UI testing is relatively straightforward, as long as nothing changes. But the problem is,web UIs change all the time. Many new UI testing tools have come to market in the last few years, but only a handful tackle this problem without forcing the user to abandon Selenium to adopt a new, proprietary platform.

KATALON
For a free tool, Katalon does quite a lot. Its recorder plugs into the Chrome browser so you can generate test cases, and then the tool builds them in the Katalon IDE using the page object model,so they are highly maintainable.

Pros:

  • Recommends smart locators
  • Uses the page object model
  • Has a self-healing capability (paid plug-in)

Cons:

  • Although you can export your tests as Selenium, once you’ve exported you lose all the usability of Katalon, and the export doesn’t include the page object model, so the tests become hard to reuse and maintain
  • Their expensive customer support is only available at the enterprise level
  • Doesn’t directly integrate into your existing execution framework (uses a proprietary framework,CI integrations are available as plugins)

Key takeaways: Users can start using Katalon with limited technical knowledge, creating test cases quickly, thanks to the keywords in the program. It’s free to use Katalon Studio to test your Web and Mobile applications, but to get the benefit of some of those exciting innovative technologies, you’ll have to upgrade or purchase paid plugins.

PARASOFT SELENIC
Parasoft Selenic enhances an existing Selenium testing practice by adding AI-powered locators and self-healing. Integrating directly into your existing CI/CD pipeline, Selenic analyzes the Selenium tests at runtime, and if a failure is detected (e.g.due to a bad locator), it will self-heal the test and provide recommendations on how to fix the test for future runs. Selenic’s recorder for Chrome generates pure Selenium tests that leverage the page object model for maximum maintainability.

Pros:

  • Creates Selenium tests that use the page object model
  • Executes self-healing on Selenium tests at runtime
  • Integrates directly into your CI process

Cons:

  • No free version (just a free trial)
  • The current version only supports Java,JUnit 4 and
  • Eclipse

Key takeaways: AI-powered recommendations on existing selenium tests make it easy to add this solution to your existing Selenium practice and gain significant value.One of the only tools that comes with enterprise-level customer support.

RANOREX WEBTESTIT
Webtestit is a new offering from Ranorex. It’s pure code, with a “design first”approach vs.record-and-playback.You can interact with your user interface and build your scripts through helper actions in their proprietary IDE. It’s still a little unclear where Ranorex Studio stops and Webtestit begins, but this should become clearer over time.

Pros:

  • Uses the page object model for test creation
  • Recommends locators through their Selocity chrome plugin which is available for free
  • Great helper actions during test creation within the IDE

Cons:

  • No recording functionality
  • Proprietary IDE — developers have to ditch their IDE of choice
  • Just a solution for test creation — no analysis at runtime, or self-healing capabilities

Key takeaways: Organizations looking to have an assistive tool for code creation will likely find this solution useful. Without record-and-playback, users are encouraged to build from the bottom-up rather than top-down. In combination with their Selocity Chrome plug-in, users can draw out pages as objects and import them into the webtestit tool, making it very friendly for those looking to use the page object model.

SELENIUM IDE
Selenium IDE is an open-source project that harnesses the power of Selenium in a Chrome plugin. Getting started with Selenium IDE requires no additional setup other than installing the extension on your browser, aligning with the project’s driving philosophy of providing a tool that’s easy to use and gives instant feedback.

Pros:

  • Users can export any created test into a script, making it a powerful tool for UI test creation
  • Offers multiple locator strategies for each element it records
  • Has a self-healing feature (but doesn’t work on Selenium scripts outside of the Selenium IDE

Cons:

  • Does not fit directly into your CI/CD process
  • A black box (when something doesn’t get recorded, you have to export to code to figure out what’s going on)
  • Doesn’t use the page object model when building tests

Key takeaways: The Selenium IDE is simple to use, giving users the ability to rapidly create tests against their Web UIs. It will feel natural for those accustomed to the framework, but it’s still an evolving open-source project and not always reliable.

 

Content provided by  SD Times and Parasoft