Arquillian / The Future of Automation Testing: Trends to Watch

Since its initial introduction, automation testing has revolutionized a lot to keep up with the ever-changing demands of the modern application development industry. For instance, it has gone through various new trends, additions, and updating processes to improve the simplicity and effectiveness of the automation testing process.

Moreover, with the help of modern automation test cases, the application developers can ensure that the individual elements of a web application are functioning properly, and they do not hamper the integrated performance of the application as a whole.

Advanced automation test cases also allow the application developers to verify the impact of new features on the existing ones. However, we can also say that automation testing will continue to revolutionize as the requirements of the end users will never remain standstill.

So, with the help of this article, we are going to analyze the future of automation testing. We'll also have a brief look at some of the trends that all modern developers and testers must be aware of. Finally, we'll wrap up our discussion by having a look at some of the best tools and platforms that can help developers in the automation testing process.

The Base of Test Automation

To understand the modern nature of automation testing and also its perspective influence on the application development industry, app developers must have a different idea about the basics of test automation. In simple terms, we can say that it is the process of eliminating the involvement of human developers in the application testing life cycle.

As a substitute, the system will use a series of text files that will consist of important data sets, parameters, and other relevant information that will allow it to communicate and interact with the application like a normal user. Based on these interactions, the system can automatically generate a test report showing the usability, user interactivity, and stability of the application. The application developers can also make significant changes in the test file of automation testing to ensure that the results are customized according to the requirements of the application undergoing the development process.

We would also like to mention that one of the major benefits of automation testing is its reusability. This is because the application developers can reuse almost 60% of the existing automation test code in future app development projects. The process of storing and maintaining the test cases is also very simple to adapt.

However, we cannot eliminate the massive initial investment that comes with the integration of test automation. This investment will cover all the expenses including various tools, plugins, and libraries that are critical to ensure the smooth execution of this testing process. So, we suggest that all the app development companies must have enough resources and revenue to justify their transition to automation testing.

Benefits of Test Automation

Application developers need to have a clear idea of the major advantages of using automation testing. Based on our research and understanding, we have created a list of some of how automation testing can benefit the modern application test bench:

• Automation testing helps app developers to conduct their repetitive test cases in the application development process. This means the app developers can focus on creative ideas like developing new features that can be added in future updates.
• With the help of automation testing, app development companies can massively improve their test coverage and increase their prospective user base.
• Experts believe that automation testing must be considered a long-term investment. This is because, with the help of test automation, companies can eliminate the need of having a manual test bench. This means that automated test cases will benefit the testing processes in the long run.
• With the help of test automation, application development companies can synchronize the efforts between their development, testing, and production teams. This means that it can help to massively reduce the overall time for the application development life cycle.

Automation Testing Trends to Watch

Currently automation testing is in such a phase that it has various revolutionary trends influencing the testing experience for the new developers. So, we have created a list of some of the most common trends that all app developers and testers must be aware of. They are as follows:

• Automation testing is in such a phase, in which it is prioritizing the shift left testing. It is the process of executing the testing process at an earlier stage of the development cycle. With the help of continuous integration throughout the development process, automation testing can help promote this practice. The primary motive of this approach is to reduce the overall time and effort required to complete the application testing process.
• Modern automation testing practices require the integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence. This is a great way of improving the efficiency of the test cases. Moreover, intelligent automation test cases use various forms of AI algorithms to understand the behavior of the end users and also predict certain failure points for the application. With the help of this technology, app developers can also automatically generate automation test cases based on the requirements and target audience of the application. This trend is yet another effort to drastically reduce human involvement in the application testing process.
• Various DevOps and continuous testing practices focus on quick delivery and the robust scalability of automation test cases. All the test automation frameworks and tools are continuously evolving so that they can support continuous testing practices. In this process, the app developers have to integrate their testing process into the development pipeline so that they can provide immediate feedback about the quality of the application at any stage. With the help of this trend, app developers can ensure that they can quickly release the app to the market without any errors or bugs.
• The integration of Agile and cloud-based environments is another important addition to modern automation testing trends. Automation testing is also adapting to these environments with the help of seamless integration through multiple Agile and cloud-based tools. The integration of such a framework will allow the developers to access efficient test management reporting and execution features. Moreover, access to various dynamic and distributed development environments will guarantee a faster and more flexible testing approach. We'll learn more about the influence of various cloud-based platforms on automation testing in the later part of this article.
• Mobile devices are gaining a lot of popularity in recent times. Various surveys have revealed that more than 55% of Internet traffic comes from mobile devices. So, app development companies can no longer overlook the importance of mobile devices in the form of an expanding market. It's also important to incorporate automation testing practices when the app developers are working on the mobile platform. The Internet of Things devices is yet another increasing market from a developer's point of view. So, it's important to create such automation test cases that can handle complex scenarios on these multiple connected devices. Moreover, app developers need to use real device testing while working with these platforms that have huge variations.
• App developers need to adopt the codeless testing trend. With this trend, application developers can refrain from writing automation test cases manually. For instance, the Selenium Integrated Development Environment helps app developers to create automation test cases based on real user interactions. This means that while using this tool, app developers only have to interact with the application like a normal user. Based on these interactions, the system will continue to generate the test cases in real-time. Since the test cases are generated on real user interactions, they're highly accurate in understanding the behavior of the app based on multiple use case scenarios.

Inclusion of Platforms and Tools with Automated Test Cases

There are thousands of tools and platforms easily available in the market which can benefit the automation testing experience for new developers and testers. This is because, with the help of these tools, the developers can not only simplify the application development process but also add additional features for improving the quality of the app. We can consider the example of cloud platforms that remove the headache of having an on-site device lab. App development companies usually have access to these labs to verify the performance of the application based on the physical parameters of a device. However, with the help of cloud platforms, it is possible to conduct similar test cases on remote servers. This is because remote servers grant access to hundreds of real devices through the internet.

Cloud-based testing also means that app developers do not have to rely on any geolocation barriers and can run test cases from anywhere in the world. Moreover, it is possible to access hundreds of legacy devices that are no longer available in the market. We can further learn about the influence of cloud-based digital experience testing platforms in the modern app market by bringing in LambdaTest: For the basic information regarding LambdaTest, we can say that it is a modern cloud-based digital experience testing platform for web and mobile applications. It stands up to the expectations of the modern app development industry by ensuring the stability of the app irrespective of the user’s shift in the operating system, browser version, or any other device parameters.

LambdaTest has various advanced features like parallel test execution to improve the efficiency of the test cases by multiple times. While working with this platform, the developers can access the automation test cases from multiple popular frameworks and test suites like Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright. We would like to mention that with the help of parallel test execution, it is possible to run the selenium test cases on more than 3000 modern browsers simultaneously.

Finally, LambdaTest is capable of generating highly accurate test reports by integrating multiple results from real devices and thousands of simulation softwares.

The Conclusion

With this article, we aim to spread proper awareness regarding the importance of automation testing in the modern app development market. Considering the current trend, we can easily conclude that automation testing will become one of the most dominant factors in the coming years.

So, it is very important for the app developers to not only adopt this trend but also continue updating themselves regarding all the new additions in this segment. The app companies can also contribute to this transition by conducting several awareness campaigns and seminars to distribute the required knowledge. Finally, the app developers must have clear knowledge about the requirements of their target audience to customize the app experience. It is also important to choose the correct tool that can add up to the preferences and requirements of the project.