August 2021 Summaries

The article provides a comprehensive guide on implementing JavaScript wait functions within Selenium WebDriver for test automation, emphasizing that using the sleep function is not a best practice. Instead, it explores solutions such as Async/Await, setTimeout(), and Promises to introduce asynchronous operations in JavaScript. It explains the differences between synchronous and asynchronous code, detailing how callbacks, Promises, and Async/Await can overcome the limitations of JavaScript's single-threaded nature by allowing code to run concurrently without blocking the main thread. The piece also includes practical examples of using Selenium WebDriver with JavaScript to automate browser actions, leveraging LambdaTest's cloud-based Selenium Grid for running tests across different environments. Through step-by-step instructions, it illustrates setting up a Selenium project and writing tests using Async/Await, ultimately enhancing test efficiency and readability.

The digital transformation trend is driving changes in automation testing, enabling organizations to stay competitive in today's rapidly changing market. Digital-first organizations are adopting digital technology into critical business functions, transforming the way businesses work and bringing about faster product delivery cycles. Automation testing has played a significant role in facilitating digital transformation and meeting customer expectations. The QA Community of Practice (CoP) is emerging as a critical key change-maker for digital-first organizations, focusing on building a culture that emphasizes continuous transformation of QA practice. Web-based testing approaches are effective in obtaining vital customer inputs, while browser compatibility testing is crucial to ensure a seamless user experience across various devices and browsers. DevSecOps aims to improve deployment frequency, team culture, and collaboration, with the role of QA engineers being critical in ensuring security mechanisms are in place. The LambdaTest platform is a top-notch solution for automation testing, offering features such as cloud-based Selenium automation testing, Cypress testing at scale, and automation logs to resolve bugs quickly.

Impact-driven automation testing for eCommerce websites highlights the unique challenges and considerations within software testing, emphasizing the need for tailored automation approaches. As eCommerce sales surged over 30% in 2020, companies like Target, Amazon, and Walmart have intensified their engineering efforts, making robust QA practices essential for sustaining online revenue. Key insights include the necessity of data-driven testing, which involves using real-world user data to craft relevant test scenarios and leveraging cloud-based tools like LambdaTest for enhanced cross-platform testing visibility. Additionally, the article underscores the importance of thinking like a user but testing with an engineer's precision to avoid dependency-related test failures, advocating for direct database interactions over UI testing where possible. Feature flags are recommended for safely isolating new features in production, allowing for more confident releases. Overall, the article provides automation engineers with best practices to ensure effective testing and development in the rapidly evolving eCommerce domain.

In the comparison of CSS Grid and Bootstrap, both serve as critical tools for web developers in designing responsive and efficient layouts, but each has distinct applications and advantages. CSS Grid, inspired by print layouts, offers two-dimensional control over the placement of elements, allowing for precise organization across both rows and columns, which is ideal for static and symmetric designs. It excels in scenarios requiring complex layouts with overlapping or asymmetric content and benefits from its native CSS implementation, which can enhance loading speeds and reduce project complexity. Conversely, Bootstrap, built on a Flexbox-based grid system, provides a more flexible, one-dimensional layout control, which is excellent for creating responsive designs that adapt well to different screen sizes with predefined breakpoints. Although Bootstrap may require more markup, it simplifies the development of dynamic layouts with its twelve-column grid system and is favored for projects needing rapid development and flexibility. Both frameworks offer capabilities for ordering and aligning items, but CSS Grid is often preferred for projects demanding more control over layout precision, while Bootstrap is valued for its flexibility and ease of use in creating responsive designs.

The article serves as a comprehensive guide to using Selenium with Python for web automation testing, emphasizing Python's popularity due to its simple syntax and efficiency in code writing. It explains the benefits of combining Python with Selenium, an open-source framework for automating interactions with web elements, and provides a detailed cheat sheet of commands and methods for various tasks such as initializing drivers, setting browser options, locating elements, handling pop-ups, and managing cookies. The guide also covers how to install the Selenium WebDriver package using PyPI, and suggests LambdaTest for running test scripts over a Selenium Grid online. The cheat sheet is intended as a quick reference for developers working on cross-browser compatibility testing and includes examples for using different Selenium WebDriver functionalities, such as implicit and explicit waits, interacting with iFrames, and capturing screenshots. The article concludes by encouraging the use of Python for complex Selenium operations and invites feedback on additional commands that could enhance the cheat sheet, promoting further engagement with Selenium Python testing.

The article explores the integration of Cypress and Google Lighthouse for web performance testing, emphasizing the importance of optimizing website performance in light of increasing reliance on digital platforms during the pandemic. It highlights the necessity of maintaining quick load times to prevent user attrition and underscores the use of performance metrics like First Contentful Paint and Time to Interactive. The text details how to use the cypress-audit plugin to incorporate Lighthouse audits into Cypress tests, facilitating automated performance testing that can identify and rectify performance bottlenecks. It also introduces the Cypress-Lighthouse plugin as an alternative for performance testing. The article stresses the benefits of using these tools to enhance user experience and search engine rankings, while also mentioning practical steps for implementing these testing methodologies effectively.

The article provides a detailed tutorial on using annotations in the Cucumber framework, an open-source Behavior Driven Development (BDD) tool that aids Selenium test automation. It elaborates on managing multiple scenarios across various feature files using Cucumber's utilities like tags, hooks, and the Background keyword. Tags help in executing or excluding specific test scenarios, while hooks, similar to TestNG annotations, are used to execute code before or after test scenarios. The Background keyword allows for the execution of common steps before each scenario in a feature file. The tutorial includes examples of test execution using logical operators and setting execution order for hooks, demonstrating how these features can optimize test automation projects. It also highlights how parallel execution can be achieved using the Maven Surefire Plugin and cloud platforms like LambdaTest for enhanced test coverage. Overall, the guide illustrates how to leverage Cucumber annotations to streamline Selenium test automation processes.

The launch of native mobile app testing on LambdaTest provides developers and businesses with a streamlined solution to ensure app quality and user experience across various platforms. As mobile apps become vital in the competitive digital economy, with projected revenues exceeding 935 billion U.S. dollars by 2023, thorough testing is crucial to overcome challenges like app abandonment and conversion rate drops. LambdaTest facilitates this by offering an array of emulators and simulators for Android and iOS apps, allowing users to perform detailed tests, identify bugs quickly, and ensure timely market releases. Existing users can access these new testing features at no additional cost, making it an attractive option for those seeking efficient ways to enhance their app's performance and reliability.

"How To Find Broken Links Using Cypress [With Examples]" ` Finding broken links on a website is essential to reduce bounce rates, improve user experience, and maintain SEO rankings. Cypress is a suitable test automation framework for this task due to its simplicity and ease of implementation compared to other frameworks like Selenium. Cypress changes its host URL to match the URL of the Application Under Test (AUT), making it easier to navigate links with the same superdomain. To find broken links, one can use the following approaches: 1) clicking on every page and checking specific assertions, 2) using loops to iterate through pages, or 3) using Cypress commands like `cy.get` and `cy.location` to check HTTP status codes. Cypress testing on cloud grid like LambdaTest helps in running tests on a wide range of browser and OS combinations, achieving optimal test coverage without modifying the core logic of the test code. By incorporating Cypress tests as part of continuous testing, website owners can proactively monitor links and stay ahead of the competition.

LambdaTest hosted a webinar on "Scalable and Reliable Cross Browser Testing With Cypress Framework" in association with Narayanan Palani, a best-selling author and chapter lead of a major financial institution. The webinar aimed to help QA engineers understand the benefits of using Cypress for automation testing and how it can be used effectively for end-to-end functional/UI testing. Cypress is an open-source JavaScript-based automation testing framework that provides full-stack testing capabilities, making it suitable for both testers and front-end engineers. The webinar covered installation of Cypress, benefits over Selenium, running tests on LambdaTest Grid, and a Q/A session.

JUnit 5 extensions are a powerful feature that allows developers to extend and configure unit test behavior in their projects. These extensions can be used for various purposes, such as integrating with other testing frameworks or libraries, customizing the way tests run, or adding new capabilities to the existing JUnit 5 functionality. In this guide, we have covered some of the most commonly used JUnit 5 extension points and their respective use cases. We have also demonstrated how these extension points can be utilized in conjunction with popular testing frameworks like Mockito, Selenium, and Spring TestContext to enhance test capabilities and improve overall test quality. We hope that this guide has provided you with a comprehensive understanding of JUnit 5 extensions and their practical applications. If you have any questions or feedback regarding the content presented herein, please feel free to reach out to us. We would be more than happy to assist you in your journey towards mastering JUnit 5 testing framework. Automate Your Website Tests Now, Claim 100 Minutes Free Start Free Testing X Ghislain Kalonji Mukendi QA and Devops Engineer helping companies set up processes, tools and teams from scratch and help them scale to ISO 9001 quality management.```

In July 2021, LambdaTest introduced live mobile app testing support for Android emulators and iOS simulators, enabling users to test apps on different devices and OS versions without owning a real device. The company also added new browsers in automation, including the latest Opera browser versions and Selenium 4.0 support. Additionally, Microsoft Silverlight was made available for real-time testing on Internet Explorer 11 and Safari 9. LambdaTest also introduced support for Network HAR logs on Android 10 emulators. The company plans to release more features in the coming months.