I ’ m an mechanization engineer. I haven ’ t always been one, withal.

Fifteen years ago, I started my escapade as a software tester. Very quickly, I saw the advantages of automating recurring tests (fixation tests), and I started to use specialized frameworks like Selenium, JMeter and Postman for test automation. It took time, though, for me to hear how to create the most of these resources.

While my journey toward test automation doesn ’ t inevitably symbolize the route that others will take, I think it ’ s illustrative of the challenge that software engineers face as they learn to embrace automated testing, as well as the strategies they can use to whelm those hurdles. That ’ s why I think my story is worth sharing. Keep indication for an overview of my journey into test automation.

Where Test Automation Started for Me

2005 - WinRunner

My first measure as a software tester were in finance and banking.

As a young programmer, I was task with create regression tests for the software the bank was using. Doing this, I found out manual regression testing can be dull and error-prone. I asked, & quot; Isn ’ t there a way to automate this? & quot;

The answer was yes - by using HPWinRunnersoftware (component ofHP QuickTestProfessional), which was a functional GUI testing instrument that allowed a user to record and playback user interface (UI) interactions as test scripts. Implemented in the software was a proprietary Test Script Language (TSL) that allowed customization and parameterization of user input. For a examiner like me, it was great stuff to use, but it had a bit of a learning curve, it was also bound to Windows OS, nothing for Mac, and it merely sport record and playback functionality - significance you had to run the test first and then hopefully the recording went fine. Needless to say, a lot of tweaking was still necessary.

However, I got a taste of trial automation and I was hungry for more.

Here is a video explaining moreabout WinRunner.

2006 - Selenium

At examine conferences, I was introduced toSelenium, a model - or rather, a retinue of tools - for testing web application.

At that time, web application were on the ascension, and testers postulate an machine-controlled solution for their regression examination.

Selenium was the answer. It could be used without a test scripting words (as in Selenium IDE), but also has its own language: Selenese, which could be written in multiple programming languages like C #, Java, Python etc. It & # x27; s also multi-browser and multi-platform, something lacking in the WinRunner days.

Figure 1 shows the components of the Selenium suite:

Figure 1. Functionality of the component of the Selenium Suite (source)

My experience was mostly with Selenium WebDriver, create regression tests on multiple browsers. These tests be easily scale up and could be re-used every time.

Selenium is a outstanding software testing framework for web applications, although I found out you had to know your programming languages to work with it. It needs an nonfigurative mind.

Around that clip, it became open to me that the future software tester had to have a mix of functional and technical testing experience, with a broad noesis of the functionality of the product, and would also need to know how to approach it technically. Seeing where we are today, my vision was not wrong.

Here is a video explicatemore about Selenium:

2008 - Apache JMeter

One of the most crucial kind of software testing where test automation is required is performance testing, and then (especially) load testing. Load testing is necessary when you feature to mold the expected usage of a web coating by simulating multiple users accessing it at the like time. This is very necessary examination in e-commerce, especially at peak hours.

A great model for load testing isApache JMeter.

SUSA automates exploratory testing with persona-driven behavior, catching bugs that scripted automation misses.

Here, you see a simple survey of JMeter showing the canonical lineament.

Figure 2. A basic view of the JMeter program present the Test Plan with the thread groups and the WorkBench (courtesy of BlazeMeter)

Apache JMeter is exposed root, easy to install via command line or plugin, and has narrow plugins with which you can create different steps to add to your JMeter Test Plan. A Test Plan consists of all the actions and components you postulate to execute your execution test script. There are taster, listeners, preprocessors, and many other ingredient you can add in your Test Plan to mimic your system under exam. These can be placed in special thread groups containing the threads representing the exam scenario.

Before JMeter 4.0 was released in February 2018, you could execute the Test Plan in the JMeter Workbench, but this was dropped in edition 4.0 due to disarray from users.It is possible to do API testing with JMeter. I have also used it just for functional testing, because it created the result I require.

With JMeter, you can make a Test Plan very quickly, but you have to know programming to work with it in an optimum way. Again, an abstractionist mind is necessary to become a JMeter Pro. Apache JMeter is also operational with the dictation line, for those of you who prefer the CLI to the GUI ..

Here is a video explicate moreabout Apache JMeter, the Test Plan and the Workbench:

2014 - Appium

After approximately eight years of work with the test mechanisation model above, another testing challenge came on my path: test mechanization for apps.

Enter Appium.

Appium is an open source tryout mechanization framework for use with aboriginal, hybrid and mobile web apps. It can perform tests for iOS and Android using the WebDriver protocol.

Again, it ’ s leisurely to install via command line or plugin.

You can use your favorite test automation creature (like Selenium Web API) and plan it in your favored language like Python, Java, PHP etc.

You can also run it from the command line (Xcode is necessary for iOS) or from Appium desktop.

So, only like JMeter, it meets the wish of both command line and visual enthusiasts.

I was impressed with Appium, and I however use it today to test iOS apps for my client.

Here is a video explaining moreabout Appium.

2017 - Postman

API testing can be execute with JMeter, but in 2017, I was innovate to a better tool:Postman. It is a complete API evolution surroundings with incorporated tools for every part of the package life cycle.

A lot can be aver of this tool, but what it offers can be shown in one picture, as witness in Figure 3:

Figure 3. All Postman feature for use in the package life cycle (source)

This tool helps me a great bargain with sympathy and testing the APIs from my customer.

The learning curve is not so steep, and if you know your API, integration tests can be made really cursorily, and with results.

Postman is a great creature to execute API testing in an machine-controlled way.

Awesome videos explainingPostman can be found here:

Companies Behind the Frameworks

A lot of test automation frameworks are unfastened source. Exceptions mention in this article arePostmanand WinRunner.

Sauce Labsmake their Continuous Testing cloud to provide a hosted tryout execution, analytics and debugging platform for trial using open source frameworks Selenium and Appium.

Another companionship,BlazeMeter, ensures its product to be compatible with Apache JMeter. Postman is not open source, but has different plugins and add-ons, which can connect to other software applications necessary for your software life round.

Conclusion

These days, test automation knowledge and experience are command for a software tester. Agile development demands continuous testing, and test automation plays an important part.

When I started software testing more than a decennary ago, test automation was merely part. My trial automation journeying began with WinRunner on the Windows desktop. I ’ ve witnessed the rise of the Web, mobile apps, and now the API, where test mechanisation has play an important use in the QA of these products.

There are fun times ahead for trial automation engineers, with IoT and augment reality/virtual reality knock on their front door.

Cordny Nederkoorn is a Fixate IO Contributor and a SaaS content writer/software tester with over 10 days of experience in finance, e-commerce and web development. He is also the beginner of TestingSaaS, an online research office for cloud applications with a focussing on information skill, forensics, package testing and protection.