The test automation tool vendors market their product as the main feature of the tool is the ability to capture the user actions and later to playback them. Here is the basic paradigm for GUI-based automated regression testing – the so called Record/Playback method (also called as Capture/Replay approach)
1. Design a test case in the test management tool.
2. Using the capture feature of the automation testing tool record the user actions. The result is a macro-like script where each user action is presented.
3. Enhance the recorded script with verification points, where some property or data is verified against an existing baseline. Add delay and wait states points where the different actions are synchronized.
4. Playback the scripts and observe the results in the log of the test management tool.
The basic drawback in this method is the scripts resulting from this method contain hard-coded values which must change if anything at all changes in our AUT. The costs associated with maintaining such scripts are astronomical, and unacceptable. These scripts are not reliable, even if the application has not changed, and often fail on replay (pop-up windows, messages, and other things can happen that did not happen when the test was recorded).
If the tester makes an error entering data, etc., the test must be re-recorded. If the application changes the test must be re-recorded. All that is being tested are things that already work. Areas that have errors are encountered in the recording process (which is manual testing, after all). These bugs are reported, but a script cannot be recorded until the software is corrected. So logically nothing is tested by this approach.
So, avoid using "Record/Playback" as a method of automating testing. This method is fraught with problems, and is the most costly (time consuming) of all methods over the long term. The record/playback feature of the test tool is useful for determining how the tool is trying to process or interact with the application under test, and can give us some ideas about how to develop your test scripts, but beyond that, its usefulness ends quickly.
Types of Test Automation Frameworks
There are several test automation frameworks available, among these the selection is made based on the factors such as reusability of both the scripts and the test assets. The different test automation frameworks available are as follows,
Test Script Modularity
Test Library Architecture
Data-Driven Testing
Keyword-Driven or Table-Driven Testing
Hybrid Test Automation
Test Script Modularity
Test Library Architecture
Data-Driven Testing
Keyword-Driven or Table-Driven Testing
Hybrid Test Automation
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