The Automated Testing Handbook

by Linda G. Hayes

The Automated Testing Handbook
The Automated Testing Handbook About the Author Introduction Why automate? When not to automate How not to automate Setting realistic expectations Getting and keeping management commitment Terminology Fundamentals of Test Automation Maintainability Optimization Independence Modularity Context Synchronization Documentation The Test Framework Common functions Standard tests Test templates Application Map Test Library Management Change Control Version Control Configuration Management 1 3 3 4 8 9 10 15 17 19 20 22 23 25 26 29 30 32 32 37 39 41 44 44 45 46

Selecting a Test Automation Approach Capture/Playback Structure Advantages Disadvantages Comparison
Automation can help this by allowing you to accumulate your test cases over the life of the application so that both existing and new features can always be tested.

Ironically, when test time is short, testers will often sacrifice regression testing in favor of testing new features. The irony is that

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the greatest risk to the user is in the existing features, not the new ones! If something the customer is already doing stops working – or worse, starts doing the wrong thing – then you could halt operations. The loss of a new feature may be inconvenient or even embarrassing, but it is unlikely to be devastating. But this benefit will be lost if the automated tests are not designed to be maintainable as the application changes. If they either have to be rewritten or require significant modifications to be reused, you will keep starting over instead of building on prior efforts. Therefore, it is essential to adopt an approach to test library design that supports maintainability over the life of the application.

Leverage

True leverage from automated tests comes not only from repeating a test that was captured while performed manually, but from executing tests that were never performed manually at all. For example, by generating test cases programmatically, you could yield thousands or more - when only hundreds might be possible with manual resources. Enjoying