can leverage Testup to test websites built with Bubble. As you may already know, Bubble itself is a no-code tool for building sites. Many businesses and organizations are already using Bubble. It will be an excellent opportunity for such businesses to know that they can also test their no-code websites using a no-code test automation tool (Testup).
Testing Website built with Bubble
First, we have developed a website named Jamiu Marketplace using the Bubble no-code tool. The process of building the website is shown in Figure 1, while the completed website is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 1Figure 2
Testing Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace
The first step is to register on Testup. Then, log in and click on Go to App which can be seen at the top right-hand corner of the page. After that, click on Create Project, then, click Create Test.
Fill in the necessary details like URL and name of the test case under the Settings tab. Once you have done that, click Edit to start testing.
The testing page will appear as follows (figure 3); with the Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side and while a list of checks and inputs are on the right-hand side.
Figure 3
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area and click play as check. As seen in figure 4, the Testup AI finds every area recorded; therefore, the page is good.
Figure 4
Testing Clickable Buttons
Let’s check if a SIGN UP OR LOG IN clickable button is working. First, we select an anchor area covering the button. After that, click on the selected area; a circle icon with a plus sign will appear on it as shown in figure 5.
Figure 5
Clicking on the play it button will search the circle icon and click it. The result is shown in figure 6, which shows that the SIGN UP OR LOG IN command on Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 6
Now, let’s take the testing a step further by trying to sign up. This means we want to input our email and password.
The text input field is already active. So we can schedule a text input for the email field just by typing the email address and pressing the play button afterwards. The email will appear in the input field. To move to the next text input field we can press enter or tab on the keyboard. The process is shown in figures 7 and 8.
Figure 7Figure 8
Guess what? We can also test if the password field is working by repeating the same procedures, we followed for the email address. This is shown in figures 9 and 10.
Figure 9Figure 10
Now, we will select the SIGN UP button as an anchor area; schedule a click and play it. Once we do this, the following page appears (figure 11). Notice that there is a LOG OUT button at the top right corner of the browser page; it means that the account has been created. Perfect! The SIGN UP feature on Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 11
Conclusion
Testup has made it clear that with codeless automation, there is no need for you to understand coding to automate tests on the go and without a waste of time. In essence, we can say that codeless test automation is now within reach. By leveraging Testup, you can test any website or application. Get started here.
Just like any other craft, coding takes months or even years to master. Therefore, it is challenging to make businesses and testers go through a bunch of codes and fix lots of errors in applications. Codeless automation testing tools is the perfect solution to this challenge. In a nutshell, codeless test automation involves making automated tests without the need to write or understand a single line of code. With this, anyone even with no programming skills will be able to test websites and applications seamlessly.
WordPress is a very common codeless tool for building websites. With WordPress, many businesses have built functional websites that have helped in boosting revenue. Won’t it be an excellent opportunity to have a codeless test automation tool to test a website built by a codeless tool like WordPress? Your answer is as correct as ours; it’s a defining moment in the technological world as we now have several codeless test automation tools for this purpose. One of the most amazing among these no code tools is Testup.
Testup is simple to use and user-friendly. It also allows you to maximize test reliability. Read on to see a practical process of how you can use Testup for a website built with WordPress.
Testing a WordPress Website with Testup
To do this testing, we need a website built with WordPress. Therefore, we have developed a website called Jamiu Marketplace using the WordPress no code tool. The website is shown in figure 1 below.
Figure 1
It’s time to test the website using the Testup no code automation tool. First, register on Testup and log in; afterwards, click on Go to App at the top right-hand corner. Then, click on Create Project and subsequently, Create Test.
Under settings, you will be required to fill in details like the URL and name of the test. For our WordPress website, the details have been filled, as shown in Figure 2 below. Let’s name the test ‘WordPress Test’.
Figure 2
After filling the details, the next thing is to click Edit to start testing.
Testing Jamiu’s Marketplace
After clicking Edit, the testing page will appear, as shown in Figure 3. Here, you will see the browser window of Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side of the editor. On the right-hand side, you will see a list of checks and inputs.
Figure 3
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area. Anchor areas can be quickly recorded by selecting a desired area with the mouse. This is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4
Click the play as check button to carry out the check. Afterwards, you can move on the next check. If the Testup AI finds every area you record, then the page is good.
Testing Clickable Buttons
You can also use Testup to test if a clickable button is working. First is to ensure that the particular button is visible on the website. To do this, select an anchor area that covers the button. After that, click on the selected area; a circle icon with a plus sign will appear on it as shown in figure 5.
Figure 5
Clicking on the play it button will search the circle icon and click it. The result is shown in figure 6, which shows that the Learn more command on Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 6
Conclusion
No code test automation is growing at an exponential rate. Having read this article, you will realise that Testup gives every tester a significant relief from the burden of mastering complex testing codes or frameworks. Visit Testup today to get started without any delay.
The last few years in software development have proven one thing; that the no-code revolution is here. Developers and software development companies have realized that the no-code or low code approach offers an efficient way to meet the surging demand for more software worldwide. By freeing up the time that would have been spent on writing complex codes, enterprises can now focus on strategic and high-level work to create more business value, promote collaboration and innovation. As a matter of fact, many tech startups have launched across the world without the need to write a single line of code; that’s the power of the no-code approach to software development. It is no longer about the future; it’s now with us here in the present. From building websites to developing apps and launching workflow automation, everything can now be done faster, more than ever before.
Amazing, isn’t it? However, if we can now build complex apps without multiple developers, huge cost, or extended duration, how about testing these websites and applications? The purpose of making software development less time consuming and much more comfortable will be defeated if it takes more time and cost to test and maintain the same software. Guess what? The same no-code or low code approach used for software development is now being used to transform testing. The result of this effort is no-code or low code test automation.
No-Code for No-Code
Wouldn’t it be a great disruption in the tech industry to leverage a no-code or low code test automation tool to test an app or website built with the same low or no-code approach? This is a great time; huge costs will be minimized, time will be reduced drastically, complexities will become simple, business processes will become more seamless. Ultimately, there will be massive growth for enterprises that utilize this massive opportunity as they will become more competitive. To show you how easy this is, let’s use Testup, a seamless no-code test automation tool to test websites built by no-code tools like WordPress, Bubble, and Shopify. To do this, we will build a website named Jamiu Marketplace, with the three no-code tools making three websites in all. Each of these websites will be tested using Testup. This will be practical; relax and enjoy the flow.
Testup for WordPress
First, we have developed a website for Jamiu Marketplace using the WordPress no-code tool. The website is shown in figure 1 below.
Figure 1
It’s time to test the website using the Testup No-code automation tool. Before we get started, it’s good to note that you do not need any coding skills to get started with this testing. Register on Testup and log in; afterwards, click on Go to App at the top right-hand corner. Then, click on Create Project and subsequently, Create Test.
Under settings, you will be required to fill in details like the URL and name of the test. For our WordPress website, the details have been filled, as shown in Figure 2 below. Let’s name the test ‘WordPress Test’.
Figure 2
After filling the details, the next thing is to click Edit to start testing.
Testing WordPress’ Jamiu Marketplace
After clicking Edit, the testing page will appear, as shown in Figure 3. Here, you will see the browser window of Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side of the editor. On the right-hand side, you will see a list of checks and inputs.
Figure 3
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area. Anchor areas can be quickly recorded by selecting a desired area with the mouse. This is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4
Click the play as check button to carry out the check. Afterwards, you can move on the next check. If the Testup AI finds every area you record, then the page is good.
Testing Clickable Buttons
You can also use Testup to test if a clickable button is working. First is to ensure that the particular button is visible on the website. To do this, select an anchor area that covers the button. After that, click on the selected area; a circle icon with a plus sign will appear on it as shown in figure 5.
Figure 5
Clicking on the play it button will search the circle icon and click it. The result is shown in figure 6, which shows that the Learn more command on Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 6
Testup for Bubble
Like we did with WordPress, the first thing here is also to develop a website for Jamiu Marketplace using the Bubble no-code tool. The process of building the website is shown in Figure 7, while the completed website is shown in Figure 8.
Figure 7Figure 8
Testing Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace
We repeat the same procedures followed in the last test to create a new test case. Then, the testing page appears as follows (figure 9); with the Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side and while a list of checks and inputs are on the right-hand side.
Figure 9
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area and click play as check. As seen in figure 10, the Testup AI finds every area recorded; therefore, the page is good.
Figure 10
Testing Clickable Buttons
Let’s check if a SIGN UP OR LOG IN clickable button is working. First, we select an anchor area covering the button. After that, click on the selected area; a circle icon with a plus sign will appear on it as shown in figure 11.
Figure 11
Clicking on the play it button will search the circle icon and click it. The result is shown in figure 12, which shows that the SIGN UP OR LOG IN command on Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 12
Now, let’s take the testing a step further by trying to sign up. This means we want to input our email and password. To enter a text in an input field, we first need to check that the input field is visible. Therefore, we select an anchor area for the email field. Then, we schedule a click and play the action.
Then, we schedule a text input for the email field by typing the email address and pressing the play button afterwards. The email will appear in the input field. The process is shown in figures 13 and 14.
Figure 13Figure 14
Guess what? We can also test if the password field is working by repeating the same procedures, we followed for the email address. This is shown in figures 15 and 16.
Figure 15Figure 16
Now, we will select the SIGN UP button as an anchor area; schedule a click and play it. Once we do this, the following page appears (figure 17). Notice that there is a LOG OUT button at the top right corner of the browser page; it means that the account has been created. Perfect! The SIGN UP feature on Bubble’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 17
Testup for Shopify
Nothing different, the same way we have tested the websites created by WordPress and Bubble, we will now test the Jamiu Marketplace website created by Shopify using Testup. This is fun, let’s go!
First, we create the Jamiu Marketplace website using Shopify; the website is shown below (figure 18).
Figure 18
We log in to Testup and create a new test case for the website. Then, the testing page appears as follows; with the Jamiu Marketplace on the left-hand side and while a list of checks and inputs are on the right-hand side.
To check if the website is correctly loaded and to allow us to move on to the next action, we will select an anchor area and click play as check. As seen in figure 19, the Testup AI finds every area recorded; therefore, the page is good.
Figure 19
Now, let’s see if the search button is working. To do this, we first need to check that the search input field is visible. Therefore, we select an anchor area for the search button. Then, we schedule a click and play the action. The result is shown in Figure 20.
Figure 20
Afterwards, we schedule a text input for the search field by typing a search term, say cloth and pressing the play button (figure 21). As shown in figure 22, the search results for “cloth” appear on the browser page. This indicates that the search feature on Shopify’s Jamiu Marketplace is working.
Figure 21 Figure 22
Keeping it Real with No-code Test Automation
Using Testup as a no-code test automation tool for your website comes with no hassle. First, it does not break when you add the logic. Second, the production environment works perfectly well, even after the provider or host creates an update. Among many other things, the advantages of using Testup include the following:
No prior coding knowledge is required
It allows you to match the pace of the software development cycle
You can extend the scope of automation
You can easily document processes
It enables you to free up resources while enjoying better testing and low costs.
Conclusion
Let’s face reality; learning coding is hard. It takes a great deal of time, as well. Today, you do not need to learn code before building a great IT business. Either to develop a website, web app or mobile app, no-code tools like WordPress, Bubble, and Shopify are available for you. To test your websites, Testup offers you seamless no-code test automation. What a great time to be alive; everything can be done with no or low code. Enjoy!
