In this work, over 40 pioneering implementers share their experiences and best practices in 28 case studies. Drawing on their insights, you can avoid the pitfalls associated with test automation, and achieve powerful results on every metric you care about: quality, cost, time to market, usability, and value.

Software test automation has moved beyond a luxury to become a necessity. Applications and systems have grown ever larger and more complex, and manual testing simply cannot keep up. As technology changes, and more organizations move into agile development, testing must adapt—and quickly. Test automation is essential, but poor automation is wasteful—how do you know where your efforts will take you? Authors Dorothy Graham and Mark Fewster wrote the field’s seminal text, Software Test Automation, which has guided many organizations toward success. Now, in Experiences of Test Automation, they reveal test automation at work in a wide spectrum of organizations and projects, from complex government systems to medical devices, SAP business process development to Android mobile apps and cloud migrations. This book addresses both management and technical issues, describing failures and successes, brilliant ideas and disastrous decisions and, above all, offers specific lessons you can use. Coverage includes Test automation in agile development How management support can make or break successful automation The importance of a good testware architecture and abstraction levels Measuring benefits and Return on Investment (ROI) Management issues, including skills, planning, scope, and expectations Model-Based Testing (MBT), monkey testing, and exploratory test automation The importance of standards, communication, documentation, and flexibility in enterprise-wide automation Automating support activities Which tests to automate, and what not to automate Hidden costs of automation: maintenance and failure analysis The right objectives for test automation: why “finding bugs” may not be a good objective Highlights, consisting of lessons learned, good points, and helpful tips Experiences of Test Automation will be invaluable to everyone considering, implementing, using, or managing test automation. Testers, analysts, developers, automators and automation architects, test managers, project managers, QA professionals, and technical directors will all benefit from reading this book.

Offers advice on designing and implementing a software test automation infrastructure, and identifies what current popular testing approaches can and cannot accomplish. Rejecting the automation life cycle model, the authors favor limited automation of unit, integration, and system testing. They also present a control synchronized data-driven framework to help jump-start an automation project. Examples are provided in the Rational suite test studio, and source code is available at a supporting web site. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

Describes how to structure and build an automated testing regime that will give lasting benefits in the use of test execution tools to automate testing on a medium to large scale. Offers practical advice for selecting the right tool and for implementing automated testing practices within an organization, and presents an extensive collection of case studies and guest chapters reflecting both good and bad experiences in test automation. Useful for recent purchasers of test automation tools, technical managers, vendors, and consultants. The authors are consultant partners in a company that provides consultancy and training in software testing and test automation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"If you'd like a glimpse at how the next generation is going to program, this book is a good place to start." —Gregory V. Wilson, Dr. Dobbs Journal (October 2004) Build Your Own Automated Software Testing Tool Whatever its claims, commercially available testing software is not automatic. Configuring it to test your product is almost as time-consuming and error-prone as purely manual testing. There is an alternative that makes both engineering and economic sense: building your own, truly automatic tool. Inside, you'll learn a repeatable, step-by-step approach, suitable for virtually any development environment. Code-intensive examples support the book's instruction, which includes these key topics: Conducting active software testing without capture/replay Generating a script to test all members of one class without reverse-engineering Using XML to store previously designed testing cases Automatically generating testing data Combining Reflection and CodeDom to write test scripts focused on high-risk areas Generating test scripts from external data sources Using real and complete objects for integration testing Modifying your tool to test third-party software components Testing your testing tool Effective Software Test Automation goes well beyond the building of your own testing tool: it also provides expert guidance on deploying it in ways that let you reap the greatest benefits: earlier detection of coding errors, a smoother, swifter development process, and final software that is as bug-free as possible. Written for programmers, testers, designers, and managers, it will improve the way your team works and the quality of its products.

Rely on this robust and thorough guide to build and maintain successful test automation. As the software industry shifts from traditional waterfall paradigms into more agile ones, test automation becomes a highly important tool that allows your development teams to deliver software at an ever-increasing pace without compromising quality. Even though it may seem trivial to automate the repetitive tester’s work, using test automation efficiently and properly is not trivial. Many test automation endeavors end up in the “graveyard” of software projects. There are many things that affect the value of test automation, and also its costs. This book aims to cover all of these aspects in great detail so you can make decisions to create the best test automation solution that will not only help your test automation project to succeed, but also allow the entire software project to thrive. One of the most important details that affects the success of the test automation is how easy it is to maintain the automated tests. Complete Guide to Test Automation provides a detailed hands-on guide for writing highly maintainable test code. What You’ll Learn Know the real value to be expected from test automation Discover the key traits that will make your test automation project succeed Be aware of the different considerations to take into account when planning automated tests vs. manual tests Determine who should implement the tests and the implications of this decision Architect the test project and fit it to the architecture of the tested application Design and implement highly reliable automated tests Begin gaining value from test automation earlier Integrate test automation into the business processes of the development teamLeverage test automation to improve your organization's performance and quality, even without formal authority Understand how different types of automated tests will fit into your testing strategy, including unit testing, load and performance testing, visual testing, and more Who This Book Is For Those involved with software development such as test automation leads, QA managers, test automation developers, and development managers. Some parts of the book assume hands-on experience in writing code in an object-oriented language (mainly C# or Java), although most of the content is also relevant for nonprogrammers.

“This book fills a huge gap in our knowledge of software testing. It does an excellent job describing how test automation differs from other test activities, and clearly lays out what kind of skills and knowledge are needed to automate tests. The book is essential reading for students of testing and a bible for practitioners.” –Jeff Offutt, Professor of Software Engineering, George Mason University “This new book naturally expands upon its predecessor, Automated Software Testing, and is the perfect reference for software practitioners applying automated software testing to their development efforts. Mandatory reading for software testing professionals!” –Jeff Rashka, PMP, Coauthor of Automated Software Testing and Quality Web Systems Testing accounts for an increasingly large percentage of the time and cost of new software development. Using automated software testing (AST), developers and software testers can optimize the software testing lifecycle and thus reduce cost. As technologies and development grow increasingly complex, AST becomes even more indispensable. This book builds on some of the proven practices and the automated testing lifecycle methodology (ATLM) described in Automated Software Testing and provides a renewed practical, start-to-finish guide to implementing AST successfully. In Implementing Automated Software Testing, three leading experts explain AST in detail, systematically reviewing its components, capabilities, and limitations. Drawing on their experience deploying AST in both defense and commercial industry, they walk you through the entire implementation process–identifying best practices, crucial success factors, and key pitfalls along with solutions for avoiding them. You will learn how to: Make a realistic business case for AST, and use it to drive your initiative Clarify your testing requirements and develop an automation strategy that reflects them Build efficient test environments and choose the right automation tools and techniques for your environment Use proven metrics to continuously track your progress and adjust accordingly Whether you’re a test professional, QA specialist, project manager, or developer, this book can help you bring unprecedented efficiency to testing–and then use AST to improve your entire development lifecycle.

With the urgent demand for rapid turnaround on new software releases--without compromising quality--the testing element of software development must keep pace, requiring a major shift from slow, labor-intensive testing methods to a faster and more thorough automated testing approach. Automated Software Testing is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to the most effective tools, techniques, and methods for automated testing. Using numerous case studies of successful industry implementations, this book presents everything you need to know to successfully incorporate automated testing into the development process. In particular, this book focuses on the Automated Test Life Cycle Methodology (ATLM), a structured process for designing and executing testing that parallels the Rapid Application Development methodology commonly used today. Automated Software Testing is designed to lead you through each step of this structured program, from the initial decision to implement automated software testing through test planning, execution, and reporting. Included are test automation and test management guidance for: Acquiring management support Test tool evaluation and selection The automated testing introduction process Test effort and test team sizing Test team composition, recruiting, and management Test planning and preparation Test procedure development guidelines Automation reuse analysis and reuse library Best practices for test automation

Test automation is a fantastic technology field with incredible potential. Unfortunately, the reality is most test automation efforts fail soon after they're initiated. From the many promises of ease of automation to over simplified vendor demonstrations, its easy to spend significant time and money pursuing test automation only to be left with spent budgets and unused software sitting on the shelf. If only there was a way to avoid the most common pitfalls encountered when embarking upon the promise of test automation?Greg Paskal shares some of his best insights learned as a successful test automation engineer. With over 30 years in software development and test engineering, Greg has experience first hand what works and what ends up problematic when implementing test automation across the enterprise. Learn how to take First Steps into Test Automation, ensuring you start with a great foundation. Understand the critical steps of The Automation Evaluation and how this process ensures you're automating the right things. Discover how Removing The Word Test from Test Automation opens up countless opportunities to get even greater value out of your automation tools and investment. Read about How to Hire an Automation Engineer to ensure you have the right talent to succeed in your automation endeavors.Greg Paskal has published countless white-papers and recorded podcast on the subject of Test Automation. You'll find Greg presents Real World lessons learned in a way that will help you avoid making some of the common mistakes in test automation development. Greg blends together his broad range of technical talents with his gifts and passion for teaching other in an easy to understand format.Prepare to come away better equipped for success in the world of Test Automation. These valuable lessons will apply to any test automation tool, technology and team.

Ensure your web APIs are consistent and bug-free by implementing an automated testing process. In Testing Web APIs you will: Design and implement a web API testing strategy Set up a test automation suite Learn contract testing with Pact Facilitate collaborative discussions to test web API designs Perform exploratory tests Experiment safely in a downloadable API sandbox environment Testing Web APIs teaches you to plan and implement the perfect testing strategy for your web APIs. In it, you’ll explore dozens of different testing activities to help you develop a custom testing regime for your projects. This practical book demystifies abstract strategic concepts by applying them to common API testing scenarios, revealing how these complex ideas work in the real world. You’ll learn to take a risk-driven approach to API testing, and build a strategy that goes beyond the basics of code and requirements coverage. Your whole team will soon be involved in ensuring quality! About the technology Web APIs are the public face of your application, and they need to be perfect. Implementing an automated testing program is the best way to ensure that your web APIs are production ready. About the book Testing Web APIs is a unique and practical guide, from the initial design of your testing suite through techniques for documentation, implementation, and delivery of consistently excellent APIs. You’ll see a wide range of testing techniques, from exploratory to live testing of production code, and how to save time with automation using industry-standard tools. This book helps take the hassle out of API testing. What's inside Design and implement a web API testing strategy Set up a test automation suite Contract testing with Pact Hands-on practice in the downloadable API sandbox About the reader For dedicated software QA and testers, or experienced developers. Examples in Java. About the author Mark Winteringham is the OpsBoss at Ministry of Testing, where he teaches many aspects of software testing. Table of Contents PART 1 THE VALUE OF WEB API TESTING 1 Why and how we test web APIs 2 Beginning our testing journey 3 Quality and risk PART 2 BEGINNING OUR TEST STRATEGY 4 Testing API designs 5 Exploratory testing APIs 6 Automating web API tests 7 Establishing and implementing a testing strategy PART 3 EXPANDING OUR TEST STRATEGY 8 Advanced web API automation 9 Contract testing 10 Performance testing 11 Security testing 12 Testing in production