Testim Test Drive

I was so curious to explore Testim and share a few insights about it with the community. I think Testim doesn’t require a special introduction. But since this is my first article on Testim, let me start with a brief introduction about it.

As you all know, Testim is a leading AI-based end-to-end testing solution that gives you the speed and stability of codeless tests with the flexibility of code.

When we hear codeless, most of us think there is “no need to code”. Testim gives us the right blend and flexibility of the codeless and coded platform. There is a high necessity to have some coded logic for making the tests more stable and less flakey.

So, is Testim another test automation tool? Well, I won’t call it a tool. From my experience, I want to refer to it as a platform built to simplify automated testing.

Testim is created to solve two significant challenges of automation:

• Slow authoring & flaky tests
• High Maintenance

While exploring, it was visible that those two factors are addressed well by Testim’s AI. Testim’s platform speeds up test authoring and improves the stability of automated end-to-end tests. It also helps to create faster, scalable, and more resilient tests.

Testim’s power lies with the AI-based algorithm, making it a potential tool of the future and one among the top tools to look out for in 2021. It is not only ideal for testers but for developers as well who wish to test the application quickly after making some changes.

What makes Testim special:

• Easy and minimal setup.
• Simple and easy to understand, even for newbies.
• Fast authoring:
  • Provides a simple record option to record the tests easily.
  • Supports coding on IDE and use it with Testim platform.
  • Provides the option to export recorded tests and edit using IDEs.
• Smart Locators:
  • While recording, it captures 100s of properties and assigns scores to them. Which gives the power to locate the element even if some of the properties change. Our tests will be smarter with smart locators 🙂
  • It helps to minimize the test maintenance efforts.
• Collaboration: Enables multiple people to collaborate and code to the same project.
• Revision History: Each time we update the tests, history is maintained, and we can quickly revert to the last stable version if something goes wrong with the latest test changes.
• Test Environments: Supports multiple OS, browsers, and different screen resolutions.
• Seamless Integrations: It provides integration with various CI tools, Version Control tools, External grid providers, IDEs, etc
• Flexibility: Offers the flexibility to insert code, which makes it adaptable with any application.
• Reports & Results: Detailed information for the tests are available with the export option. Also, it gives insights on the tests, which are flakier based on the historical data.
• Plans: Offers a free plan for the community and a professional plan tailored based on organizations’ needs.

Let us go more in-depth:

As I mentioned before, there are two options to use Testim. Codeless and coded with the help of IDEs. In this test drive, I have explored the codeless way using Testim’s recording option.

Firstly, it is required to install the Testim Editor, a chrome browser extension, to aid our tests’ recording. We can create projects and add teammates to collaborate in the projects.

By default, Testim provides an option for test parallelization using its private grid. But, this is not restricted to private only. We can integrate custom grids(local selenium grid) or 3rd party ones like Saucelabs or Browserstack.

Each project will have a base URL setup, which can be overridden if required while executing.

It provides an intuitive editor for recording and editing that captures all our interactions while recording and provides the flexibility of editing based on our needs. There is also an option to see the baseline version of the application against the runtime version. It helps users to compare the previous and current states of the application.

Grouping tests is another highlight that helps remove repetitions from the code and enables specific code blocks/segments’ reusability. AutoGrouper functionality looks across the tests for duplicated sequences of steps by scanning the project periodically.

It gives the option to schedule our tests, which reduces the manual intervention for script executions, and the users can set the timeouts, making the tests stable enough. The detailed reports help the stakeholders make necessary decisions.

The Testim editor extension is worth mentioning. It helps to capture bugs whenever we encounter something. Also, it provides the option to take screenshots. When we capture and report a bug scenario, it generates an automated script with the steps we performed. This reduces the pain of testers on executing the same steps during re-testing. And gives the option to capture video, report to the bug tracking tool, and an automated script for the bug scenario. 3 in 1 that makes it unique 🙂

In short, based on my initial evaluation Testim is a simple, powerful, and unique platform that learns about the application and adapts accordingly. It removed the inflexibility of recorded tests and makes the test authoring faster, which gives the feel of a futuristic, promising, and innovative tool with tons of capabilities.

If you are yet to explore it, I would highly recommend giving it a try. Testim also provides a certification course on Testim AI for FREE!