What is Automation? "Automation" - Wikipedia states, "is the use of software separate from the software being tested to control the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted outcomes. Test Automation can automate some repetitive but necessary tasks in a formalised testing process already in place or perform additional testing that…
With the lessons we learnt from part 1, we can now go ahead and write some example tests. Let's say for example, we want to test the 'hamburger' menu on the maps app. Using our Appium inspector, we can utilise the 'tap with co-ordinates' feature to tap on that menu element, while we record the…
"R2D2! You know better than to trust a strange computer!" - C3-PO Wise words there from one-half of the comedy-duo element of the Star Wars franchise. It's why we test stuff... but where to start? Goal This tutorial will hopefully help to give a 'start-from-scratch' overview of testing Android apps using arguably the most popular…
It's been a while since I wrote the first 2 parts to this blog piece. During that time, I have seen and read various posts and articles from the testing community that have the stance that BDD is all about testing, or at least they muddy the waters by using phrases like "BDD Testing", and…
In part 1, on the need for collaboration, I mentioned the idea of shifting testing left; an old idea that has only really gained traction fairly recently. This is the process of involving the entire team, cross-functionally, in the assurance of quality as early as possible - rather than it being solely the testers 'problem'…
Back in 2001, Larry Smith coined the phrase "Shift Testing Left; Test early, test often" - the idea of breaking test and development silos and involving more and more upstream teams/functions in the process of ensuring quality earlier in the lifecycle. Yes, the idea is THAT old. In fact, most of the 'new' or 'Agile'…
Background Over the years I've had the chance to play with many tools and frameworks. When I started out writing automated tests I was keen to bring as much of my Object Oriented Programming knowledge to the task as I could. Back then, I was still learning really... and I made mistakes. One such mistake…
PACT /pakt/ noun noun: pact; plural noun: pacts a formal agreement between individuals or parties. Origin late Middle English: from Old French, from Latin pactum ‘something agreed’, neuter past participle (used as a noun) of paciscere ‘agree’. Pact from Pact Foundation is designed to be a dependable testing method for integration points, such as API's and microservices, for development teams concerned…
End-to-end testing. It's likely most testers least favourite part of their job, and likely a task that most developers actively hate. Flaky, brittle tests, tools that fail to provide consistent results, stakeholders insisting on a 'test all the things' approach (that's for another post later). Hands up any tester reading this who has had their…
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