When it comes to testing, automation cannot be avoided, and when it comes to automation, you have to talk about UI and interface automation. This article will talk about some thoughts about UI automation.
The ultimate goal of UI automation should be to bring value.
I personally think that the ultimate purpose of UI automation is to bring us value, and the input-output ratio is very important. If we invest a lot of manpower in a project to realize UI automation, but finally find that it does not bring much value, this is undoubtedly a mistake. A waste of resources.
The bosses of some teams may pursue automation for the sake of automation. Automation sounds very high-level. No matter what happens, we decide that we will also do it. There is no specific analysis of demand and input-output ratio, so we just start doing it. I met a leader who said this, saying that the automation on the market is already very mature, and what kind of automation is needed in the shortest time.
Some teams also engage in automation for the sake of KPIs, only to find out that it does not work or is worthless and stop halfway. This has happened to our team before, and the new quarter goal set the UI automation coverage of the project to reach 30% of the pages. After a period of time, the problem was discovered, the requirements changed too frequently, the page maintenance cost was too high, and there was no output value, so it had to be stopped.
Implement UI automation after the goal is clear
The implementation of UI automation emphasizes the goal. You must not start UI automation blindly. Many UI automation tests fail because of setting unreasonable goals, not having a clear understanding of automation, and thinking that automation can accomplish everything. So before implementing automation, you must clearly understand what is the goal of implementing UI automation? Is it to improve work efficiency? Is it to improve quality? Is it to report innovation and get good performance? Or to improve the ability of the team? After clarifying the goal, confirm whether to implement it.
Management goals in the team
In actual work, there are many team members who have ideas and want to continue to grow. Even if the company does not engage in automated testing, they have been learning automation technology. They hope that one day they can show their skills and engage in automation to create more value for the company. ; Or the improvement of one's own ability, as a technical reserve, becomes a bargaining chip for improving oneself when changing jobs in the future. In response to this situation, if automation can be used internally as an entry point for the overall technical improvement of team members and a fusion point for business efficiency and quality improvement, it will be able to meet the needs of members and improve the overall level of the team. Improve quality and increase efficiency.
Personal past practical experience
I once implemented UI automation testing on the mobile terminal of the project in the company, covering some page operations that need to be performed manually before each project release. Realize online inspection to ensure the smooth flow of business processes. Reduce human expenditure for regression testing.
The experience brought by personal practice, I once wrote a script that automatically completes tasks to collect points, instead of manually completing tasks by myself. Put it on the server and run it regularly to help friends and colleagues get a lot of points. Later, the platform may detect that we use scripts to complete the task, and force the task method and point acquisition rules to be changed (*❦ω❦), and the script will also be updated later .
Helped a friend to write a script for the app to get points for doing tasks, and realized the function of automatically completing tasks and earning points.
I also wrote some scripts for grabbing tickets, grabbing notes and other daily applications. These are some practical values brought by the application of automation technology.
at last
UI automation can give people illusions, and we must see reality and value clearly.
UI automation is a capability that can be used but not without.
UI automation is a technology, and to make good use of it requires us to continue to explore and practice.