One of the most important factors for a software company's business success is its time-to-market. Software companies typically operate under tight deadlines and budgets. To stay competitive in the market, they must release their product quickly. To meet this objective, various automation tools have emerged in the tech industry that can be leveraged to expedite product development. But automation is not just restricted to the development process. The testing stage can also be transformed into an automated process using codeless testing tools. Traditional testing methods worked up to a certain extent in the past, but their major drawback was that they required coding knowledge for testing. Testers needed to write test scripts in a programming language to test the code or functionality of the software. Now that requirement has been taken care of by the modern testing tools.
In this article, we will explore how codeless testing works and the specific kinds of testing where it can be leveraged most.
Codeless testing tools are platforms that can be used to create, manage, and run test scripts without the need to write code. Testers can generate, manage, and run the test cases automatically using these tools, thus reaping two of the most important benefits - speed and no-barrier entry.
Since codeless test automation tools do not require prior knowledge of programming languages, anyone can execute the test irrespective of their background. This means the testing stage becomes open for non-technical members of the team, like business analysts, product owners, project managers, etc. Since everyone can test the product from their own perspective, the test coverage becomes more expansive, giving rise to a more robust product that has been tested from all angles.
If the testing doesn’t require you to write code, it is a big time-saver. The total time needed for writing and debugging the code can become nil when a codeless testing tool is used. The tool can not only generate the test cases automatically but also run them and log the defects in itself for the testers to examine. Companies have reported that by using such tools, their overall testing time has been reduced massively.
Since test cases are generated automatically, they are always correct in format, syntax, and logic. Unlike manually generated test scripts that are prone to human error, automated testing never faces errors in the generation or execution of the test cases.
While various codeless testing tools have different features built in them, there are a few features that are common to most.
While codeless testing is one of the most powerful technologies, it is not suitable for all kinds of testing, like performance testing, security testing, or advanced API testing. These kinds of tests still depend heavily on programming knowledge. Nevertheless, the kinds of testing most suitable for codeless tools are:
Functional testing entails that the application works perfectly towards fulfilling its main objectives. The basic functionality of the software product can be tested using no-code tools by generating the test cases automatically as per the requirements and running them. The record and playback feature of the tool checks if the user action that has been followed as per the stated guidelines produces expected results or not. E.g., checking if the user can log in, navigate, and perform the transactions smoothly on an application or not.
Software products often go through frequent updates, whether in the page design, business logic, or incorporating new features. While these changes can be tested during functional testing, regression testing allows you to test if the existing functionality remains unaffected due to recent updates. Once you integrate the testing tool into your product and give it the context of the product, it can generate regression test cases on its own whenever a new update occurs in the product. And these regression tests can be reused multiple times for every change the product goes through in the future.
End-to-end testing checks if the workflow follows the set pattern correctly, from the beginning to the end. A common software product is built by integrating various modules into it. Each module is required to attain a specific objective. Once achieved, the workflow should proceed to the next module. A common example of this is in e-commerce, where after you select a product, the application leads you to the next module of the checkout process. A codeless test automation tool checks if the data flows correctly from one module to another, and the flow between them behaves as per the expectations by generating the relevant test cases automatically.
To test a software thoroughly, you must do it by giving various kinds of input data. A codeless testing tool allows you to test the functionality of a product through various data validations by checking its behaviour in different scenarios. E.g., while filling up a form, you may test a mandatory field by first providing the correct input and later with wrong input. You must check whether the tool accepts the correct input and displays error messages for the wrong input or not. For cases where a large set of input is needed, an AI-powered codeless testing tool allows you to import spreadsheets or CSV files to test against them.
Codeless testing tools have opened up a new angle to the testing process for modern software companies. These companies no longer need to depend upon the technical expertise of testers to write test scripts using a programming language, but can now involve non-technical members too in the testing process. While testing the code efficiency and algorithm behaviour is useful from a technical perspective, the business logic and workflow are equally important. And that can be tested only by non-technical staff, like a business analyst, product owner, or project manager.
By using codeless testing, companies are realizing the immense benefits they can reap through the above-mentioned attribute, along with additional ones like reducing the time, cost, and effort of the overall testing phase. The QA process is always under the phase of evolution, and codeless testing is one of those phases that cannot be ignored anymore. The future of QA cannot be envisioned until you incorporate codeless testing into your current test automation strategy.