Are You Looking for the Best UI Automation Tool?
by Syntax Technologies Software Testing TrainingIt is extremely important to ensure that the design of a software application is user friendly and is able to be easily operated upon by the user. In order to guarantee this, it is important to test the UI (User Interface) which can then be undertaken in a manual or an automated fashion. Given the limitations of Manual Testing, there has been an increasing tilt towards the demand for Automation Testing. The latter is conducted with the help of certain Web UI Test Tools which are chosen on the basis of specific criteria.
In
this blog, we will look at five of the best Automated UI Testing Tools. We will
begin with understanding the concept of UI Testing, the criteria to be followed
for selecting a specific UI Automation Tool as well as look at some of the most
popular UI Testing Tools.
What
is UI and UI Testing?
What
are UI Test Tools?
Criteria
for Selecting a Specific UI Automation Tool
Five
of the Best Automated UI Testing Tools
Conclusion
What is UI and UI Testing?
UI
or User Interface refers to that part of the application or website which users
interact with. There can be different forms of UI and the most common ones are:
Command-line Interface (interaction is facilitated through feeding commands
into the terminal) and Graphical-user Interface (refers to interaction with
graphical components of the application or website). The first impression
(which is usually the last as well) that the user acquires of the website is
generally determined by the quality of the user interface. Consequently, UI
Testing has emerged as a crucial concern among developers and testers alike, as
they seek to meet the ever increasing user standards.
UI Testing can be understood as a mechanism for testing the different interface aspects and components of a software, in order to ensure their desired functionalities and user-friendliness. UI Testing tests the receptivity of the software application towards the actions of the user as well as, tests the functionality of the visual elements (images, links, buttons and so on).
Furthermore,
UI Testing is extremely crucial in terms of testing visual design, compliance,
usability and performance as well. Alongside, it also seeks to make sure that
the interface is as user-friendly as possible, in terms of clarity and
intuitiveness.
What
are UI Test Tools?
Automated
UI Testing Tools are innovative software tools which help facilitate the
automated testing of applications and software which requires the testing of
the user interface. The Web UI Test Tools makes use of test cases in order to
ensure that the software application performs its designated functions.
Choosing the right UI Test Tools is
indispensable for efficient execution of the test strategy as well as for
overcoming the challenges of testing in general. Then again, there is much of a
debate over the choice of code-based or codeless UI Testing Tools. However, it
is important to remember that there cannot be a universal suggestion and while
codeless Automated UI Testing Tools do help in reducing the cost of creating
test cases, they might not be favourable in all situations.
Criteria
for Selecting a Specific UI Automation Tool
In this section, we
will look at some of the factors that one can take into consideration while
thinking about UI Test Tools.
- Ø The
Object of Automation
- Choosing a UI Automation Tool will to a large extent depend on the nature of the product which needs to be automated. Before considering different UI Testing Tools, you should try to understand the type of the product in terms of its domain, the internal structure of the product as well as the technologies employed by the product.
- Ø The
Importance of Team
- The performance of Automation Testing Course is not the outcome of the efforts of a single individual. It is a collaborative effort of the entire team and it would only be wise enough to choose a UI Automation Tool which works for all the individuals of the team. This can be thought of in terms of choosing UI Test Tools which uses programming languages that the team is comfortable working with or taking into account the experience of the team at automation.
- Ø The
Context of the Test
- While trying to choose a specific UI Automation Tool, it is important to remember that it would be rather naive to suggest that there is a specific tool which would deliver the best results in all situations. It is important to consider the context of the project or the test.
- Ø Project
Details
- When considering the different UI Testing Tools, it is important to be clear of the nitty-gritty of the project. This will involve developing a concrete idea of the project budget, project deadlines as well as project planning.
Five
of the Best Automated UI Testing Tools
Ø Selenium
As
one of the leading UI Testing Tools, Selenium was originally developed by Jason
Huggins in 2004. It is an Open Source UI Automation Tool. It is generally used
for Regression Testing as it offers playback and recording facility. Recorded
scripts can be exported in other languages, it can be integrated with TestNG
and JUnit, multiple tests can be executed as well as comments can be inserted
in the middle of the script.
Features:
·
Selenium can be executed on multiple
Operating Systems and Browsers. It runs on Linux, Windows and OS X; and is
compatible with Chrome, Headless, Internet Explorer as well as Firefox
·
IDE and WebDriver components of
Selenium, act as the basic framework for several other Automation Testing Tools
including Watir, Robot Framework and Katalon
·
Tests can be written in multiple
languages including Java, Python, C#, Groovy, Perl, PHP and Ruby
·
It supports parallel execution of test
cases as well as provides for easy maintenance of code
Ø HPE
Unified Functional Testing (UFT)
Formerly,
known as QuickTest Professional (QTP), UFT provides for continuous, functional
and regression testing. It is one of the leading Automation Testing Tools,
which can be used for automating Desktop, Web, Net, Flex, Mobile, Java, Delphi,
Siebel, Oracle, SAP, PowerBuilder and other applications. It uses Visual Basic Scripting Edition
Language.
Features:
·
It provides for multi-platform
compatibility and cross-browser testing
·
It is a licensed Automation Tool, with
its trial version being available free of cost for 60 days
·
It provides for multiple-testing
solutions, canvas-visual test flows, optimized distributed testing and image
based object identification
·
As one of the prominent Automated UI
Testing Tools, it guarantees XML support, business process testing, reliable
test results and keyword driven framework
- Ø Katalon
Studio
Katalon
was launched in 2015 and is a cross-browser, free-licensed and an Open Source
UI Automation Tool. It can be considered as a comprehensive Tool which can be
used for Desktop, mobile, Web as well as API testing. Its features cover
several aspects of the testing process including creation of test cases,
recording of actions, execution of tests, generation of test scripts as well as
production of results.
Features:
·
It can be integrated with some of the
best Automation Testing Tools like Appium and Selenium, helping to cover even
more advanced functions like user-friendly IDE, object spy, browser plugin and
object repository
·
It can run on multiple platforms –
Windows, Linux and macOS
·
Katalon provides dual scripting
interfaces which is especially useful for users with no coding skills
·
One of the shortcoming of Katalon
as a Software Testing Tool is that it
only uses Groovy Scripting Language and has a small developer community
·
It supports sequential and parallel
executions as well as local and remote testing
- Ø TestComplete
It
is considered to be one of the best Testing Tools, when it comes to desktop
application testing, even though it provides for mobile and web application
testing as well. It is especially useful for building and running functional UI
tests in the cloud, in parallel or on your machine, through replay and record
facilities. The TestComplete version 14.72 was launched this very year in
January with considerable improvements in web testing and test execution.
Features:
·
It provides for code as well as codeless
test creation and is suitable for usage by technical as well as non-technical
users
·
Test scripts can be written in multiple
languages including Python, JavaScript, C++ or VBScript
·
It has a robust object identification
engine which helps in identifying dynamic elements of user interface
interaction
·
It provides for cross-browser,
regression as well as parallel testing which helps in scaling tests across more
than 1500 real test environments
·
As one of the prominent UI Testing Tools
offered by SmartBear, it can easily be integrated with other products which
SmartBear has to offer
- Ø Ranorex
Studio
It
is a multipurpose Automation Testing Tool which has quite wide coverage in
terms of the types of tests which can be executed through it including mobile,
desktop and web application testing. It can be used for automating data driven
tests, regression tests, functional UI tests and others. It has a simple GUI
which appears as a codeless click-and-go interface.
Features:
·
It helps in codeless test creation,
provides for reusable test scripts as well as for replaying and recording of
testing phases
·
It provides for cross-platform and
cross-browser testing
·
It offers shareable object repository,
along with reliable object identification
·
Its video reporting feature is
especially helpful to testers as it saves them the requirement of having to
re-run tests to follow everything
·
This UI Automation Tool can be
integrated with Automation solutions like Jenkins, Jira, Bamboo, Git, NeoLoad
and others
·
It provides for parallel as well as
remote or local testing
Conclusion
The list of Automated UI Testing Tools mentioned in this blog, is by no means exhaustive. The point to remember is that there is no one specific tool which can be regarded as being superior over the rest. The choice of a specific UI Automation Tool should be governed by practical considerations as those mentioned in the blog. Syntax Technologies one of the best Automation Testing Course provider.
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Created on Feb 7th 2022 23:48. Viewed 390 times.