With the improvement of apps, automation testing is gaining more and more importance in the modern app testing cycles. This is because it becomes almost impossible to verify the proper functioning of modern apps by completely relying on manual test cases. While using automation testing, app developers can automate various repetitive test cases like regression testing. Agile methodologies are one of the most essential components of automation testing. This is because, by the integration of continuous development and continuous integration, the developers can perform the development and testing processes side by side. This process reduces the overall growth and testing cycle for their application.
So, in this article, we are going to understand how application testers can effectively perform regression testing in continuous integration. We will also understand some of the most important practices that can help the application developers utilize the full potential of this combination.
Exploring Automation Testing
For the basic understanding, we can say that automation testing is the process of eliminating human involvement in the test case execution process. This is because the system will completely rely on a series of pre-determined testing parameters that will be supplied by a text file. The developers and testers often refer to this text file as an automation testing script. It is also possible to make significant changes in the data of the text file to make the test cases customized according to the requirements of the app undergoing the development project.
Using these parameters, the system can emulate human interactions while communicating with the application undergoing the development process. Based on its communications, the system will generate a detailed test report showing the usability, stability, and user-interactivity of the app.
The use of automation testing helps that automation testers in the following factors:
- Since automation testing conducts repetitive test cases like regression testing, the developers and testers can focus on other creative areas of the app project. For instance, they can create new features that can be rolled out in future application updates.
- Automation testing is highly accurate and efficient compared to manual testing. This is because it is completely devoid of human intervention and runs 24 hours round the clock.
- While using automation testing, the application developers can implement additional tools, plugins, libraries, and other dependencies to improve the quality of the app.
- Automation testing also helps save a lot of company time and resources. This is because, in the long run, automation testing will eliminate the requirements of having a human testing team.
Regression Testing and its Advantages
One of the most common practices in modern application development is updating the app to add new features. However, one of the most common errors in this scenario is that the new additions might harm the existing elements of the app. Due to these errors, certain bugs like false positives and false negatives, can arise during the application testing process. To solve this process, the app developers execute regression testing after every update on the core infrastructure of the application.
Regression testing not only evaluates the individual performance of all the elements on the app but also the performance of the app when all of these elements are combined. So, this form of testing is crucial when the testers are working on changing apps like health apps, banking apps, or eCommerce apps. Since regression testing is a repetitive process, it can benefit a lot from the integration of test automation.
Implementation of Continuous Integration
The contemporary application development practice included developing the app and then forwarding it to the testing team. However, it is a time-consuming process and needs to be rolled back whenever a bug is detected in the app. Modern practices like continuous integration help perform the development and testing processes side by side. The major advantage of this process is that it can detect and remove bugs as soon as they appear in the core infrastructure of the application. Therefore the proper use of continuous integration can help Fast forward the delivery process of the app to the end users.
Best Practices for Executing Regression Testing with Continuous Integration
Based on our research and understanding, we have created a list of some of the most important practices for executing regression testing with continuous integration:
- Integration of Cloud Platforms: Using cloud platforms, application developers can eliminate the requirements of maintaining an expensive and hassle-free device test bench. These benches are mainly used to run regression test cases on real devices and analyze the behavior of the application. Using cloud platforms, the developers can achieve similar testing accuracy along with additional advantages. Some of the major advantages of cloud platforms include the availability of legacy devices, integration of parallel testing, and elimination of Geolocation barriers.
- Implementation of Parallel testing: Modern apps consist of thousands of different elements that can have a crucial role in ensuring the functioning of the application. It would take several months to test all of these elements individually and then forward the app to the production phase. Instead, the application developers can implement parallel test execution to run all the test cases within a few days. This is possible with the initiation of multiple test instances on different machines and configurations at the same time.
- Use of Version Control: The app developers must ensure that their code base is under version control and also the CI pipeline is connected to the chosen version control system. With the implementation of this process, the system can automatically trigger the test cases whenever new code is pushed or merged with the existing infrastructure of the application.
- Prioritizing the Test Cases: All the test cases do not have the same priority in the functioning of all the basic elements in the application. So, before beginning the test execution process, the application developers must sort and group the test cases according to their priorities. This will help them to ensure that at least the basic functioning of the application is available to the end users, irrespective of minor crashes or errors. Moreover, running the critical test cases initially will provide the app developers with quick feedback.
- Use of Incremental Testing: Incremental testing is the process of running only those test cases that are affected by the code changes. The proper implementation of this process helps the app developers save a lot of time compared to running the entire test suite after every minor update to the core infrastructure of the app.
- Continuous Monitoring: It is very important for the automation testers to constantly monitor the CI pipeline. It will help them to detect any code failure and act promptly to ensure that it does not affect other elements of the application. It is also important to investigate the changes that led to these failures. Adequate information about these issues can help developers to avoid them in the future.
- Test Report Analysis: The final Test report provides valuable information regarding the functioning and behavior of the application. So, the app developers must have comprehensive test reporting tools that can provide the required information but are also simple to understand. Certain cloud platforms like LambdaTest natively generate highly detailed test reports that consist of various text and visual information.
- Continuous Improvement of the Test Code: The application developers must understand that the requirements of the end users are continuously changing. To keep up with all of these changing requirements and standards, it is very important to improve the existing test code and ensure it is relevant to these standards. The application developers must aim to achieve the perfect balance between efficiency and testing coverage. The app developers must ensure that they have deployed adequate regression testing code for verifying all the vulnerable elements of the application.
- Implementation of Page Object Model (POMs): The use of page object models can also benefit the improvement of the Regression Test scripts. This is because, by the implementation of page object models, the app developers can separate the testing data from the test inputs. Thus, it helps to improve the maintainability of the test cases.
LambdaTest and its Role in Modern Automation Testing
Modern cloud-based platforms like LambdaTest help execute real device testing with the help of remote servers. These servers provide access to thousands of real devices through the Internet. Moreover, LambdaTest provides an artificial intelligence-integrated platform for orchestrating and executing the automation test cases on web apps.
The use of LambdaTest real device testing cloud along with the LambdaTest API boosts modern automation test cases like regression testing in the following ways:
- The LambdaTest API can automatically trigger the regression test cases whenever it detects a change in the framework of the application.
- Other than providing access to thousands of modern devices, the LambdaTest real device testing cloud also has various legacy hardware and software combinations. So, using these features, the app developers can guarantee the functioning of their app to a wider user base.
- LambdaTest also uses parallel test execution to initiate multiple regression test instances on different testing configurations and machines at the same time. With the proper integration of this process, the developers can improve the efficiency of the test cases by several times. The following code illustrates parallel testing with LambdaTest:
- After executing the test cases, LambdaTest will generate a detailed test report showing various important information like test activity logs, videos, and screenshots. With the help of this information, the developers can quickly navigate to the faulty app to perform their required troubleshooting process.
- LambdaTest also has elaborate documentation on its official website consisting of simple languages and descriptive sample test cases. It also has a support system consisting of over-the-phone support, live chat, and an option to send emails. Using all of these features, the testers can gain adequate information about all the tools and features available with this platform. LambdaTest also has a community where all the developers and testers can perform important discussions.
The Conclusive Views
All the practices that we discussed in this article will massively boost the efficiency of regression test cases when combined with continuous integration. It is also important for the developers to analyze the importance of automated regression testing in the coming years. Therefore, the developers and testers should constantly learn more about the revolutionary trends and innovations in this segment. Monitoring the target audience will provide vital information about their requirements. So, the developers can combine all of these data to customize the app and reach a wider section of end users. Practices like these are crucial for building a positive brand image and maintaining the company’s position in this competitive segment.
