Every mobile application, irrespective of its category, has a common goal of creating an impeccable user experience. App users want to see something new and innovative. And even though the great user experience is the most important, it only comes with quality.&nbsp;&nbsp;To make your mobile app work efficiently, make sure these mobile app testing checklists are followed.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Checklist_for_Mobile_App_Testing">1 Checklist for Mobile App Testing</a><ul><li><a href="#1Test_your_app_for_cross-platform_Compatibility">1.1 1.Test your app for cross-platform Compatibility</a></li><li><a href="#2Test_your_app_against_all_possible_settings_and_configurations">1.2 2.Test your app against all possible settings and configurations</a></li><li><a href="#3Base_your_test_cases_on_the_type_of_app_you_are_testing">1.3 3.Base your test cases on the type of app you are testing</a></li><li><a href="#4Test_the_GUI_of_your_app_thoroughly">1.4 4.Test the GUI of your app thoroughly</a></li><li><a href="#5Test_your_app_for_back-enddatabase-related_functionalities">1.5 5.Test your app for back-end/database-related functionalities</a></li><li><a href="#6Test_your_app_for_all_positive_and_negative_test_cases_around_storagememory_in_use">1.6 6.Test your app for all positive and negative test cases around storage/memory in use</a></li><li><a href="#7Test_your_app_on_all_types_of_networks_that_the_users_may_use_on_it">1.7 7.Test your app on all types of networks that the users may use on it</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#8Accessibility_and_Usability_Testing">2 8.Accessibility and Usability Testing</a><ul><li><a href="#9Test_your_mobile_app_for_the_user_journeys_8211_the_path_a_real_user_might_take_while_using_your_app">2.1 9.Test your mobile app for the user journeys &#8211; the path a real user might take while using your app</a></li><li><a href="#10Make_sure_your_app_is_safe_and_secure_for_the_users">2.2 10.Make sure your app is safe and secure for the users</a></li><li><a href="#Mobile_App_Automation">2.3 Mobile App Automation</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions">3 Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_Does_Mobile_Application_Testing_Include">3.1 What Does Mobile Application Testing Include?</a></li><li><a href="#How_Do_You_Conduct_a_Mobile_App_Test">3.2 How Do You Conduct a Mobile App Test?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_Basic_checks_of_Mobile_Testing">3.3 What are the Basic checks of Mobile Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_the_main_checklist_point_of_mobile_app_testing">3.4 What is the main checklist point of mobile app testing?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="checklist-for-mobile-app-testing">Checklist for Mobile App Testing</h2>



To ensure quality, mobile app testing is essential. In this blog, we will discuss a step-by-step mobile app testing checklist.&nbsp;



<h3 id="h-1-test-your-app-for-cross-platform-compatibility">1.Test your app for cross-platform Compatibility</h3>



Your Android application may run fine on Oreo (Android 10), but the same might not be true with Marshmallow(Android 6.0). This is where cross-platform testing comes into the picture.&nbsp;



You should test your application on all the possible combinations of operating systems, screen sizes and resolutions that the app users might be using. This ensures that the app will behave uniformly across all devices.



<h3 id="2-test-your-app-against-all-possible-settings-and-configurations">2.Test your app against all possible settings and configurations</h3>



A mobile app interacts with many features – both in-app and mobile device based. The app should be compatible with all the possible settings and configurations. These may include screen resolution, orientation, different versions of operating systems, camera, motion sensor, etc.&nbsp;



<h3 id="3-base-your-test-cases-on-the-type-of-app-you-are-testing">3.Base your test cases on the type of app you are testing</h3>



A mobile app generally falls under three categories &#8211; native, web, and hybrid.



i. Web app testing : 



Optimized for mobile browsing and server-driven, the web apps should be tested for UI to ensure all the app elements are aligned for different screens and resolutions. Since the mobile apps have limited storage space and power supply, test for memory and battery usage. Avoid excessive usage of JavaScript&nbsp; &#8211; this might drain the mobile’s battery.



ii. Native and Hybrid app testing : 



Although driven by different technologies, native and hybrid apps share similar functionality and hence, their approach to testing. Functional testing is the key player here&nbsp; &#8211; run functional tests to validate key aspects such as screen orientation, gestures, compatibility, connectivity, performance, and interruptions such as calls and push notifications.



<h3 id="4-test-the-gui-of-your-app-thoroughly">4.Test the GUI of your app thoroughly</h3>



Front-end testing validates the features available on the UI of an app &#8211; testers check the functionality of the mobile app’s GUI. This includes testing the menus, dropdowns, navigation buttons, and gestures, forms, and other features used by the end user.&nbsp;



Front-end testing will ensure that the app under test will perform on different browsers and devices. Perform unit, regression, performance, integration, and acceptance tests on the app for comprehensive front-end testing.



<h3 id="5-test-your-app-for-back-end-database-related-functionalities">5.Test your app for back-end/database-related functionalities</h3>



Back-end or database testing deals with the server side of the mobile app. Today, most mobile apps are API-driven. Data is populated via REST APIs displayed in the UI. Use a proxy to track the app’s requests and responses. Perform SQL, performance, and security testing to prevent deadlock, data loss, etc.



<h3 id="6-test-your-app-for-all-positive-and-negative-test-cases-around-storage-memory-in-use">6.Test your app for all positive and negative test cases around storage/memory in use</h3>



Mobile users want to have all their essential apps on the go. However, the devices do not have enough storage to fulfill the need of installing high-resolution apps.&nbsp;



Keep an eye on the app size with every release. You should not be in a situation where the end-user might not download the app only because of its large size.



<h3 id="7-test-your-app-on-all-types-of-networks-that-the-users-may-use-on-it">7.Test your app on all types of networks that the users may use on it</h3>



Run the app on different network conditions to measure its performance under weak signal and data transition. To <a href="https://www.solarwinds.com/network-performance-monitor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test for network performance</a>, consider the following aspects:



<p id="i-jittersoccurs-during-a-delay-in-data-collection-as-the-data-travels-in-the-form-of-packets-these-packets-may-disperse-while-moving-from-the-sender-to-the-receiver-hence-the-data-becomes-scrambled-and-this-is-called-jitters-in-such-cases-the-app-should-notify-the-user-to-either-resend-the-data-or-wait-for-the-system-to-respond">i. Jitters Occurs during a delay in data collection. As the data travels in packets, these packets may disperse while moving from the sender to the receiver. Hence, the data becomes scrambled, and this is called jitters. In such cases, the app should notify the user to either resend the data or wait for the system to respond.



ii. Packet Loss During complete packet loss, ensure the app resends the data request or notify the end-user. Rather than keeping the user waiting, the app should prompt the app user to try again.



iii. Network Speed and Type Network speeds vary from time to time &#8211; ideally, this should not hamper the user experience. Check the app on different networks and speeds. Validate how the app behaves when the mobile app moves from mobile data to WiFi and vice versa.



<h2 id="h-8-accessibility-and-usability-testing">8.Accessibility and Usability Testing</h2>



<ul><li>Accessibility: Ensure compatibility with assistive technologies (screen readers, keyboard navigation).</li></ul>



Usability: Validate intuitive navigation, clear labeling, error handling, and overall user experience.



<h3 id="9-test-your-mobile-app-for-the-user-journeys-the-path-a-real-user-might-take-while-using-your-app">9.Test your mobile app for the user journeys &#8211; the path a real user might take while using your app</h3>



A good mobile app flow is the one that needs no explanation and can be understood on the first go. The user flow can vary based on how the app responds to different devices and operating systems.



For example, to log in to an app, a user may choose from fingerprint, face identification, or login via username and password. Validate all the possible capabilities to ensure the best possible digital experience to the users.



Now, Testsigma supports inspection as well as execution of your <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-cases-for-mobile-application/">mobile test cases</a> without any kind of setup at your end. 



<h3 id="10-make-sure-your-app-is-safe-and-secure-for-the-users">10.Make sure your app is safe and secure for the users</h3>



Due to the diverse operating system components, mobile app security can look quite intimidating. However, you can follow these common steps to mobile app security.



i. Secure the source code and database



ii. Perform Input Validation



iii. Perform Penetration Testing



iv. Use Cryptography



v. Prevent Client Side Injection



vi. Implement HTTPS – SSL/TLS Security Layer



vii. Protect Local Storage Data



<h3 id="mobile-app-automation">Mobile App Automation</h3>



Automation can increase the productivity of your testing process by manifolds. Tools like <a aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma </a>enable you to create custom IDEs, in-house scripts, and cloud-testing frameworks to detect bugs and errors. <gwmw style="display:none;">



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What do you think about this mobile app testing checklist? Would you like to add a point to this list? If yes, which one? At Testsigma, we have a team of highly experienced QA engineers who are well-versed with the latest tools and technologies to take care of all your mobile app testing needs. Want to see the ROI of <a href="https://testsigma.com/mobile-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mobile app testing</a> with Testsigma?<gwmw style="display:none;">



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<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



<h3 id="what-does-mobile-application-testing-include">What Does Mobile Application Testing Include?</h3>



Mobile application testing involves analyzing mobile apps across multiple devices for visual appeal, consistency, usability, compatibility, responsiveness, performance, security, and user experience. It&#8217;s crucial to ensure that the app meets quality standards and delivers a seamless experience. Testsigma&#8217;s low-code automation platform can help streamline the mobile application testing process and ensure high-quality outcomes.<gwmw style="display:none;">



<h3 id="how-do-you-conduct-a-mobile-app-test">How Do You Conduct a Mobile App Test?</h3>



To conduct a mobile application test, create a list of the agenda of your application covering the requirements across aspects like usability, functionality, consistency, and visual appeal, and then conduct testing either manually or automated, ensuring all these components are satisfied.



<h3 id="what-are-the-basic-checks-of-mobile-testing">What are the Basic checks of Mobile Testing?</h3>



Network functionality, OS compatibility, Screen size and display resolution, UX and UI, and Content relevance are a few basics of mobile testing.



<h3 id="what-is-the-main-checklist-point-of-mobile-app-testing">What is the main checklist point of mobile app testing?</h3>



The main checklist point for mobile app testing is to ensure that the app functions flawlessly across all devices, platforms, and network conditions, providing a seamless user experience. This involves comprehensive testing for compatibility, performance, security, and usability.<gwmw style="display:none;">



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Mobile App Testing Checklist – Points You Should Not Miss

Frameworks are crucial for any automated testing process in a software organization. They not only reduce the testing efforts and maintenance costs but also increase the return on investment (ROI) of an organization who is looking to optimize their agile processes.



A well-designed test automation framework makes it easier to continue running and improving the system consistently. While these days many different kinds of frameworks are available for different purposes but still there might be scenarios when an organization might want to build a test automation framework from scratch.



Let&#8217;s read more about the test automation frameworks and if you need to build one from scratch below.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_a_Framework">1 What is a Framework?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Build_a_Test_Automation_Framework_from_Scratch">2 How to Build a Test Automation Framework from Scratch</a></li><li><a href="#When_is_a_Test_Automation_Framework_Beneficial">3 When is a Test Automation Framework Beneficial?</a></li><li><a href="#Choosing_a_Test_Automation_Framework">4 Choosing a Test Automation Framework</a></li><li><a href="#Why_choose_Testsigma_as_your_Test_Automation_Framework">5 Why choose Testsigma as your Test Automation Framework?</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="what-is-a-framework">What is a Framework?</h2>



A testing framework is a set of rules or guidelines which are used to create and <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-case-design-techniques/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">design test cases</a>. It consists of a combination of right practices and tools which help QA to test the software more effectively and efficiently.



The guidelines or rules for designing a testing framework may include coding standards, handling methods for <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-data/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test data</a>, the process for test results storage, the process for accessing external resources, object repositories, etc.



Here are some of the key benefits of having a test automation framework:



<ul><li>Low maintenance costs</li><li>Maximum <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-coverage/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test coverage</a></li><li>High test speed and efficiency</li><li>Reduced manual intervention</li><li>Improved test accuracy</li><li>High code readability</li><li>Higher portability</li><li>Code reusability</li></ul>



If you are still thinking if you need to choose a test automation framework or continue your testing manually then you should read the blog <a aria-label="when to choose a test automation framework over manual testing (opens in a new tab)" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/when-to-choose-test-automation-framework-over-manual-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">when to choose a test automation framework over manual testing</a> which can provide you more details to clear your confusion<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/when-to-choose-test-automation-framework-over-manual-testing/">.</a> Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-automation-frameworks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Top Test Automation Frameworks</a>



<h2 id="how-to-build-a-test-automation-framework-from-scratch">How to Build a Test Automation Framework from Scratch</h2>



Building an efficient testing automation framework takes time but it is worth the efforts considering the long-term benefits. With a well-built framework in place, the QA team can focus more on actual testing.



You can ensure a mature test automation framework with these steps:



<ul><li>Identify the test cases that are essential to be executed</li><li>Configure specialized code analysis and coverage tools to ensure a 100% test coverage</li><li>Formalize your test strategy for testing new features into interim builds</li><li>Standardize all environments for required testing and automate deployments</li><li>Define the exit criteria for each run</li><li>Report and fix critical bugs</li><li>Set up application monitoring to detect and report key issues earlier</li></ul>



Building a test automation framework from scratch can take up a lot of investment and, if not taken up carefully, it may not bring the benefits it promised if not taken up carefully.



 Sometimes, building an automation framework from scratch might not be the best option too. So, before deciding you need to build it from scratch, you should review the frameworks available in the market.&nbsp;



If the frameworks available in the market don’t fulfil your needs then its reasonable to build it from scratch.



<h2 id="when-is-a-test-automation-framework-beneficial">When is a Test Automation Framework Beneficial?</h2>



It is crucial to know the functionality and requirements of the project in detail because once you know that, it becomes easy to decide which repetitive tasks you need to automate. It’s not that you should jump into automation right away. There are certain criteria which you need to check before using a test automation framework. 



When is a test automation framework beneficial?



<ul><li>When there are frequent iterations for regression testing</li><li>When repetitive tests are in high amount</li><li>When you need to simulate a large number of users</li><li>When you don’t rely only on manual <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-execution/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test execution</a> to test critical functions</li><li>When the application under test is having a stable UI</li></ul>



Before deciding whether you should go for a test automation framework or not, make sure you consider the budget, project environment and technology you are using, and whether your manpower has the right skills required to use automation.



<h2 id="choosing-a-test-automation-framework">Choosing a Test Automation Framework</h2>



It is crucial to use an efficient and re-usable test automation framework to match the pace of the product development and delivery in an agile environment. The traditional capture and relay framework does not have the potential to do this as it will not give the long-term automation success which can be achieved using other robust <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-automation-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">test automation strategies</a>. 



While choosing an automation framework, make sure to find an automation testing tool that is flexible and supports all the major applications and languages. This way, it will not be a man or two man show but all your team will be able to contribute to the testing efforts. 



The two mostly used framework types are: 



1. Data-Driven Framework: In a <a href="https://testsigma.com/data-driven-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="data-driven framework (opens in a new tab)">data-driven framework</a>, the test cases are driven from an external data feed in the form of xls, xlsx, and CSV files. It allows the automation testers to execute tests for all the data in the table from a single test script. 



2. Keyword Driven Framework: In keyword driven framework, a table format such as spreadsheet is used to define keywords for each function that is to be executed. 



While in a data-driven framework, you only need to plan for what test data and test scripts are needed, in keyword driven framework, in addition to planning for test data and test scripts, you also need to plan for keywords and their implementation.



Check the detailed comparison here- between <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/data-driven-vs-keyword-driven-frameworks-for-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data-driven frameworks and keyword-driven frameworks</a> 



Though Selenium has been one of the most popular automation frameworks, it may lack the capabilities to address all your testing needs, especially considering the latest advances in technologies being used to develop websites.



 Other issue is that Selenium is only for desktop websites, if you want to test your website or product on mobile &#8211; it means you have to look for another tool for automation. And that also means that you will have to look for people with a different set of skillsets suited for mobile automation and you will have to spend on additional infrastructure and also additional time.



<a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Testsigma</a>, a test automation framework that lets you automate for website, mobile as well as API testing in one place. It is specially built for the teams of today that are Agile and are using DevOps.



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<h2 id="why-choose-testsigma-as-your-test-automation-framework">Why choose Testsigma as your Test Automation Framework?</h2>



1. With Testsigma, you don’t have to make your hands dirty on coding, the test cases can really be automated in simple English. Also, the test case creation is five times faster than any other similar test automation framework.



2. Testsigma uses an auto-healing feature driven by AI which creates test plans automatically with every code change and identifies all the possible failures easily and fixes the minor ones automatically.



3. At Testsigma, you get a dedicated customer support to remove all your test automation hurdles



4. Use of AI-driven test maintenance and simple English based test case setup helps achieve increased test coverage faster



In this agile and DevOps development ecosystem, test automation frameworks play an important role in meeting the rising demands for high-quality software products. Testsigma is an AI-driven cloud-based automation testing tool which meets all the elements required for continuous testing with a shift left approach.



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Should You Build A Test Automation Framework From Scratch?

<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/author/adil/"></a>An effective test automation system is necessary for today&#8217;s agile software development environments. Automation works excellently, especially in the case of smoke and regression tests, and helps the QA teams to create and execute test cases that complex easily. To ensure efficient automation deployed in your software testing it is important to know the challenges in automation testing before you start.



Though automation can act as a power booster for your product pipeline of development projects; certain pitfalls in automation slow down the automation pipelines if not tackled upfront.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Why_is_Automation_Testing_Important">1 Why is Automation Testing Important?</a></li><li><a href="#7_Common_Challenges_in_Automated_Testing">2 7 Common Challenges in Automated Testing</a><ul><li><a href="#1_Network_Disconnections">2.1 1. Network Disconnections</a></li><li><a href="#2_Test_Script_Issues">2.2 2. Test Script Issues</a></li><li><a href="#3_Fixing_Code_Smell">2.3 3. Fixing Code Smell</a></li><li><a href="#4_Testing_Against_Wrong_Data">2.4 4. Testing Against Wrong Data</a></li><li><a href="#5_Upfront_Investment">2.5 5. Upfront Investment</a></li><li><a href="#6_Stability_Issues">2.6 6. Stability Issues</a></li><li><a href="#7_Picking_the_Right_Automation_Tool">2.7 7. Picking the Right Automation Tool</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">3 Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions">4 Frequently Asked Questions</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_one_of_the_biggest_challenges_in_automation_testing">4.1 What is one of the biggest challenges in automation testing?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_major_limitations_of_test_automation">4.2 What are the major limitations of test automation?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_overcome_technical_challenges_while_doing_the_test_automation">4.3 How to overcome technical challenges while doing the test automation?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_real_time_challenges_in_selenium_automation">4.4 What are the real time challenges in selenium automation?</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#Suggested_Reading">5 Suggested Reading</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-why-is-automation-testing-important">Why is Automation Testing Important?</h2>



When you&#8217;re developing software, it&#8217;s important to automate testing. Automation allows you to run tests more quickly and efficiently, and it can help to reduce the risk of human error. Automated testing is important because it saves time, reduces costs, and improves quality. It also allows developers to conduct more frequent tests on their software, which can lead to faster feedback and early detection of bugs and issues. Automated tests are also a much cheaper alternative to manual testing by humans. Overall, automated testing is an essential component of modern software development, helping to improve quality and reduce costs while increasing efficiency.



<h2 id="7-common-challenges-in-automated-testing">7 Common Challenges in Automated Testing</h2>



Here are the 7 most common test automation challenges that teams usually face while adopting automation testing, along with the best solutions to overcome these pitfalls.



<h3 id="1-network-disconnections">1. Network Disconnections</h3>



Network disconnection is a common automation challenge that a QA team faces wherein they find it hard to access databases, VPN, third party services, APIs, specific <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing environments</a>, etc. due to unstable network connections. These network disconnections cause unnecessary delays and hinder the testing process.



Apart from disconnections, another cause of worry is the inability to access virtual environments which are generally used by the testers for <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/desktop-application-testing-vs-web-application-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing applications</a>. QA teams need to have a good monitoring solution in place that can help fix the issue as soon as it occurs and prevent the whole software delivery pipeline from getting affected.



<h3 id="2-test-script-issues">2. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-case-vs-test-script/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test Script</a> Issues</h3>



QA teams may face various problems related to test scripts if they lack the coding related skill sets. Teams facing these issues can leverage reusability (reusing test scripts) to solve the problems and maintain their code. They can maintain the code in a better way by treating test code as production code. Apart from this, periodic testing of the code should be done along with scheduling debugging sessions and identifying key issues with object identifiers.



<h3 id="3-fixing-code-smell">3. Fixing Code Smell</h3>



A code smell is basically any characteristic in the code of a program that has a negative impact on the design quality. Maintaining the code quality is not only important for the programmers but also for the testers.



Fixing code smell can help a QA team achieve:



<ol><li>Faster test results in lesser execution time</li><li>Help make the automation test suite more robust</li><li>Reduce maintenance cost and effort significantly</li></ol>



It is not possible to find most of the code smell by manual reviewing. In many cases, automated code review tools are used to identify all the bad smell present in the source code.



<h3 id="4-testing-against-wrong-data">4. Testing Against Wrong Data</h3>



In most of the cases, the QA teams are found to be testing against wrong data as it sometimes becomes difficult to get the right data. This right data is the one that the application will be processing in production.



Data relevancy and data accuracy are the two most important prerequisites for automated testing to give good results. Complicated processes and communication gaps can also prevent the testing teams from getting the updated and most relevant data.&nbsp;



The QA teams should use a robust reporting and analytics solution in order to achieve fast feedback and enhance the overall productivity of the team by working on the data lags.



Read here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-automation-team/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Different test automation team structures</a>



<h3 id="5-upfront-investment">5. Upfront Investment</h3>



One of the most common concerns, especially for teams not having big budgets, is the high investment required at the initial phase of implementing automation. The investment in setting up a test automation suite prevents the testers from implementing automation testing. On top of operational costs, you may also have to bear licensing costs.



Even if you are considering using an open-source tool such as Selenium or Appium, a level of investment is required to train the testers to use these frameworks. Here&#8217;s a good read on the<a href="https://www.stickyminds.com/article/hidden-costs-automation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow"> hidden costs of test automation</a>. So, it is better to choose a tool that gives you ROI. Choose an automation tool that helps reduce costs in all areas of your concern.



<h3 id="6-stability-issues">6. Stability Issues</h3>



The stability of the devices is one of the key issues with device labs, as mobile devices are unstable. There are many elements in mobile devices that are subject to constant change, including operating systems, regular updates, performance, etc.



The solution is to keep updating and maintaining the labs to ensure the stability and testability of the devices, or use a cloud-based lab with real devices to test applications. Cloud-based labs can cost a fraction of the cost of setting up a real device lab at your location. If you are looking for a test automation tool, go for one that supports cross-browser testing by default and allows plug in and do that when needed. An example of this is <a href="https://testsigma.com/">Testsigma</a>, which lets you create test cases on the web and mobile and APIs in one place and execute them on real devices of your choice.



Create simple English automated tests and run your tests on the devices of your choice. No setup or ramp-up delays!



Testsigma lets you create test cases on the web as well as mobile and APIs in one place and execute them on real devices of your choice.



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<h3 id="7-picking-the-right-automation-tool">7. Picking the Right Automation Tool</h3>



The <a href="https://www.capgemini.com/news/press-releases/quality-assurance-must-shift-to-smarter-solutions-as-the-complexity-of-applications-and-need-for-speed-increase/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gemini World Quality Report</a> in 2018 found that over 50% of IT giants lacked suitable automation tools for their testing teams. This is due to lack of knowledge, lack of expertise, and tool costs exceeding the budget, which are the most common reasons for automation failure. Therefore it is one of those challenges in automation testing that is essential for successful automation efforts.



<h2 id="h-conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



You can decide the best-suited one based on the nature and extent of your automation testing, whether the automation tool falls in your budget, and it matches your organization&#8217;s technical and business-related requirements.



When choosing a test automation tool, it is important to consider the nature and extent of your automation testing, budget, and the organization&#8217;s technical and business-related requirements. To some extent, QA teams face test automation challenges and failure, so it is essential to start early and watch for these top common test automation challenges. We have compiled a<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/10-points-to-help-you-choose-the-right-test-automation-tool/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> list of tips for choosing the right tool</a> for test automation.



If you are looking for a one-stop test automation tool to speed up test case creation and execution, try Testsigma. It offers a <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/unified-test-automation-for-agile-and-devops-testsigma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unified end-to-end test automation</a> ecosystem that helps you run automated tests in a giant test lab on the cloud.



The robust reporting and analytics facility helps get dynamic test reports at all levels to analyze the test case results and mitigate the key issues as soon as they are found.



Testsigma also saves significant time and effort in setting up test cases through its scriptless creation in simple English.



Book a <a href="https://calendly.com/testsigma/demo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Demo </a>or <a href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sign Up for Free</a>



<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions">Frequently Asked Questions</h2>



<h3 id="what-is-one-of-the-biggest-challenges-in-automation-testing">What is one of the biggest challenges in automation testing?</h3>



Generally automating flaky tests are the most difficult difficulty in automation testing that generates inconsistent results or fails intermittently. These tests also takes time and effort while also eroding the trust in the process of automation.



<h3 id="what-are-the-major-limitations-of-test-automation">What are the major limitations of test automation?</h3>



The high initial expense of setting up automation infrastructure, as well as the necessity for experienced employees to build and manage automated tests, are two important limits for test automation. The inability to automate certain forms of testing, such as exploratory testing and <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/mobile-usability-testing-what-is-it-and-how-is-it-done/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">usability testing</a>, is another constraint.



<h3 id="how-to-overcome-technical-challenges-while-doing-the-test-automation">How to overcome technical challenges while doing the test automation?</h3>



To overcome technological problems during test automation, it is critical to have a thorough grasp of the technology stack being tested, as well as qualified automation engineers capable of creating robust and maintainable <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/when-to-choose-test-automation-framework-over-manual-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automation frameworks</a>. It is also critical to employ the appropriate automation tools and technology for the job, as well as to have a well-defined testing strategy that considers the limitations of test automation.



<h3 id="what-are-the-real-time-challenges-in-selenium-automation">What are the real time challenges in <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/selenium-automation-testing-pros-cons/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">selenium </a>automation?</h3>



Selenium automation faces real-time challenges such as dealing with dynamic web content, synchronization issues between the automation tool and the application being tested, and <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/most-common-issues-encountered-during-browser-compatibility-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cross-browser compatibility issues</a>. It also requires maintaining test suites and integrating automation testing into a <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/enhancing-robustness-ci-cd-pipeline-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">continuous integration and delivery pipeline.</a>



<h2 id="suggested-reading">Suggested Reading<gwmw style="display:none;"></h2>



<customlinks>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>RPA VS Test Automation</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/blog/rpa-vs-test-automation/</ts-linkurl-value>
</ts-link-item>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>Insprint Test Automation</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/blog/in-sprint-automation/</ts-linkurl-value>
</ts-link-item>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>Choose Right Open Source Test Automation Tool</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-open-source-test-automation-tool/</ts-linkurl-value>
</ts-link-item>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>Automation Testing Tools</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/qa-automation-tools</ts-linkurl-value>
</ts-link-item>
<ts-link-item>
<ts-linktext-value>Automation Testing Practices</ts-linktext-value>
<ts-linkurl-value>https://testsigma.com/blog/best-automation-testing-practices-agile-continuous-delivery/</ts-linkurl-value>
</ts-link-item>
</customlinks>

Top 7 test automation challenges to look out for

Top 7 Challenges In Automation Testing

If you are working in an agile environment, you may have come across the term ‘code review’. It is a strategic operation where you break the source code into snippets in order to audit the code before it moves to the testing phase.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#What_is_Code_Review">1 What is Code Review?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_are_Code_Reviews_Important">2 Why are Code Reviews Important?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_Benefits_of_Code_Reviews">3 What are the Benefits of Code Reviews?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_the_Disadvantages_of_Code_Reviews">4 What are the Disadvantages of Code Reviews?</a></li><li><a href="#Role_of_a_Software_Tester_in_Code_Reviews">5 Role of a Software Tester in Code Reviews</a></li><li><a href="#4_Different_Code_Review_Approaches">6 4 Different Code Review Approaches</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">7 Conclusion</a></li><li><a href="#Frequently_Asked_Questions_FAQs">8 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</a><ul><li><a href="#What_is_Code_Review_in_SDLC">8.1 What is Code Review in SDLC?</a></li><li><a href="#What_are_Code_Review_Tools">8.2 What are Code Review Tools?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_a_Good_Code_Review">8.3 What is a Good Code Review?</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="what-is-code-review">What is Code Review?</h2>



Short definition: It is a two-way communication between a coder and a reviewer. The agenda is to learn from one another, understand the application, detect bugs, and ensure that the code follows quality standards.



Long definition: It is a quality assurance process in which a tester analyzes the source code of the application under review. You can either perform this manually or with the help of automated tools. The process ensures that bug detection and resolution happen early to give the best possible code quality.



<h2 id="why-are-code-reviews-important">Why are Code Reviews Important?</h2>



You may wonder why you would need code review when you have a <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-plan/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing plan</a> in place.



Following are the key benefits that will enable you to understand the importance:



1. Find More Bugs: It lets you detect bugs at the primary stages of development. As a result, you save a lot of hours and effort during testing. True is the fact that automation testing will help you do the same thing. However, a human perspective is sometimes necessary to find and fix logical errors.



2. Stay Agile: Given the strict quality guidelines and timelines we need to work in, you must have, or would soon be adhering to, the agile methodologies. This means you need to deliver the best results while meeting the cost and time constraints. With code review, you can create bug-free prototypes and share them with the stakeholders.



3. Quality Compliance: It let you abide by the predefined coding rules and standards.



4. Collaboration: Frequent review sessions will bring out the best in your developers and testers. Team members can discover their peer’s strengths and also assist them in improvements.



<h2 id="what-are-the-benefits-of-code-reviews">What are the Benefits of Code Reviews?</h2>



When you think about it, it is just another set of eyes looking for possible human error. But for just one benefit, is it advisable to spend time and more resources on this practice?



Well, here are a few benefits :



<ul><li>Identifying code issues early</li><li>Ensuring to comply with standard code regulations</li><li>Increasing software security</li><li>Implementing a consistent design and development process</li><li>Improving team collaboration and cohesion</li></ul>



<h2 id="what-are-the-disadvantages-of-code-reviews">What are the Disadvantages of Code Reviews?</h2>



With every advantage comes a few disadvantages that you must know about. Only looking at the benefits and deciding on starting code reviews will do your business more bad than good. If you don’t prepare your team to tackle the issues related to code review, they are more likely to stay oblivious to the problems.



Know about the disadvantages here:



<ul><li>Time and resource constraints</li><li>Not every developer consists of knowledge about every project</li><li>Not necessary for every feature or simple applications</li><li>You cannot do a code review when developing a prototype product.</li></ul>



<h2 id="h-role-of-a-software-tester-in-code-reviews">Role of a Software Tester in Code Reviews</h2>



A software tester might find the code a bit intimidating in the beginning. It is best to pair up with an experienced developer for code reviewing. Gradually, when the tester is able to identify the patterns and business logic, things start making sense eventually.



It enables the testers to understand the core functionalities of the project and share their wisdom to resolve the bottlenecks.



Here are a few tried-and-tested ways by which you can begin your code-reviewing experience:



1. Synchronous Review: An informal review where the developer stands next to the reviewer.



2. Asynchronous review: Specialized tools are used to review the code.



3. Instant Review: Developer and reviewer pair-up on a single system.



4. Once-a-while: Developer shares the code with the reviewers who meet and discuss the updates.



As a software tester, you would ask the following questions during your code reviewing session:



1. How was this code written?



2. Are there any patterns used for coding?



3. Is the code easy to understand?



4. Are there any logic errors?



5. Is the code secure?



6. Is the log file for debugging available?



7. Are there any third-party integrations?



8. Are <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/unit-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unit tests</a> included?



9. What amendments are being made?



The best part is that you don’t have to be an expert in order to take part in a code review session. You can review a code even if you are at the basic level of coding. What would be your role? You need to see what changes have been made to ask questions.



Before you dive in, get used to the process by initiating with minimal changes.&nbsp; Understand more about them and when you doubt any change, add your comments and question the coder. Given the benefits, you would want to include code reviewing as one of the key phases of the process. This will ensure that you deliver a quality product that adds value to your end-users.



<h2 id="4-different-code-review-approaches">4 Different Code Review Approaches</h2>



Get to know about different approaches in detail.



Formal 



It&#8217;s based on a formal process where testers follow a structured process to find issues in the code. It is also used to find design defects.



Under formal review, one of the most popular adoptions is the Fagan inspection. It follows a six-step process: Planning, Overview, Preparation, Inspection Meeting, Rework, and Follow-up. This holds the basic idea of defining output requirements for each of the steps mentioned. And while executing the process, you check each step&#8217;s output and compare it to the expected output. Subsequently, you decide to move on to the next step if the current step is working properly.



Lightweight 



These reviews are mostly followed by developers, not testers, when they are reviewing a code that is not life-threatening in nature, I.e., it does not impact the software quality to a great extent.



There are four types of lightweight reviews:



<ul><li>Instant code review or pair programming</li><li>Synchronous or over-the-shoulder code review</li><li>Asynchronous or tool-assisted code review</li><li>Code review once in a while or meeting-based code review</li></ul>



We have discussed these four types above.



<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



If review is done right, can prove to be an effective way to share knowledge and understand your application. With time and experience, you will eventually start realizing the patterns, know more about the nuts and bolts of the codebase, and have a comprehensive perspective of the application.



Just like code reviews, tests are also reviewed. Manual test cases can be reviewed by peers, developers, and managers. Similarly, automated test cases can be reviewed too. Sometimes, the processes for reviews of automated test cases are the same as that for code reviews, as automation may also be done via code. You can also read more here on <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-convert-manual-test-cases-into-automated-test-cases-and-why/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">how to convert manual test cases to automated ones</a>.



<a href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Testsigma, a cloud-based test automation tool</a>, has also simplified the process of test reviews. In addition, it also simplifies the process of test automation. Thus, in test automation and reviews – non-technical members of the team can be involved too.



<h2 id="frequently-asked-questions-faqs">Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)</h2>



<h3 id="what-is-code-review-in-sdlc">What is Code Review in SDLC?</h3>



In SDLC it is a critical part that attempts to identify and resolve code issues before the testing phase. It involves going through the developer’s code to find mistakes and fix them before moving on to testing the application.



<h3 id="what-are-code-review-tools">What are Code Review Tools?</h3>



A code review tool is usually an online tool that integrates seamlessly with Engineering Workflow Management source control and work items. It offers you the capability to add output to your work items to present it to your team and stakeholders.



<h3 id="what-is-a-good-code-review">What is a Good Code Review?</h3>



It observes all the code changes and looks at the reasons why this happened. It is clear and does not overlook even the slightest of mistakes that are common when writing code. It covers code correctness, test coverage, and functionality changes and follows the coding guides and best practices.





Code Freeze and its Relevance
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Software Testing Strategy
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Top Software Testing Trends
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Software Testing Interview Questions
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Role Of A Software Tester In Code Reviews

What is Code Review | Why ,Benefits & Approaches

SaaS (software as a service) which is one of the most popular forms of cloud computing has completely revolutionized the world of cloud computing as it is being adopted by a majority of the IT organizations to modernize their IT structure.



With companies shifting their tools and platforms from on-premise to cloud-based solutions, there is no doubt the future belongs to the SaaS test automation platforms. As cloud-based frameworks require no expertise, installation time or effort and do not depend on a robust internal infrastructure, your tests can be up and running in just a matter of a few minutes. 



With SaaS, you don’t need to invest in internal infrastructure. In addition, you won’t need a dedicated team to maintain its operation.



But one question which still haunts most of the big software enterprises is:&nbsp;



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Is_SaaS_Really_Safe">1 Is SaaS Really Safe?</a></li><li><a href="#How_to_Choose_a_Trustworthy_SaaS_Platform">2 How to Choose a Trustworthy SaaS Platform?</a></li><li><a href="#Best_Practices_for_Controlling_Cloud_Access_in_Your_Organization">3 Best Practices for Controlling Cloud Access in Your Organization</a></li><li><a href="#Steps_to_Ensure_a_Safe_SaaS_Network_Access">4 Steps to Ensure a Safe SaaS Network Access</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="is-saas-really-safe">Is SaaS Really Safe?</h2>



Though SaaS has numerous advantages for businesses, a lot of organizations are afraid of moving to SaaS because of data security issues.&nbsp; The fear is because the data is no long managed internally and is now hosted on the cloud.



Some businesses don’t like this idea of outsourcing the security of their data to a third-party company, especially if they are dealing with sensitive data on a regular basis.



A lot of trustworthy SaaS companies or cloud service providers such as Testsigma having a strong history of client satisfaction have very strict data security policies which make them immune to breaches in their systems. Apart from this, a lot of SaaS providers host software in extremely safe and secure facilities which avoids a hacker or any type of cybercriminal from getting their hands on your organization’s sensitive or critical data.



Though organizations can have more control over on-premise applications through their own firewalls and antivirus software, they need to have a <a href="https://xl.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">professional IT department</a> for watching over data policies, access privileges, and application securities. But in the case of SaaS, the SaaSproviders are data security specialists who proactively manage and protect the clients’ servers, applications, platforms, and sensitive data. This particularly is a major advantage for small companies as they can get enterprise-grade technologies at a low price by adopting SaaS.



Hence the culture of distrusting third parties should be set aside to avoid the obstacles in achieving high growth and progress for the organization.



But there are certain precautionary measures which the managers and employees using or working on the SaaS products/services need to keep in mind, the most important of which is making the right SaaS platform selection.



<h2 id="how-to-choose-a-trustworthy-saas-platform">How to Choose a Trustworthy SaaS Platform?</h2>



It is your responsibility to check whether the&nbsp;<a href="https://outreachmonks.com/saas-marketing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">SaaS marketing</a>&nbsp;platform you are going to use for SAAS marketing is safe or not, be it a quality management software, an ERP (Enterprise resource planning) software, or a codeless test automation tool.



It is important to make sure that the SaaS is safe by –



1. Determining whether the SaaS was deployed on a safe cloud server2. Checking that it has proper certifications3. Ensuring data privacy and other major security concerns4. Ensuring whether the platform is reliable and scalable5. Checking the current security protocols and the steps to be followed in case of a system breach



For instance, <a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Testsigma (opens in a new tab)">Testsigma</a> works hard to provide faultless software and keep security at enterprise-grade standards to give their clients the best in class services.



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<h2 id="best-practices-for-controlling-cloud-access-in-your-organization">Best Practices for Controlling Cloud Access in Your Organization</h2>



According to the<a href="https://www.shredit.com/en-us/resource-center/original-research/security-tracker-2018" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)"> Security Tracker Survey</a> conducted by Shred-it on information security, it has been found that employee negligence is one of the biggest information security risks to businesses. Hence it is important to effectively control and monitor how your employees use SaaS solutions to ensure that security standards are maintained.



Here are some of the best practices to be followed for controlling cloud access in your organization:



1. Set a fixed day and time for allowed access with the help of automatic locking systems2. Give hierarchical access as per the employee’s function within the company3. Enhance the security layers, for example, a two-step authentication4. If possible, give access to systems and applications via mobile or just through corporate computers5. Frequent training as a practice should be adopted in organizations to help employees regarding the responsibilities of access and use of phones, computers in order to avoid security-related issues



<h2 id="steps-to-ensure-a-safe-saas-network-access">Steps to Ensure a Safe SaaS Network Access</h2>



It is important to make sure that the basic safety precautions have been taken before adopting a SaaS network to ensure safe and secure access to the platform. Here are certain steps to follow:



1. Don’t record extremely sensitive or critical data. Though you get access to your company’s most critical information on a single platform, it does not mean that you have to leave them saved in your virtual environment.It is ideal to have a filter or another type of storage to secure the most precious and valuable information for the company.



2. It is important to select a SaaS provider which can fully integrate with your enterprise with identity verification services. Make your IT architecture such that it monitors even the slightest of suspicious activity continuously and take necessary steps to avoid damage.



3. Make sure you have extra internal security solutions such as having periodic backups and regular audits from time to time. Organizations must understand that even a loose nut can open the doors for hackers and other types of virtual criminals.



4. It is important to know what and how much to expect from a complete SaaS testing solution as SaaS is safe as long as the organization knows how to implement it.



5. Data encryption is one of the most important parts of data security as always make sure that your cloud data is encrypted, at rest and in transit.



QA managers should keep these security measures in mind while they are planning to implement a secure SaaS platform. Though there are several options available in the market, it is always best to analyze both their requirements and the features provided by these SaaS platforms to select the best solution which perfectly fits with the company’s architecture.



The idea of SaaS applications more vulnerable to data breaches as compared to on-premise solutions is a myth as cloud security is only going to get stronger with time and give businesses more reasons to switch to SaaS.



Being a SaaS codeless test automation platform, Testsigma completely understands the privacy and security of its customer’s sensitive data and hence uses the best information security practices to provide a secured and reliable test automation platform. Testsigma has commercially reasonable security measures in place in order to protect its clients against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under control.



In the end, security in the cloud is a shared responsibility and the onus of a safe SaaS is not only on the hands of the SaaS service provider but also on the hands of the QA manager and the employees of the company and each party should know and practice their duties regularly with honesty to achieve a no security breach environment. 



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Testers, in their day-to-day lives, have to do many types of tasks. And to enable them to do those tasks there are many types of testing tools in the market too. These tools usually specialize in helping the testers perform a certain task. Sometimes these tools can be used to completely automate the tasks while at other times these tools can make the tasks easier.



In this article, we will try to broadly categorize these types of testing tools. The categories have been created according to when these tools are used.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Types_of_Testing_Tools">1 Types of Testing Tools</a><ul><li><a href="#Test_Case_Management_Tools">1.1 Test Case Management Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Test_Case_Generation_Tools">1.2 Test Case Generation Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Test_Data_Preparation_Tools">1.3 Test Data Preparation Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Test_Execution_Tools">1.4 Test Execution Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Cross_Browser_Testing_Tools">1.5 Cross Browser Testing Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Coverage_Measurement_Tools">1.6 Coverage Measurement Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Performance_Testing_Tools">1.7 Performance Testing Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Bug_Reporting_Tools">1.8 Bug Reporting Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Project_Planning_and_Tracking_Tools">1.9 Project Planning and Tracking Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Incident_Management_Tools">1.10 Incident Management Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Screen_CaptureRecord_Tools">1.11 Screen Capture/Record Tools</a></li><li><a href="#Tools_for_Analysing_Logs">1.12 Tools for Analysing Logs</a></li><li><a href="#Other_Tools">1.13 Other Tools</a></li></ul></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="types-of-testing-tools">Types of Testing Tools</h2>



<h3 id="test-case-management-tools"><a href="https://testsigma.com/test-management-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test Case Management Tools</a></h3>



A tester&#8217;s life moves around test cases and bugs. For the management of test cases of different features, the test case management tools are used. Some examples of test case management tools are TestRail, Practitest, TestCollab.



<h3 id="test-case-generation-tools">Test Case Generation Tools</h3>



To begin with, test cases are created manually but when there are some patterns that can be repeated for test case creation, test case generation tools are used. Some teams create these tools in-house while there are some available in the market for standard test case generation techniques.



<h3 id="test-data-preparation-tools">Test Data Preparation Tools</h3>



When test cases need to be tested with a good amount of test data,&nbsp; use of test data preparation tools proves beneficial in many ways. They could specially be very useful for data generation during performance or reliability testing. These tools can also be used during functional testing and acceptance by testers as well as developers.



Features or characteristics of test data preparation tools are as follows:



<ul><li>Extraction of required data records from databases and/or files;</li><li>For “data cleansing” of production data such that it can be used for testing purposes without any fear of data theft;</li><li>For rearrangement of data and records to facilitate testing;</li><li>Setting up of existing data or generation of&nbsp; new data according to requirements&nbsp;</li><li>To generate similar test data (from a template) in bulk for volume testing</li></ul>



Some majorly used test data preparation tools are:&nbsp;



<ul><li>MOCKAROO: Generate up to 1,000 rows of realistic test data in CSV, JSON, SQL, and Excel formats.</li><li>DATPROF: Data masking, subsetting, provisioning and discovery</li><li>Informatica: Enterprise cloud data management and data integration</li><li>CA Test Data Manager (Datamaker): High-performance data subsetting, data masking, test matching, etc. The tool generates, stores, and reuse the test data in the test data repository.</li></ul>



<h3 id="test-execution-tools">Test Execution Tools</h3>



 These are the tools that are used to execute tests. These tools are also called “Test running tools”. Originally, these tools started with recording and playing test steps hence these are also called record-and-play tools.



Though as the requirements changed and tests became more complex, just record and playback was not sufficient. Then there was the need of some scripting support to create the steps such that the steps could be edited as and when needed.



Selenium was one of the first tools that supported conversion of the recorded tests to required scripting language. This made the test cases easier to maintain according to changing requirements.



Now, there are codeless/scriptless testing tools too that allow maintenance of these tests even without writing code or script. They use different technologies for this. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/scriptless-automated-testing-is-not-the-same-as-record-and-playback/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read here about all such technologies in detail. </a>



One such tool is <a href="https://testsigma.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Testsigma</a> that lets you write test cases in simple English language. The test cases are easy to edit and maintain too as Testsigma uses AI in the backend to add to the efficiency for all maintenance related tasks.



<h3 id="cross-browser-testing-tools"><a href="https://testsigma.com/cross-browser-testing-tools" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cross Browser Testing Tools</a></h3>



These tools help execution of test cases on different browsers and devices. Some examples are Browserstack, Browserling. When a test execution tool integrates with the cross browser testing tools, the tool becomes more beneficial.



There are tools that do like Testsigma which supports integration with 5 Browserstack and 4 other testing labs for <a href="https://testsigma.com/cross-browser-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">cross browser testing</a>.



<h3 id="coverage-measurement-tools">Coverage Measurement Tools</h3>



Coverage Measurement Tools are used to measure the thoroughness of testing by measuring the number of items that the testing covered. The item can be a number of lines of code or methods or components or conditions.&nbsp;



One example of these tools are code coverage tools. There are different code coverage tools according to the programming language in which the code is written. These tools are integrated with other software development tools. For example, They can be&nbsp; integrated with building tools like Ant, Maven, and Gradle as well as with <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/ci-cd-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CI/CD tools</a> like Jenkins.



Examples of some open source code-coverage tools are: Cobertura for JAVA



Codecover for Java and COBOL



Coverage.py for Python



EMMA for JAVA



<h3 id="performance-testing-tools"><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/performance-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Performance Testing</a> Tools</h3>



The purpose of performance testing is to make sure that the application is able to perform according to expected standards even when the load is varied. The performance testing is used to measure the metrics that ensure that the system is stable and performing as expected. These can vary depending on the functionality of the application. But the most commonly measured metrics are: &nbsp;speed, response time, reliability, resource usage, scalability.



Some examples of famous performance testing tools are:



LoadNinja



<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/jmeter-vs-selenium/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Apache JMeter</a>



WebLOAD



LoadUI Pro



Gatling



<h3 id="bug-reporting-tools">Bug Reporting Tools</h3>



When testers execute test cases or do ad-hoc testing, they find bugs and a tool is needed to report these bugs. These tools also easily integrate with the other tools in the software development life cycle.



Examples of some majorly used bug reporting tools are:



Bugzilla



BugHerd



Mantis Bug Tracker



The Bug Genie



<h3 id="project-planning-and-tracking-tools">Project Planning and Tracking Tools</h3>



These are the tools that are used to plan and track the software development activities. Examples of widely used tools are JIRA, Trello, Microsoft Project Planner.



<h3 id="incident-management-tools"><a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/incident-management-systems/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Incident Management Tools</a></h3>



Whenever a customer faces an issue and reports it, they are handled by incident management tools. These tools integrate with other software development processes and improve the efficiency and productivity of the team. Some examples of these tools are crisis control, freshservice.



<h3 id="screen-capture-record-tools">Screen Capture/Record Tools</h3>



When testers report bugs, they need to give all information they have such that the developers and management are able to understand the bug completely. For this, the best way is to send screenshots and <a href="https://www.veed.io/learn/how-to-screen-record-on-windows" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">screen-recordings</a>.



Testers use many tools for this purpose. Some of most used ones are:



Screencastify: for recording your screen from a Chrome extension.



Apowersoft: Unlimited for mobile screen capture.



Snipping Tool : A windows tool for screen capture and recording



<h3 id="tools-for-analysing-logs">Tools for Analysing Logs</h3>



	Every application generates some logs during use. When testing, these logs can prove very useful for testers. They might need to add some logs to the bug reports too. To check and analyse these logs there are multiple tools that testers can use, some of which are:



Graylog



Nagios



Elastic Stack



LOGalyze



In addition to this, testers also use different tools in their day to day life to ease their day to day tasks. For eg. if a tester has to test the HTTP responses, they would use an HTTP proxy tool that will let them check the responses at a granular level. This is when they don’t need to automate the test cases. The examples of such tools are Fiddler and Charles.



<h3 id="other-tools">Other Tools</h3>



Another tool that has been designed to help think better is mindmaps. It helps testers to represent their notes in a easy to review, graphical format. One can note the test ideas, bugs, testing notes in the form of mind maps.



In the categories of types of testing tools we listed above, there are n number of tools in the market but all can not be used in all circumstances.



Many factors need to be considered before choosing the best types of testing tools for a purpose, most important of which are:



<ul><li>Optimized testing costs</li><li>Increased <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-efficiency/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testing efficiency</a></li><li>Highest standards of Quality</li></ul>



Is there some tool that you would like mentioned in this list? Do let us know in the comments!

Different types of tools to help testers day to day life easier

12 Different Types of Testing Tools (Recommended by Tester’s)

<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Introduction">1 Introduction</a></li><li><a href="#Common_Challenges_in_Continuous_Testing">2 Common Challenges in Continuous Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Suggestions_for_Resolving_Some_Common_Challenges">3 Suggestions for Resolving Some Common Challenges</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">4 Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>



Continuous Testing is the process of testing at all stages of software development – one after the another- without any human intervention. <a href="https://testsigma.com/continuous-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Continuous Testing</a> is key to faster delivery of Agile products to the market. 



Continuous Testing makes it possible to eliminate testing as a bottleneck for faster software development and delivery. But the path to achieving Continuous Testing has its own challenges, most common of which are mentioned below.



<h2 id="common-challenges-in-continuous-testing">Common Challenges in Continuous Testing</h2>



1. Lack of Testability Support in Products: A test automation system is a very basic requirement for Continuous Testing. To achieve strong automated testing for a product, you need to have almost all of your test cases automated. But does the product have the testability support required to automate all test cases? Not always! If products are not designed, keeping testability in mind, achieving continuous testing may become a distant dream.



Achieving continuous testing for new feature work done in legacy products becomes more difficult if the product didn’t have testability support initially. Adding testability support to such products is expensive and may not always get prioritized as compared to other items on the product roadmap, draining down the efforts for Continuous Testing.



2. Lack of Standard Tools: For a variety of products, standard tools to achieve continuous testing don’t exist. Teams often resort to using in-house test automation tools or frameworks which are neither well-documented nor well-maintained. This adds to the woes of the testing team as they now have to struggle with the issues of the tool/framework also.



With in-house tools/frameworks, you have the benefit of code-ownership. You can make changes to the tool/framework to get desired behaviour, but that is a costly affair in terms of resources. You are now investing your resources to evolve the tool/framework rather than the product. Practically, teams don’t have the luxury to customize the testing tool/framework for their needs when they need to deliver a quality product on an impending timeline.



3. Lack of Faster Feedback Loops: To leverage Continuous Testing, it is important to incorporate feedback on an on-going basis. To incorporate feedback on a continuous basis, you need feedback loops in the system that can help you gather feedback in real-time. Lack of such feedback loops introduce a delay in action, later affecting the quality of the product.



For example, if one of the test environments used to run automation tests is down, an alert message for the same helps you act timely to rectify it rather than digging into the cause of the non-arrival of the test report for scheduled test automation run.&nbsp;



Similarly, it helps to have a real-time dashboard for performance which depicts the performance metrics over a period of time rather than digging into logs and code-profiler reports every time you want to check on a product&#8217;s performance. When such dashboards are accessible to everyone on the team, it helps in bringing critical issues to the table and gets them prioritized.&nbsp;



4. Lack of Testing Infrastructure: Often, organizations embark on the path of embracing Continuous Testing, without realizing the budgetary needs for it.



To implement Continuous Testing, you might need additional test environments that need to be maintained and kept up and running round the clock. You might also need advanced tools to incorporate faster feedback loops.&nbsp;



Although these costs aren’t significant as compared to the cost incurred due to the poor quality of the product, there is a need for organizational commitment. A half-way journey to continuous testing without adequate infrastructure only adds to the woes of the testing team and doesn’t help anyone.&nbsp;&nbsp;



5. Lack of Enough Testers: Most product teams don’t have enough testers, which sometimes creates bottlenecks for achieving continuous testing. Continuous testing is an on-going journey and requires high initial investments in terms of setup, which may create extra workload for testers.



Until continuous testing reaches the stage where it can replace the need for traditional testing, testers are often caught in balancing the efforts required for switching to continuous testing and their regular testing tasks that usually have a high priority w.r.t product needs. This adds to the pending backlogs for achieving continuous testing, creating a chicken-and-egg situation, where continuous testing can reduce the testing time but there is no time to set up continuous testing.



6. <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/why-test-data-management-is-more-important-than-you-think/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Test Data Management</a>: Depending on the product and its testing needs, test data management sometimes becomes a bottleneck for continuous testing.



Test data when stored locally for testing environments may result in different versions of test data which may be difficult to maintain. Maintaining test data in a central repository and then accessing it from different test environments may ease this problem but may introduce other issues like network latency in tests.



7. Increased Complexity: As the scope for the product grows, so does the scope for continuous testing.



With a large number of tests added to the system, it becomes a challenge to make the tests execute quickly. If tests take too long to run, it defeats the whole purpose of continuous testing as quick feedback is not available. If not all tests are run, it seems like a compromise on the quality of the product. Also, if not all tests are run, it makes the effort of adding all those tests to the system go in vain.



8. Scalability Issues: Not all testing frameworks/tools may be suitable for scaling purposes.



Lack of support for large concurrent test sessions and slow test executions can become serious bottlenecks for your dream of achieving Continuous Testing.



Such scalability issues aren’t always noticeable in the beginning. They become clearly visible only after a significant amount of tests have been added to the system and the test system starts to get highly loaded. This makes the situation worse as at such a stage, it’s even more difficult to switch to a different tool/framework.



9. Inefficient Processes: Sometimes, the processes followed in the team/organization are not conducive for achieving Continuous Testing. Let&#8217;s check:i. Change in Requirements: If requirement specifications keep on changing frequently, it creates a lot of rework for the team, especially the testing team as tests may need to be updated every time there is a change in the requirements. This may adversely impact the efforts for continuous testing.ii. Unclear Roles and Responsibilities of Team Members: If the roles and responsibilities of team members are not clearly defined, it may result in ambiguous ownership of tasks. Such ambiguity can lead to redundant efforts on some tasks and some tasks getting totally ignored. Clear ownership of tasks is important in achieving Continuous Testing.iii. Excluding Testing Team in Initial Discussions: If the testing team is not included in all product-related discussions from the beginning, it would create gaps in the understanding which may impact continuous testing. Also, it would require additional processes such as hand-offs from Developers to Testers from time to time, adding inefficiency to the whole system.&nbsp;iv. Bureaucratic Approvals: If your team/organization functions with heavy bureaucracy and approvals are needed for every small thing, it can add inefficiency to the whole system which can make it hard to achieve continuous testing.&nbsp;



For example, if a test environment has gone down and you don’t have the required access privileges to bring it back up and need to wait on some other team/person for this, it can lead to inefficiency in the continuous testing pipeline.&nbsp;



<h2 id="suggestions-for-resolving-some-common-challenges">Suggestions for Resolving Some Common Challenges</h2>



Most of the common challenges discussed above can be worked around with the help of some suggestions discussed below.



1. Include Testability from Beginning:i. Testability should be part of the low-level design for the product.ii. Any feature developed for the product should not be considered complete unless it has the required testability support for Continuous Testing.



2. Evaluate Tools/Frameworks before Including them in the System:i. It&#8217;s good to evaluate any testing tool/framework for required support before getting bound to it by making it part of the system.ii. The right combination of open source and paid test frameworks/tools can be used rather than relying solely on open-source test frameworks/tools.iii. Having a defined set of parameters to capture results of experiments with new tools can help in a better evaluation of tools/frameworks in a much-organized way.



3. Evaluate Budget Requirements before Embracing Continuous Testing: Implementing Continuous Testing may need a significant budget for test environments and tools/frameworks.



Evaluating budget requirements before starting on the path of Continuous Testing helps in making informed decisions early rather than being stuck in the middle of the path due to budgetary constraints.



4. Leveraging Cloud-based Virtual Infrastructure: Cloud-based test environments can be made accessible instantaneously on demand. They also save testing teams from most of the headache associated with managing and maintaining traditional test environments. Leveraging cloud-based virtual environments can help resolve a lot of issues related to the availability of test environments for Continuous Testing.&nbsp;&nbsp;



 Using test automation tools that support test automation workflows on the cloud can further add to these benefits. Testsigma is one such tool.



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5. Have Enough Testers: Continuous Testing is an on-going journey and testers are the major contributors to make this journey successful. It’s good to have sufficient testers in the team to share the load, at least during the initial period of switching to continuous testing. Once your Continuous Testing pipeline is well established and you have completely done away with the need for traditional testing, you can then try to reduce the number of testers on the team as per the new need.



6. Efficient Test Data Management: Test Data Management can vary from product to product. Maintaining a central repository of test data helps to avoid fragmentation issues and facilitates easy updation.



To workaround, the latency issues in accessing central test data repository from test environments, the network topology of the environments can be customized to get the optimum experience.&nbsp;



7. Leveraging Distributed Systems: To combat issues related to complexity and scalability, the continuous testing pipeline can be designed as a distributed system. Most modern tools and frameworks support distributed architecture and can be used for scalability.



 Also, if you use a tool hosted on the cloud-like Testsigma. It gives you the ability to <a href="https://middleware.io/whitepaper/the-ultimate-guide-to-auto-scaling-your-application-infrastructure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scale up and down your infrastructure</a> needs according to your testing needs.&nbsp;



8. Resolve Inefficient Processes: Processes that are inefficient and not well designed are bound to create bottlenecks in the overall effort of achieving continuous testing. Such processes should be resolved before they become part of the continuous testing initiative.



Read here about <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/continuous-testing-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Continuous Testing Strategy</a>



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<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



Continuous testing is an important component of the <a href="https://testsigma.com/continuous-integration">continuous integration</a> and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline. To make CI/CD effective, it is necessary to make continuous testing effective. Continuous testing needs to have organizational and infrastructural support to achieve the speed and reliability that can enable quicker delivery of Agile products to the market.&nbsp;

Common Challenges in Continuous Testing

We know that <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">test automation</a> is expected to make processes faster and easier in software organizations and also to enhance the quality of the software significantly. However, in reality, test automation fails around 64% of the time to deliver according to the expectations as per Cigniti.&nbsp;



Here are some of the main reasons why test automation fails for your web automation:



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#1_Unrealistic_Expectations">1 1. Unrealistic Expectations</a></li><li><a href="#2_One_Size_Fits_All_Mindset">2 2. “One Size Fits All” Mindset</a></li><li><a href="#3_Improper_Management">3 3. Improper Management</a></li><li><a href="#4_Ignoring_Manual_Testing_Completely">4 4. Ignoring Manual Testing Completely</a></li><li><a href="#5_Lack_of_Clarity_on_When_to_Use_Automation">5 5. Lack of Clarity on When to Use Automation</a></li><li><a href="#6_Improper_Staff_Selection_and_Resource_Planning">6 6. Improper Staff Selection and Resource Planning</a></li><li><a href="#7_Not_Giving_Attention_to_Test_Reports">7 7. Not Giving Attention to Test Reports</a></li><li><a href="#8_Web_Elements_With_Undefined_IDs">8 8. Web Elements With Undefined IDs</a></li><li><a href="#9_Ignoring_Parallel_Execution">9 9. Ignoring Parallel Execution</a></li><li><a href="#10_Selecting_the_Right_Tools">10 10. Selecting the Right Tools</a></li></ul></div>
<h3>1. Unrealistic Expectations</h3>



This is one of the most common reasons for test automation failure as people tend to have impractical expectations from test automation. The management expects their QA team to automate everything. It might sound pleasing but it is not realistic. Going for a 100% automation is practically not possible as there are areas which would need human intervention and inspection to avoid unnecessary errors and delays in the release of the software.&nbsp;



Example: Suppose you are using Selenium testing for performing automated cross-browser testing, the tool can help you render the display of your web pages across various browsers but if you have to decide whether the website is rendering according to the design, or to check if the typography of the text is appropriate, you have to do it manually.



<h3>2. “One Size Fits All” Mindset</h3>



This is another major reason behind the failure of test automation. Test automation doesn’t follow a “one size fits all” rule as the need, type and percentage of test automation vary as per the requirements. For test automation to work efficiently, you need patience along with continuous improvement. Example: Generally smaller software companies work on low-budget projects and automating everything can prove costly to them which can highly impact the ROI.



<h3>3. Improper Management</h3>



It is unrealistic to hope automation testing is doing some magic trick to solve all the problems when half of the team lacks visibility. Every team member should have the right knowledge and skill to perform automation testing as automation is a collaborative effort rather than a one-man show.&nbsp;



It needs regular team meetings, discussion sessions on tools, practices, processes to leverage automation effectively. Example: Proper implementation of automation requires specific skill sets. If a tester is unable to understand the development trends or what the development team is headed to, he/she wouldn’t be able to carry out automation testing effectively.



<h3>4. Ignoring Manual Testing Completely</h3>



Inability to strike a balance between automation testing and manual testing can often lead to failures. Automation testing can’t replace manual testing completely, rather it should be taken as a technology which gives you more time to manually focus on a set of tasks which need manual intervention. In order to make automation more effective, strategise your testing process keeping manual testing in mind.



Example: There are many instances where manual checking or intervention is required, especially in the case of UI testing as usually, automation lacks cognitive ability.



<h3>5. Lack of Clarity on When to Use Automation</h3>



Generally, people are not aware of when to automate and when or not which results in automation failures.



Example: For instance, it is good to automate various webpage functionalities, but it is not ideal to use test automation for evaluating images, padding, rendering issues etc.



If you are testing a stable entity which requires certain action to be repeated again and again, automation is good to go, but in case you are testing something which is prone to a lot of changes, it is not wise to use automation.&nbsp;



<h3>6. Improper Staff Selection and Resource Planning</h3>



The belief that any developer or tester can carry out test automation proves to be costlier for the organizations and can result in big blunders. To design, configure, and implement test automation, a specific skill set is required. If a tester is carrying out automation, he/she should have the skills to clearly communicate ideas between developers and managers. It is always wise to hire testers having deep technical knowledge. Even though the cost of hiring a technically-sound tester is high, the returns you will be getting will be worth it.



<h3>7. Not Giving Attention to Test Reports</h3>



As automation testing carries out a lot of tests, the chances of failure are high and hence it is important to analyze the test reports carefully. If you are not analysing the test reports carefully or not paying attention to the test results, the key faults might remain unattended causing a waste of time, resources, and efforts.



In automation, some tests pass and some fail, so it is crucial to analyze the cause behind the failures to uncover hidden problems and solve them on time.



<h3>8. Web Elements With Undefined IDs</h3>



Most of the time, developers fail to allot IDs to all the web elements while it is&nbsp;mandatory for every web element to have an ID for effective testing. Due to this, test automation fails. If the automated test script is not able to find these web elements within a prescribed time limit, the test fails. Hence, in order to make sure that the synchronization of the script is proper, the QA team has to allot unique IDs to all the web elements.



<h3>9. Ignoring Parallel Execution</h3>



Generally, complex test suites take a longer time for execution than expected which compromises the quality of the test queue in your test automation framework. The sequential execution of tests abruptly halt test cases due to queue timeout issues and is one of the reasons why test automation fails for your web application. Parallel execution of tests lets you execute multiple tests in different environments at the same time.



<h3>10. Selecting the Right Tools</h3>



As there are plenty of automation tools available in the market, it becomes difficult to choose the best from the lot which can meet their testing needs along with all the end objectives of an organization. Every tool is unique and has specific capabilities, but due to lack of expertise, teams fail to pick the one which is capable to effectively take care of their needs. Before selecting your automation tool, it is important to line all your requirements and expectations from the tool along with the budget you can afford. Check out the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="factors that help you choose the right tool (opens in a new tab)" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/10-points-to-help-you-choose-the-right-test-automation-tool/" target="_blank">factors that help you choose the right tool</a>.



<a href="https://testsigma.com/"target="_blank">Testsigma</a> is a completely cloud-based automation testing tool which offers a solution to all your automation needs including mobile, web and API automation in one place.



These tests can be executed and reported within the same cloud. In addition, it provides the ability to add custom functions to add capabilities specific to your project.&nbsp;



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Thus, <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">automation testing</a> can no doubt prove to be a productivity booster for your organization. The key here is to effectively tackle all the bottlenecks and challenges that it brings along.



Instead of rushing through the implementation of automation, it is crucial to know the roadblocks first. Proper analysis of the project needs, team skills,&nbsp; available budget and time, before a correct automation approach is adopted will help reap the benefits of automation testing in real.

10 Reasons Why Test Automation Fails

<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Introduction">1 Introduction</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_Continuous_Testing">2 What is Continuous Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_is_Continuous_Testing_Needed">3 Why is Continuous Testing Needed?</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_DevOps">4 What is DevOps?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_is_Continuous_Testing_Important_for_DevOps">5 Why is Continuous Testing Important for DevOps?</a></li><li><a href="#Continuous_Testing_vs_Automation_Testing_Whats_the_Difference">6 Continuous Testing vs. Automation Testing: What’s the Difference?</a></li><li><a href="#Benefits_of_Continuous_Testing">7 Benefits of Continuous Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Challenges_with_Continuous_Testing">8 Challenges with Continuous Testing</a></li><li><a href="#Conclusion">9 Conclusion</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/continuous-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Continuous Testing</a> is the testing strategy to fast-track the testing required for achieving rapid software development using <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/continuous-testing-at-the-speed-of-agile-and-devops/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Agile and DevOps</a> methodologies.&nbsp;



<h2 id="what-is-continuous-testing">What is Continuous Testing?</h2>



Continuous Testing is the process of testing at all stages of software development – one after the other – without any human intervention.



These different stages could be stages of tests: unit tests, integration tests, acceptance tests and performance tests as well as stages of environments such as Dev, QA, Staging and Production.&nbsp;



For example, when a code is integrated into the centralized source code repository, unit tests should be automatically executed followed by integration tests.



If integration tests pass, automated acceptance tests can be run followed by performance tests.



Similarly, a code change is first tested in a dev environment using automated test scripts followed by a QA environment. If all works well in the QA environment, the change can be automatically progressed to the staging environment and finally into the production environment.



Unit tests and dev environments are usually taken care of by developers, whereas all other tests and environments are mainly considered the responsibility of testing and DevOps teams.



<h2 id="why-is-continuous-testing-needed">Why is Continuous Testing Needed?</h2>



In today’s world, software applications have become a key differentiator for businesses. Impact of failed software releases and security breaches in software applications have been seen to impact their market values. Therefore, software quality has become all the more important, it has become a pressing need.&nbsp;



With the crucial role software applications are playing these days in businesses, the need to rapidly develop and adapt the software as per the new requirements has also emerged strongly. While a lot of new software development methodologies could be used to fast-track development work, not much progress could be made in accelerating the testing work. Testing was essentially becoming a bottleneck in achieving quicker software delivery.&nbsp;



To achieve faster software delivery, if a shorter version of testing was adopted, it increased quality issues and business risks. Longer versions of testing were becoming unachievable with quicker software releases. This is where Continuous Testing can be used to match the speed required for faster software development and delivery.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/Qv_wbBzIYhInFtKZN9nDtB33ToRDpMBQr24qFnCbuvekM-3xz5WtrB96PJuZW6yTNS0ji1lSgAXkAyYwCvAdh1BNzclAaQdWERVJESXH1c2RuNJvfvuOoTGGDdSnfHeCmffpcYxf" alt="Testsigma - Test automation platform"/></figure>



<h2 id="what-is-devops">What is DevOps?</h2>



<a href="https://testsigma.com/devtestops" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">DevOps</a> is the methodology which combines development and operations to achieve shorter software delivery cycles through the CI/CD pipeline. Shorter software delivery cycles enable teams to quickly release small product changes to the users which can make gathering feedback related to a particular change more effective and easier. 



Prior to the DevOps world, releasing even a small change in the product would require a fixed elongated time and process before it could reach the users. DevOps is a wide domain of tools and practices, but for the sake of simplicity it can be broadly described as follows:&nbsp;



1. Continuous Integration: Developers integrate their code with the source code repository on a regular basis. Whenever they integrate, the entire mainline is built followed by unit testing and code quality checking.2. Continuous Testing: Pre-defined sets of test cases are executed on the binaries obtained from Continuous Integration to ensure quality and assess associated business risks.3. Continuous Delivery: Binaries that pass through Continuous Testing can be considered good enough to be released anywhere anytime, essentially these are the Release Candidates of the product.4. Continuous Deployment: Binaries that get a go-ahead for release are actually deployed into production environments.



<h2 id="why-is-continuous-testing-important-for-devops">Why is Continuous Testing Important for DevOps?</h2>



DevOps is all about enabling continuity, be it code integrations or running tests or deploying in various environments. Continuous Testing is the bridge that joins Continuous Integration with Continuous Delivery and Deployment to make an effective continuous software delivery pipeline.



Continuous Testing makes sure that a change that is to be considered for Continuous Delivery / Deployment meets the expected quality criteria. It provides a means to assess the overall health of the product after a change, which can be further used to assess the associated business risks. 



Continuous Testing is the way to ensure that a change that doesn’t meet the expected quality criteria, cannot and should not be released to the users.



<h2 id="continuous-testing-vs-automation-testing-what-s-the-difference">Continuous Testing vs. Automation Testing: What’s the Difference?</h2>



Traditional test automation approach can be termed as reactive whereas Continuous Testing approach can be termed as proactive.&nbsp;



Traditionally, test automation starts after a feature is developed and integrated into a centralized source code repository. Once a developer&#8217;s task completes, the tester&#8217;s task of writing automation scripts begins. 



Considering that purpose of these automation scripts may range from functional tests to integration tests to user-acceptance tests to performance tests and even more, creating these scripts is expected to take considerable time which adds a big chunk in the overall time required to deliver the feature/software. 



No matter how best the tester tries, he/she always ends up being seen as the laggard who is trying to catch up with the expected need and speed of software delivery in the modern world. This is what changes with Continuous Testing.



In continuous testing, test scripts are written before the feature development. As soon as a developer integrates his/her feature source code into the centralized source code repository, the code is automatically built, and automated run of various test scripts starts to assess the quality of the code. 



Continuous testing leverages test automation for better efficiency and optimization. It lifts the burden of being laggards from testers and makes them the accelerators for the desired speed of software delivery.



<h2 id="benefits-of-continuous-testing">Benefits of Continuous Testing</h2>



Continuous testing is known to provide various benefits over traditional test automation. Some of them are:



1. Early Feedback: As soon as a build is available from a centralized source code repository after a feature work has been integrated, the quality assessment starts, and this assessment helps in providing early feedback on the feature work. One doesn’t have to wait for human interventions to get feedback. This early feedback helps in making timely assessments for associated business risks which can vary from deteriorated user experience to failed software releases.2. Faster Delivery: Since all processes that take place after developer’s code integration into centralized source code repository are taken care of and automated even before the development work is complete, it helps in saving a lot of time thus enabling faster delivery of features and software.3. Better Quality Control: With Continuous Testing, teams can execute a much better control of the quality process. Various levels of test-suites can be used to gate various levels of quality in the product. Automated controls can be implemented to ensure that a change that fails to pass through one level of quality doesn’t make it to the next level. For example, a change that fails integration tests can be prevented from running through performance tests.&nbsp;4. Continuous Improvement: With continuous testing in place, the efforts required to improve a piece of work get reduced a lot since the required pieces of testing are already in place and can be executed without much need of human intervention. For example, if you are working on improving the performance of a product and performance tests are already part of the product’s Continuous Testing, you can keep on doing your improvisations without much intervention from the testing team. Without Continuous Testing, for every improvement you plan to make, you would have to make it prioritized with the testing team as well, causing a lot of overhead and delay along with a loss in the testing team’s bandwidth in doing all these iterations. This advantage of Continuous Testing goes a long way in making teams feel more confident and encouraged to improve continuously.&nbsp;5. Quality with Velocity: Today, software applications are needed to be developed and delivered in a rapid mode. Traditional testing methodologies were becoming a bottleneck for this model. Continuous Testing works well here as it provides quality with velocity thus making rapid development and delivery possible.



<h2 id="challenges-with-continuous-testing">Challenges with Continuous Testing</h2>



Incorporating Continuous Testing in the software development cycle does come with its own challenges, such as:



1. Cultural Shift: Continuous Testing demands a big cultural shift in the way organizations work. Organizations and teams are used to working in a certain way such as waterfall and agile where testing team’s work begins after the development or with development. For Continuous Testing, the testing team’s tasks need to be completed before actual development tasks. To achieve this, the testing team needs to be involved at the early stages of requirements and design discussions.



The testing team needs to be seen as a key stakeholder who needs to know what the plan is as well as why the plan is important to achieve so that the associated business risks can be timely assessed and mitigated.



2. Upskilling: Testing teams need a lot of upskilling to become the first-class citizens of software developers whose thoughts and opinions matter in design discussions and planning rather than the second-class citizens they are used to being, working with whatever has been decided and developed.&nbsp;3. Futuristic Thinking: To start ahead and finish ahead of actual development, testing teams need to have a futuristic thought process. Preparing to test something that doesn’t even exist yet, is difficult. To achieve this, it is important that there is agreement on designs, architecture and interfaces. Major changes in any/all of these can put Continuous Testing at risk.4. Infrastructure: Depending on the type of project, testing teams may need access to different kinds of infrastructure to set up different test environments such as QA Test Environment, Stage Test Environment, Production Test Environment. Also, the need for infrastructure can vary from different hardware to different software applications. Ensuring the availability of such a wide range of infrastructure can be a problem.&nbsp;5. Test case Effectiveness and Optimization: Continuous Testing is very susceptible to elongated testing cycles that may result by running the extensive test suites that have been created so far. Long-running test cycles can defeat the whole purpose of Continuous Testing. For Continuous Testing to be effective, test cycles need to be short so that they can be run for every new code change and build. To achieve this, test-suites need to be reviewed regularly to identify the most relevant and efficient test cases that can provide maximum feedback in the minimum time.



<h2 id="conclusion">Conclusion</h2>



Benefits of Continuous Testing can surely outdo the challenges associated with it, provided it is implemented correctly. Continuous Testing is the need of the hour to make testing match pace with development and deployment practices for achieving faster software release cycles. Continuous Testing makes Agile and DevOps methodologies more effective and efficient in achieving rapid software developments. 



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How Continuous Testing Supercharges Your Automation Testing

There are lots of applications that users use these days, some are accessed via the internet while some of them are installed on the user’s computer. The former being categorized as the web-based applications while the latter falling into the desktop applications category. Lets have a detailed look into Desktop vs Web Application Testing here.



There are a lot of differences in the operating mechanisms of both and some groups even consider either one of them as being better than the other.



Let’s briefly describe the basic definitions of each of them first and then describe in detail the underlying Desktop vs Web Application Testing differences that make them fall apart in certifying the quality of each of them.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Desktop_Application_vs_Web_Application_8211_Overview">1 Desktop Application vs Web Application &#8211; Overview</a></li><li><a href="#What_is_the_Difference_Between_Desktop_Application_Testing_and_Web_Testing">2 What is the Difference Between Desktop Application Testing and Web Testing?</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="desktop-application-vs-web-application-overview">Desktop Application vs Web Application &#8211; Overview</h2>



Desktop Application &#8211; Desktop application is a name coined for a general program used to run on a personal computer or laptop. This is a standalone software program which doesn’t depend on any internet connectivity for its working and its performance is not impacted because of any network related latencies. Few examples of desktop applications are MS-Word, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and calculator etc. Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/desktop-application-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Desktop Application Testing</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="733" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Desktop-App.jpg" alt="Desktop Application" class="wp-image-22358" /></figure>



Web Application &#8211; Web Application is a general application program that is stored or hosted on a remote server and is accessed over the internet via a browser interface. The Internet is the basis for these types of applications to work. Any network-related latencies result in performance hindrances in these types of applications. Check here &#8211; <a href="https://testsigma.com/guides/web-application-testing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Application Testing</a>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="733" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Web-Application-Testing.jpg" alt="Web Application Testing" class="wp-image-22360" /></figure>



Advantages of Web Applications Over Desktop Applications



Here are a few advantages of <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-web-application-testing" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">web applications</a> over desktop applications –



1. Web Applications are run via a browser, so the developers need not develop different apps for different platforms.



For example, an application which can run on chrome will run on both Windows and Linux. By just updating the application on the remote server, all the users can have access to the updated application.



2. Web applications serve better in terms of providing a consistent user interface across different platforms as the UI is more dependent on the browser than the OS.



3. The data processing and storage in case of web applications happens on the remote server which can be easily accessed by all the remote users instead of heavy file transfers across computers.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" width="848" height="485" src="https://testsigma.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Web-app-vs-Desktop-App.jpg" alt="Web Apps vs Desktop Apps" class="wp-image-22362" /></figure>



<h2 id="what-is-the-difference-between-desktop-application-testing-and-web-testing">What is the Difference Between Desktop Application Testing and Web Testing?</h2>



Having gathered a sound understanding of how Desktop vs Web Application differ in short, let’s see the major difference between web application and desktop application in terms of parameters and how those differences impact the way each of these is tested. 



<figure class="wp-block-table"><table style="border: 1px solid black;border-collapse: collapse"><tbody><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Parameters</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop Application Testing</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Application Testing</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Environment</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop Applications are platform-dependent and are confined to the machine that they are deployed on.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Application testing is performed with the application deployed on a server which can be accessed by other computers with just a browser.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Platform</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Separate desktop applications need to be developed for different platforms.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Applications are platform-independent, hence they can run on multiple platforms without needing a separate development altogether.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment/Upgrades</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment or any code upgrade needs to be done separately on all the client machines.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Deployment or any patch upgrade needs to be done on a single set of server machines only.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Security</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications, on the other hand, are better equipped in terms of authorization and administration control and are hence more secure. Security testing can hence be either skipped or can be performed at a very trivial level.&nbsp;</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web Applications are more prone to security risks which are attributed to its mass accessibility. Security testing plays an important role in case of web application testing due to its large exposure to the multitude of audience.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Storage of Data</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications have all the data stored on the machine on which the application is deployed.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">In the case of web applications, the data is stored remotely on the server and is accessed by our personal laptops remotely with the help of a web browser &amp; internet connectivity.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Types of Tests Performed</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">GUI Functionality Load Backend</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">User Interface TestingLoad, Stress, Volume Browser/OS CompatibilitySecurityData Volume testing cross Browser testing static page testingBroken Link Testing</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Architecture</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications have a single-tier architecture where the application under test runs on a single computer. There is no client and server in these.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications are built on a tier architecture which can run on 2 or more than 2 computers. These have clients and servers in their architecture.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Connectivity</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications don’t require internet connectivity as they are hosted on the user machines only. Hence internet connectivity tests need not be in scope for these applications under test.&nbsp;</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications are dependent on the internet connectivity for their functioning Internet connectivity tests need to be performed to check the application performance at various speeds.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Accessibility</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Desktop applications are confined to physical locations and hence can only be accessed from the machines on which they are inherently deployed. Hence the tests would involve the user testing all the application features on the machine on which it is deployed.</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Web applications don’t have any location constraint to be accessed as they are deployed on servers which can be accessed from anywhere. Testing should involve different users testing the application under test from different computers from remote locations as well.</td></tr><tr style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse"><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Number of Users</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">At any given point in time, there is a single user testing or using the desktop application on a machine</td><td style="border: 1px solid black;padding: 10px;border-collapse: collapse">Multiple users can access web applications across the internet and browsers.</td></tr></tbody></table></figure>



To summarize, in order to test a desktop application, the focus should be environment-oriented as a desktop application is operated in a specific environment only. Desktop applications should be tested for usability, functionality, backend and load.



Here get the list of Best <a href="https://testsigma.com/tools/desktop-automation-tools/">A</a><a href="https://testsigma.com/tools/desktop-automation-tools/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">utomation Tools for Desktop Applications</a>



While doing the Web testing, it’s critical to ensure that the web application under test can be easily accessed by the real users and is functioning properly across all browsers and operating systems. Web applications should hence be tested for functionality, compatibility, security, performance, usability and accessibility.



Know More: <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/web-app-testing-checklist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Web Application Testing Checklist</a>



If you have been doing website testing and are now wondering if you need to implement automation then this is the article that can help you figure it out:<a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/5-signs-you-need-to-implement-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> 5 signs you need to implement test automation</a>



Testsigma, a cloud-based test automation tool has revolutionized the way you you can automate your website testing. It enables you to automate your test cases in simple English. Simple English does not just work for simple work flows but also for the complex ones.



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Desktop application testing versus Web application testing