Best Test Automation Tools

Test automation is used for these key reasons:

• Enhances productivity
• Testing is 70% faster than manual testing
• More application features are tested
• Dependable results
• Enhances accuracy
• Longer cycle of execution
• Maintains consistency
• Saves both time and money
• No human intervention is necessary during execution
• Improves test execution speed
• Test scripts can be reused

The main types of automation testing are:

1. Unit tests: Unit testing is the process of testing small, independent software components. It is the initial step in the testing process, and while it is normally done by hand, it can also be automated.
   
2. Smoke tests: A smoke test is a functional test that examines the stability of a structure. It tests the functionality of critical features to ensure that the program can withstand additional testing. The term originates from the assumption that if the software isn't suitable for further testing, this test will prevent it from catching fire.
   
3. Integrity tests: These functional tests ensure that all of the various components of the software are working properly when combined.
   
4. Regression tests: Regression tests can be both functional and non-functional, and are made in order to check that no aspect of the software has regressed after modifications are performed.
   
5. API tests: The application programming interface, or API, serves as a link between your software and all of the other systems it requires to run. After the software is developed, it is usually tested to ensure that everything is working properly.
   
6. Security tests: These tests check the system for security flaws that can be exploited. These tests can be either functional or non-functional.
   
7. Performance tests: Stability and responsiveness are assessed using non-functional performance tests. They ensure that the program can cope with stress and provide a more consistent and reliable user experience.
   
8. Acceptance tests: These are functional tests that attempt to predict how end users will react to the finished product. Before the product may be released to end users, this test must be passed successfully.
   
9. UI tests: One of the last tests in the process is user interface testing. This test is made to closely resemble a regular user experience. It guarantees that the finished product functions properly when interacting with people.
   
10. Black box tests: The goal of these tests is to see how usable the application is when somebody tries to use the application for the first time.

Agile test automation in software development is an approach of using test automation within agile methodologies. The goal of agile test automation is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the software development process while maintaining quality, time, and resource consumption. As a result, putting such a system in place necessitates a great deal of teamwork and coordination.

Four steps to learning automation testing are:

1. Learn a programming language: Learning a programming language is becoming increasingly important for testers. Test automation is impossible without coding skills. It is normally recommended to start with Python because it is one of the easiest languages to learn for beginners, and there are numerous learning tools available. Other abilities, like XML, HTML, CSS, XPATH, and SOAP, are frequently preferred.

2. Adopt the correct tools and frameworks: Using a combination of frameworks, open-source tools, and third-party solutions for automation will make the process much easier for you.

3. Start small: The smaller test cases you have, the easier they will be to debug, manage, and reuse. You don't want to go overboard with automation and build lengthy test cases, as this will just make your life more difficult in the long run. Separate and label them so they're useful to locate and share in reporting.

4. Back to basics: Keep practicing, learning, and using your resources. Automated testing might seem intimidating when you are first getting into it, but all it really takes is time and patience to learn the craft. Also, no matter how good an automation engineer you are, there’s always more to learn, so take comfort in knowing that even the experts don’t know it all.

The automation testing life cycle (ATLC) refers to the complete process of test automation being used in conjunction with the structural sequence of the testing process. This can include all stages of the testing life cycle as well as additional phases for test preparation and automation deployment.

The 6 phases in the automation testing life cycle are:

1. Defining the scope of the test automation
2. Automation testing tool selection process, which depends on the type of functionality
3. Designing a test plan and defining a test strategy
4. Setting up the test environments
5. Execution of the test scripts
6. Validating the test results and generating the test reports

Test automation tools are software platforms that allow you to design testing tasks and then automate the testing process. Automation testing tools use automated test scripts to check function and/or non-functional requirements. Testing automation tools allow performance testing to run without the need for human interaction, allowing code to be tested 24 hours a day if needed, and speeding up the test execution process as a result.

Test automation tools are available for a variety of platforms, including smartphones, mobile devices, and desktop computers. The software market is full of paid and free test automation tools. There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all test automation tool. The right choice comes down to your team's individual requirements, based on various factors like project requirement, budget, and the expertise of the resources.

The key features found in test automation solutions include:

• Environment support
• Traceability and transparency
• Ease of use
• Assigning and tracking
• Database testing
• Object identification
• Image testing
• Error recovery testing
• Object mapping
• Scripting languages of many types
• Support for varied types of tests, which includes functional, test management, and mobile
• Support for multiple testing frameworks
• Easy to debug automation software scripts
• Ability to recognize objects in a variety of environments
• Extensive test reporting

The main benefits to using test automation solutions include:

• Accuracy is improved by testing. During tedious manual testing, even the most attentive tester will make mistakes.

• What manual testing can't do, automation can. A controlled web application test with thousands of users is impossible for even the largest software and QA organizations.
  Automated testing can replicate the interactions of tens, hundreds, or thousands of virtual users with a network, software, and web applications.

• Developers and testers benefit from automated testing. Developers can utilize shared automated tests to catch problems immediately before delivering them to QA. When source code changes are checked in, tests can run automatically and notify the team or the developer if they fail. These types of features save developers time and boost their confidence.

• Automated testing helps you save both time and money. Manually repeating these tests is time-consuming and expensive. Automated tests can be done over and over again for no additional expense, and they are far faster than manual testing. Automated software testing can cut the time it takes to conduct repeated tests in half. This time savings leads to a cost reduction.

• The morale of the QA and development teams improves. Automated software testing allows your team to focus on more demanding and rewarding projects by automating repetitive chores. Members of the team enhance their skill sets and confidence, which they then pass on to the rest of the company.

• Increases test coverage: Automated software testing can enhance software quality by increasing the depth and scope of tests. Unattended testing can be used to execute lengthy tests that are generally avoided during manual testing. They can even be installed on several computers with various settings. To evaluate whether the product is operating as predicted, automated software testing can peek inside an application and inspect memory contents, data tables, file contents, and internal program states.