A TestSquad reader sent me an email asking:

Is there a verification process to help validate that application developers comply to test automation requirements during their application development?
Usually we just give the requirements and expect application developers to comply but when you are doing the automation scripts already, some things are still skipped. I am looking for a process that will help them comply.
e.g. automation requirement: name tables as xxxx

I have to admit that answering such a question is not easy. How can you guarantee that development activity is compliant with a subsequent test automation? How does the developer's code affect the success of your test automation?

1 month ago, i was considering Selenium RC to automate a Java web application. Unfortunately and for a reason, automation was not introduced till a late stage in the project. So as soon as we started recording scripts, a problem emerged: the development team did not give an "id" attribute to the numerous html elements. And this forced us to use some workaround; unnecessary if if the QA automation effort was introduced from day one. This is relatively a simple scenario that could be solved using workaround, but i am sure the impact can much more severe for complex projects.

So a corollary answer for the original question is "continuous collaboration between developers and testers from day one in the SDLC" and that naturally leads us to Agility.


I like to use LinkedIn for tough questions. Here's the best answer i got from Greg Akins

I don't think there is an easy answer to this. One issue is
that there is a responsibility for the developer to not only create
features which are requested by the customer/business, but also to
ensure that the features are are created in a way that supports the
test process. It's my experience that the incentive to do the latter
is somewhat limited.

However, having spent time writing and designing Selenium and FIT
tests on smallish team, there was a long learning period associated
with getting the team to understand how the application needed to be
designed to support testing. I'd definitely suggest working side by
side with your developers, and iterating frequently while you're still
expecting frequent "failures" in the dev/test process

I would love to her your personal experience :)

Some people may get confused when first introduced to Selenium RC or Selenium Grid. The best answer to this is what i read on Selenium users group by Haw-Bin:

It's possible, but it's not a great usage of Selenium. One reason is that actually starting that many browsers will create a lot of overhead on the machines they are running on. You'll end up wasting a lot more computing power than you have to.

According to pay day loan reviews, a lot of people go for personal loans to start work on these tests. Some use their home equity loans too, but usually it is the loans. This is the reason why it does not take much time in becoming a bad credit loan.

IBM Rational Robot

• Smart object recognition
• Stable recording and playback. Robot solves the problem of custom objects encountered in AppWorks by the ability to add those object to a class map.
• IBM Rational TestManager is necessary to view detailed tests logs.
• Datapools supported
• Support distributed testing and sharing test scripts.
• Very simplified scripting using SQABasic; a simplified scripting language. Other scripting languages are possible (C++ and Java) with an aid from TestManager
  
• IBM Rational Robot Authorized User License + SW Subscription & Support 12 Months (D53NDLL) $ 4,676.00
• IBM Rational Robot Floating User License + SW Subscription & Support 12 Months (D52ZFLL) $ 9,009.00

HP (Mercury) QuickTest Professional

• Smart object recognition.
• Stable recording and playback
• Detailed reporting
• VB scripting
• Scripts can be shared, but HP (Mercury) Quality Center is necessary.
  
• Datapools supported\HP (Mercury) Quality Center is necessary to share scripts.
• Pricing: Information Not available. I will update it soon!