DevOps test automation has recently received much attention for delivering code into the system rapidly and confidently. App testing is essential for app development and release, and improper execution of development and testing efforts can impede progress. Mobile app test automation must be introduced to ensure the testing team can deliver high-quality apps at the right time if not faster.
What Is Test Automation?
Automation of the testing process reduces the amount of human intervention. Writing test scripts that validate an application’s functioning necessitates the usage of automation frameworks and tools. Test automation allows DevOps to:
· To reduce time to find and fix issues quicker. Automated test cases speed up the testing efforts compared to manual testing, allowing quicker product deployment and bug fixes before the app is released to the market.
· Test apps using automation tools to reduce the possibility of human error.
· If you need to test some scenarios more than once, simplify the procedure and use automation to run the test multiple times.
· Automate any procedure to boost dependability and test reliability.
Test Automation and DevOps
When a product is developed, launched, tested, and made available to users, it signs relief to various teams in the DevOps cycle. The QA team’s function has altered as a result of the introduction of DevOps. Functional and regression testing used to start after a product was deployed, which meant that a product would stay with the QA team until they deemed it ready for release.
The development and operational processes are combined in a single cycle utilizing the DevOps methodology. This strategy necessitates intense collaboration amongst all parties involved in app development (i.e., QA, development, and operations).
The DevOps methodology strongly emphasizes automating all app development processes to gain speed and agility. This includes setting up the testing procedure to run automatically and automating it. DevOps must develop a solid mobile app test automation framework to help with test case writing. Thankfully, several tools make automating tests simple.
The benefits of automated testing
There are many benefits of automated testing, including the following:
· Improved team cooperation between quality assurance architects and engineers ensures an effective app lifecycle.
· Easier scalability since development teams operating in the squad are decentralized (both QA and DevOps teams)
· More customer satisfaction and recommendations result from quicker and more reliable product releases, allowing users to provide feedback and have issues handled more promptly.
· Simpler incident management resulted from DevSecOps teams’ ability to identify vulnerabilities quickly across various application points and threat models.
Choosing the right tool
Given the significance of automated testing, it is obvious that only the appropriate tools can improve the procedure. Your testing demands cannot be met by a single tool. Yet there are several things to take into account while assessing the tools on the market, such as:
1. Type of testing tool: Depending on the targeted platform, the development language (such as C# or Java), and if the tools are best suited for testing or creating, you might choose an open-source or paid tool.
- License and support costs: Your chosen automation tool will depend partly on your budget. Open-source tools, like Selenium, are a popular favorite among developers as it is open source and easy to use. Knowing the budget available in tools makes it easy to make the right decisions to pick tools that suit your needs.
- Supporting CI and DevOps integration: This is an important issue because continuous integration or DevOps would not work with a solution that does not help them.
3. Available knowledge base: It’s crucial to know how to utilize the program or to have a team with expertise utilizing it. So, pick an automation tool that includes documentation and training videos that may give you a headstart if you get stuck somewhere. Having a prompt support team is crucial to get things moving quickly.
- Test reports: To assess the bugs, their causes, and the efficacy of the analysis, you need a tool that gives meaningful results.
Why automate testing in the DevOps lifecycle?
Agile methodologies and CI/CD are integral parts of DevOps automation. All of these ideas aim to enhance flexibility and speed to improve the flow of releases with fewer obstacles and quicker feedback loops.
Ultimately, these methods aim to produce high-quality product updates and releases at a significantly faster rate than more conventional models, such as waterfall.
Several releases would take longer to complete manually and would be more prone to mistakes, bugs, or errors. However, automation counters these flaws and brings precision and speed, enabling excellent delivery of releases at a rapid pace.
Although testing is only one step in the release cycle, it is a clear candidate for automation. Automation can be used for regression testing, which is a time-consuming and repetitive task. This will help free up tester resources and allow them to concentrate on tasks that call for their expertise rather than laborious repetitive tasks.
How much test automation is too much?
While adopting test automation, it’s crucial to be deliberate, just as with anything. Automation might increase the amount of work you have if you’re not attentive. When deciding where to add test automation, consider the following questions:
· Do you have too many tools connected to your project?
Setting up and maintaining automation can be challenging when too many tool connections exist. When you begin automating a process, take some time to decide which tools make the most sense for each step or combine tools.
· Can the test be measured accurately by automation?
For instance, automating user experience testing won’t provide value because these tests need a real user to respond and offer input.
· Is the test valuable in any way?
It doesn’t matter if a test is pointless, even if automating it might make it more effective. Automation ought to serve as a tool, not as a final objective.
Remember that manual testing is still necessary even when automated testing is used. Long-term time savings for your team can be achieved by keeping both manual and automated testing handy based on the needs and the necessities of the project.
In Conclusion
By embracing test automation, DevOps automation can be utilized in the best way possible. This will decrease bottlenecks, boost productivity, and improve employee and customer satisfaction. Test automation goes a long way when we optimize it better by making the right tool choices and implementing various best practices shared above. Happy Test Automation!
