How to Create Purposeful Test Scripts

Here’s my step-by-step action plan whenever I work with a client to help them get a new automation project started. Maybe it’s useful to you, too. 0. Write a single, meaningful, efficient test. I don’t care if it’s a unit test, an integration test, an E2E test or whatever, as long as it is reliable, quick and produces information that is valuable. 1. Run that test a few times locally so you can reasonably assume that the test is reliable and repeatable. 2. Bring the test under version control. 3. Add the test to an existing pipeline or build a pipeline specifically for the execution of the test. Have it run on every commit or PR, or (not preferred) every night, depending on your collaboration strategy. 4. Trigger the pipeline a few times to make sure your test runs as reliably on the build agent as it does locally. 5. Improve the test code if and where needed. Run the test locally AND through the pipeline after every change you make to get feedback on the impact of your code change. This feedback loop should still be VERY short, as we’re still working with a single test (or a very small group of tests, at the most). 6. Consider adding a linter for your test code. This is an optional step, but one I do recommend. At some point, you’ll probably want to enforce a common coding style anyway, and introducing a linter early on is way less painful. Consider being pretty strict. Warnings are nice and gentle, but easy to ignore. Errors, not so much. 7. Only after you’ve completed all the previous steps you can start adding more tests. All these new tests will now be linted, put under version control and be run locally and on a build agent, because you made that part of the process early on, thereby setting yourself up for success in the long term. 8. Make refactoring and optimizing your test code part of the process. Practices like (A)TDD have this step built in for a reason. 9. Once you’ve added a few more tests, start running them in parallel. Again, you want to start doing this early on, because it’s much harder to introduce parallelisation after you’ve already written hundreds of tests. 10 - ∞ Rinse and repeat. Forget about ‘building a test automation framework’. That ‘framework’ will emerge pretty much by itself as long as you stick to the process I outlined here and don’t skip the continuous refactoring.

🎯 Quality of Test Automation Scripts: A Real-Life Experience 🎯 A few years ago, I faced a challenging experience during a knowledge transfer of an automation project for a healthcare application. This project, handed over by a large Service Integration firm, comprised thousands of scripts but guess what? Less than 5% of these scripts were functional! 😮 At first, I questioned the competence of my fresh assembled team, but further investigation revealed a different culprit: The quality of the automation scripts. They were riddled with hard-coded values, depended heavily on test data, and had poor code commenting. From this experience, I learnt that the quality of test automation scripts is as essential as the tests they are designed to perform. It's not just about writing scripts, but writing good, functional scripts. If you spend time upfront to ensure this quality, it could save you a lot of headaches later on. So, my fellow professionals, I share these tips with you: 1️⃣ Avoid hard coding values. It makes your scripts rigid and prone to failure. 2️⃣ Minimize test data dependencies where possible. Your script should not fail because of data changes. 3️⃣ Don't neglect code commenting. It's essential for understanding what the script is intended to do and aids maintenance and knowledge transfer. Let's strive for quality in our test automation scripts. Because the quality of your scripts can affect the quality of the product you're testing. What's been your experience with test automation scripts? Do you have any additional tips to share? #TestAutomation #QualityAssurance #SoftwareTesting

[Imp SDET Interview Question] How Would You Design a Test Script to Validate a Login Page? Ans: My approach for effective, reliable test coverage: 1. Identify Basic Elements First, I will focus on elements like username, password fields, and login button. It's critical to ensure each element is uniquely identifiable, using stable locators (like IDs or CSS selectors) that won’t change frequently. 2. Valid Inputs Scenario Enter valid credentials and verify that the login is successful. I will check for the landing page, confirming it loads as expected. I will also add assertions for any welcome messages or redirects that are supposed to happen post-login. 3. Negative Test Cases Next, I will introduce scenarios where incorrect credentials are used: Blank fields: Verify that trying to log in with empty fields triggers the right error messages. Invalid Username/Password Combinations: Check for scenarios like invalid usernames, correct username with an incorrect password, and so on. 4. Boundary and Edge Cases Testing with inputs on the boundary is essential. I will include tests for: Max and min length: Ensure username and password fields enforce length limits. Special characters: Ensure inputs with special characters behave as expected. 5. Security Checks Security is always a top priority. I will add scenarios to ensure: SQL Injection Protection: Validate that the app does not accept SQL-like inputs. Brute Force Protection: Test for account lockouts after multiple failed attempts. Session Management: Ensure the user session remains secure and consistent. 6. Usability and Accessibility I will finish by validating usability and accessibility, checking that error messages are clear, fields have descriptive labels, and the UI handles edge cases gracefully. #Testing #SDET #QA #LoginPage #Automation #Python #Selenium

How to Create Reusable Test Scripts with Playwright (TypeScript) Creating reusable test scripts with Playwright helps maintain a clean and efficient test suite. Here’s how you can structure your Playwright tests for reusability using TypeScript. 1. Use the Page Object Model (POM) The Page Object Model (POM) helps keep your test logic separate from UI interactions. You create page objects that contain all the actions and elements for a specific page. This makes tests more maintainable and easier to update when UI changes happen. 2. Leverage Test Fixtures for Setup and Teardown Fixtures in Playwright allow you to share setup and teardown logic across tests. You can use them to open the browser, log in, or prepare data once and reuse it across multiple tests. 3. Create Helper Functions for Common Actions If you often repeat the same actions (like filling out forms or clicking buttons) in different tests, create helper functions to keep your code DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself). 4. Use Configuration Files for Environment Settings Instead of hardcoding environment values (like URLs, credentials, or timeouts) directly into your test scripts, store them in an external configuration file. This allows you to easily switch environments without modifying your test code. 5. Keep Tests Small and Focused Each test should focus on a single action or behavior. This keeps tests reusable and easier to maintain. Keep them simple, modular, and specific to one scenario. Conclusion By following these strategies in TypeScript, you can create Playwright tests that are clean, reusable, and easy to maintain. Reusable test scripts make it much easier to update your tests as your project evolves without duplicating code or constantly modifying existing tests.