Software testing can be done manually or using automated test tools. Testing is necessary to ensure correct results, valid inputs, and performance. Automated test tools can be code-driven or based on user interface and are faster and more efficient than manual testing. Custom tools may be needed for unique software. Automated testing has many benefits, including speed and repeatability.
Just as a physical product is tested to see if it meets the desired behavior and specifications, so too is software tested. Software testing can be done manually by people or using tools. An automated test tool is software used to test the target software, i.e. the software under test. This tool runs various tests on the target software and determines whether the tests pass successfully.
The software must be tested to ensure that correct results are generated, valid inputs are accepted and processed correctly, and invalid inputs are rejected. Testing is needed to determine if results are generated quickly, the software works well even if a large number of people access it simultaneously, and so on. Manual tests are often used, but depend on the accuracy of the people performing them. Manual software testing takes time and a significant number of people for most non-trivial applications, thus driving up the cost. Also, testing for thousands of concurrent users or large volumes of data cannot be easily done manually.
Test automation is the use of tools to test software. An automated test tool is itself software that can be developed, purchased, or acquired. The tool typically starts the target software to run and passes various inputs to the target software to test for various conditions. Evaluate the corresponding outputs of the target software and track the pass/fail of each test. After a series of tests, the tool typically provides a summary of the results so that you can quickly determine the number and severity of defects.
An automated test tool can work in two ways. First, it can be code-driven, i.e. the tool can be closely related to the code written so as to verify that the results for the various inputs are correct. Second, it can be based on a user interface where user activities such as mouse movements, keyboard inputs, voice inputs, etc. are imitated, and the outputs provided to users are examined for correctness. In the latter case, a person’s actual activities could be recorded and then played back by the instrument, or those activities could be generated by a command script supplied to the instrument.
There are general purpose automated test tools available on the market. Most are quite expensive, but some tools are available for free. If the target software is highly specific or unique, it is likely that a test tool will need to be custom developed by that software team itself. As with all software, the tools themselves have limitations and only work properly when given good input data. If you don’t feed a relatively comprehensive set of tests, the tool won’t help determine the quality of the target software.
An automated testing tool has many benefits. Once a test set is created, the tests can run faster than a person can run them. Testing can be done overnight or at odd hours, leaving people free to focus on what they do best. Tests can be run over and over again to determine if errors have crept into the target software as it changes over time.
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