Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of alexwhite19800
alexwhite19800

asked on

Automated mobile software testing

We have a number of different mobile applications within our organisation; some developed in house others are purchased by vendors.

All these applications need to be tested for defects. At the moment, we have a fairly laborious process of holding test items in a spreadsheet and having someone manually go through them. As you can imagine, it's very time consuming.

We'd like to look into automated software testing. I've heard of a couple; SeeTest being one of them: https://experitest.com/

My question is this:

For tools like these, do they need custom code embedded into the software or can they be used out of the box? For our custom developed solutions embedding code can be quite straightforward, but for vendor apps not sure how we can do this?

Does anyone have any experience with automated testing for 3rd party solutions?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Avatar of David Johnson, CD
David Johnson, CD
Flag of Canada image

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of alexwhite19800
alexwhite19800

ASKER

Thank you both.

One item I am still not clear on - in order to use these automated testing products for 3rd party products, what do we actually need to do?

Let me give an example. In this example, Facebook is the 3rd party application we want to test for every release. And the functionality we want to test is Add Status.

Now, currently, every time Facebook releases a new version, I have someone manually going into Facebook, adding a Status comment, and then verifying that it works. Whilst this seems straightforward, imagine there are 100's of similar tests we want to perform.

So, what I want to do is "automate" that test for every Facebook release. My questions are:

1. Are there any software platforms out there that can automate this test *without* having access to the Facebook source code? Would the traditional Automated software testing platforms like SeeTest, Appium and so on do this? Or is this not possible without some degree of interaction with the Facebook code (and therefore, Facebook).

2. Are there any other software platforms out there that can somehow simulate this test without someone having to manually carry out the action?
for your example it requires some web scraping or access to the api,  This can be done in excel.
what you do is do something, and observe the result if you get the expected result return success else return fail
The recording of user action manually going through the Facebook UI may be considered. Sort of like macro scripted of the action taken and replayed it in automated means. Another is via FB API make available to apps testing
https://smartbear.com/product/testcomplete/mobile-module/features/record-mobile-tests-at-object-level/
Thanks. So for the answer to these questions?

1. Are there any software platforms out there that can automate this test *without* having access to the Facebook source code? Would the traditional Automated software testing platforms like SeeTest, Appium and so on do this? Or is this not possible without some degree of interaction with the Facebook code (and therefore, Facebook).

2. Are there any other software platforms out there that can somehow simulate this test without someone having to manually carry out the action?


Does anyone know any examples?
I do see it possible and using SeeTest. Here is an simple example of SeeTest automating on a Facebook games - farmville, see http://auto-simple.blogspot.sg/2010/04/games-test-automation.html
The caveat is still you need to do the manual click and have them recorded which can then be automated into scripted version using SeeTest. You do not need t know Facebook source code as afar as the example stated.
Hi, there:
1) For tools like these, do they need custom code embedded into the software or can they be used out of the box?
- It depends on the project type and your requirements. Mainly - not.

2) For our custom developed solutions embedding code can be quite straightforward, but for vendor apps not sure how we can do this?
- Could you specify the vendor?

Also, check which regions are you going to spread your app. You might need not just to test your app with test-scripts but also check how it works on real devices (in local markets). You can check some helpful tips there: http://blog.ubertesters.com/the-most-popular-smartphones-screen-values-for-mobile-application-testing/