AUTOMATED TESTING FRAMEWORKS: ENSURING SOFTWARE QUALITY AND REDUCING MANUAL TESTING EFFORTS

Abstract

The purpose of this research study is to review and analyze the automated testing frameworks thoroughly with the main areas of focus on the quality assurance of the software and the minimization of testing that is done manually. The research aims and objectives are as follows: This is in relation to the historical development of these frameworks, their types, and their essential characteristics The examination of their effectiveness in enhancing software quality Determine the extent of diminished manual testing efforts The examination of the various ineffectiveness and drawbacks related to the frameworks [1]. Moreover, it presents an aim to reveal best practices, to assess their usage in CI/CD pipelines, and compare the cost and benefits impatient of the practices; to analyze their compliance with the current legislation and industrial standards and to investigate the trends in the further development of the field. Automated testing frameworks (ATFs) are becoming increasingly popular and are practically valuable in custom software development[1]. ATFs are utilized to reduce the manual effort to perform testing and ensure high-quality, robust software. ATFs can be easily implemented for integration and system testing, but there are challenges to implement unit testing automation.Software testers use a number of testing techniques to assess the quality of software, which helps in ensuring that the software meets its requirements and is delivered with minimal defects. Manual testing is performed by a human executing an application to verify different operations of an application and to validate different test conditions. Although manual testing will always have a role in software testing, it does have some limitations. Some of the limitations of manual testing can be overcome by using test automation[1]. Test automation is the use of software to control the execution of tests and to compare the actual results with the expected results. Test automation can be used in repetitive tasks, tasks that are difficult or impossible to do manually, and tasks that are performed under extreme conditions. Test automation can perform testing effectively and efficiently. Automated Testing Frameworks (ATFs), also known as test automation frameworks, are an approach to automate software testing activities to verify different test scenarios and conditions of a software system. The ATF combines automated test scripts and test data and repositories with components that execute pre-test and post-test actions, and reporting to form a structure that supports automated testing[2].With the growing acceptance of agile development and DevOps methodologies, the time allotted for testing has been dramatically reduced. As a result, testers are under pressure to quickly validate the quality of the software and are turning to automated testing. Many test automation frameworks have been developed to assist testers with executing and reporting results of their automated tests. These frameworks can also help reduce the effort involved in test script development.