Tuesday, 23 December 2014

The Future of Selenium Automation Testing

selenium web testing, selenium test automation, hire selenium testersAutomated testing is replacing the manual process gradually as it increases effectiveness as well as efficiency. In this regard, the Selenium Automation Testing has become popular with the developers. Selenium is an open source tool that receives huge support from the developers. In fact, in the recent years, it has developed as a popular automation testing tool as organizations are increasingly adopting it as software testing tools commercially. The major factor why it is so popular is because of the cost. Enterprises today are opting for cutting costs. Under such circumstances, Selenium proves to be a better tool when compared to the costlier ones. Open source is always a cost effective, long term solution even if it comes with a steep learning curve.

There are various reasons why the future of Selenium looks quite promising. Every organization is looking forward to optimize the feel, look as well as performance of the apps in order to deliver an impressive user experience. In this regard, Selenium testing is perfect. Other reasons are as following:

Free and open source: It was released under Apache 2.0 license by ThoughtWork. Therefore, the framework is open source and it is conveniently downloaded by the users. Moreover, there are no fees to be paid. Its free nature aids in cutting down the testing costs. It can be easily accessed by small, medium as well as large companies as well as independent quality analysts.

OS and Web Browser support: For the web apps it is necessary to run across all the browsers as well as the operating systems. This is required to keep the visitors engaged. The professionals need tools that will enable them to evaluate the app performance quickly on the popularly used browsers. It presently supports Firefox, IE and Chrome. The web browsers can be launched simply and then run the tests. For recording and playing back the test scripts Mozilla Firefox can be used. Various operating systems this framework is suitable too, including, Linux, Windows, Solaris and OS X.

Selenium IDE comes to rescue: There are advanced tools in the Selenium IDE that enables the professionals to record, edit and debug the tests. There is no need of any extra effort. There are tools that might test the web application tests. There are options where the test scripts are manually edited to optimize the test management. The auto completion features can be used to edit the test scripts and proceed with the command.

Selenese – the programming language: The language in which test scripts are written is called Selenese. However, the testers can choose to write the scripts by choosing a language of their choice as well. Various programming languages, like, Java, Ruby, Perl, C#, PHP, Python, etc are also supported by Client API. Hence, the professionals can choose the client API keeping in tandem with their programming language.

Proper support and documentation: Proper training is required for the professionals when they migrate to the new web application. Adequate documentations are provided with its tools. Therefore, the professionals can use the guide to comprehend the functioning of the tools. If you are working with Selenium IDE then you will find complete functional references to which the testers can refer to. In addition there are several organizations that provide support related to this software tool to the clients.

In addition to these, the companies also have the choice to choose from an array of Selenium components keeping in sync with the requirements of the web applications. Besides the Client API and IDE, the professionals can also make use of Selenium Remote Control.

Finally, the greatest strength of this automated testing lies in its flexibility. There are several ways in which new functionalities can be added to the framework as well as the test scripts. This kind of customization popularizes its usage. Being open source, it can be downloaded and modified anytime. Thus, as far as the near future is concerned, it is here to stay. To get maximum benefits of testing, you may consider hiring services of a selenium web testing company.

We provide selenium test automation services. If you would like to hire selenium testers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Monday, 22 December 2014

What Is Negative Testing and Goals of Doing It

web application testing, QA testing services, hire software testing consultantThe main motto behind conducting tests on a particular software product is to ensure that it will be able to run on all systems and under computing environment of any type. The process of software development has Quality Conformance Testing as an essential part. Throughout the different stages of the developmental process as well as on the final product, various tests are performed before dispatching the item to the end user or the client.

Basically two types of tests are carried out. The first is Positive and the second Negative. While the first caters to tests that verify and validate the product, the second ensures deeper customer satisfaction. Every testing firm has their primary goal edged out in possessing the most optimal product.

Negative Testing is performed to ensure that the application or the software product does not fail to perform in the event of giving the same an unexpected input. Here, the process of validating the system is carried out against the data input that is invalid. This test checks whether an application conforms to its expected behavior even with the negative inputs. It thus ensures the handling of invalid input or a user behavior of unexpected type by a particular application.

Goals of Negative Testing

Negative testing is generally carried out for checking the stability of a particular software application against the influence exerted by different types of data set with incorrect validation. Negative testing usually aims to find the loopholes or the flaws inherent in an application. Thereby, it takes active measures to improve the quality of the same. It results in spotting out the faults that can lead to significant failures or crashes.

This testing is undertaken for exposing the weakness of the software as well as its exploitative potential as well as to showcase the corruption of the data or breach of security. It is usually performed for the purpose of breaking the system and verifying the response of the application in case of unintentional inputs.

Another purpose of this testing is to observe and measure the response of a system to the external problems. It stresses the system beyond the normal limits for which it has been developed besides using the same in an incorrect way. It stresses the system beyond the margins of normal use cases resulting in denial of subsequent service.

Also referred to as Dirty Testing, it is performed to ensure greater satisfaction level of the customer by checking the resistance of the software like if it is carrying out a function that it is not supposed to. For example if particular software opens an application by accepting a password of all letter variables when the requirement is to have at least a number. It tests the software beyond the normal operational limits to be specific it denotes testing a software above its upper specification limit or below the lower one.

It aims to diagnose the expected causes of system failure such as crashes, breach of security, etc as well as to check the validation and rejection of the input. These tests are significant to the companies as they check that the given software is stable enough and is working with respect to its expected functional criterions. These tests are carried out to ensure and verify the proper functioning of the software and thus ensure satisfaction of the customers and clients alike.

The test houses with the help of specialized process to assure the quality of the product carry out different tests to find out maximum flaws or defects while undergoing the testing process. It is done to ensure that the end user or rather the client does not come across any abnormality with respect to the functioning of the same in its computing environment. Test your applications by hiring testing services of a web application testing company that fits your budget and time.

We provide QA testing services. To hire software testing consultant from us, please reach out to us at Mindfire Solutions.

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Software Testing and Its Future - Where Are We Heading?

We provide <a href=http://www.mindfiresolutions.com/web-application-testing-website-testing.htm>software testing services</a>. If you would like to <a href=http://www.mindfiresolutions.com/testing.htm>hire software testers</a> from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.Why Software testing? Every project has a chief aim to produce an outstanding and reliable product for its end users and so the case for any software application or product. While the developer develops different modules of a software application he understands the program flow and the logic of the application. But the end user is totally unaware of the logic section. Hence, the end user may find it difficult to browse the application without understanding the background logic. To create a virtual connection breeze between the developer and end user there is a set off people known as testers. Testers check the application from the user’s point of view to provide better user experience to the end user. So in order to get a good reliable and user friendly product we must give importance to the testing operations for an application.

Future of software testing: Previously the testing operation was performed by QA testers i.e., quality assurance professionals. They use to test the application manually with their experience, expertise and knowledge. This is really a tedious job for the testers to check each and every aspect of the application manually which is not only time taking but also an inefficient process. Understanding the same, the automation testing gets evolved in 21st century. With different automation testing tools like QTP testing, selenium testing etc; it makes the overall testing experience a pleasant one with efficiency and time saving.

Why future rely on automation testing? With the rapid progress of the smart phones and tablets in the industry, the testing process becomes extremely difficult for a tester to check the reliability of an application in different platforms like Windows, Android and IOS simultaneously. To achieve the same if a QA tester tests the application manually then it would be a tough and inefficient method for the application because the tester may leave some loop holes in the application which may lead to crash of the application while being used by the user on different platforms. To avoid this embracing situation, the future testers are depending on the automation testing tools for efficient testing. Automated testing can help in not only decrease in the effort for the tester but also at the same time increases the efficiency and productivity.

Different types of automation testing tools: There are basically two different popular automation testing tools namely Selenium Automation Testing and QTP Automation testing tools. Well both maintained their own priority in respective fields but this is the duty of the tester to choose the best testing methodology for his project considering the cost, type and size of the application. QTP automation testing can be used for any application for windows platform. It needs the knowledge of VB script for the tester to make the automation testing successful for applications for windows platform. On the other hand, Selenium is a modern era automation testing tool which can be used for only web application testing but for all platforms i.e., Windows, Android, IOS. Moreover Selenium automation testing is an in expensive way of automation testing due to its low cost of ownership.

Hence, for any software application testing except web applications we can rely on QTP automated testing whereas for modern web applications testing that run on Android or IOS platform, Selenium automated testing is a boon. Test your applications by hiring testing services of an application software testing company that fits your budget and time.

We provide software testing services. If you would like to hire software testers from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Wednesday, 10 December 2014

A Look at Some Basic Things about Selenium Automation Testing Tool

selenium automated testing, selenium web app testing, selenium testerIn the software industry once a product reaches the phase where it has to be tested manually, every organization toys with the idea of automated testing in order to save the cost that is associated with manual testing. The cost is undoubtedly, an important factor for any project. As a result, several enterprises prefer the open source test automation tools instead of opting for commercial tools that are quite costly. In addition the open source automation testing tools offer competitive features for testing the both the web and software applications automatically. In this regard, there are several testing tools that are perfect for Web, regression, UAT, etc. As far as the open source tools are concerned, Selenium is, perhaps, the best option that you can get.

Why use Selenium?

This is a basic question that any organization might ask. With so many open source tools available why choose Selenium? The reason behind the popularity of Selenium lies in its multiple functions. Firstly, it is applicable for both GUI as well s the functionality. It can also be applied as a unit testing tool as far as JavaScript is concerned.

Components present in Selenium

This tool has several tests components within its test package. However, there are 3 major tools that help in developing the automatic testing process for web applications – Selenium Grid, IDE and RC. The IDE is used as a Firefox extension that is used to record the test suites and cases. The Selenium RC is utilized to run tests on various systems and browsers. Finally, the Grid can run many instances of the RC at a time. In addition, there is the Qualitia and Tellurium that acts as a wrapper for the tools’ engine.

Let’s take a look at these components in details:

Selenium IDE: This is a completely integrated development environment for testing. Implemented as a Firefox add-on, it also enables editing, debugging and recording tests. Initially, known as the Recorder, the IDE was donated to the Selenium project in the year 2006.

With the help of this component scripts can recorded and edited automatically. This provides a support to the auto completion and helps to move the commands quickly. The recording is done in Selenese (a special language for scripting). It offers the commands in order to perform the actions in a browser. It is also used for retrieving data from the result pages.

Client API: Besides using Selenese there are various other languages that can be used for writing tests. The tests then make us of the Client API to communicate with Selenium. This client is presently used for Ruby, Java, Python and C#.

Remote Control: This is a server that has been written in Java. It easily accepts the commands through HTTP for the browsers. The RC makes it possible for the programmers to write automated tests in any kind of programming languages, especially for the web applications. This enables netter integration of the Selenium in the already existing unit test framework.

WebDriver: This is recognized as the successor of RC. The Selenium WebDriver accepts commands that are either sent through Client API or Selenese. These are finally sent to the browser. The USP of this tool is that it can start a browser instantly as well as control it.

Selenium Grid: This is a server that enables the tests to utilize the web browser instances that are running on the remote machines. Here one of the servers will act as the hub. The tests will contact the hub so that to access the browser instances. There is a list of servers in the Grid that helps to achieve this end. It will also allow the tests to run parallel on the multiple machines, manage the various browser versions and its configurations from a central point.

These are some of the basic aspects about the Selenium tool that would actually help the programmers during the automated testing process. To get maximum benefits of testing, you may consider hiring services of a selenium automated testing company.

We provide selenium web app testing services. If you would like to discuss with a certified selenium tester from our team, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

Wednesday, 26 November 2014

Appium Vs. Robotium - a Simple Comparison

Appium Testing, quality assurance testing, Appium tool expertsAn enterprise has to focus on several factors to effectively automate its mobile testing activities. It is also important for the business to compare the available automation tools, and pick the right one according to the specific needs of the project. Many businesses even prefer using open source tools to effectuate automated testing of mobile apps without increasing project overheads. Both Appium and Robotium are open source testing frameworks that are used widely by enterprises across the world.

Appium Automation Framework

As an open source framework, Appium is used widely by testers to create automated tests for major mobile platforms. The cross-platform test automation tool supports a variety of platforms including Android, iOS and FirefoxOS. Likewise, Appium can also be used for testing native, hybrid and mobile web applications. It runs tests by using a WebDriver interface. So the testers have option to write test cases in number of programming languages included in the WebDriver library including C#, PHP, Java, Python and Ruby.

Robotium Android Testing Tools

As an open source automated testing tool, Robotium is used frequently to evaluate a variety of Android applications. It is popularly regarded by programmers as the “Selenium for Android”. The UI testing tool further supports major versions and subversions of the Google mobile operating system. Robotium is actually a library of unit tests. While user Robotium for testing Android application, testers are required to test cases in Java.

Important Points of Distinction between Appium and Robotium

Support for Mobile Platforms: Appium is a cross-platform test automation tool, whereas Robotium is a test automation framework for Android. Robotium supports different versions and subversions of the Google mobile operating system. So it can be used for testing a wide variety of Android apps. On the other hand, Appium supports iOS and Firefox OS along with Android. It allows testers to use of standard automation APIs on different platforms. The standard automation APIs do not require the mobile apps to be modified or recompiled during testing.

Type of Application: Robotium can be used for evaluating both native and hybrid mobile applications for Android. But Appium can be used to test mobile web apps along with the native and hybrid mobile applications. It can also be used by testers to control Chrome and Safari on mobile devices. So Appium can also be used to evaluate mobile websites across these web browsers.

Option to Choose Programming Language: Robotium is designed specifically to test software for a specific mobile platform. So it does not allow testers to write test cases by choosing from a set of programming languages. While using Robotium for Android application testing, the testers are required to write test cases only in Java. But Appium is designed with a WebDriver interface that supports several programming languages. Thus, Appium enables testers to write test cases in any of the WebDriver-compatible languages including Java, PHP, C#, Ruby, Python, Perl, Objective-C, Clojure, and JavaScript with Node.js.

Performance: Both Appium and Robotium lack Record and Play functionality. But Robotium requires testing professionals to work with the source code while automating tests. So testers have to invest additional time and efforts to write test cases for Robotium. Further, the Android application testing framework cannot effectively interact with system software, and does not provide screenshots. At the same time, the performance of Appium is impacted due to reduced XPath support on mobile devices. Also, many testing professionals feel the test reports generated by Appium to be poor and inadequate.

In nutshell, a business can use Appium to test a wide variety of mobile applications, whereas Robotium can be used for testing only Android app. But a business must evaluate the pros and cons of these open source mobile testing frameworks according to the requirements of the application to be tested. To develop a stable product/application, please look out for the testing experts from a reputed quality assurance testing company.

We provide Appium Testing services. If you would like to talk one of our Appium tool experts, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

Monday, 24 November 2014

The Future of Software Testing - How Will It Be?

hire testing software companies, software testing services, hire software test engineerWith more and more IT companies adopting test-driven development (TDD) approach, the software testing services have become an integral part of product development life cycle. But to effectuate software testing, the QA professionals have to make and implement strategies by considering key factors like competitive pressured, shorter time to market, and constant changes in technology. Along with delivering a flawless software application, the testing strategy will also aim to beat competition by shortening time to market. However, the future of software testing will also be impacted by several emerging trends in testing and QA.

Emerging Trends that will Impact the Future of Software Testing

Test Automation: An enterprise can avail several benefits by automating its testing efforts. The test automation tools make it easier for QA engineers to repeatedly evaluate different aspects of the software. In addition to improving the quality of the software, the tools will further help businesses in quickly covering based throughout the development. Also, the test automation will help enterprises in beating competition by reducing both cost and time to market.

Emphasis on Security: Security is one of the key factors in both manual and automated software testing. But many reports have highlighted that the testing strategy of most companies focus primarily on performance and emphasis. The reports also highlighted that test strategies of more and more companies are now focusing on security. As the application needs to be accessible on various platforms and devices, it has become essential for business to protect it from hacking, cross scripting attacks and other cyber crimes.

Context-Driven Testing: The enterprises have realized that the same testing strategy will not meet the needs of different applications. So many companies, nowadays, opt for context-driven testing. The companies require QA engineers to develop an arsenal of skill for different contexts through formal training and on-the-job observations. The enhanced skills and expertise of testers will make it easier for them to make test strategies by evaluating and interpreting a particular situation effectively.

Growth of Mobile and Cloud Testing: A number of reports have highlighted a steady increase in the mobile and Cloud testing activities. With more and more businesses using mobile devices for operation transactions and customers, it has become essential for them to ensure mobile security. Likewise, many businesses opt for Cloud based testing to create and maintain the testing environment effectively without investing additional time, effort and funds. However, the companies will be required to address several data security and performance challenges to adopt cloud based environments successfully.

Agile Environment: With most software applications being developed in agile environment, the businesses have to use right test tools and methodology to complement the development. The agile development requires enterprises to test various aspects of the software continuously before the delivery phase. So the testers have to adopt testing in production approach to assess the software in an agile development environment.

Test Center of Excellence: Many IT companies will use Test Center of Excellence (TCOE) as the main criterion to choose independent software testing vendors. Several reports have highlighted that most companies, nowadays, prefer hiring vendors who have already fully operational TCOE’s. However, a software testing company needs 3 to 6 months for developing a TCOE. Also, it can avail the benefits of the TCOE only after 3 years. That is why; more software testing companies will build TCOE to impress clients.

Cost and Process Optimization: Many IT companies, nowadays, focus more on QA and testing activities than core product development. So the QA and testing activities will become more process-centric in future. Also, the businesses will adopt a collaborative testing model that will require the involvement of different stakeholders including client. The increased focus on software testing also make the businesses allocate more funds for QA activities. The optimization of testing process and cost will further make many companies hire independent software testing services.

Many experts even predict that more and more companies will invest in independent software testing services, open source test automation tools, and agile testing models. Likewise, many companies will switch to Cloud based testing to avail cost benefits along with higher flexibility and feasibility. When you hire testing software companies, you must ensure that the team has proven experience in handling medium and large sized testing projects over a long period.

We provide software testing services. If you would like to hire software test engineer from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.

Wednesday, 19 November 2014

Better Testing Produces Better Applications - True or False?

independent software testing, software application testing, hire software test engineerBetter quality testing procedures always improve the quality of the applications – there is no doubt about this. Besides, they also offer a string of added advantages to the developers. They provide a wide range of coverage that is critical for detecting the bugs or loopholes pretty early along the course of the development. A thorough evaluation procedure also drastically reduces the cost of failure, saves time through a process of repeatability as well as quick or early verification. It also results in much better or improved resource productivity. Hence, it can well be said that at the end of the day, better assessment procedures do improve the quality of the applications.

In fact, implementing the best software testing procedure for any app development is the best as well as the most promising way to not only improve the quality of the apps but to enjoy their benefits to the fullest.

The applications that are under development have a tendency of changing constantly and becoming more and more complex with the passage of time, during the course of development. Their features also keep on growing, thus increasing the need as well as the pertinence of the evaluation.

Still, in case of a number of application things do not take place in this way. In the case of these apps, all the features need to be tested upon implementation of even a single extra feature. This is required to ensure optimal behavior of the application in question along with a seamless experience of the end user, for at times it is seen that incorporation of even a single extra feature has changed the functionality of the entire software or application. Here is where, the need for the best checking procedure, preferably an automated testing procedure, is so important for the overall betterment of the application in question.

There are a number of smaller or startup companies that cannot be considered as typical software houses. Still, they develop various types of software applications to fulfill their domestic requirements. These companies spend a sizeable amount of time for testing various features of the software application they develop, simply by running them and figuring out their functionality with different types of inputs, while keeping a close watch on the outputs they deliver, judging whether the outputs yielded are as per the predefined design. Though these companies leave no stones unturned in the evaluation, still there remains enough room for speculation, so far as the feasibility of the tests conducted are concerned, or the real time working of the codes. This is due to fact that these companies often do not follow any testing manual and conduct the testing on an ad hoc basis, which at times leave enough room for the presence of loopholes.

Thus, using a proper testing manual and time is extremely effective, though it is not that expensive at all, for ensuring the quality of the application. Rigorous and high quality testing is always great when it comes to finding out whether a newly created code is affecting any aspect of the functionality of the software. Moreover, a comprehensive and structured evaluation infrastructure is always better that ad hoc software testing that is practiced by the smaller and the startup companies. While ad hoc testing is generally done manually where there is room for the tester committing mistakes, the bigger names with a structured testing infrastructure generally follow automated evaluation mechanism, where each and every flaw is spotted and rectified accordingly. These high quality assessment setups are naturally more effective and elaborative than the manual testing, though at times their scripting system might be expensive. Still, they are indispensable when it comes to betterment of a software or app. This is mainly for three reasons.

Firstly, these automated testing procedures are excellent in finding problems pretty early in the development cycle. It is a common perception in SW development that the earlier the bugs are spotted, the cheaper it is to debug them. Thus, the best automated testing procedures suit this perception as they pick up the loopholes and plug them at the earliest and in an extremely effective and quick way.

Secondly, the best automated testing systems keep a close vigil on the code from two dimensions – time and space. They keep a watch on the code in the dimension of time for once a unit test is written, it ensures that the code that is written will work at present as well as in the future.

Thirdly, these high quality evaluation systems ensure that the developers get the freedom of going all out to alter the existing code. Over the course of time, the software systems get increasingly change resistant, as the developers get a bit reluctant to change the old or established code. However, this tendency can always be justified by the fact that any change in the old code can result in disintegration or split up of some other part of the application or software as a side effect.

Thus, the presence of a better evaluation procedure always improves the quality of the application from all possible aspects. To get maximum benefits of testing, you may consider hiring services of a independent software Testing company.

We provide software application testing services. If you would like to hire software test engineer from us, we would be glad to assist you at Mindfire Solutions.