You don’t need to be an expert to automate your UI tests

Comprehensive test suites are hard to build out, especially when it comes to UI testing.  

QA teams have to strike a balance between running enough tests to cover essential cases, and giving each test the attention necessary to ensure quality results.  

With increasing demand for more releases, testers have a lot on their plate, and so automation becomes essential for keeping up. The challenge? End-to-end tests are notoriously difficult to automate without the right tools. 

The solution? Getting around them is way easier than you think. We’ll cover the toughest challenges you’ll face when automating your UI tests and discuss ways to scale them with confidence.  

The notorious pyramid 

When planning your test cases, you might follow the traditional test pyramid structure.  

As you move up the test pyramid to integration, API, and UI tests, automation becomes much more difficult. Some of the most common challenges you’ll face with automating your suite include:

• Chained dependencies – Scripts that test end-to-end functionality are longer and include more conditions. This results in flaky tests that are harder for SDETs to write and maintain.
• Longer run times – Longer scripts take longer to execute and are difficult to scale across multiple test cases. 
• Code-switching between platforms – Between all of the tests you can run, there is a platform for each one. Switching between platforms costs engineers time and clogs headspace, leading to unproductive and unsatisfying workflows.  
• Repeatability – Complex scripting and device cloud maintenance make it hard to sustain conditions necessary for successful repeatability.  

Because of this, teams might reduce their UI testing efforts or stick just with manual UI testing, but that will leave you with harmful blind spots. Instead, teams should find ways to take their UI tests even further.  

Fortunately, tools like BitBar and VisualTest help solve these challenges so your tests can run efficiently and at scale. Go from the test pyramid to a test pillar, with adequate coverage of your UI tests.  

How to automate your UI tests with BitBar and VisualTest 

SmartBear offers a few integrated tools that you can use to scale your current tests.

• BitBar – Our real device and browser cloud for live and automated testing. 
• VisualTest – Our AI-powered regression testing tool to automatically scan for visual defects. 

Scale and Coverage with the BitBar Cloud

BitBar makes it easy for entire teams to scale their functional testing efforts and achieve better coverage with their results. By choosing BitBar you get:

• Maximum team flexibility – Unlimited users and testing in parallel makes it easy for your whole org to cover all essential test cases. 
• Real devices for real results – Emulators and simulators aren’t as reliable, and maintaining your own device lab is costly. Use the BitBar device cloud to get access to real devices without the hassle.  
• Your security needs met – BitBar has deployment options from public to private to suit any organization’s security needs.

Enhanced testing with VisualTest

VisualTest takes your UI tests further by enhancing your automation scripts with AI to scan for visual differences so you don’t have to. With VisualTest you can:

• Un-flake your tests – Replace extensive lines of code with a simple code snippet and get complete website visibility without breaking your script.  

• Save time on unnecessary tasks – The use of AI eliminates false positives so you only spend time reviewing necessary changes.  

Try these tools for free 

BitBar and VisualTest were built to tackle different test problems. Use each individually or integrated, and eliminate the need to context-switch between platforms. 

Get started for free today and see how easy it is to get your automated tests going. 

For more information, check out our latest webinar recording on clearing your path to UI test automation.