Modern mobile automated testing pyramid and the best practices for effective testing

The technique of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery has swept over the globe since it has shown to be advantageous to business. These days, there are always new upgrades appearing online. Since mobile app testing is integral, an effective testing procedure is also essential. All developers should be well-versed in the test automation pyramid.

What is a test pyramid?

The testing pyramid is a framework for creating software that helps speed up the process by which developers check to see whether their modifications break existing code. Minimizing development time and encouraging a more comprehensive test suite may be aided by cutting this time.

As a concept, the testing pyramid offers a framework for prioritizing the various tests in an automated test suite. It also specifies the timing of these evaluations so that developers get immediate feedback on whether or not their code modifications have broken anything.

Why should you use it?

The difficulty of testing apps has grown in tandem with the complexity of their development. In a typical contemporary app, you’d discover several features, API integration, and other advanced functionalities. Another caveat is that you can’t afford to stall deployments by taking too long during the testing phase.

Manual tests require time, are less precise, and have more room for mistakes than mobile automated testing. In addition, you must always do a test run of the program after making any changes. Even the same functionality may need repeated testing. It’s human nature to try to do the same thing over and over again. As a result, boredom may make people careless or oblivious, leading to missteps.

The test pyramid is a very effective method for dealing with these obstacles. A test pyramid is like supercharging your automobile, and test automation is like installing a high-performance engine. As a reference, the Test Pyramid may help you optimize your testing efforts and provide more reliable findings. Therefore, it dramatically enhances the quality of testing.

As organizations keep moving toward a more agile way of working, testing teams can get a lot out of a testing method that fits these goals. A testing pyramid is a fantastic tool for helping testers develop agility by simplifying and organizing the testing process and paving the way for faster, more reliable outputs.

Unit Test

The test pyramid rests on the shoulders of unit testing as its base. The goal of unit testing is to evaluate a single, isolated component. Simulation software and emulation programs that mimic the behavior of real devices should be used for these examinations. These tests may be run on simulated devices with success since they offer all the necessary feedback in the form of log/debugging information. Additionally, testing using virtual machines is quicker and cheaper.

Integration Test

In software testing, the integration test comes after the unit test. A unit test examines only a tiny section of the code. The Dev team should do integration tests to ensure this code plays along with the rest of the codes in the app, which make up the product as a whole. These tests verify an application’s behavior in the context of its ecosystem. Some examples of these parts include application programming interfaces (APIs), databases, web services, and others like them.

End-to-End testing

When testing is complete, the whole system has been tested (the entire application). It employs a testbed and mock data to mimic the workings of the actual world. It has the highest running costs and the slowest speed. This is the most challenging test to find bugs since existing users report problems on real devices and not simulated ones. End-to-end testing requires genuine devices that mimic the program on an end user’s smartphone more closely.

Best practices

Identify the tests to automate

It is only feasible to automate some tests. Therefore, every test automation strategy must begin by identifying which tests will benefit from automation. The repetitive and time-consuming one should be prioritized first.

Select the Appropriate Automated Testing Tool

For test automation, selecting an automated testing tool is vital. Several automated testing solutions are available on the market, and choosing the tool that meets your needs is essential. Choose a tool like HeadSpin, which will help you to test any app from any part of the globe.

Divide tasks depending on the competency

Assign test suites and test cases to specific persons depending on their technical competence. For instance, if the test needs a proprietary tool, team members of diverse skill levels can build test scripts with minimum difficulty. This gets easier if the team decides to utilize open-source technology. In this instance, developing automated tests will require a coder’s knowledge of this particular technology.

Remove uncertainty

The purpose of automation is to provide consistent and accurate test results. If a test fails, testers must determine what went wrong. However, with a rise in false positives and inconsistencies, the time needed to analyze mistakes increases proportionally.

Test on an actual device

Regardless of the kind of website, it must be tested on actual devices and browsers. Developers and testers should remember that device fragmentation is a serious risk. Only publish a website after first testing it on real devices. When consumers arrive, they will face problems and faults that might have been easily prevented, leading to a loss of visitors.

Employ Data-Driven Tests.

Due to the enormous amount of data and quantity of variables, it would be difficult for a person to execute tests quickly and without mistakes. A manual test becomes impossible if several data points must be evaluated simultaneously. Implementing data-driven automated testing simplifies the.

Prompt and Regular Tests

Testing should begin early in the sprint development lifecycle to maximize the effectiveness of automated testing. Run tests as often as necessary. By doing so, testers may start finding and fixing defects as soon as they emerge. This saves significant time and money that would otherwise be required to repair defects at later stages of development or even during production.

Conclusion

A test automation pyramid facilitates the development of a comprehensive testing plan by agile teams. It allows varied stakeholders to obtain control over test automation and monitor the project’s development. Considering the issue with the inverted pyramid, employ the mobile test pyramid in your project to achieve a balance between human and automated testing.