Automated Testing

A company can make great strides using Automated Testing. The important benefits include, higher test coverage levels, greater reliability, shorted test cycles, ability to do multi user testing at no extra cost, the setting up of test pre-conditions and other test control and test reporting functions, all resulting in increased levels of confidence in the software and successful deployment.

We will try to understand few important aspects with Automated Testing. This document will help you understand what Automated Testing means, why its required and how to implement it using AppPerfect.

What is Automated Testing?
Automated Testing with AppPerfect

What is Automated Testing?

Automated Testing is use of software program to control execution of testing tasks automatically. Automated Testing involves automating manual testing tasks which are mostly time consuming and error prone. Automated Testing is a more accurate, efficient, reliable and cost effective solution to manual testing. Automated Testing involves carrying set of tasks automatically and comparing the result of same with the expected output and ability to repeat same set of tasks multiple times with different data input and same level of accuracy. It also involves setting up of test conditions, test control and test reporting functions.

Manual testing is often error prone and there are chances of most of the test scenarios left out. Also with the project in development phase where source code changes appear every other day, manually keeping up with the pace to test each and every feature is a difficult task. More often then not the newly added features would bring regression along with them, so to accurately cover all the old test cases manually is very time consuming and error prone. Moreover testing with different hardware configurations and operating systems makes job more difficult.

Automated Testing is a solution to all the issues raised with Manual testing. An Automated Testing tool can playback all the recorded set of tasks, compare the results of execution with the expected behavior and report success or failure to the test engineers. Once the automated tests are created they can easily be repeated for multiple number of times with different data sets and can be extended to cover additional features at a later time.

Most of the software organizations consider Automated Testing as critical to their testing process and there are many things which should be considered before selecting an Automated Testing tool. A company can make great strides using Automated Testing. The important benefits include, higher test coverage levels, greater reliability, shorted test cycles, ability to do multi user testing at no extra cost, all resulting in increased levels of confidence in the software.

Following are few key reasons why software organizations choose AppPerfect's Automated Testing solution for its critical testing requirements :

Automated Testing can Run Unattended : With Automated Testing you can run complex and lengthy tests unattended. Test can be scheduled to run overnight and engineers can analyze the results of execution next morning. As a result you save time and improve efficiency and can concentrate on other important tasks while scheduled tests run in background.
Automated Testing provides High Test Coverage : Automated Testing increases the scope of test cases to help improve software quality. Automated Testing can validate and monitor things which is not possible to do manually. It can monitor the machine resources and internal program states to determine if the software is running as expected. Automated tests can easily run hundreds of complex test cases during every test run providing coverage that is impossible with manual tests. Resources freed from repetitive manual tests can utilize the time in creating new automated tests to deal with new features in the application.
Automated Testing can be distributed over multiple machines : Automated Testing allows you to distribute your tests among multiple workstations to simulate real-world conditions while testing web or intranet sites, client-server and other multi-tier applications. Testers can easily manage the list of workstations, specify which automated tests to be run on each workstation and synchronize the automated test execution. Automated test results from all workstations are accumulated into a single report for easier analysis.
Automated Testing with Virtual users simulation : In real world your web applications/services will be accessed online by thousands of users simultaneously. More often applications tested manually are found to be working fine as they only cover single user scenario, but when deployed and accessed by multiple users simultaneously they can fail to perform. Automated Testing can simulate multi user environment using threading model where multiple virtual users can be executed to perform same tasks simultaneously. So you can test all the possible scenarios due to multi-user access before going live. Something which is impossible with Manual testing.
Automated Testing is Cost Effective, Reliable and Efficient: Its practically impossible for a human tester to repetitively cover all the test cases with same amount of accuracy over and over again. Automated Testing's ability to perform complex set of tasks repetitively with same amount of accuracy every time makes it both cost effective and reliable solution for testing.
Automated Testing is Highly Extensible : Once a test case is recorded it can be played back multiple times with different data sets. Its possible to validate output with different data inputs using the same test case by parameterizing the user input. Moreover tests once recorded can be reused and extended to cover more features and test cases as your application grows,
Automated Testing on different hardware configuration : Automated Testing is platform independent. Automated Tests recorded on one platform can be used to played back over different operating systems and hardware configuration.
Automated Testing and Team Sharing : Test Engineers can share the automated test scripts and results with different members in the team. Automated Scripts can be shared with developers which they can use to run after every source change to check for any regression.

Automated Testing, Needs and Implementation with AppPerfect

AppPerfect's Automated Testing solution is found to be most affordable, cost effective, efficient, reliable and accurate solution by its customers. AppPerfect offers Automated Testing solution to support following :

Web Testing : Web Testing includes testing of web application to ensure that it is functionally correct, reliable, scalable and perform well with varying user load. It involves testing both the client and server side components of the Web application. It typically can be categorized into following two crucial modules:
- Functional Testing : All applications are designed and developed to meet and satisfy certain functional needs. A functional need may be technical, business, or process based. Functional Testing is the process by which expected behavior of an application can be tested.
  Functional testing is use of software program to detect if your web application is functionally correct. Functional testing of web applications involves testing of front-end or user interface of your web applications running in web browser. Functional testing includes automating manual testing tasks which are mostly time consuming and error prone. Functional testing is a more accurate, efficient, reliable and cost effective solution to manual testing. Functional testing involves carrying set of tasks automatically and comparing the result of same with the expected output and ability to repeat same set of tasks multiple times with different data input and same level of accuracy.
  Functional testing of web applications can be implemented using AppPerfect Web Test. AppPerfect Web Test is a fully Automated Web Functional testing and Regression testing software. Any application accessible via a Web browser can be tested. AppPerfect Functional Tester is designed for developers as well as QA professionals. It provides a rich set of features in an easy-to-use manner that makes both groups productive immediately. Implementing functional test for your application early in the software development cycle speeds up development, improves quality and reduces risks towards the end of the cycle.
- Load Testing : Load Testing of web applications involves testing the performance and scalability of your web application on server side with varying user load. Load testing involves simulating real-life user load for the target web application. It helps you determine how your web application behaves when multiple users hits it simultaneously. Load testing with different load strategies and conditions helps you determine software design issues like incorrect concurrency/pooling mechanism, poor optimization, memory build-up, etc. Load Testing helps you identify server configuration issues with Web server, application server, database server, load balancer, etc. Load Testing helps you detect if your current infrastructure is sufficient to meet your user demand. Load Testing helps you determine the peak user load your application can sustain, number of concurrent users your application can support, and whether or not your application will scale as more users access it.
  Load testing of web applications can be implemented using AppPerfect Load Test. AppPerfect Load Test is a fully Automated Load test, Stress test and Performance Test solution that is easy to use and cost effective. Most application performance and stability issues arise only when the server is stressed with a high user load. AppPerfect Web Load Test helps you design and simulate thousands of users in a realistic manner which can be used to load test your application infrastructure for performance, reliability and scalability.
GUI Testing : GUI testing or user interface testing includes functional testing of desktop application including Windows applications, Java applications, .NET or any other GUI applications. UI testing is use of software program to detect if your windows application is functionally correct. UI testing of windows applications involves testing of front-end or user interface of your windows desktop applications. UI testing includes automating manual testing tasks which are mostly time consuming and error prone. UI testing is a more accurate, efficient, reliable and cost effective solution to manual testing. UI testing involves carrying set of tasks automatically and comparing the result of same with the expected output and ability to repeat same set of tasks multiple times with different data input and same level of accuracy.
UI testing of windows/java desktop applications can be implemented using AppPerfect App Test. AppPerfect App Test provides accurate recording and replay of Windows GUI events. It records all the activities you perform in your Windows or GUI desktop application and then plays those activities automatically. It is easy to use with no programming needed. Implementing functional UI tests for your application early in the software development cycle speeds developments, improves quality and reduces risks towards the end of the cycle.
Java Testing: Java Testing includes testing of Java/J2EE applications during development cycle. Locating and fixing performance problems during source code development time is arguably the cheapest way to resolve problems. As your project goes past the development phase, in to testing and deployment, the cost of fixing problems grows exponentially. Java Testing ensures that the problems in source code are addressed as and when you are developing. Java Testing also includes generating test classes for your source code and executing it with different parameters ensuring that your source works fine in all possible scenarios. Java Testing ensures fully functional, highly intelligent test classes that understand your application and test your source files thoroughly. Most of the applications today are designed and developed for simultaneous use by a large number of users. At times there are underlying problems in the code, which may cause error conditions such as Memory leaks, Race conditions, Thread locks, causing the application to slow down or even crash. Java Testing ensures that the application is available, reliable, scalable and makes the most optimal use of the available resources. Java Testing typically can be categorized into following crucial modules:
- Java Code Testing : Java Code Testing involves testing your java source code against industry standard coding rules and ensuring that your java source is stable, optimized, consistent, portable and is compliant with coding standards. Automated Java Code Testing is more efficient and less error prone as compared to manual code reviews. Java Code Testing accomplishes a thorough and accurate review that checks for all defined cases. An automated Java Code Testing boosts development, saves cost and enhances the application quality by performing a test function or code review with greater consistency and in much lesser time. Performing such accurate reviews manually is tiresome, tedious and expensive. Automated Java Code testing also gives the ability and flexibility to a project manager to enforce coding standards and statistical quality control measures. The indicators of code size, complexity, and density can be computed using automated Java Code testing, which helps in the quality control of the code.
  Automated Code testing of java source can be implemented using AppPerfect Java Code Test. AppPerfect Java Code Test offers you a variety of options to test and optimize your application and make it free of bugs and problems. AppPerfect Java Code Test is a static Java code analysis software designed to perform the two key tasks: Automate Java Code review and Enforce Good Java Coding Practices. AppPerfect Java Code Test can analyze your Java and Java Server Pages (JSP) source code and implements over 750 Java coding rules to check your code for consistency, portability, stability, optimization and coding standards.
- Java Unit Testing : Java Unit testing is an indispensable means of ensuring high quality Java/J2EE application. Java Unit testing generally refers to concentrated and focused testing of each smallest logical unit of your Java/J2EE application. This unit may be a module, a package, a file, or a class. It is highly recommended that unit tests be conducted at the smallest unit of your application. Java Unit Testing is the building block of your testing infrastructure. As you develop new "units" of your application, you should also simultaneously develop units tests for them. Java Unit Testing includes generating test classes for your source code and executing it with different parameters ensuring that your source module works fine in all possible scenarios.
  Unit testing of Java/J2EE applications can be implemented using AppPerfect Java Unit Test. AppPerfect Java Unit Test is a complete unit testing system. It automates the generation and execution of unit tests. AppPerfect Java Unit Test goes beyond generating simple stub classes for JUnit testing. It generates fully functional, highly intelligent test classes that understand your application and test your source files thoroughly. AppPerfect Java Unit Test also provides complete code coverage data after test execution. This enables you to view the code path taken by the test case and adjust the test case as needed. With AppPerfect Java Unit Test the efforts you, as a programmer, have to put into Java Unit Testing is greatly reduced.
- Java Profiling : Java Profiling is the process of monitoring various JVM level parameters such as Method Execution, Thread Execution, Object Creation and Garbage Collection. Java Profiling provides you with a finer view of your target application execution and its resource utilization. Java Profiling eliminates the need to spend long hours going through the code, and pinpoints the problems associated with your application. Java Profiling provides complete and accurate statistical information that helps you trace coding errors in your application. Java Profiling helps you diagnose and resolve performance problems, memory leaks and multi-threading problems in your Java or J2EE server applications to ensure the highest level of stability and scalability for your applications. Java Profiling provides you with a root-cause analysis of these problems and helps you resolve them.
  Java Profiling can be implemented using AppPerfect Java Profiler. AppPerfect Java Profiler provides you a unified view of all resources that is memory, methods, threads and monitors to help you understand your JVM's behavior, performance characteristics etc. to reach to bottom of problem quickly. AppPerfect Java Profiler is a comprehensive Java performance tuning solution with support for Heap Analysis, Thread Analysis, Monitor analysis and Deadlocks detection. AppPerfect Java Profiler is one of the best and finest profiler available in the large market of profilers.
Agentless Monitoring : Agentless Monitoring is a new generation of monitoring systems that do not depend on the traditional/legacy agents-based approach to monitoring. Agentless monitoring depends on existing services available on the remote monitored device. Agentless monitoring is capable of monitoring a wide range of devices and applications including operating systems, Java/J2EE application servers, databases, Web servers and any device with an SNMP agents such as routers.
Agentless Monitoring can be implemented using AppPerfect Agentless Monitor. Unlike most other monitoring systems which require heavy downloads, massive installation / configuration and client-side software, AppPerfect Agentless Monitor is a 100% server-based software which can be accessed from anywhere via a Web browser. Furthermore, with AppPerfect Agentless Monitor, there is no need for intrusive and expensive agents to be installed on the monitored devices. AppPerfect Agentless Monitor will use existing services available on the device to remotely monitor the device. At the heart of AppPerfect Agentless Monitor is a sophisticated rules engine capable of sensing rule violations within seconds and alerting you immediately. The notification server included with the AppPerfect Agentless Monitor is capable of communicating such alerts via its Dashboard UI, email, SMS, a HTML report or any custom notification mechanism you prefer.