Complete Guide for Test Automation Framework

In today's world if you google “Best framework for automation” you will receive close to millions of google pages which share information about the latest automation frameworks available in the market. What does this mean? It means that the most annoying thing for QAs is to decide which framework to use when they want to automate the tests.

Doest matter if you are beginner or pro testers, you have to start from the scratch and that can make life difficult. In this blog, we will discuss what test automation is, its uses, and its benefits. We will talk about the six best automation frameworks out there which can help you to speed up your tasks.

What is Test Automation?

In the software quality assurance world, the most buzzing area is test automation. Automation in tests basically allows the manual testers to re-run the same tests for several instances with much higher speed and low human intervention. As the human intervention is low, it allows to validate the behaviour of the software in a much quicker rate.

Automation testers write the scripts for the tasks which they want to perform. This allows the organization to reproduce human interaction in a much quicker way. It can be expensive at first but the return of investment over time will surpass the organization’s expectations.?

Automation Framework and its Purpose

Automation frameworks are similar to software development frameworks like laravel and Django. It comes with different tools, protocols, coding standards, abundant resources, and various mechanisms which will help your testing environment. As always it's not a mandatory highway that you need to travel but it's a helpful tool that will make your testing journey smooth, fast, and provide effective results.

The purpose of the automation framework is to allow the organization to lower the project's costs by fixing and detecting any bugs. The vital purpose of this framework is to lower human intervention and speed up the testing process without hampering the quality. Along with that, testers can write scripts that allow them to reuse the code and enhance the test execution speed. It also decreases maintenance costs.?

Types of Automation Framework

Liner Testing Framework:

Pros:?

- Easy to learn.

- No actual requirements to code.

- Beginners find it useful as it's easy for them to learn.

- Liner generation scripts which makes it easy to understand.

?Cons:

- Tough to maintain

- Code redundancy?

Modular Based Testing Framework:

Pros:

- Quick to build and run.

- Less construction cost.

- It's easy to maintain it.

Cons:

- Highly complex and requires good programming knowledge.

Library Architecture Testing Framework:

Pros:

- The main benefit of using this framework is that it's easy to maintain it and the reusability factor is much higher.

Cons:

- It takes much longer time while building the scripts.

- It also requires good technical skills.

Data-Driven Testing Framework:

Pros:

- Easy to maintain as data doesn't reside in the code.

- Can run multiple times just by changing the values of the data.

Cons:

- Takes much higher time while designing it initially and it requires professionals with good programming skills

Keyword-Driven Testing Framework

Pros:

- The vital benefit of this framework is that testers don't require any programming knowledge.?

Non-technical testers or manual testers can easily write test scripts for automation after the framework is set up.

- High reusability

Cons:

- Much higher time required to build the initial framework which requires testers with good programming skills.

Hybrid Testing Framework:

There might come a time when you feel like, man,? there should be some way through which we can utilize all the benefits of the different frameworks without a need to deal with their cons. Well, good news folks! Hybrid testing allows the testers to do exactly that. It's a combination of two or more frameworks that allows the organization to take full benefits of its testing framework.

How to choose the Perfect Automation Framework?

Well, there is no one way to decide which framework will allow the organization to reap maximum rewards but the below tips might help you to decide:

* First thing first, have a good look at your requirements and then carve your automation path.

* Generally, not all the layers of the software products require automation so consider which layers are most vital for the automation.

* Also decide which tests will be automated.

* Narrow down your selection criteria which will allow you to choose the automation framework

Concluding Thoughts

The main purpose of this article was to impart wisdom regarding automation testing and its frameworks along with their benefits and disadvantages. At the end of the day, no two frameworks are the same and thus it's vital that all the company requirements and automation strategies are finalized which will narrow down your choices which ultimately help you to make the final decision.

By - Hetal Patel