Automating Test Automation
You might be thinking, “Shouldn’t test automation already be automated?” We developed hats to reduce manual regression testing across desktop web and mobile web. But even with hats, a Quality Engineer still needs to create the automated test and commit the script to the regression test repository.
Then, our Continuous Integration Server runs the regression test across desktop and multiple devices. This process ensures that the features work as expected as development continues.
Challenge of hats
As more agencies approach us for hats, we had a problem getting them onboard. They are not comfortable to handcraft the test scripts. Therefore, to lower the technical barrier for these non-technical users, we started to search for a tool to automate test automation.
A tool that …
- Allows the entire team to contribute to software quality. It reduces barrier to scripting as learning curve is minimal.
- Facilitates communication across team by attaching the generated test script (and maybe a couple of screenshots) in the issue tracker. It saves your effort in writing detailed test steps.
- Increases efficiency with the recording mode. It generates test scripts as you perform exploratory testing.
We explored several awesome tools. Selenium IDE, Daydream and Capycorder don’t work with hats as they don’t support Robot Framework. Selenium Page Object generator doesn’t have a recording mode. So we decided to develop our own tool.
Key features
- easy to use
- secure (e.g. masks password)
- compatible across browsers (especially for Internet Explorer/Edge)
- supports both interactive recording and static page scanning
- allows Robot Framework test script to be distributed
- open source
Introducing Robotcorder
Robotcorder is a chrome extension that records user interactions to generate Robot Framework test scripts. The scan mode reads the html document to generate all test actions. Settings option adds flexibility in prioritising the locator strategies that suit your webpage.
Long story short, watch it in action.
You can use Robotcorder …
- As a learning aid for beginners to build their automation confidence and offloads more experienced engineers to deliver user stories.
- As a rapid automation tool for proficient engineers to quickly create test script scaffolds and then incrementally build the scenarios.
- As a non-intrusive, lightweight recorder for business user to record the steps to reproduce a bug and file an issue using the generated script.
Life is too short for repetitive manual testing
Try it!
If you have queries or feedback, drop me an email or message.
Special thanks
- Kiahwee Chew for providing me guidance on making the interface pleasant
- Nina Ee and Steven Koh for helping me with this article
- Keng Hun and Jin Jie for the support in developing and testing this extension
