Manual software testing is performed by human, carefully going through application screens step by steep, using various usage and input combinations, By comparing the results to the expected result and recording their observations. Manual tests are repeated often during development cycles for source code changes and other situations like multiple operating system and hardware configurations.
Manual software Tests – Costs every test runs, Limited to staffed hours, Slower, Ptentially more error prone, Has creation and maintenance cost.
Comparing above scenario, Automated test gives us these heigh level benefits- Free to run as often as required, run at any time, Faster, less error prone, Maintain the code in source control. Besides these-
- It makes end user happier, they can accomplish more task/fewer problem
- Takes less time to fix the production bug so that dev team can focus on developing more feature
- Increase dev team ‘ s confidence to make any change or update anything with less stress
- Increases system understanding
- Reduce cost /Increase revenues
- Improve business reputation and reliability
From above discussion we have some idea about the importance of test automation. Now we will discuss about our main context- Why C# is a great choice for test automation-
- C# is an modern object-oriented language, component-oriented programing language. Since its origin, C# has added features to support new workloads and emerging software design practices. At its core, C# is an object-oriented language. We define types and their behavior. We can use the core features of OOP that makes our code more reusable.
- Apart from the development of web, desktop & mobile apps, C# is also widely used for test automation with the various testing frameworks it provides. With C# programming language you can perform tests on web applications based on Windows, Android and iOS platforms.
- C# programs run on .NET, .NET is a free and open-source, managed computer software framework for Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. It is a cross-platform successor to .NET Framework. Apart from the development of web, desktop & mobile apps, C# is also widely used for test automation with the various testing frameworks it provides. With C# programming language you can perform tests on web applications based on Windows, Android and iOS platforms.
- C# is being widely used as a language for Test Automation because you can easily write your test scripts with the help of Visual Studio, which offers access to features like, IntelliSense, debugging, basic refactors, etc. Visual Studio IDE gives a faster development and debugging, ultimately giving a boost to the go-to-market launch of your web application. With C#, there is a wide variety of automation frameworks that can be used for Test Automation. They are chosen on the basis of their requirement, compatibility and the kind of solution they’d prefer. These are the most popular C# frameworks used for test automation.
- MSTest: MSTest is the default test framework that comes along with Visual Studio. The MSTest framework provides the necessary tools to verify & validate your source code. The framework recognizes tests via the different attributes/annotations under which the test code is present.
- NUnit: NUnit is a unit-testing framework for all .Net languages. Initially ported from JUnit, the current production release, version 3, has been completely rewritten with many new features and support for a wide range of .NET platforms.
- xUnit: xUnit.net is a free, open source, community-focused unit testing tool for the .NET Framework. Written by the original inventor of NUnit v2, xUnit.net is the latest technology for unit testing C# and other .NET languages. xUnit.net works with ReSharper, CodeRush, TestDriven.NET and Xamarin.
- Web Driver Test: WebDriver is an automating web application testing tool. This provides APIs that easily integrate with C#.
- MSTest: MSTest is the default test framework that comes along with Visual Studio. The MSTest framework provides the necessary tools to verify & validate your source code. The framework recognizes tests via the different attributes/annotations under which the test code is present.
- Selenium is one of the most important automation testing tools, it supports C# And to automate the test scripts in various browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera on different operating systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux.
- Running test as part of continuous Integration – Run Unit tests, Run Integration tests, Run Subcutaneous tests, Run UI tests.
- Continuous delivery Deployment Pipeline– Performance tests, User acceptance tests
- Start with test driven development
