What 2019 has in Store for Web and Mobile Test Automation

In the world of web and mobile automation testing, every year looks like a banner year. Service providers are creating new Innovations and breakthroughs constantly. We as the creators of such tools and breakthroughs try to keep our eyes on the present as we press the pedal, fasten up and head towards the horizon.

 

That is, of course, assuming we are driving on a totally straight road. Test automation development, however, is less like the 193 KM stretch of straight road on North Dakota’s ND-46, and more like the twists and turns of Romania’s Transfăgărășan.

The point is that the field of web and mobile automation testing continues to expand and grow. Test automation, in all of its forms, is essential to the success of enterprises in 2019. As we cruise down the road of a new year we are taking a look ahead.  Trends are coming that will help shape the coming year of web and mobile test automation.

 

This is Today in web and Mobile automation

 

The main challenge that faces web and mobile test automation is still the issue of object recognition and identification. Your developers or testers must be able to identify the on-screen elements of a web or mobile app. Otherwise, they cannot test it.

 

Let’s separate the issue into a couple of smaller pieces.

 

When we talk about Object Identification in mobile apps, we are talking about functional testing. Our SeeTest platform contains extremely sensitive object identification tools that will help you retrieve an XML dump of all the elements that are present on the screen at a given moment. With that information, you will be able to see each element with a full set of its elemental properties.

 

When we talk about object identification in regards to testing web apps, the meaning is slightly different. If you run a javascript test on your website, and all of the page elements are in working order that will only give you half of the picture. A button covered by another onscreen element is a button that does not work. With our Visual Testing tool, you are able to not only test that all of your onscreen elements work but also that they appear on the screen in the way that you intended.

 

It is nice to know that we have solved the main challenge facing testers in 2019.

 

But what of future Challenges and trends?

 

These trends are shaping the future of mobile test automation

 

Using Agile Methodologies for Digital Transformation

The day we started gaining insights from collected data was the day businesses started undergoing a digital transformation. We define digital transformation as the process of integrating digital technology into every aspect of a business’s processes. This changes the ways that businesses operate, as well as the ways that they bring values to their customers.

 

Agile methodology is the next step in the digital transformation process in 2019. This approach allows for the delivery of new features with speed. By defining challenges, objectives and use cases through this method, businesses align their digital transformation initiatives with their needs.

 

Machine Learning and AI in Test Automation

This is a future trend of web and mobile test automation that is still in its relative infancy.

 

The way that we deploy ML and AI in our testing is by creating systems that test themselves. In other words, these systems will be able to discover redundant test cases. They should also be able to use historical data to predict the parameters of software testing processes. Regression testing will also get a boost as we use ML and AI to identify areas of high risk in a web or mobile application and prioritize testing as such.

 

This will give software testers the awareness to be able to better maneuver through challenging test situations and solve any issues quickly.

 

The Increased Adoption of DevOps

DevOps methodology dictates that testing begins at the beginning of the development cycle. With that in place, you will be well on your way to a Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery process. It is all about testers monitoring continuously during testing. This validates that the developers are building the right application. As development continues functional and performance testing is carried out simultaneously.

 

DevOps testers and developers align test design, automation and the development of test cases. It is all to make sure that any code changes do not break the product.

 

Increased Mobile Test Automation in the world of IoT Devices

IoT or Internet of Things is an ever-increasing network of physical devices with unique IP addresses that communicate with one another over the internet.

 

The number of devices that fit this description is higher than ever. As a result, testing is more necessary than ever. Additionally, with the increased need for testing comes an increased need for test automation. IoT devices are all quite fragmented from a manufacturer/operating system perspective.

 

The automated testing of IoT devices is ever-expanding and includes Usability Testing, Compatibility Testing, Reliability & Scalability Testing, Data Integrity Testing, and Performance Testing.

 

With the various framework vulnerabilities that exist when testing IoT devices, Security Testing is essential to this process.

 

More Open Source Tools than Ever

With the way that open source web and mobile test automation tools have expanded in past years, it only seems logical that this trend will continue in 2019. Open source tools are attractive in that they are free and provide full access to users from the get-go.

 

Open source tools are also endlessly customizable and are more easily adapted to a user’s needs. In fact, thanks to a large development community most open source software are aided in its design by the users.

 

As security remains at the top of most web and mobile app customers’ concerns, developers and testers might not feel entirely comfortable with open source tools but in many cases, the benefits outweigh these issues.

 

Integrations

Testing cycles are shrinking, and demands are rising as mobile test automation tools become more and more prolific the need to integrate these tools rises. At every stage of web and mobile app development, there are tools that aid in the process.

 

Smart testing requires that all of this data is collected and sent to a central repository in order to be analyzed and broken down. Our SeeTest platform can be integrated with any number of automation drivers, CI environments, automation, and native mobile testing frameworks.

 

The capabilities to not stop there. We also have a test analytics feature that will allow you to consolidate all of your digital test results into a single report that will give you better insights than ever in 2019.

 

Growing Testing Budgets

All of this innovation and expansion, coupled with the increase in demand means that web and mobile testing has never been more important. In 2019 this looks to trend towards an expansion in budgets for software testing and QA.

 

The Trends that will define web and mobile test automation in 2019

 

Looking at what we have discussed in this article I believe that DevOps will continue to expand. This will lead to the necessity to create an incredibly collaborative environment between developers, testers, operations and higher levels of management. Everyone must work together to create a system of processes in which continuous integration, testing, and rapid software delivery are the main goals.

 

We are also the need for performance engineering arise, which could replace performance testing one day. That day is still quite a way off but it seems from the every growing device fragmentation and a number of IoT devices in service that this will be a necessity sooner before later.

 

Web and Mobile Test Automation in 2019

 

New frameworks are constantly emerging and sparking the shift away from test automation. These frameworks are driving test activity autonomously. It means that tester and developers are spending their time training their frameworks to test for them rather than writing test after test after test.

 

These autonomous testing solutions use AI and Machine Learning to study web or mobile applications’ DOM, WSDL and/or API.

 

If you would like to discover more take a look at our AI for QA webinar video. In this webinar, we review the functional landscape of AI for QA organizations and provide practical tools to evaluate the available solutions. Watch the webinar here.