What is Automation Testing?

Making the manual testing process as an automatic is called Automating Testing, which includes the development and execution of test scripts to verify customer requirements using any automation tool.

Automation testing is not a replacement to manual testing. The idea of test automation is to automate some parts of the software test process, but not all of the testing process.

Benefits of Automation Testing

·         Automating the testing process significantly faster than manual testing as it consumes more time.

·         Eliminates the human error when running the same operations every time.

·         We can test and see how the application reacts after executing the same operations repeatedly.

·         We can build a suite of tests that covers the each and every feature of application.

·         We can reuse the same test scripts for different versions of the application if needed.

Automation Testing Vs. Manual Testing

The key thing is to decide when to use automation testing and when to use manual testing. When we have more regression test work, we can go for automation testing as it reduces the testing of repeated operations. When we are testing one or two times or the test automation is expensive, then we can go for manual testing.

Pros of Automation

·         If we have to run a set of tests repeatedly then automation is the right one for us.

·         Automated tests can be run at the same time on different machines with different OS platforms

·         Automation testing increases the test speed, quality and improves the accuracy

·         Executing the same actions with different inputs much more easier and fast

Cons of Automation

·         Initially it costs more to automate

·         Cannot automate the visual references, like font colour, font size, etc.

·         If the user interfaces changes extensively, again script maintenance to be done.

Pros of Manual

·         Allows the tester to perform more ad-hoc testing (random testing)

·         Improves the communication between testing team, development team and client interaction.

 

Cons of Manual

·         Manual testing is time consuming and requires investment in human resources.

·         Testing the application in different machines with different configurations is sequential.

 

Types of automation testing tools

·         Functional testing tools

·         Performance testing tools

·         Test management tools

·         Bug reporting tools

Tool selection criteria

One who is going to use the automation tool to be take these considerations before choose:

·         Licencing cost

·         Features offered by the tool

·         Technologies supported by the tool

·         Environment/platforms supported by the tool

·         User friendly ness

·         Performance

·         Vendor support, etc.

Test automation life cycle

There are many phases/steps involves in the automation test life cycle. The main steps which involves in the life cycle are:

·         Test planning

·         Analyse application under test

·         Setup test environment

·         Developing test scripts

·         Enhance test scripts

·         Debug the tests

·         Execute the tests

·         Analyse the test results

·         Defects/Reports

 

Conclusion

Automation    tool  saves   time, resources and  gives the accurate results.