Test automation
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2008-07-15T03:41:51Z
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{{portal|Software Testing}}
'''Test automation''' is the use of [[software]] to control the execution of [[software testing|test]]s, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions. Commonly, test automation involves automating a manual process already in place that uses a formalized testing process.
Over the past few years, tools with [[graphical user interface]]s (GUI) that help [[programmer]]s quickly create applications have dramatically improved programmer productivity. This has increased the pressure on testers, who are often perceived as [[bottleneck]]s to the delivery of software products. Testers are being asked to test more and more [[code]] in less and less time. Test automation is one way to do this, as [[manual testing]] is time consuming. As different versions of software are released, the new features will have to be tested manually time and again. But, now there are tools available that help the testers in the automation of the GUI which reduce the test time as well as the cost; other test automation tools support execution of performance tests.
Many test automation tools provide record and [[playback]] features that allow users to record interactively user actions and replay it back any number of times, comparing actual results to those expected. However, reliance on these features poses major reliability and maintainability problems. Most successful automators use a [[software engineering]] approach, and as such most serious test automation is undertaken by people with development experience.
A growing trend in software development is to use testing frameworks such as the [[xUnit]] frameworks (for example, [[JUnit]] and [[NUnit]]) which allow the [[code]] to conduct [[unit test]]s to determine whether various sections of the [[code]] are acting as expected under various circumstances. [[Test case]]s describe tests that need to be run on the program to verify that the program runs as expected. All three aspects of testing can be automated.
Another important aspect of test automation is the idea of partial test automation, or automating parts but not all of the [[software testing]] process. If, for example, an [[Oracle machine|oracle]] cannot reasonably be created, or if fully automated tests would be too difficult to maintain, then a software tools engineer can instead create testing tools to help human testers perform their jobs more efficiently. Testing tools can help automate tasks such as product installation, test data creation, GUI interaction, problem detection (consider parsing or polling agents equipped with oracles), defect logging, etc., without necessarily automating tests in an end-to-end fashion.
Test automation is expensive and it is an addition, not a replacement, to manual testing. It can be made cost-effective in the longer term though, especially in [[regression testing]]. One way to generate test cases automatically is [[model-based testing]] where a model of the system is used for test case generation, but research continues into a variety of methodologies for doing so.
Along with test automation, automation of the entire testing process is also very important. Therefore, one must keep following points when thinking of test automation:
* Platform and OS independence
* Data driven capability (Input Data, Output Data, Meta Data)
* Customizable Reporting (DB Access, crystal reports)
* Email Notifications (Automated notification on failure or threshold levels)
* Easy debugging and logging
* Version control friendly – minimum or zero binary files
* Extensible & Customizable (Open APIs to be able to integrate with other tools)
* Common Driver (Ant or Maven)
* Headless execution for unattended runs (For integration with build process or batch runs)
* Support distributed execution environment (distributed test bed)
* Distributed application support (distributed SUT)
==See also==
*[[MathCom-AI ADAMS]]
*[[xUnit]]
**[[CPPUnit]]
**[[JUnit]]
**[[NUnit]]
**[[MBUnit]]
**[[PHPUnit]]
**[[PyUnit]]
**[[SUnit]]
**[[DUnit]]
*[[Itko]] LISA
* Borland [[SilkTest]]
*[[IBM Rational Functional Tester]]
*[[UnitTest]] The C++ Unit Test Framework
*[[BuildBot]]
*[[QuickCheck]]
*[[Dogtail]]
*[[Test Automation Framework]]
*[[HtmlUnit]]
*[[HttpUnit]]
*[[Jakarta Cactus]]
*[[Data-driven testing]]
*[[Keyword-driven testing]]
*[[Model-based testing]]
*[[Parasoft]]
*[[QF-Test]]
*[[QuickTest Professional]]
*[[Software testing]]
*[[Unit test]]
*[[Visual Test|Microsoft Visual Test]]
*[[WET Web Tester]]
*[[Ranorex]]
*[[JMeter]]
*[[iMacros]]
*[[TOSCA Testsuite]]
*[[WinRunner]]
*[[Test Anything Protocol]]
*[[Bromine for selenium]]
*[[Test Automation FX]]
*[[Bug Bash]]
==References==
{{Refimprove|date=September 2007}}
* Elfriede Dustin, et al: ''Automated Software Testing.'' Addison Wesley, 1999, ISBN 0-20143-287-0
==External links==
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[[Category:Software testing]]
[[Category:Automation]]
[[Category:GUI automation]]
[[de:Testautomatisierung]]
[[it:Automazione del collaudo del software]]
[[lt:Automatinis testas]]
[[ja:テスト自動化]]
[[ro:Testarea software automatizată]]
[[ru:Автоматическое тестирование]]
[[sk:Automatizácia testov]]