An alternative to record and playback tools for enterprise-class Test Automation

An Alternative to Record and Playback Tools for Test Automation

Test Automation has become an immediate requirement for every engineering team to match the pace of continuous delivery. On the other hand, it can also become a waste of time, money and resources if the test automation strategy and your Test Automation tool is not a fit for your requirements.
Generally, when teams <a class="brand-color" href="https://www.utest.com/articles/why-shift-from-manual-to-automation-testing-for-continuous-delivery" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">shift from Manual Testing to Test Automation</a>, they tend to look for the simplest and easiest solutions to get started. Record and playback tools are one of the options a lot of managers consider.
Near zero initial time and programming knowledge are some presumed advantages of choosing record and playback tools. The general perception is that initial investment of time and effort using these tools. But time and again it is being proved that such tools do not work well to meet enterprise-class test automation requirements.
However, it is agreed that these tools are not suitable for test automation if you have a user interface that constantly undergo changes. 
Tests created using Record and Playback tools are often outdated for even a small change in the application. You need to re-record all of the tests or you end up spending a lot of time editing tests.
<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Getting_Started">1 Getting Started</a></li><li><a href="#Why_is_it_difficult_to_generate_stable_tests_easily_with_Record_and_Playback_tools">2 Why is it difficult to generate stable tests easily with Record and Playback tools?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_does_it_fail_to_handle_Dynamic_ObjectsElements">3 Why does it fail to handle Dynamic Objects/Elements?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_can8217t_Record_and_Playback_tools_avoid_maintenance_for_small_UI_changes">4 Why can&#8217;t Record and Playback tools avoid maintenance for small UI changes?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_do_these_tools_not_support_Shift-Left_Testing">5 Why do these tools not support Shift-Left Testing?</a></li><li><a href="#How_Record_and_Playback_tools_fail_to_maintain_a_shared_Element_Repository_to_reduce_maintenance">6 How Record and Playback tools fail to maintain a shared Element Repository to reduce maintenance?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_record_and_then_edit_doesn8217t_work">7 Why record and then edit doesn&#8217;t work?</a></li><li><a href="#Why_isn8217t_Re-record_an_option">8 Why isn&#8217;t Re-record an option?</a></li><li><a href="#So_where_do_Record_and_Playback_tools_fit">9 So, where do Record and Playback tools fit?</a></li></ul></div>
<h2>Getting Started</h2>
Many teams shifting from manual to automation might look at Record and Playback tools as the test scripts are created automatically for every action that a functional tester performs manually.
These scripts can be easily re-run to test the same functionality provided the application does not change.
It may seem easy and compelling but requires a lot of rework and changes. The system generated scripts or tests are hard to understand and maintain. 
We will look more into this in detail.
<h2>Why is it difficult to generate stable tests easily with Record and Playback tools?</h2>
It&#8217;s been proved that these tools would fail to generate stable and reliable tests for enterprise-class applications that has complex scenarios with dynamic data.
A lot of manual revisions are required to make the script generated by Record and Playback tools to be stable and production-ready like editing test data and element information, adding assertions, conditional statements, handling dynamic data etc.
Also, you cannot record all the steps for dynamic enterprise-class applications. You may need to add custom actions, assertions and, dynamic steps manually.
Record and Playback tools would record both necessary and unwanted steps automatically. The recorded steps would not be as per your business documents.
Quite often, for the same action, more than one copy of the same script is generated multiple times and the tester has to identify which copy of the script requires editing. It’s difficult to understand what part of the code belongs to the test steps, what is the exact data the tool collects that needs change.
A lot of time is spent cleaning unnecessary data to make the tests reusable and readable and in-line with your business documents/process.
Maintaining test scripts would be a complex task with a lot of duplicate and disorganized elements making your tests very difficult to understand and maintain.
AI &amp; ML can be helpful to maintain these tests for basic element attribute changes. But in reality, there can be more than just element attribute changes. 
There may be layout changes, design changes etc. in which case these duplicate elements requires a lot of maintenance work from developers.
The alternate approach would be to re-record all the steps from the beginning. However, this demands huge effort having to go through the entire process over and again. And, you may lose the test history.
Identifying the problem area first from the huge script that is auto-generated, making edits to the code and fixing them is a tough task. 
The time required to manually test an application vs the time to repair the recorded steps or re-record is relatively less.
The time saved getting started with the application testing is wasted editing and re-recording every time there is change. 

<h2>Why does it fail to handle Dynamic Objects/Elements?</h2>
Most of the modern applications are built with dynamic elements with no unique attributes. In such cases, record and playback tools rely on HTML element hierarchy/absolute paths which is the most unstable and unreliable approach to build automated tests.
These tests fail during subsequent re-runs, as the attributes of these dynamic elements change every time.
The ability to define dynamic element paths as part of element repository is required to handle these cases, which is missing in record and playback tools.
Also, these steps fail even for the slightest change in the application (not just the element attributes) and are not always dependable.
<h2>Why can&#8217;t Record and Playback tools avoid maintenance for small UI changes?</h2>
The slightest change in the recorded element or any element on the page can break the recorded tests easily.
Many of today&#8217;s testing tools capture more than just the required attributes to identify a particular element. This way, whenever there is a change in any one of these attributes, any of the remaining attributes can be used to identify those elements.
This has become a standard practice in many Test Automation tools. The approach is required to address some of the maintenance issues with element attribute changes. Some of the Test Automation tools like <a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Testsigma</a> use AI to create paths dynamically using the recorded attributes.
<a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Testsigma</a> not just uses the Dynamic Locator Strategy on element attributes but also takes into account the attributes of siblings and parent elements to solve this maintenance issue better!
Many a time, there would be more than just element attributes changes. These tools should consider the parent and sibling attributes of a particular element to ensure that the tests won’t break easily.
<h2>Why do these tools not support Shift-Left Testing?</h2>
It is essential to start the test automation process, early on, with the Agile and DevOps methodologies demanding faster, frequent software product releases. If testing cannot keep up with these modern approaches to ensure continuous software development and delivery, the goal is not fully achieved.
With these tools, you cannot start your Test Automation until you have a stable UI to automate.
Because of this either Test Automation will be pushed out of delivery pipeline or takes more time to release your quality products. Both these options are not acceptable for current fast-paced Agile and Continuous Delivery practices. 
<a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-automation-tool-ready-for-shift-left/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Is your test automation tool ready for Shift Left testing?</a>


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<h2>How Record and Playback tools fail to maintain a shared Element Repository to reduce maintenance?</h2>
Whatever may be the approach, test maintenance is a continuous effort and plays a major role in automation success. Maintaining elements is highly important for test maintenance.
Record and playback tools generates a lot of duplicate elements as explained earlier and do not reuse the elements that are already available. This increases the need for test maintenance with the need to manage multiple instances of the same element.
The tools are expected to be smart enough to reuse the element if it is already recorded. None of the record and playback tools address this.
<h2>Why record and then edit doesn&#8217;t work?</h2>
Recorded test steps are not always stable and are not reusable by default and can break as the application code changes.
The recommended approach is to either edit these steps manually or re-record the entire test again.
To edit a recorded test you need to first understand the system generated test completely, then decide on what to change and how to change. This requires programming knowledge and constant reviewing. Without this, for every change in the application, these tests will continue to fail.
But the fact is that editing an automatically generated script is more difficult and time consuming compared to many programming based tools. 
Manually testing the same feature end to end takes less time and effort compared to editing these tests every time.
The purpose of Test Automation is to allow the automated tests to run unattended. On the contrary, testers are expected to sit through the whole of the execution process and find problem areas by looking them up manually and make changes to the generated code/test steps continuously. 
The test automation efforts go in vain as testers eventually shift back to Manual Testing.
<h2>Why isn&#8217;t Re-record an option?</h2>
An alternative to maintaining these tests is re-recording. 
 Re-recording the whole of the application for minor changes is not very convenient especially for large applications. 
The QA team has to go through the entire process of re-recording and editing the tests to make them stable and reliable.
Considering all the effort needed after recording, like editing, clean-up, etc., Re-recording is not an affordable solution for bigger teams who practice Agile and Continuous Delivery methodologies.
<h2>So, where do Record and Playback tools fit?</h2>
Record and playback tools can be considered for small static applications whose application code and UI does not change frequently.
 It would be appealing to the management to introduce the concept of Test Automation, what and how can be automated and how much time can be saved through Test Automation once the automated tests are in place.&nbsp;
The better approach would be test automation with the same simplicity of record and playback tools along with enterprise-class flexibility and stability.
Check out <a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/alternative-to-record-and-playback-tools-for-enterprise-class-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">an alternative to record and playback tools for enterprise-class Test Automation</a>


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Why is Record and Playback not suitable for enterprise-class Test Automation?

Top 7 Challenges in Manual Testing

New Era of Smart Test Automation

Essential Components of Automation Framework

Testing is a critical and indispensable requirement in the software delivery process. However, Testing remains a bottleneck as it fails to keep up with today&#8217;s fast-paced development methodologies like the Agile and Continuous Delivery. Test Automation is the best approach to enable&nbsp; Continuous Delivery.



But, Test Automation done with legacy tools and test processes to meet the increased complexity and pace of modern application development and Continuous Delivery are unsatisfactory.



Age old test methods and tools can impact the delivery speed and quality which in turn affects the cost of software development.



Data from the World Quality Report indicate the need to increase the level of test automation. The test process and tools currently in use are not sufficient to test an application early on, repeatedly and automatically.



With the current application delivery needs, one cannot wait until the end of the <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/how-to-speed-up-your-software-release-cycles-with-testsigma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Software Release Cycle</a> to get started with testing.



There would not be months or weeks to test but merely a few hours. <a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/blog/essential-elements-of-test-automation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Setting up the Test Automation eco-system</a> itself takes up a lot of time.



It is not sufficient to run through Testing just before product delivery. It is necessary to attend to the changes being made to the software at the earliest best, in parallel, with Development.



A fully automated testing process has to be a part of the SDLC. If Testing is done beforehand, application flaws become evident as they are executed. Hence, its access to further stages of the development process can be prevented.



The sooner they appear, the better. It is easier to fix them with a less number of resources in a reduced time as opposed to its appearance at the final stages of the product delivery cycle.



<div id="toc_container" class="no_bullets">Table Of Contents<ul class="toc_list"><li><a href="#Hence_Continuous_Testing">1 Hence Continuous Testing.</a></li><li><a href="#Key_Elements_to_Consider_in_Test_Automation_to_Enable_Continuous_Testing">2 Key Elements to Consider in Test Automation to Enable Continuous Testing</a><ul><li><a href="#1_Shift_Left_Approach">2.1 1. Shift Left Approach</a></li><li><a href="#2_Faster_Feedback_Time">2.2 2. Faster Feedback Time</a></li><li><a href="#3_Traceability">2.3 3. Traceability</a></li><li><a href="#4_Test_Prioritization">2.4 4. Test Prioritization</a></li><li><a href="#5_Team_Collaboration">2.5 5. Team Collaboration</a></li><li><a href="#6_Low_Maintenance">2.6 6. Low Maintenance</a></li><li><a href="#7_Test_Environment">2.7 7. Test Environment</a></li><li><a href="#8_Risk_Assessment">2.8 8. Risk Assessment</a></li><li><a href="#9_Continuous_Integration">2.9 9. Continuous Integration</a></li></ul></li><li><a href="#The_Bottom_Line">3 The Bottom Line</a></li><li><a href="#What_Next">4 What Next??</a></li></ul></div>
<h2 id="h-hence-continuous-testing">Hence Continuous Testing.</h2>



Continuous Testing aims to cut down the testing time in the delivery pipeline and still achieve quality.



It extends the test automation process to address the complexity involved and to keep up with the pace of today&#8217;s continuous delivery needs.



Continuous Testing is the process of executing automated tests as part of the software delivery pipeline.



 Continuous Testing help decide whether the release candidate is okay or too risky to be delivered while providing fast repetitive feedback associated with each release candidate.



 This determines if the software is ready to enter the delivery pipeline. Each build committed by the developers is Continuously Integrated to find possible business risks at a very early stage.



To achieve Continuous Testing, <a href="https://testsigma.com/automated-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">automated testing</a> must be integrated at the initial stages of the development cycle and not when the product is fully developed.



<h2 id="h-key-elements-to-consider-in-test-automation-to-enable-continuous-testing">Key Elements to Consider in Test Automation to Enable Continuous Testing</h2>



Test Automation is imperative to achieving Continuous Testing along with equally important elements like the test process, team, culture change, etc. Some of the key enablers for Continuous Testing include:



<h3 id="h-1-shift-left-approach">1. Shift Left Approach</h3>



Test Automation should not wait until the product is fully developed. For this, the framework and automated testing tools should allow for writing automated tests alongside the development process.



The&nbsp;Shift Left approach in Test Automation ensures just this. Also, it should allow for automating various components such as back-end APIs and other micro services, testing each layer in parallel as and when they are ready for the continuous delivery pipeline.



<h3 id="h-2-faster-feedback-time">2. Faster Feedback Time</h3>



Running each test over and again is time-consuming. It is impractical to run complete regression tests on each build every time.



Test Automation tools should be capable of executing different tests simultaneously and automatically on each build across multiple test environments providing faster feedback.



As an application changes, Test Automation tools and framework should allow the right set of tests that are interrelated to be executed at the right stage in the delivery pipeline.



This allows for faster feedback with appropriate action steps to be taken in order to ensure a smooth user experience. Executing multiple tests one after the other across different environments would be laborious, otherwise.



<h3 id="h-3-traceability">3. Traceability</h3>



It is highly important to understand the requirements of stakeholders and ensure those requirements are met. Managing requirements throughout the project lifecycle is a continuous process in the lookout for changes made in each stage, automatically.



It is necessary to integrate Test Automation tools with additional ALM tools to manage requirements associated with a particular version of an application, to track changes, to communicate and handle the Requirements throughout the testing process.



<h3 id="h-4-test-prioritization">4. Test Prioritization</h3>



It enables developers to test smarter if tests are prioritized, re-executing only the affected ones based on the impact of change.



If Regression testing is done early on, there would be a delay in providing feedback, unlike Smoke Test. What tests would run best at what stage is an important factor to consider.



Test Automation tools and its underlying framework should be good enough to manage this, reducing the time and the number of tests by choosing the right tests for execution at the right stage while achieving the same risk coverage.



<h3 id="h-5-team-collaboration">5. Team Collaboration</h3>



It is necessary to make sure that we get clear requirements before development starts.



The QA team should build a close relationship with Business Analysts and Developers to communicate the ambiguity in user stories. It would be a good idea to have a common platform to discuss, debate and assess the business goals for better clarity.



Test Automation tools should have a collaboration platform or means to integrate with such tools say, Slack. It would be an added advantage if it allows all of the team members for applying these changes automatically to automated tests.



<h3 id="h-6-low-maintenance">6. Low Maintenance</h3>



Automated GUI tests undergo frequent changes and need sizeable rework every time.



With Agile and DevOps practices in place, there is need to extend Test Automation efforts which lead to heavy maintenance needs.



Through Continuous Testing, low maintenance and the need for less or no rework are aimed at. Test Automation tools and frameworks need to be good enough to maintain tests with hardly any effort, continuously.



<h3 id="h-7-test-environment">7. Test Environment</h3>



There should be access to realistic test environments to run tests concurrently in a continuous manner anytime, anywhere.



A stable <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/test-environment/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Test environment</a> with valid test data sets should be available to run tests automatically throughout the delivery pipeline.



Inaccessible dependencies, poor test data management can cause timeouts and occurrence of false positives that provide inaccurate results.



Access to real-world testing environments become necessary to allow frequent test runs and this way, cut down the time to set up the test environment.



<h3 id="h-8-risk-assessment">8. Risk Assessment</h3>



It is not just about achieving automated test results but analyzing the business risk involved.



 Continuous Testing must assess the business risk associated with an application at any point in real-time providing risk-based feedback to help make better trade-off decisions.



<h3 id="h-9-continuous-integration">9. Continuous Integration</h3>



Automation Testing should be integrated with Continuous Integration tools to run automatically once the build is ready.



All testing has to be part of the pipeline, which means that automation testers have to be familiar with tools such as Maven, Nexus, and Jenkins to name some.



 It is necessary to identify the right tests to run automatically on every build and if a test may fail, the results have to be integrated back into the pipeline triggering a failed build.



Companies embracing Continuous Testing consider Testing a continuous activity that does not begin prior to release.



A SaaS, <a href="https://testsigma.com/ai-driven-test-automation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AI-Driven test automation</a> software, Testsigma is built to address all of these <a href="https://testsigma.com/continuous-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">continuous testing</a> requirements.



Testsigma aims to achieve Continuous Testing with a Shift-left approach to help web and mobile dependent businesses to reduce the cost involved in ensuring the quality of software while continuously releasing quality software products faster.



Testsigma uses AI to build stable and reliable tests faster and speed-up the execution and maintenance of automated tests and requires near-zero initial setup time, cost and ramp up time.



The AI features suggest improvements in test plans to include relevant or affected test cases, &nbsp;uses dynamic locator strategy to save maintenance time and efforts by 70%.



Its sheer simplicity enables anyone write automated tests 10x faster using natural language, run tests on thousands of devices available on the cloud.



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<h2 id="h-the-bottom-line">The Bottom Line</h2>



“&nbsp;The most powerful tool we have as developers is Automation” Test Automation is the best approach to Testing and this is an undisputed fact. But how do we ensure timely deliverance of quality software?



The need of the hour is a transformation of automated test processes to keep up with the advancements in ensuring continuous delivery of the product. It is time we stopped relying on less efficient scripts.



Test Automation indicates whether a particular requirement is met or not whereas Continuous Testing curbs business risks. Both are important and should go hand in hand.



Today, Testing is not just an afterthought. Continuous Testing has emerged to match the <a href="https://testsigma.com/blog/best-automation-testing-practices-agile-continuous-delivery/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Agile and Continuous Delivery standards</a>. It is a systematic approach towards improvement.



One needs to perform test automation in a way that suits today’s complex application and continuous delivery needs.



We must advance towards Continuous Testing as it has rightly become a necessity in the fast-paced application development lifecycle to deliver faster without compromising on quality.



<h2 id="h-what-next">What Next??</h2>



#ThinkSmart &amp; Join us on our journey towards #SmartTestAutomation today! <a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Testsigma Website</a> <a class="brand-color" href="https://testsigma.com/signup" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Getting started with Testsigma</a> <a class="brand-color" href="https://calendly.com/testsigma/demo/12-28-2017" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schedule a quick online Demo</a>

Extend Test Automation to enable continuous testing