August 2021 Summaries

Better Together: Why You Should Leverage Emulators and Simulators for Web App Testing` highlights the importance of mobile-first design and testing strategies to cater to the growing mobile user base. With half of web traffic expected to come from mobile devices by 2025, websites that are not optimized for mobile risk losing customers and visibility in search results. The article emphasizes the benefits of using mobile emulators and simulators for testing, including expanding coverage, catching buggy behavior faster, adapting legacy tests, and providing a balanced approach with real devices. By incorporating virtual devices into automated testing suites, organizations can increase scalability, efficiency, and effectiveness while ensuring a flawless user experience across various access points.

Selenium Grid is a tool that allows for the distribution of test execution across multiple machines, enabling faster and more efficient testing. It was presented by Diego Molina, Staff Software Engineer at Sauce Labs, in an August 2021 webinar. The Selenium Grid can be either built or bought, with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Building a Selenium Grid can provide customization options but requires maintenance, while buying one eliminates the need for maintenance but may come with additional costs. The tool is compatible with Appium and can support multiple browsers and versions. However, it has limitations, such as not yet being compatible with Appium and requiring significant infrastructure to host locally. Sauce Labs offers a cloud-based alternative called Sauce To Go, which provides a more secure environment for sensitive data storage.

Beta testing is an essential step in mobile application development that allows teams to validate their software with "real users" in real-world environments. It helps teams discover and investigate issues that may not be caught during internal alpha testing, providing a deeper level of validation that meets end-user requirements. Beta testing is a complement to alpha testing and provides the same type of insight as external user feedback, but on a larger scale. By recruiting a small group of beta testers who represent a typical user, teams can gather meaningful bug reports and relevant insights into how real users experience their mobile app. The goal of beta testing is to ensure that the application delivers an excellent end-user experience by identifying performance, usability, or other issues before releasing it to the general public.

Sauce Labs has partnered with Savex Technologies to distribute AutonomIQ scriptless test automation in India, a strategic move that leverages powerful AI and ML capabilities to help users quickly create and execute tests for modern low-code applications. The partnership aims to expand Sauce Labs' presence in the Indian market, utilizing Savex's 35 years of distribution experience and deep understanding of the local market. With this collaboration, enterprise customers across India will gain access to low-code testing solutions that utilize AI and ML to accelerate test creation and execution, ultimately driving value with AI-driven SaaS app testing.

To Validate or Verify?Verification and Validation are software testing concepts that end up confusing many people. In the world of software development and quality assurance, yes… there is a difference between them. Verification refers to a testing protocol that determines if the software meets the specifications or requirements as they were initially designed, with the goal of answering "Did I build what I said I would?" The verification process includes activities like code reviews, walkthroughs, and inspections, which have little or no code execution. Validation, on the other hand, is an activity that ensures a stakeholder's true needs and expectations are met, focusing on ensuring the product meets their desired outcome. Validation requires code execution and high-level activities like black-box testing, white box testing, and non-functional testing. Both verification and validation are necessary in software development to assure correct results, with verification checking the route taken (specifications) and validation checking if the destination (product) meets expectations.

Cucumber is an open-source software testing tool written in Ruby that enables behavior-driven development (BDD) and facilitates collaboration between developers, QA, and non-technical participants. It uses plain English text to write test cases, serving as documentation, automated tests, and aid to development. Cucumber feature files help non-technical stakeholders engage with testing, while scenarios describe key actions and outcomes, using Given-When-Then structures. Step definitions are defined in Ruby files under features/step_definitions/*_steps.rb, reusing parameters to avoid hard-coded values. The Page Object Pattern is a superior reuse approach for step definitions, mapping UI elements to Ruby classes. Rspec-expectations library provides built-in matchers for testing validation. Cucumber configuration requires specific files, including cucumber.yml, Gemfile, Rakefile, and support/env.rb, which simplify command-line execution and environment setup. A complete test structure involves writing feature files, implementing step definitions, running tests with the cucumber-js executable, and using a simple "hello world" example to demonstrate its usage. Cucumber allows for team collaboration early in planning and development phases, automating only what needs automation at the UI level, and laying a test automation foundation that follows coding standards and design patterns.

Low-code development is increasingly in demand due to its ability to drive innovation through frequent software delivery. However, implementing low-code correctly can be challenging, with three main concerns being lack of oversight creating shadow IT, audits of vendors looking different solutions to solution, and training employees to adopt low-code tools not being welcome. To mitigate these risks, low-code test automation tools are essential in ensuring security compliance, empowering non-technical team members, and accelerating innovation across the software development life cycle.