Data driven automation testing of web applications using selenium
- 1. Data Driven Automation Testing of Web Application using Selenium Navaraj Javvaji -- [email protected] Anand Sathiyaseelan -- [email protected] Umamaheswari Selvan -- [email protected] AVACORP © 2011 1
- 2. Lot of options, which one to choose? Abbot eggPlant QTP AutoHotkey SilkTest CubicTest RFT Selenium Test Partner RIATest SWTBot Dogtail WATIR Fitness WatiN SOATest Decision making is the crucial part while choosing the automation tool: • High investment on commercial tools v/s Zero cost Open Source tools • Ease of use v/s customization needs • Better feature set v/s very limited feature set AVACORP © 2011 2
- 3. First step should be towards identifying key expectations Considerations for an Automation tool: What should my Automation tool support? Consistent and Diagrammatic Reporting Mechanism: Logger Files Analytic Test Report Different Report Formats ( html, xml etc) Ability to support enterprise wise reusable test automation suites Reusable functions, exception handling mechanism etc Ability to schedule tests Ability to prioritize and run tests Build verification tests, smoke tests, full regression tests, partial regression tests etc Ability to report failures Module wise failures, test step failures etc Snapshots / screen shots of failed tests AVACORP © 2011 3
- 4. Let us understand this by considering SELENIUM as an ex Before going into details, let us look at a quick preview from the technology perspective JAVA Java is a Object-Oriented programming language. Created in 1991 by James Gosling et al. of Sun Microsystems. It is a platform independent language. It is robust, distributed, portable and Dynamic. Automatic Memory Management and Security. SELENIUM Developed by Jason Huggins and released in 2004. It is an open source Tool for automating web Application. Selenium IDE is a Record and Playback tool which comes as a Firefox Plug-in . Selenium RC is a server /solution for executing linear / regression / integration tests. RC obtains the commands from the selenium server and run the tests via the browser. It supports IE on Windows, Firefox & Opera on Windows, Mac and Linux, Safari on Windows, Mac AVACORP © 2011 4
- 5. Understanding Test Automation Frameworks Definition As defined by Wikipedia ** “Test Automation Framework” Is a set of assumptions, concepts and tools that provide support for automated software testing Helps reduce costs and maintenance time Primarily driven by keeping extensive reusability in mind Should be flexible enough to incorporate change yet robust enough to resist unwanted changes Commonly Known Automation Frameworks Test Script Modularity Test Library Architecture Data Driven Keyword Driven or Table Driven Hybrid Test Automation ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_automation_framework Model AVACORP © 2011 Driven 5
- 6. Fundamentals of Data Driven Framework Data Driven Framework Data driven testing is creation of test scripts to run together with their related data sets in the framework. Data driven scripts are those application-specific scripts captured or manually coded in the automation tool’s proprietary language and then modified to accommodate variable data. Its main advantage is the reusability and also the maintenance of these tests is easy. This requires the preparation of the data sheets which is completely independent of the test automation tool. Advantages: Large amount of data can be fetched using the data sheet for repeated use of test case execution. Reusability and maintenance. Only the script representing a “Business Function” needs to be modified/updated in case if the functionality of the application under test (AUT) changes. AVACORP © 2011 6
- 7. Components of Selenium based Automation Framework There might be minor differences between each organization’s framework, however what is listed are the key components of the framework AVACORP © 2011 7
- 8. Understanding Test Automation Framework components ANT Script A Script that is used to execute a set of instructions using build.xml. It is used to run single test or batch test. Test Scripts The test scripts are the .java files which represents the test cases of the AUT. Reusable Library Reusable library consists of the common functions that can be reused. Reusable library consist of those functions that are application independent and can be called to perform certain tasks. Can also be a collection of utilities that Delivers capabilities to create detailed drill down reports in different formats Helps generate a log of events that happen as part of automation test execution Takes snapshot of failed tests Careful observation reveals that Reusable Library can be a good source that can help extend Selenium capabilities AVACORP © 2011 8
- 9. Understanding Test Automation Framework components .. Test Suite Test suite is set up to cover execution of the specified test case name and the priority of the execution takes place contiguously. The final Test suite is run in two modes using the ANT Script: run-single-test run-batch-test customized test suites for regression testing AVACORP © 2011 9
- 10. Understanding Test Automation Framework components .. Test Reports The test report is generated by ANT at the end of the test execution in different formats( .xml, HTML etc). The report also provides a time stamp that helps team manage versions of test reports. Finally a consolidated status for the group of test steps that get executed gets presented via the “Status”. AVACORP © 2011 10
- 11. Understanding Test Automation Framework components .. Failed Test Screen Snapshot Reusable functions are called by the test scripts to take an automatic snap shot of tests that have failed. Also adding a time stamp to the snapshot it will be easy for test teams to not only identify the exact cause of failure but also provide evidence of failure in case it is needed. Such features are easy to integrate using JAVA to capture and save a snapshot when a failure occurs AVACORP © 2011 11
- 12. Understanding Test Automation Framework components .. Generate Custom Log Files Logger is mainly designed to help the user to view the step by step execution of the test scripts along with the time stamp, execution status whether it passed or failed. Offer facility to choose between detailed log or events or a crisp summary of the key failures. AVACORP © 2011 12
- 13. Do’s and Don’ts Do’s As part of you automation journey, ensure the team is first trained on java & selenium syntax. Before finalizing your framework, understand your needs and then design components that help you meet your needs Ensure the relation between the application test scripts and the framework is kept to the minimum. Thus you can design a reusable and truly scalable framework Create the keyword library and keep updating it with more keywords Unless it is application specific, most of the test data can be reused Use open source tools (like Snapit) to take screen shots Use different folders for reusable function, test scripts, logger files, test results and test data sheets Identify object elements using Internet Explorer Development Toolbar. This is easier and provides reliable object information AVACORP © 2011 13
- 14. Advantages Advantages The framework is very robust, maintainable and portable Redundancy is eliminated by designing for reusability Easy to debug considering log files and the failed test scenario snap shot Non programmers develop scripts with minimum efforts Open source tool results in almost zero cost Test Cases/Suites could be executed in 5 different browsers (Firefox, IE, safari, Chrome, Opera) and also on different OS platforms(Windows, Linux, Mac) by Selenium RC. Selenium RC enables the automation testers to write test cases in 6 different programming languages(dot net, java, perl, php, python, ruby). Using Selenium RC, it is easy to use Conditional statements, iterations. User exception handling mechanism. Reporting, Logging the user actions could be added as a feature under the continuous integration system. AVACORP © 2011 14
- 15. Limitations Limitations of Selenium IDE: Selenium IDE is released as a plug-in/add-on only for Mozilla Firefox. Hence it is not compatible with other web browsers. Selenium IDE can execute scripts which were generated in the selenese command formats only. Selenium IDE cant be used to execute complex test scenarios involving dynamic objects and values. Does not support the implementation of condition statements, iterations, exception handling. Limitations of Selenium RC: If there are some complex request/response on the page, writing custom waitFor method is difficult. Limited ability to run multiple scripts consistently. Though RC has several ways to identify elements on the page, the locator supports only some common attributes such as “ID, names, xpath”. Similarly if the RC needs to interact with an non natives objects in the web page like calender widget AVACORP © 2011 , multi frames. 15
- 16. Thank You USA India India – Branch Office 379 Thornall St 12th floor Guna Complex, East West Center, Edison, New Jersey 7th floor, Main Building 3rd & 4th Floor, #128, Zip 08820 #443 (304), Nelson Manickam Road, +1 732 331 3098 Anna Salai, Teynampet, Aminjikarai, Chennai-600 018. Chennai - 600 029. +91-44-42132992 +91-44-23741122 Global Headquarters AVACORP © 2011 16