Unleash Flawless Apps: The Power of Testing Frameworks

If you are quite aware or hold a keen interest in the tech sector, you would have known the recent statistics by JetBrains about Testing Frameworks. According to that study, 47% of respondents utilize automated testing frameworks to cover half or more of their tests.

It is said that to find out what testing procedure is appropriate for analyzing procedures, you can take a look at its testing framework. These systems provide QA teams and analyze the potential and agile procedures in expectation of better ROI.

With that being said, this write-up is going to dive deeper into the details of this framework and will direct you through various twists and turns of the subject.

What is a Test Automation Framework?

A complete collection of rules that makes it easier to modify test functions and scripts consistently is called a test automation framework.

In doing so, it offers customers a simplified environment that facilitates the effective and efficient development, execution, and reporting of automated scripts.

It can be compared to cooking. In the kitchen, everyone has some degree of aptitude and intuition.

However, by following a comprehensive recipe that includes methodologies, step-by-step directions, and examples that you can compare your output with, you might improve your outcomes.

This is an illustration of such a system we created for a business in the life sciences.

The rules for the automation framework will differ depending on whom you ask.

However, they often consist of elements like the following:

Coding guidelines
Presumptions on the intended result
Libraries, interfaces, and test tools
Evaluate protocols for processing data.

Whatever your rules, your testing frameworks have to reduce the amount of labor required for ongoing code maintenance when offering scalability, stability, and reusability.

The major objective is to speed up reaction times and make sure your tests provide results that match your expectations when cutting down on repetitive manual labor and test execution time.

This is true regardless of the product you’re testing—websites, mobile applications, or application programming interfaces (APIs).

Using a Test Automation Framework’s Benefits

ISVs may profit from using test automation frameworks for software testing in several ways:

Increased productivity: Manual procedure takes time. In less time, you can complete comprehensive tests using automation. Using manual approaches alone might not be able to keep up with larger applications.
Consistency: Creating libraries enables you to securely reuse code after it has been tested and to reuse routines.
Reduced manual labor: Using an automated script helps your team avoid errors caused by disparities in coding standards across individuals. It also saves time. Even when your staff is not in the office, automated tests can still be executed at any time.
Comprehensive reporting: Every result will be included in a single report that will indicate any test failures the application might have had.

A graph showing different types of tests to have in a project.

Types of Test Automation Frameworks

Test automation systems can be broadly classified into six categories, each with a unique design and set of advantages and downsides. Choosing the right set of rules is necessary when developing a plan.

Linear Automation Framework

Testers can build functions without writing code by using a linear test automation framework, also known as a record-and-playback approach, where the stages are written sequentially. To run the trial, the tester records every step of the procedure, including navigation, user input, and checkpoints. The script is then automatically played back.

Modular-Based Testing Framework

Testers must split the application they are looking at into discrete units, functions, or sections to implement a modular framework.

Each unit will be tested independently. A script is written for each module once the program has been divided into smaller ones.

These scripts are then integrated to generate bigger tests hierarchically. These bigger sets will start to reflect different scenarios.

Creating an abstraction layer is a decisive tactic for utilizing the modular structure, as it ensures that modifications made to one component won’t impact the entire module.

Library Architecture Testing Framework

Although it offers certain further advantages, the library design model for automated testing relies on the modular framework.

Rather than breaking down the program under test into the different scripts that must be executed, comparable tasks within the scripts are found and then categorized by function, resulting in the application being finally broken down into shared goals.

The scripts can access these functions at any time by calling upon a library that contains them.

Data-Driven Framework

When utilizing a data-driven system, the test data is kept apart from the script logic, enabling testers to store data elsewhere.

Testers are often tasked with repeatedly evaluating an application’s identical feature or function using different sets of data.

In these situations, it is necessary that the data—which would be the case with a linear or modular-based testing framework—is not hard-coded in the script.

The tester can save and pass input/output parameters to analyze scripts from an external data source, such as Excel spreadsheets, Text files, CSV files, SQL tables, or ODBC repositories, by setting up a data-driven environment.

The scripts are programmed to read and fill in the necessary data as needed, and they are connected to an external data source.

Keyword-Driven Framework

Every feature of the application being tested is documented in a table along with a set of instructions that must be followed for each test to be completed inside a keyword-driven framework.

Similar to the previous one, a keyword-driven approach also separates the test data and script logic, but this approach goes one step further.

Using this method, keywords are also kept up to date in an external data table (hence the name), which separates them from the automated testing tool that is utilized to conduct the tests.

The sections of a script known as keywords stand for the different steps done to test the graphical user interface (GUI) of an application. These labels might be as straightforward as “click” or “login,” or they can be more intricate like “clicklink” or “verifylink.”

Hybrid Test Automation Framework

Automated test automation frameworks have begun to merge and overlap, as is the case with most testing techniques in use today.

A hybrid framework, as its name implies, combines any of the aforementioned frameworks to maximize their respective strengths and minimize their drawbacks.

Since every application is unique, the procedures used to evaluate it should also be unique. It is imperative to put up an adaptable set of rules for automated testing as more teams adopt an agile methodology. It is easier to modify a hybrid system to achieve optimal results.

Conclusion

One recommended approach to creating a hybrid framework for automated testing is to choose a technology that can easily and quickly adapt to your procedures.

When choosing an automated testing solution, you should look for one that is flexible enough to work with a variety of apps and programming languages.