Benefits of Data-driven testing for test automation

When doing testing automation, it is extremely critical to be able to perform data-driven testing. Data-driven testing (DDT) at the test case level allows you to add one or more data files and manage data binding at the test case level. The most common approach is to provide an Excel or CSV file as input to the test case. The file is modeled per test case structure and then populated with different datasets. It can then be given to business analysts to apply positive and negative data to perform comprehensive testing of the application. This approach helps scale up test automation and allows for input from business owners and stakeholders to test the application the way they want it to function.

Data-driven testing becomes a challenge when there’s a need to test the application with large datasets which can result in many negative scenarios. You need to depend on team members to populate the file manually which can add overhead to business users who are already busy with their primary jobs. Plus, creating a new data set every time you test an application during sprints can also be a challenge.

Having a solution to generate synthetic test data in large volumes and feed the data into the test case in a fully automated way can be very useful.

Introducing Katalon and GenRocket

Katalon is a modern and comprehensive quality management platform that allows you to perform testing of web, mobile, desktop applications and APIs.

GenRocket platform automates the design and generation of Synthetic Data combining Enterprise-Class Scalability, Dynamic Data Generation, and Integration with any Test Environment and provides Value for your Money. It is a market-leading and well-recognized platform for test data management that can generate millions of records in a few minutes for any use case and in different formats as required by customers. 

GenRocket SaaS platform creates a project for each use case and uses a scenario-based approach to generate the required datasets. Counter variables can be used to generate any number of records as required for every test run. This provides complete functionality to generate test data based on the development needs.

GenRocket and Katalon are strategic partners for Persistent and work closely together to provide key differentiation and value to our shared customers in the field of test automation.

A Real Challenge With Data-driven Testing

One of our U.S.-based customers integrated with GenRocket and Katalon to overcome the following challenges:

1. The product team has to generate data across up to 5 sets of files, maintain relationships, and upload these files into the database. This process is cumbersome, and it takes a long time to generate these files and upload them. Furthermore, this process needs to be repeated for different environments which are created as per business needs.
2. Customer cannot generate thousands of records manually
3. The data being generated at present only has positive scenarios and is limited to individuals who are creating the files
4. The process is manual and takes time

Leverage Katalon and GenRocket To Level-up Data-Driven Testing

Consider a web application which has a complex registration flow which involves feeding a lot of information like first name, last name, organization type, company name, title, username, etc. Many of the fields have corresponding dropdowns that offer a long list of values. The customer wants to be able to test the registration flow with different combinations of each field to ensure the application works properly. The testing needs to be done every time a change is made to the registration screen or any other screen which can impact registration flow.

By leveraging GenRocket test data generation capabilities and integrating it with Katalon recorded test cases, you can develop this flow and fully automate the testing.

Katalon’s collection of test suites allows you to run test cases in parallel, do load testing, and check how the application behaves when multiple users across the globe are using the application.

The following is a summary of the process flow:

1. Record test case for registration flow using Katalon record and play functionality and add GenRocket configuration details to the Katalon test cases.

2. Import the jars in Katalon Studio. This is an important step. Without the required jars, integration will not work. These jars are also added to the source code repository.

3. Create domain, receiver, and scenario in GenRocket for the test case.

4. Leverage G-Repository in GenRocket, which is an important and powerful feature that automatically manages the download, update, and removal of GenRocket components and avoids any manual work.

//Sync & update the contents of the G-Repository Client with the G-Repository Server

'Set the Genrocket client repo'

engine_api.clientRepoSet(genrocketClientRepoName)

'Load the genrocket scenario'

engine_api.clientRepoScenarioLoad(genrocketscenario)

'Load the genrocket test suite and gcase'

engine_api.clientRepoCaseLoad(genrocketTestSuite, testdatacategoryname, testdatacasename)

'Auto sync the genrocket client with server'

engine_api.clientRepoRun()

5. Trigger test suite using Azure DevOps pipeline

6.  See the test results on Katalon TestOps Platform with complete details along with report output in pdf or html formats. The video recording of the test results is also created and saved on TestOps.

Below is a view of the Katalon TestOps platform which shows a test run for a use cases where GenRocket was used to generate data and integrate with the Katalon platform.

This process leverages and combines the power of GenRocket and Katalon to turbocharge test automation. 
 

To learn more, please contact us at Persistent or connect with your Alliance lead at Katalon to see how we can help to address your test automation needs.