A testing framework is a set of guidelines or rules used for creating and designing test cases. A framework consists of a combination of practices and tools that are designed to help QA professionals test more efficiently. These guidelines could include coding standards, test-data handling methods, object repositories, processes for storing test results, or information on how to access external resources.
How To Design a Test Automation Framework
1. Create Wrapper Method :
Writing a wrapper method is one of the genuine solutions for extending the library features. An example of extending the wrapper method is to allow better logging capabilities and handling the errors well in Selenium.
2. Implement Custom Logger :
While running the test cases; activity information has to be logged into the file. This added information can be used as a reference for future audits and test runs. Therefore, the logging framework needs to be implemented and customized for this requirement.
3. Choosing The Right Design Pattern :
Choosing the right design pattern is important and it provides the best practices for creating the test framework. It speeds up the test case development and helps to prevent minor issues that can cause major problems and therefore improves code readability.
4. Separate Tests From Automation Framework :
Always separating the Test script logic from the automation framework is recommended. It increases code readability and makes the code readable.
5. Create a Proper Folder Structure For The Code :
Always defining the folder structure makes the code readable and makes it easy to understand. The folder can be structured as below,
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Testcases
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Utilities
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Libraries
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Logs
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Test Data
6. Separates UI, Web Services, Databases (if any) :
The most important principle in framework design is the separation of concerns. Therefore creating an additional layer for web services, API, databases, and UI in the framework will avoid the clutter. Sometimes the testing design pattern may not cover the extra layer in framework architecture; thus, it is good to create one more layer.
7. Build & Continuous Integration :
Continuous Integration is a development practice that integrates with a build automation tool like Maven to ensure whether the software is running without any breaks after making a commit decision.
Nowadays, the test automation framework has become an integral component of a software testing life cycle for all businesses, you can use a platform like QAppAssure, it is a tool that helps a software tester in viewing test metrics in the form of the following insights:
1. The percentage of successful automation tests can be seen in the dashboard. It shows success% by build version for a given app, success% by journey script, by OS(can further be seen based on OS version), and by making of the mobile device(can further be seen based on model) for a given build.
2. The percentage of failures can also be seen in the form of pie charts. The pie chart can be further analyzed by OS and Make/Model of the devices selected for running tests.
3. There is an option of viewing test history by filtering date and time (of start), make, model, OS, app, build, journey script, test cases. The rows represent test runs in the form of device info, script id, build id, test date and time. The page details can be seen in the form of screenshot, recording, logcat, any information captured by the devices.
