What is an automated testing framework?
An automated testing framework is a scaffolding that provides an execution environment for automated test scripts. Frameworks provide users with various advantages that help them effectively develop, execute, and report automated test scripts. It's more like a system created specifically to automate an organization's testing. In short, we can say that a framework is a constructive mix of various guidelines, coding standards, concepts, processes, practices, project hierarchies, modularity, reporting mechanisms, test data injection, etc. to support automated testing. Therefore, users can follow these guidelines when automating applications to take advantage of various productive results.
These advantages can be in different forms like ease of scripting, scalability, modularity, understandability, process definition, reusability, cost, maintenance, etc. Therefore, to be able to reap these benefits, it is recommended that developers use one or more automated testing frameworks. Also, when there is a group of developers working on different modules of the same application, and when we want to avoid each developer implementing their own automation method, a unified standard test automation framework is needed.
Types of automated testing frameworks
Automated testing frameworks in the market may vary by supporting different key factors such as reusability, ease of maintenance, etc. Such as the following types:
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Module-Based Testing Framework
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Test Library Architecture Framework
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Data Driven Testing Framework
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Keyword Driven Testing Framework
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Hybrid Testing Framework
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Behavior Driven Development Framework
Advantages of automated testing frameworks
Apart from the minimal manual intervention required for automated testing, there are many advantages to using a test automation framework:
- Faster time to market:
Using a good test automation framework helps to reduce the time to market of the application by allowing continuous execution of test cases. Once automated, the test library will perform faster and last longer than manual tests.
- Early defect detection:
Documentation of software defects becomes considerably easier for testing teams. It increases overall development speed while ensuring correct functionality across regions. The earlier the problem is found, the lower the cost of resolution, and the higher the benefit of using an automated testing framework.
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Improve testing efficiency: Testing occupies an important part of the entire development life cycle. Even the slightest improvement in overall efficiency can have a huge impact on the overall time frame of the project. Despite the longer setup time initially, automated testing ends up taking up far less time. They can run virtually unattended, with results monitored at the very end of the process.
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Higher ROI: While the initial investment may be higher, automated testing can save organizations money in the long run. This is due to the reduced time required to run tests, resulting in higher quality work. This in turn reduces the probability of failure after release, thereby reducing project costs.
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Higher test coverage: In automated testing, more tests can be performed on the application, which leads to higher test coverage. Increasing the test coverage allows testing more features and the quality of the application.
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Reusability of automated testing: In test automation, the repeatability of test cases can help software developers to evaluate the program's response, and relatively simple setup configuration. Automated test cases can be used in different ways because they are reusable.
Top 10 Automation Testing Frameworks
1. Robot Framework
If you want to use python test automation framework in test automation work, Robot framework is the best choice. Robot Framework is based on Python, but Jython (Java) or IronPython (.NET) can also be used. Robot Framework uses a keyword-driven approach to simplify test creation. Robot Framework can also test MongoDB, FTP, Android, Appium, etc. It has many testing libraries including Selenium WebDriver library and other useful tools. It has a lot of APIs to help it extend as much as possible. The keyword approach used by Robot Framework is useful for testers who are already familiar with other vendor-based keyword-driven testing tools, making the transition to open source easier.
2. Network driver (WebDriverIO)
WebdriverIO is an automated testing framework based on Node.js. It has an integrated test runner that can run automated tests for web applications and native mobile applications. At the same time, it can run on the WebDriver protocol and the Chrome Devtools protocol, making it effective for both Selenium WebDriver-based cross-browser testing or Chromium-based automation. Since WebDriverIO is open source, you get a bunch of plugins for your automation needs. "Wdio Setup Wizard" makes installation simple and easy.
3.Citrus
Citrus is an open source framework with which you can automate integration testing of any messaging protocol or data format. For any type of messaging such as REST, HTTP, SOAP or JMS, the Citrus framework will be suitable for testing messaging integrations. If you need to interact with the user interface and then validate the backend process, then Citrus can be integrated with Selenium. For example, if you have to click a "Send Email" button and verify on the backend that the email was received, Citrus can receive this email or UI triggered JMS communication and verify the backend result, all in one test completed.
4.Cypress
Cypress is a developer-centric test automation framework that makes test-driven development (TDD) a reality for developers. It was designed on the principle of being able to package and bundle everything, making the whole end-to-end testing experience pleasant and easy. Cypress has a different architecture than Selenium; Selenium WebDriver runs remotely outside the browser, while Cypress runs inside the browser. This approach helps to understand everything going on inside and outside the browser, giving more consistent results. It doesn't require you to deal with object serialization or wire protocols, while giving you native access to each object. When you pull your app into the browser, Cypress can synchronously notify you of every single thing that happens inside the browser so you can natively access every DOM element. It also makes it easy to put a debugger in the application, which in turn makes it easier to use the developer tools.
5.Selenium
One of the most popular open source test automation frameworks for web applications. Selenium can also serve as the basis for many other testing tools because of its cross-platform and cross-browser capabilities. Selenium supports multiple programming languages such as Java, C#, PHP, Python, Ruby, etc. It is easy to maintain as it has one of the largest online support networks. Selenium is highly extensible with a wide range of libraries and APIs to suit everyone's wants and needs. Selenium is preferred by testers as it enables writing more advanced test scripts for various levels of complexity. It provides a playback facility for test writing without the need to learn a specific scripting language.
6. Cucumber
It is a cross-platform behavior-driven development (BDD) tool for writing acceptance tests for web applications. Cucumber makes it quick and easy to set up execution and allows code to be reused in tests. It supports languages like Python, PHP, Perl, .NET, Scala, Groovy, etc. to automate function validation in an easy-to-read and understandable format. A nice feature is that both specification and test documents are uploaded in one up-to-date document. Cucumber makes it easier for business stakeholders who are not familiar with testing to read the code, as they can easily read the code because the test reports are written in business-readable English. The code can be used with other frameworks like Selenium, Watir, Capybara, etc.
7.Gauge
It is an open source tool-agnostic test automation framework for Mac, Linux and Windows. People who work with TDD and BDD will appreciate Gauge's focus on creating dynamic/executable documents. Specification - Gauge automated tests are written in markdown languages of C, Java and Ruby in existing IDEs such as Visual Studio and Eclipse. Gauge's functionality can also be extended through support for plugins. It was developed as a BYOT (bring your own tool) framework. So you can use Selenium, or any other tool to drive test UI or API tests. If you want a readable non-BDD approach to automation, you should try Gauge.
8.Serenity
If you're looking for a Java-based framework that integrates with behavior-driven development (BDD) tools like cumber and JBehave, then Serenity might be the tool for you. Its purpose is to make it easier to write automated acceptance and regression tests. It also allows you to keep test scenarios at a high level while accommodating lower level implementation details in reports.
Serenity acts as a wrapper around Selenium WebDriver and BDD tools. It abstracts a lot of boilerplate code that you sometimes need to write, which makes writing BDD and Selenium tests easier.
Serenity also offers a ton of built-in features like handling tests running in parallel, WebDriver management, taking screenshots, managing state between steps, facilitating Jira integration, all without writing a single line of code.
9.Carina
Carina is built using popular open source solutions such as Appium, TestNG and Selenium, which reduces the dependency on a specific technology stack. You can test mobile applications (native, web, hybrid), web applications, REST services and databases. The Carina framework supports different types of databases such as MySQL, sqlserver, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc., and provides an amazing experience of implementing the DAO layer with the MyBatis ORM framework. It supports all popular browsers and mobile devices, and reuses test automation code up to 80% between IOS/Android. API testing is based on the Freemarker templating engine, which provides great flexibility in generating REST requests. Carina is cross-platform and can easily perform tests on Unix or Windows operating systems.
10.ZTF
Zentao Testing Framework, referred to as ZTF, is an open source automated test management framework. Compared with the existing automated testing frameworks on the market, ZTF focuses more on the management functions of automated testing. ZTF provides the definition, management, drive, return of execution results, bug creation and integration with other automated testing frameworks for automated test scripts. ZTF is developed in go language and can support various platforms. ZTF supports common programming languages, and you can choose your preferred language to develop automated test scripts. The ZTF automated testing tool developed by ZenTao can well drive 8 unit test frameworks and 3 automated test frameworks to execute tests, and send the final results back to ZenTao for unified report display. Zen Road ZTF bridges the gap between project management and continuous integration tools, and runs through different stages of the DevOps life cycle such as continuous integration, continuous testing, and continuous deployment.
Summarize
Most of the tools listed above are mature and popular, and they use AI/ML to provide test automation capabilities to solve the rapid delivery and quality challenges that organizations are facing today. This list also includes tools that provide API and service testing, which are critical to a successful DevOps transformation. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, no-code, big data, and IoT testing are improving the efficiency of test automation while also creating opportunities for existing tools and new players to bring value to the testing community.
The choice of automation tools should not only meet current needs, but also focus on potential trends and improvements.
An effective test automation tool should support basic optimization, data generation, smarter solutions and analytics. So far, the level of test automation in organizations is low, between 14% and 18%.
But organizations are striving to increase automation coverage to 80%. API and service testing are also trends in the future.
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