What is automation testing and its types?

Charlotte Miller

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The software testing process is being transformed on a massive scale by automation, and it means that testers must have excellent knowledge of automation. The Automation testing course will teach you all the skills you’ll need to improve the pace and quality of software delivery while also remaining marketable in your career.

What is Automation?

Before we begin with Automation Testing, it is necessary to define the term “automation.” Automation is a procedure that utilizes technology to automate a manual activity, and the objective is to prevent or minimize human/manual effort. Now, let’s check how automation can aid in software testing.

It means creating test cases once and then running them as many times as necessary for software testing. Manual test execution is a laborious and time-consuming process, and the use of automated testing speeds up the testing process. Because once-written test scripts can be automatically executed unlimited times, there is no need for human interaction.

What is Automation testing?

Test cases are executed automatically as part of software testing, known as automation testing, using an automation tool. To put it another way, it makes the manual testing process more efficient. The tester writes scripts, and they are then executed on-demand or on a regular schedule as desired. As a result, testing time is cut in half, allowing for more frequent product releases.

Defining an Automated test tool

Given that we’ve already defined “automation” and then “test automation,” it doesn’t appear as though limiting a test automation tool will cause us any difficulty. Let’s begin:

A test automation tool enables individuals to specify software testing jobs executed with minimal human input.

There are many different kinds of test automation tools, and it’s critical to remember that. They may differ in the types of applications they test, namely web, desktop, and mobile, in the way the test cases are done (by writing code in a scripting language, writing code in a complete programming language, recording steps taken using a GUI), in their licenses (free, freemium, commercial), and many other factors.

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Types of Automation frameworks

A framework is a collection of automation rules that might be beneficial in the following scenarios: 

  • Maintaining testing consistency
  • Improving test structuring 
  • Minimizing code consumption 
  • Enabling even non-technical testers to participate in the testing process 
  • Improving code re-usability

Frameworks used in automation testing often fall into one of four categories: 

  1. Data-Driven
  2. Keyword Driven
  3. Modular 
  4. Hybrid 

The Behavior Driven Development Framework (BDDF) and Linear Scripting Framework (LSF) are also utilized in automated testing.

Types of Automation tests

After familiarizing yourself with automation frameworks, you may be interested in learning about the many forms of automation testing. Various testing methods can be automated, depending on your application, and we have discussed the most critical types of automation testing in this section.

  1. Unit Testing: A web application’s components and units are tested as part of unit testing. Automation testers can also create unit tests, but developers often write them. During the development process, web app unit testing is carried out. It’s also the initial step in the web app testing process.
  2. Smoke Testing: Smoke testing is carried out to determine whether or not the deployed build is stable. For the sake of simplicity, they are verifying the operation of critical features so that testers can move on to other tasks.
  3. Functional Testing: Functional testing is used to determine whether or not all of your web application’s functions work as planned. Functional testing covers the following areas: user interface, APIs, database, security, client/server applications, and overall website operation.
  4. Integration Testing: Application modules are logically connected and tested as a group in integration testing. Verifying data transfer across various components of your web app is the primary goal of this test.
  5. Regression Testing: Regression testing is primarily used to ensure that a recent code update does not break any of your web app’s existing functionality. In simple terms, it checks that the existing code continues to function in the same manner as it did before to the new changes.

Additionally, there are several automated tests that it must run in addition to the ones listed above. These include data-driven tests, black-box tests, and keyword tests.

What are the various types of test Automation tools available?

Test automation solutions come in a variety of flavors. Simply the sheer amount of available possibilities can overwhelm the process of analyzing and selecting the right tool. We’ll briefly go through how we might classify testing tools in this section to assist you.

  1. Codeless vs. code-based vs. hybrid tools: For example, some test automation systems require coding expertise while others don’t. Hybrid tools combine the most significant features of both worlds and are becoming increasingly popular. They make it possible for non-coders, such as testers and other professionals, to construct test cases using a visual interface. Using a language like JavaScript, engineers can then further enhance these test cases.
  2. Commercial vs. open-source: Pricing and licensing models for test automation tools might vary significantly. There are free (as in beer) and open-source tools available. Others are proprietary but have a free version or, at the very least, a free trial. Additionally, test automation solutions are increasingly being supplied via a SaaS model. The client pays a subscription fee monthly or annual.
  3. Mobile vs. web vs. desktop: Different types of software are supported by different test automation technologies. It is possible to have desktop application-targeting tools. When people talk about testing tools, they frequently refer to online and mobile apps. Web testing is a vast field that can further break into many subtypes for ease of use.
  4. Production vs. non-production testing: Finally, it is becoming increasingly usual and valuable to conduct various types of testing on an application after it has been deployed. Several techniques include synthetic and non-synthetic monitoring, chaotic engineering, A/B testing, canary releases, and load and performance testing in production.

That’s a wrap

If you haven’t already, we hope this brief introduction to the various forms of automation testing and test automation frameworks has helped you better grasp test automation. Just try to test out some of the tools.