Automating UI Tests As a Non-Programmer: An Introduction

Before launching an application, thorough testing is essential to ensure a flawless user experience. Manual testing can be time-consuming and prone to errors, making automated UI testing an attractive option. However, many QA testers find it challenging to write scripts for UI automation. This article presents the best practices for automated UI testing and offers practical tips to get started.

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The Importance of Thorough Testing

To avoid bugs and glitches, it is crucial to test every feature of an application across multiple platforms and devices. As applications have many different features and run on different platforms and browsers, the Quality Assurance (QA) team must test every feature on all platforms and devices with every sprint release.

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Challenges of UI Automation

UI automation requires writing scripts, which can be challenging for testers who do not have a programming background. Lack of resources can also make it challenging for manual testers to automate UI testing.

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Steps to Begin Learning Automation Testing

To start learning automation testing, follow these steps:

1. Find the developer working on your project and ask which Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is being used.
2. Learn the basics of Git, a source version control system.
3. Get comfortable with the IDE and run the source code in the included simulator.
4. Find sample code with automated UI tests and learn how to run them.
5. Master the basics of writing scripts to automate UI tests for a given programming language.

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Terminology

Before writing scripts, it is crucial to discuss commonly used terms and platforms with the developer. Some examples of terms to become familiar with are Activity in Android, ViewController in iOS, Controller in Laravel, and Class and Object in OOPs.

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Conclusion

Writing scripts for automated UI testing does not require being a programmer. With motivation, dedication, and guidance from the project's programmers, manual testers can learn everything they need to automate UI tests. By following these best practices, testers can improve their efficiency and ensure a bug-free product for users.