What do testers do when they need to cover dozens or even hundreds of different scenarios in a short amount of time? Writing a new test script for each scenario is a time-consuming process and quite literally a maintenance nightmare. Well, what if we told you there’s a solution to our problem, and that solution is called data driven testing? Some of you might already know a bit about it, but Qyrus’ implementation of data driven testing includes parameterizing certain steps in a test script to then allow data to be fed into those steps. We call this parameterization. And the last time we talked about parameterization was nearly half a year ago in one of our initial Feature Friday blog posts. Today, we’re joined by Adhiraj and Kiwaun to hear about the updates made to parameterization.
Tell us more about the parameterization offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Adhi: Parameterization on Qyrus essentially allows users to utilize data-driven testing in their testing process. Test data can be pulled directly from a file or table that will then be fed into the corresponding test steps in the script during runtime.
Kiwaun: Overall, it allows users to test a large amount of scenarios using a single test case, promoting reusability as well as easier maintenance. Each row that’s in the datasheet represents a different test case.
For those that have read the previous post mentioned before about parameterization, we’d encourage you to read a bit about it before continuing on. Next, we’ll hear about the awesome updates made to our feature.
Tell us more about what’s new with parameterization?
Adhi:
The biggest update to our parameterized testing is our ability to create these tables directly on the Qyrus platform itself.
Kiwaun:
And, we’ve made it so it’s an easy process that’s done right alongside test building and on the exact same page. This enables the user to be more productive as they don’t have to go around to different screens or pages in order to fill in this information.
Adhi:
And, the really cool thing is that you can actually connect this to the test data management section in Qyrus. We’ve talked about our test data management feature in the past, and you can read more about it here. But essentially, this also allows users to auto-generate data in these tables for use during execution. We’ve really tried to tie all aspects of Qyrus together.
These new updates really highlight the importance of data-driven testing and how that can help users scale and increase coverage of test cases and scenarios. Qyrus is constantly looking to improve and update features to keep up with client requirements and advancements in the automated testing area.
What is this feature’s overall impact on the testing process?
Adhi:
Parameterization has an impact in all major areas of testing, including test building, execution, and the following reporting. And, with the advent of test data management and tying it into parameterization, even maintenance is something that is impacted here.
Kiwaun:
In terms of test coverage, the value of parameterization cannot be understated. The whole idea behind data driven testing is to push test coverage and also make it more efficient to do so in the process. We also want to make it easier overall, which can provide cost and effect reduction.
How might parameterization help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Adhi:
Testers would use this to push their test coverage, as we just mentioned. But besides that, it can help them specifically target what data and data sets to be used in testing for specific test cases and scenarios to be executed.
Kiwaun: Devs might use this to help them in building and running unit tests, but this is a tester-focused feature. The great thing, however, is that it makes this type of testing more accessible to those users who aren’t proficient in testing whatsoever. This can enable even less technical people, like business technologists, to be able to perform data-driven testing themselves.
Making testing simple is Qyrus’ mission. Through making testing simpler, we can make testing faster. Parameterization and data-driven testing can sound complicated, but with Qyrus it is made simple.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Kiwaun:
Prior to our parameterization as a whole, users would have to create multiple test scripts to cover these different scenarios. With parameterization, this isn’t an issue. But, even more importantly, with the updates that have been brought forward – including test data management – it has even more value than before.
Adhi: And, ultimately, competitors don’t have the same level of test data management that we do – especially now. But if we’re looking at this from a pure coding standpoint – data-driven testing is achievable. It’s definitely nothing new. But, what’s the real question is, how easy is it? Given Qyrus, it’s really easy.
How do you see parameterization impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Kiwaun: In terms of day-to-day, our parameterization and data-driven testing is extremely easy and would speed up test building and coverage. Test cases are all executed under one report and presented back as such.
Adhi:
And the days of coding day-in and day-out are gone! The codeless approach of Qyrus takes the coding out of testing and makes it simple. Even filling out these parameterized files or using the onboard test data management is simple.
Data-driven testing is essential to efficient testing. It is not easy to scale test coverage while also keeping up with the agile process of software development. Qyrus always seeks to keep updating their features, as well as adding new features. Keeping up with the testing requirements of our clients and the ever-evolving world of testing is a core goal of Qyrus. These updates to parameterization are just an example of how Qyrus is an ever-evolving testing platform.
As applications become a medium for business progress and success, Quality assurance processes have never been more essential. From the developer down to the primary user and back, quality assurance teams ensure functionality and user experience through consistent testing practices. Regardless of the practice, manual or automated, coded or solution architecture implementations, the fundamentals of Quality assurance rely on collaboration. The best QA teams have engineers, test architects, developers, and business analysts that are in tune with feature implementations, release cycles, and required application functionality. This week’s Feature Friday discusses one of the pillars of Quality Assurance, collaboration. Despite much to talk about with Qyrus’ all in one automated testing platform, Dan and Tim will discuss something more fundamental in how Qyrus enhances collaboration and communication throughout the development and deployment lifecycles, leading to higher quality applications with faster release times.
Tell us more about collaborative testing offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Dan:
Qyrus has a lot to offer when it comes to collaborative testing and helping enable testing teams to be more collaborative not only within their own team but also with the organization as a whole. Some of these features include the ability to lock scripts from being modified, the ability to download, share, and email reports to anyone.
Tim:
On top of that, everyone can have access to each other’s tests. This also enables more collaborative test building among team members. Testers can work off of each other by copying or cloning tests created by other members in order to further their testing. This helps promote reusability in the testing environment. And, everything being done from the cloud enables better management as a whole. Our test repository also promotes better organization amongst team members.
Dan:
This is also very helpful with handoffs. Giving quick project access or sharing reports provides immediate clarity simplifying knowledge transfer of test requirements and data. Regardless of where your colleague is located, everything is consistent on a singular platform.
What kind of impact on the testing process does collaborative testing have?
Tim:
The biggest impact is going to be seen in the area of maintenance. Because everything is on the cloud and centralized in one area, there is less maintenance seen on the side of the testers. And, overall, all of our collaborative features provide impact in almost all aspects and areas of testing.
Dan:
The key, obviously, is to promote collaboration which in turn can help in other aspects such as cost and effort reduction as well as an increase in test coverage overall. A well-oiled machine works with extreme speed and efficiency, and a testing ecosystem is no exception.
How might collaborative testing help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can collaborative testing bring?
Tim:
Testers would be the primary beneficiary of the collaborative testing process. These features help enable teams to better communicate and collaborate. And in a similar fashion to testers, developers in turn would become more collaborative. But more importantly is that these two teams, although separate, will become more effective when communicating and collaborating together. No longer do developers have to waste time in setting up testing environments and developers can unit test their applications early on in the process.
Dan:
And in terms of business technologists, they would become more engrained in the testing and development process because of their ability to just log in and check out what’s going on. On top of that they can download reports as well as PDF generated reports which can help them understand if the stakeholder requirements are being met.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Dan:
Straight off the bat, if the competitor doesn’t have a cloud-native platform, they’re already leagues behind us in terms of collaboration and testing. As seen with our competitors, it’s not as seamless of an onboarding situation when it comes to adding new members to their teams. With Qyrus, everything is done practically instantly and set up with the click of a button.
Tim:
And prior to Qyrus or any testing platform, users would have to use something like Git or other 3rd party applications in order to have a collaborative testing environment. The biggest thing is sharing these tests with other members of the team – whether it be for review, helping another team member, or as a continuation of the testing process – everything is easily accessible.
Dan:
The last thing anyone wants is a fragmented testing ecosystem. This can lead to breaks in the process and issues later on down the road. Furthermore, the users and environment setup and maintenance required for all QA team members to have required access can quickly become a nightmare. Everything being in one spot is not only convenient but also helps with collaboration and onboarding.
How do you see collaborative testing on Qyrus impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Tim:
By the nature of making the testing process more collaborative, things become easier within a team and their communication with each other. Locking certain scripts can prevent them from being meddled with on accident. Furthermore, small testing teams can script a rather large amount of test cases in a relatively short amount of time.
Dan:
If you think about it, test coverage as a whole will increase, making testers busier day-to-day, but all for a good reason. Lastly, reusability is promoted, so we might see a decrease in time spent doing repetitive tasks or scripting things already scripted.
If the idea is to promote the highest quality application, in the fastest time, it is essential that developers, testers, and business analysts not only have access to all application and release information, but transparency and collaboration throughout the entire development, Quality assurance, and deployment lifecycle. Qyrus enables the highest levels of collaboration through a cloud native platform. With the ability to quickly spin up user instances, sharable reporting, test building/cloning, and restricted access settings, Qyrus has created the perfect environment for professionals across businesses to co-create and release high quality, customer centric, applications into the market.
It’s Friday, and, after all, isn’t the whole point of the week the weekend? Before we jump into that, we’re here to bring you another installment of Feature Friday! This week, we are discussing our inspect mode feature for use in our mobility testing. This week, we are lucky enough to have three amazing experts from our Qyrus team to shed some light on inspect mode for both Android and iOS devices. Without further to do, let’s hop right in!
Tell us more about inspect mode offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Brett:
Inspect mode is a feature offered with mobility testing in Qyrus. Its essential usage is to assist users in finding locator values of elements on their applications. It also helps with verifying these locator values. If a user wants to verify that the value works on a given page of an application, it will show the user where it is on the page.
Jorell:
The way it works is a user can activate the mode on any given page of their application. Afterwards, any object they click on the device will be highlighted and the locator value populated in the step builder.
Milton:
The inspect mode gives a wide variety of locator types to use. Given the values are present for the selected object, Qyrus will provide XPaths, names, among other typical and standard value types.
Inspect mode already seems like an interesting feature from those statements alone. Qyrus seeks to make testing easier for everyone at every step of the testing process. We asked the group to tell us more about the impact we see from using inspect mode.
What is inspect mode’s overall impact on the testing process?
Jorell:
Inspect mode really only impacts test building, as it doesn’t have too much to do with test execution or reporting.
Milton:
I agree, overall, it helps reduce the amount of effort required to build these tests. Instead of having to manually inspect the XML of the app, you can now just use this built-in feature while you’re test building! No interruptions at all, whatsoever and I can easily choose any attribute.
How might inspect mode help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Milton:
I’d say that in general, this feature is much more targeted towards testers and developers. However, business technologists would be able to much more easily navigate and even build simple tests quickly and ensure accessibility standards are met. Like we mentioned earlier, it simplifies test building greatly.
Brett:
For testers, we’ve already mentioned how it could be useful in their test building activities.
Jorell:
Developers also will find use in using inspect mode. Where it really starts to come into play is when we have multiple versions of an application. Developers could use this to inspect the applications and the elements within. That way, they can verify locators the different versions of their applications.
Inspect mode certainly has its strengths. Already seeing how much value this simple feature can bring, we wanted to learn more about exactly how this feature evolved the process. We wanted to know a bit more about how something similar would have been achieved before the introduction of this feature.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Brett:
So, yes, there are similar things out there to our inspect mode. However, none come close to the holistic experience from speed to the depth of information that you would receive on Qyrus. Most other similar features aren’t as complete as ours. One example is giving visual feedback in the form of highlighting the element on the live device stream. Another would be the automatic detection of multiple usable locator value types.
Milton:
And, Qyrus easily transfers those values over to the step builder, as well for quick automation. This allows us to take this one feature and incorporate it with others to help form that holistic test automation experience on Android and iOS devices from building to execution to reporting.
How do you see inspect mode impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Jorell:
We mentioned this a bit earlier, but essentially it would change how testers currently get these values completely. Originally, testers would have to manually comb through the XML tree and even create XPaths manually in order to get these values. This would involve a lot of back-and-forth between the testing app, the testing platform/framework, and the actual executions/reporting.
Brett:
And, 3rd party tools aren’t needed anymore in order to inspect elements on an application. Everything being integrated into a single platform brings a lot of bonuses. As Jorell said, you’ll see a lot less back-and-forth and in general higher productivity.
With the conclusion of this week’s Feature Friday, the beginning of the end – the weekend that is – starts. Enjoy it while you can, because it seems that the only thing that travels faster than light itself is weekends! So, it’s Friday, time to go out and make stories for Monday!
Friday? More like Fri-YAY! The weekend is here and our time to unwind and relax is nigh. Call the pizza place, get some soda, pop in a movie, whatever it is you like to do to relax. However, before we do, we’d like to thank you for joining us for this weeks’ Feature Friday! This week Adhiraj and Parth join us from our Chicago Qyrus team to give us a little bit of an insight to Qyrus’ web recorder tool. Whether you’re still at the office or kicking up your feet at home – or kicking your feet up at the office – let’s get into it!
Tell us more about the web recorder offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Adhiraj: The Qyrus web recorder is an extension that we offer on Google Chrome. It helps users record their steps and actions in the Chrome web browser. It’s quite helpful in how fast it allows us to build tests out, especially if it’s primarily navigational. Afterwards, it just imports straight into Qyrus and is editable and executable right away.
Parth: The recorder does go even further, though. You can do some dynamic data handling as well as the basic verifiers from the recorder tool, as well. It’s not just limited to navigational actions. And the local browser execution allows for you to execute these tests you’ve built locally.
Well, doesn’t this sound familiar? Just the other week, we covered Qyrus’ mobile test recorder and its capabilities. Many similar advantages exist between the two. So, let’s dive deeper and learn more about the web recorder.
What is the web recorder’s overall impact on the testing process?
Adhiraj: Well, mainly, it has the most impact on test build ing. I mean, it’s a recorder, after all. So it takes the need of having to manually build these steps out of the equation. And that’s stating something, because prior to codeless test building like on Qyrus, it would take even more of an effort to build a simple test.
Parth: That’s right. Essentially, it takes Qyrus test building to another level. It was easy before, but now it’s even easier. And with things becoming easier, it can save a lot of resources in terms of working hours spent writing and building test scripts.
Adhiraj: I’d even say that it can help with overall test coverage in the same manner. With building becoming faster, coverage can increase. The recorder prevents testers from having to write long lines of code.
How might the web recorder help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Parth: Well, obviously, this feature is a great thing for testers. It can cut building time down in half if used. On top of that, the tests you build using the recorder can be extremely complex. However, sometimes we see that more technical users prefer to go at it in a more manual fashion due to their expertise in the matter already. With that, we see less technical users taking more advantage of this tool.
Adhiraj: I’d agree with Parth on that. I mean it really is a fast and effective way to build out complex test scripts. But with regards to developers, they can use it to also build their unit tests. And with business technologists, we see them taking advantage of this tool to build out tests of their own. It’s pretty easy!
Parth: Developers can also build tests on localhost apps! In that way, testers already have a few baseline tests for when the app is in QA or staging. And, this extension also allows users to make localhost API calls.
That’s fascinating. All of the benefits that come from the web recorder are evident. This feature makes a lot of sense to have, and leads us to ask Adhiraj and Parth…
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Adhiraj: Well, it is true that other recorders exist out there, but none that can offer the same capabilities that the rest of Qyrus does. Along with the tests you record, the reports you get back are unparalleled. The information, visual reporting, and logs provided are great.
Parth: And many other recorders out there don’t work out of the box like ours does. All that’s required is to download an extension on Chrome! We also plan to extend our recorder to other browsers, as well. And if you wanted to make your own recorder, well that’d take a lot of coding and prior knowledge.
Very well, other tools like this do exist out there, but it’s obvious from the points Adhiraj and Parth made that none are as versatile and powerful as ours. When looking at the bigger picture, the overall testing process, it’s evident that our web recorder (combined with powerful reporting capabilities, etc.) is a pack leader.
How do you see the web recorder impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Parth: As we’ve mentioned before, it definitely makes test building easier. So, you’d probably see a typical tester spend a lot less time on test building in their day-to-day operations. Not only that, but a significant less amount of manpower would be required to complete the same tasks.
Adhiraj: All that’s really required is knowledge of the platform being tested.
Parth: Yeah, overall it really saves time and money. These resources can be spent in other areas of the business, whether that be more focusing on user experience or expanding and improving applications.
Is that pizza I’m smelling, or is it just the weekend getting to me? We won’t keep you guys any longer than necessary! Thanks for joining us on this week’s Feature Friday! We hope that you learned quite a bit about the power of our web recorder feature that we have on Qyrus. Take a look for yourself and start a free trial this weekend! (Or on Monday, we wouldn’t blame you!)
Join us next week for more exciting news and information on features!
They say the difference between a good city and a great city comes not with wealth, infrastructure, or capital, but with transportation. Quality public transportation, dedicated bike lanes, a solid bussing infrastructure, and a maintained train system, all connect people across cities allowing for events, ideas, and movements to thrive. There is a very similar parallel within a testing solution. Seamless integrations are the buses and trains that interconnect the aspects of quality assurance, creating an efficient and scalable process. This week’s Feature Friday focuses on Qyrus’ out of the box integration with Xray, and we are joined by Steve and Brett to hear more.
Tell us more about the Xray integration offered by Qyrus, and its use cases.
Brett: Xray is a test management tool from Atlassian with Jira Integrations. Qyrus provides the ability to link tests with Xray issues. With this feature, users can quickly manage their test cases at different stages of development. Reporting is then available on Qyrus as well as Jira.
Steve: The first target group would be companies that already have test management with Xray and want the ability to run the tests using Qyrus. The second target group includes users that have no test case management. With ease, the user can choose a Qyrus script and automatically add it to Xray enabling both Qyrus’ test automation and Xray test management benefits with ease.
A quick integration can offer a robust or targeted solution. Therefore, it is always important to figure out how this feature can impact quality assurance as a whole, rather than just one aspect of the cycle.
What is this feature’s overall impact on the testing process?
Brett: The overarching value of the feature comes with the synergy of testing and reporting and test case management. To be specific, if the cases are already on Xray, we can swiftly map a given Qyrus script to its accompanying Xray issue and environment, making a seamless path for management and execution.
Steve: Also, if you have already existing suites in Qyrus but do not have test case management and proper issue management, you can also quickly integrate Qyrus suites into Xray, quickly creating environments to log and manage any issues across test cases.
How might this integration help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring to them?
Steve: A tester would build the tests out on Qyrus and then link those tests to Xray issues. In the case where Xray issues are not currently being used, the tester can create and link from the Qyrus UI and automatically create Xray environments that can then be used for test cases and defect management.
Brett: A developer would primarily log Xray issues, allowing the tester to link those issues with Qyrus scripts. The developers have the ability create these issues during their development phase, providing unit testing and ultimately enabling a shift left.
Steve: A business technologist can go through Qyrus tests and visual reports and log defects straight to Xray. This allows business technologists to take a step into the testing and development realm, while still utilizing their expertise.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Steve: Before Xray integration was added to Qyrus, a tester would achieve this functionality by only using Xray. The tester would run their scripts on Xray and get valuable information on the status of a regression suite but no individual step executions or results. The user would have to enlist another testing platform for per-step executions and manually relay the issues and changes to Xray.
Seemingly unique, helpful, and consistent throughout the overall testing process, is this a one-time use feature, or is this something that will be used on a daily level to impact organizations and processes?
How do you see this integration impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Steve: Daily users will find themselves leveraging Xray’s high-level designs with Qyrus’ step-by-step execution and reporting capabilities. This way, testers can develop scripts in accordance with Xray environments and keep their entire QA process in tandem.
Brett: Not only are you streamlining the QA process, but you are also utilizing the power of two quality solutions. Not only will you find tests, executions, and reporting on Qyrus, but those reports are also relayed on Xray which maintains organization and manages defects.
Just like any major city, connected resources share power and value. In a similar manner, connecting testing and test case management solutions with seamless integrations can make the most of differing features and expertise to amplify the quality assurance process. Not just Xray integration, Qyrus offers a range of integrations straight out of the box! Be sure to tune in next week to learn more about Qyrus!
In volleyball, if you see slow feet on the middle blocker, you push the set to the pins. In basketball, if the center is big and tall but slow to shift, you run the pick-and-roll. In football, if the safety and linebacker are crowding the line, you run a hard count and get rid of the football. These intricacies are visible only to those who deeply understand the systems and processes at work. Similar intricacies are found throughout the application development and the QA lifecycle, especially as applications begin to grow. One said example, after multiple client and industry requests, and also the topic of this week’s feature Friday is document verification. Containing a mass industry appeal, applications often utilize documents, PDFs, and Excel files, to maintain data and run business processes. In this week’s Feature Friday, we interviewed Steve and Parth who will discuss more about how automated testing can play a role in verifying and maintaining business-centric files and documents.
Tell us more about document verifications offered by Qyrus and their use cases.
Steve: Document verifiers are action types that we have on Qyrus that allow users to verify data on documents and files, such as PDF documents and Excel files. You can do things like verify the downloaded file names and file types, and do verifications on tables in the Excel file, as examples.
Parth: It’s something that we were specifically asked to bring to the platform from a client. They wanted to make these verifications on certain documents, and we were able to turn the feature around for them. Specifically, it targets use cases that require testers to verify the data on the documents and files and typically compares those values to those seen on the UI.
What is the overall impact that this feature has on the testing process?
Parth: This feature affects the entire testing process in terms of test building, execution, and reporting. Obviously, it brings to the floor something that Qyrus was not able to do prior, as this was a feature request. This allows Qyrus to be more versatile in the kinds of testing and assertions it can make.
Steve: Yes, specifically, it increases test coverage and allows for better testing using automation. Previously, these tasks were typically part of a manual process. By automating a lot of these processes, it helps with cost and effort reduction. That’s really the goal here at Qyrus, to make things easier for the user in an effort to cause a ripple that can grow into a wave.
How might document verifications help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Parth: For testers, performing verifications on documents can be a tricky and troublesome task. Honestly, it’s something that’s relegated to manual processes, as we’ve just mentioned. For testers and developers, they could use this to automate those processes. Testers might find more use out of this feature than developers, though.
Steve: Yeah, it’s definitely a tester-focused feature. But the beauty of Qyrus is that we try to make testing as easy as possible. Making testing more accessible is beneficial in many ways. Not to stray away from the question, but essentially, developers and business technologists can be empowered to test. It also helps in terms of technical knowledge.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Steve: Well, before this feature on Qyrus these documents could be verified through a manual process. The cost incurred due to this cannot be understated. If they wanted to automate it, a skilled automated tester would be required, and a testing framework written.
Parth: Competitors have features for verifying PDF and Excel data, but it also requires coding knowledge, though to a lesser degree than what we just mentioned in terms of having to build your own testing framework. However, there is still a learning curve. With Qyrus these verifications are built-in action types, allowing you to build automated tests and verify documents as required, using Qyrus’ low-code no code interface.
Steve: The cool thing with Qyrus compared to competitors is that everything is done on the Cloud. For some competitors that do these types of verifications, they require the tester to download the file to their local machines and designate a file path. Making everything seamless is one of our priorities.
How do you see this feature impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Parth If there are existing testing processes for this type of testing, then there’s no doubt that day-to-day operations will see a large change. Firstly, manual processes are eliminated and turned into some weekly, biweekly, or monthly maintenance, depending on the requirements.
Steve: Not only that, but these types of tests can be reused across many test scripts. Qyrus promotes reusability in that fashion, and we try to engrain our platform with a degree of simplicity that enables faster testing and more robust reporting. Essentially, everything speeds up, and quality is assured.
Are there any potential improvements we can expect out of this feature?
Steve: Yeah, essentially, we would want to verify content on even more file types. Currently, we only do PDFs and Excel files. We plan on extending our coverage to rich text files and Word documents, with more to come.
Applications are becoming more functionality-dense. Requiring more integrations, file types, and sizes, alongside managing multiple different files for internal and data requirements. These processes are either intense manual efforts or left untested. This is because automation solutions that test code do not extend to other file types that are business-centric. Qyrus allows business-relevant application and document testing with the ability to automate document verification and testing. Automating a range of document verifications and requirements, which are part of essential business processes, increases efficiency, quality of development, and business process implementation. Join us next week to learn more about the Qyrus features that elevate testing and QA processes.
Curiosity, opportunity, perseverance… not only are these names of a few of the legendary Mars rovers, but they are also the same aspects that kickstarted and inspired our amazing Rover AI here at Qyrus. Seeking to push the boundaries of software testing through automation, the developers here at Qyrus have coded a tool that changes how we build and execute mobile tests. We’re joined today by Dan and Amy from the Chicago Qyrus team to learn more about it and its capabilities.
Tell us more about Rover offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Amy: From a high level, it is a reinforcement learning bot that traverses your mobile app and records its journey. You can use these traversals to also build and export mobile test scripts on Qyrus! Overall, it’s an all-encompassing mobile app testing tool. It allows you to visually test user interfaces automatically and without the need for human interaction.
Dan: We see some users compare test coverage on their mobile applications by comparing the traversal to their currently built test scripts to find any isolated, or not tested, portions of the application. It also gives the testers an idea of what kind of possible flows there are in their app that they may have not even been aware of. And as Amy mentioned, after a traversal you can use the flow chart it generates to build test scripts in a fast and efficient manner.
The ability to see the various user journeys that can take place can give testers and developers a deeper understanding of the mobile application. There are various ways that it can impact the testing and overall software development lifecycle (SDLC).
What is Rover’s overall impact on the testing process?
Amy: The largest areas we see the impact in are test building and reporting. Firstly, as we have mentioned, you can build test scripts using the Rover report.However, even more important is the analysis you get back after it traverses your app. Everything comes back as a large flow, navigating from page to page in order to visualize the navigational flows users can take.
Dan: Not only do you get that back, but you also get mobile device performance metrics back, as well. And with these benefits, we see an overall increase in test coverage as well as moderate effort reduction. And obviously, with those two areas, we can see a cost-benefit when it comes to utilizing Rover for the testing of your mobile apps.
How might this help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Dan: For a tester, it would help them find tests that they might have never thought of. Again, since it’s traversing your app, navigational flows may pop up that testers might not have encountered before. They’ll find use in the test builder, as well. Developers can benefit from using the performance data to see where potential improvements can be made in the app.
Amy: Specifically for business technologists, we can see them utilizing it to keep track of the health of their apps. Since it will discover and identify broken links, incorrect navigation, and general changes to the app, it can provide a lot of insight necessary for business technologists to perform their work.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Amy: Well, talking about competitors, they might have some similar tools, but nothing as complete and robust. Again, it can help you determine other test cases and scenarios that might have not been covered in the original test planning.
Dan: Directly from the same screen, you can then build a test script simply by clicking through the report. It also lends a hand in UI/UX observations, since you can then see how each screen or page interacts with another. Page transitions are also included.
Amy: And prior to this feature on Qyrus, a tester would have to manually make test scripts. This is a time-consuming process that can take up a lot of working hours and as a result resources. Also, there was no real easy way to analyze the UI/UX of a mobile app. Screenshots are captured by default on Qyrus, but not processed by Rover.
In such a short while, mobile test building and execution have come leaps and bounds in terms of efficiency and quality. From a day-to-day perspective, how might things be affected?
How do you see this impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Amy: Well, it would make your day-to-day easier because of the analysis that’s given in reports. The amount of utility that is given cannot be understated. The performance metrics can give testers great insight with little to no effort on their end. Again, it’s all automated and driven by an AI.
Dan: And instead of having to manually build test scripts day-to-day, they can use the reports, as stated before. But honestly, testers might find themselves super busy because of their ability to quickly increase the test coverage of your ecosystem.
It is a tool that can change the way your team builds, executes, and analyzes tests and mobile applications. Qyrus as a whole brings so much to the table already, and with powerful AI tools like Rover and Healer the possibility for improvement is even greater. Thanks for joining us for this Feature Friday and learning more about our impressive Rover AI. Join us next week to learn more about how performance profiling works on Qyrus.
It’s about 200,000 years ago. A group of Neanderthals are sitting around a fire in what is now central Italy.And they do something outrageously clever.- They invent the world’s first glue.*
It’s easy to dismiss glue as inconsequential, especially when juxtaposed against mankind’s other great inventions such as the wheel. But the ability to combine the two things is considered so critical that scholars regard the invention of glue as a significant sign of cognitive advancement. Here’s another way to explain the importance of glue: It came even before clothing (about 170,000 years ago), and just after the estimated origin of language (about 350,000 years ago).**
In the modern age, the importance of APIs—the digital equivalent of glue—is also just as high. How high? One Akamai study notes that API calls represent over 80 percent of all internet traffic.
It’s hard to argue over the importance of APIs, given how they’re the connective tissue that holds together so much of our digital environment—from applications architected with the smallest microservices to the most expansive Open ecosystems, such as Open Banking. Today, a significant majority of developers use APIs, and 40% of businesses monetize APIs, according to the State of APIs survey.
But there are a few hurdles impeding companies from fully realizing the benefits of APIs, and a lot of them have to do with testers.
Testers Grapple with APIs
For organizations to make the most of the benefits of APIs, their testers need to achieve a greater level of comfort with API testing and automation. Right now—primarily because of the current set of solutions available to them—many testers shy away from API testing. Their complaints fall, largely, into four categories:
Collaboration is Difficult
Most API testing platforms make it hard for testers to collaborate. Even though it’s become increasingly critical for testers to work in tandem with developers and other testers as organizations adopt shift-left strategies. This requires that QA engineers have common workspaces with developers, enabling both teams to engage and collaborate without unnecessary friction.
API Testing is Complex and Technically Demanding
Many testers start out with UI testing and are therefore accustomed to working with GUIs. As they try to adopt API testing, they are confronted with tools that only support command-line interfaces (CLI), require technical savvy to set up testing environments, and need a knowledge of JavaScript or other programming languages. These hurdles discourage testers from adopting API testing, even though it can be significantly more efficient that UI testing.
Management is a Burden
Traditional API testing tools are not easy to set up, manage, or monitor. This is exactly the opposite of what testers require as speed and efficiency become more important. API testers need features that facilitate everyday operations, enabling them to focus on increasing test coverage. For example, testers would benefit greatly if they could schedule tests without tiresome third-party integrations. Or if they could create a library of API tests that could be re-used or be imported from other platforms.
Scaling is Hard
If API testers could run multiple tests simultaneously, they would be able to boost their output significantly. However, many API testing tools are hosted on desktops which limits the ability of testers to parallel process and scale tests. Platforms which serve API testing solutions from the cloud are a solution.
How to Select the Right API Testing Platform
These challenges can be addressed with the right API testing automation platform—with ‘right’ being the operative word. The fact is that not all API testing automation platforms are built the same—which means you need to be extra diligent before you invest.
What would an ideal API testing platform look like? What criteria should it meet? Here’s a handy checklist.
Is it Easy to Deploy?
There’s little point in an API testing automation solution that takes months of effort to deploy. Here are two reasons why: It hurts speed-to-value and return on investment calculations; and it’s likely to be so complex that it becomes a victim of change management.
Qyrus’ cloud-based API testing solution ensures that getting started is both fast and easy. Testing teams can go from zero to executing their first API test with assertions in under just 10 minutes.
Does it Offer No-Code Assertions?
Assertions—such as those that validate status codes or response headers, for example—are a critical part of API testing. But, often creating assertions calls for complex scripting, which can bog down testing teams. This is where no-code assertions can help.
Qyrus is the only testing service provider that offers codeless API testing. Its graphical, point-and-click interface, combined with drop-down menus requires no scripting. This minimizes API testing automation complexity, thereby lowering dependence on time-intensive UI testing. Testing with Qyrus is 40% more efficient than existing code-based API systems.
How Simple is it to Use and Manage?
It goes without saying that the more user-friendly an API Testing Solution is, the greater the probability it will be used extensively, increasing both speed of delivery and coverage. Qyrus’ platform is built ground up to simplify testing. It goes further than other testing solutions to ease the jobs of testers with native plugins for the most popular CI pipelines such as Jenkins, Azure DevOps, TeamCity, Circle CI, BitRise, and more.
Additionally, it provides scheduling features without the hassle of third-party integrations and enables testing teams to import existing collections from other platforms such as Postman or Swagger.
To boost the efficiency and output of testers, Qyrus also offers parameterized, data-driven tests, which allow testers to upload Excel sheets and minimize the drudgery of manually testing against multiple parameters. Plus, all tests on Qyrus can be re-used and shared.
Is API Service Virtualization Part of the Solution?
As organizations adopt Agile methodologies to improve their ability to deliver new products or features more quickly, it can get easy for scrum teams to be at different stages of completion. This makes end-to-end testing difficult. API service virtualization fixes that by allowing testing teams to simulate APIs and execute tests.
With Qyrus’ API Service Virtualization, testers can create mock services quickly and easily, enabling them to reduce dependencies on work-in-progress or unavailable APIs. This capability enables quality teams to mitigate delays, shift left, and test earlier, shrink time-to-market, and lower costs. With Qyrus service virtualization services, testers can build APIs without any code to suit their test ideas.
How Collaborative is the Platform?
Cross-functional Agile teams, DevOps practices, and shift-left strategies have all increased the dependencies between software development engineers and quality assurance teams. But this relationship can sometimes be adversarial, resulting in poor collaboration, which can significantly impact the speed and cost of delivering high-quality software.
Qyrus understands the need for API testers to collaborate extensively with developers, business users, and process owners. It facilitates teamwork with cloud-based, shared workspaces that enable effortless collaboration; easy-to-read-and-share reports; and native integration with Jira to raise and track tickets effortlessly.
Is the Solution Integrated and Scalable?
The aim of every business that operates in a digital environment should be to increase its software development and testing ACCESS (Agility. Coverage. Cost-Efficiency. Error-Free-Delivery. Speed. Security.)
Frequently, however, the platforms and tools that are supposed to support developers and testers impede them from achieving these goals. They offer siloed solutions, which often operate off local machines or desktops, which impinge heavily on an organization’s ability to scale and run tests, holistically, across multiple platforms.
Qyrus is different. It is powered by a cloud-based platform that’s designed to scale up and down seamlessly. Additionally, with Qyrus, quality teams can more efficiently test Web, Mobile and APIs with a single AI-powered platform that eliminates the need for time-consuming custom frameworks and test infrastructure. With Qyrus’ integrated SaaS platform, organizations can launch API tests quickly, easily onboard new users, reduce delays and overheads associated with hardware purchases and maintenance, and increase the availability and resilience of testing environments.
Many of the world’s largest organizations and most agile start-ups depend on Qyrus’ API Testing Platform. You should, too. Try it now!
Is that a chill in the air? We think it’s finally here, the end of summer. For some, it’s a time to lament. The farewell of long shiny days and warm summer afternoons traded for dull cool days and long dreary nights. Others relish the “sweater weather” to come. Whatever side you’re on, we hope your summer has been fun! Qyrus is here to either extend your summer fun or kick off your autumn celebrations with another Feature Friday. Today we’re joined by Raoul and Jorell to discuss more about our brand new visual testing capabilities!
Tell us more about visual testing offered by Qyrus and its use cases.
Raoul: From a high level, our offering allows the user to add visual testing to their functional web tests. It’s super simple to enable and is done before the test execution itself. Choose previous tests to compare against and let the test run. By visual testing we mean that Qyrus will compare screenshots of older executions with most recent executions and highlight any changes in the application also known as visual regression.
Jorell: Additionally, Qyrus visual testing includes validating against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1), essentially this is known as accessibility testing. Currently Qyrus supports overlap testing, contrast testing, and dark mode contrast testing, with many more solutions to come shortly.
Interesting feature… it seems like it takes the functional testing and enables visual testing to happen in the background. Reusability has always been an important point in Qyrus’ testing.
What is this feature’s overall impact on the testing process?
Jorell: The largest impact comes in the form of test reporting. A simple checkbox provides so much more visual analysis and can empower testers. In a way, it also impacts test building. It’s super simple to enable this visual testing, as I mentioned.
Raoul: And really it helps increase test coverage in that manner, as well. We have seen testers struggle when it comes to visual regression testing, and most of it ends up being a manual process. This empowers a shift left approach.
Qyrus’ visual testing can obviously impact your testing strategies. However, let’s get more insight into how specific users might utilize this feature.
How might visual testing help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Jorell: Well, testers can check a box when executing Qyrus web tests to expand coverage from just functional testing to include visual regression and accessibility testing. The importance of accessibility testing is tantamount. They would be the primary users of this functionality.
Raoul: Developers can now receive quicker feedback from testers on what changed across releases and if any accessibility rules has been violated. They can do this themselves and easily, as well. Simply navigate through your different web pages and receive feedback. And lastly, business technologists are able to equip their teams with Qyrus web testing – a tool that allows them to do their traditional functional testing but will automatically does visual testing – expanding testing coverage into non-functional aspects such as visual regression and accessibility testing.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Raoul: Many of our competitors offer these as individual features but we integrate this within our functional web testing service, which by the way is a SaaS testing and quality platform.
Jorell: For visual regression, the tester would have to manually compare the different versions side-by-side or use an unrelated tool to achieve the same results. And for accessibility testing, the tester will have to validate each page against accessibility standards using yet another tool.
So, like with many other features on Qyrus, it’s not something “brand new” to the testing scene. However, it’s another capability that is offered in our “one-stop-shop.”
How do you see visual testing impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Raoul: Well, Qyrus’ visual testing makes testing easier by expanding coverage from just functional web testing to include visual testing. This also ensures that your application is accessible and inclusive to anyone. This would make day-to-day operations smoother.
Jorell: And testing processes would be made faster because Qyrus’ visual testing combines multiple tools into one – functional web testing, visual testing, and accessibility testing. It allows you to reuse and repurpose your previously built and run tests.
Is there anything else you guys would like to add before we close?
Jorell: Yea, actually… one thing we wanted to mention is that we are utilizing AI/ML to achieve these visual tests and visual regression tests. It’s a feature that some might not realize utilizes AI/ML.
Raoul: Also, look for future improvements in our visual testing system! We are adding more and more functionality every sprint. Ultimately, we hope to cover all points of the WCAG 2.1 checklist.
That will wrap it up for this week’s Feature Friday! Visual testing is another empowering tool that Qyrus can offer its users to help enable a shift left in their testing strategies. If it’s something that interests you, don’t hesitate to give Qyrus a try with a Free Trial for 14 days. We hope you’ve enjoyed this installment, now hurry up and crack out your sweaters before it gets too chilly and too late! Have a good weekend!
Summer is gearing up this season and with record-breaking heat waves making their way across the nation, we invite you to stop by the Qyrus Oasis for a refresher. There’s nothing better than making your testing easier, faster, and smarter and taking a load off of your testing plate. This week we are joined by Anush and Vishal, two Qyrus team members from India who will be providing us with more insight into one of our capabilities. Comparing reports of any kind can be a tedious and sometimes daunting task. Qyrus has built-in features that help make the comparison of reports an easier process, and that’s what we are talking about here today.
Tell us more about comparing API reports on Qyrus and its use cases.
Vishal: Users can select 2 reports and can compare parameters like response time, response header, response body, request body, and prerequisite API responses. Along with comparing, users can download compared reports as well.
Anush: This feature acts as a 2nd level of assertions, comparing results with the previous base version. This can also be used to compare results from 2 different endpoints. So, think of comparing results for the API fired on WSo2 vs Mulesoft, if they are giving the same outputs.
That makes sense. To start, this feature seems super simplistic, but it’s also a super important part of any testing process. Comparing reports on any level is what analysts and testers do all the time. So, let’s hear more about the general and overall impact this feature can make.
What is this feature’s overall impact on the testing process?
Anush: Overall, we see that this feature lends the biggest helping hand in terms of effort reduction. No longer are reports manually assessed, having to go from looking at one report to the other in order to analyze the differences.
Vishal: And Qyrus has a major focus on report capabilities. Our idea of reporting is that it should be sharable and easily digestible, allowing for more collaboration on the testing level and between other developmental tasks.
Collaboration between team members – and also between teams themselves – is a priority concern in our minds here at Qyrus. We seek to encourage collaboration at every step of the testing process – whether it be during test building itself, execution, or the reporting at the end.
How might comparing API reports help testers, developers, and business technologists? What value can this feature bring?
Anush: Well, for testers, this feature obviously helps empower them in terms of analysis. As previously mentioned, they would have to make those comparisons manually. This can be time consuming, based on the number of reports being looked at.
Vishal: And, this feature is also on a similar level with developers, as well. They can utilize this to verify whether or not integrations were successful. They can test multiple instances of the same API. Business analysts can also utilize the tool to check consistency across multiple versions or iterations of an API.
This sounds great! But, obviously this isn’t some major feature that Qyrus has compared to its competitors. Other tools definitely encourage collaboration, but it’s not as prioritized in their minds. Reporting often gets left in the back of people’s minds.
Does the same or similar functionality exist without Qyrus, and how do competitors address similar problems?
Anush: Although there certainly are other platforms that have comparison tools for their reporting, it’s much more scarce than others might think. Most of the time, these comparisons are done on some Notepad or other text editor software and it was a manual process. We at Qyrus saw that there was room for improvement.
Vishal: Before Qyrus, the tester had to copy the response and other parameters and compare manually or they had to open any third-party JSON comparison tool. That process was very time-consuming and tedious.
How do you see this feature impacting day-to-day operations across organizations?
Vishal: Well, firstly, utilizing this feature can help make your testing faster for the reasons we just mentioned. Taking a previously manual process and adding this tool to help make it quick and seamless would help tremendously in a day-to-day operation.
Anush: And that’s the main idea behind his feature, is making things quicker. Testing is sometimes a long, time-consuming process. Adding tools like this, albeit simple, help tremendously. Adding a sprinkle more of simple features like this one, and you have the right ingredients to spice up your testing.
That about wraps it up for this week’s iteration of Feature Friday! We hope that you found it to be informative and that it helped expand your knowledge on Qyrus’ systems. We encourage you to stop by the Qyrus Oasis next week for another installment of Feature Friday. If it’s hot where you’re at, stay cool and make sure to have some fun in the sun! The weekend is afoot – let’s not wait around any longer!
Jerin Mathew
Manager
Jerin Mathew M M is a seasoned professional currently serving as a Content Manager at Qyrus. He possesses over 10 years of experience in content writing and editing, primarily within the international business and technology sectors. Prior to his current role, he worked as a Content Manager at Tookitaki Technologies, leading corporate and marketing communications. His background includes significant tenures as a Senior Copy Editor at The Economic Times and a Correspondent for the International Business Times UK. Jerin is skilled in digital marketing trends, SEO management, and crafting analytical, research-backed content.
