# Introduction to Front End Testing Automation


## Introduction

Many people in the IT industry do not usually think from an end-users' perspective when they come up with something new. Obviously, with the domain knowledge that they have got, sometimes it gets challenging to train users, make them understand metaphors, and, more importantly, change their point-of-view. 

All of this is occurring due to an increasingly day-by-day difference in opinions between developers and users. For that reason, testing bridges the gap between them and provides successful implementation and deployment of a product.

This article will specifically focus on User-Interface Testing and how it impacts the overall delivery of an application. 

### Front-End Testing

[Front-End Testing](https://www.testcraft.io/front-end-testing/) is a blanket term that covers multiple testing strategies. A few of them, like Unit testing, End to End (E2E) Testing, and Integration testing are the best practices that have been widely accepted by Development communities for years.

Let's have a general overview of these testing types for Front-End Testing: 

#### Unit Testing 

Software verification and validation method are known as Unit Testing in which a programmer tests if individual source code units are fit for use. The development team usually conducts it. 

#### Integration Testing 

[Integration Testing](https://testsigma.com/guides/integration-testing/) is a period in Front-End Testing where software modules are merged to be tested as a group. Security analyst teams usually lead these.

#### End-To-End (E2E) Testing 

End-To-End Testing includes testing the entire application environment that imitates real-world applications, such as communicating with the database, network communications, or communicating with other hardware, applications, or systems if relevant.

QA teams execute these. The hierarchy for Front-End Testing can be represented as such:


A general idea consists of a precondition, some input, and some expected output, especially with finding errors. However, testing's basic concept is always the same; you have some system and supposed to do something. 

## How Front-End Testing Can Be Performed

Front-End Testing is based on how a user interacts with the system, covering all the possible sets of processes that a user can perform in any workflow sequence within an application. When it comes to Front-End Testing, you can either do it manually or with an automated testing tool.

A quick look at both possibilities for testing: 

### Manual Testing 

Manual Testing, in a nutshell, is when a Software Testers create test cases for different levels and parts of code, runs the tests, and then report the results to their higher-ups. One of the disadvantages of Manual Testing is the amount of time and resources involved. Nevertheless, manual testing is still involved in a significant portion of testing. 

### Automation Testing 

Automation Testing is performed with the aid of automated testing tools. Usually, limitations from manual testing can be overcome using Automation Testing Tools. 

Both possibilities have their pros and cons, but in this rapidly growing industry where time is money, automation is a priority. More importantly, Manual Testing can be a painful process where more human intervention may result in a greater chance of any ambiguity because of how vital testing is when it comes to the atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability of a product.

Let's look at how Automation Testing can be performed.

## How Is Automation Testing Performed? 

There are various open-source tools to implement Automation Testing. Depending on the tool, Automation Testing can be achieved via code and without code.

Most security researchers weigh Selenium to be the IT framework for their test self-regulation requirements. Being used by validators globally as an open-source platform, QA teams see Selenium as a distinct way for researchers to assist companies that are becoming more agile. 

QA teams conclude that while Selenium is open-source, utilizing Selenium as a code-based testing structure has concealed costs for authoring, executing, and maintaining tests. This has caused security researchers to start using other tool options, particularly codeless test automation tools like [TestCraft](https://www.testcraft.io/), [Katalan Studio](https://www.katalon.com/), or [SikuliX](http://sikulix.com/), to name a few. This type of tools employ Selenium's capability and help make test automation more manageable.

Let's take a closer look at TestCraft, for example. 

## TestCraft for Automation Testing

It has been a general conception that 'not everyone can code.' Even in the domain of Computer Science, Business Analysts and testers usually run away from back-ends and are more focused on delivering a properly functioning User Interface. 

Testing with code can be a hectic job for testers, where they are more focused on delivering business logic rather than what is written in the code. Front End Testing can be a problem-solving solution where all the testing procedures are AI (Artificial Intelligence) based.

We will now discuss how to visualize features of TestCraft using an example of Google Sign-in.

### Step 1: Add a New Project 


Add a New Project by entering the URL where an application is hosted and assigning a unique name to a project and test. Then click on 'Start Building Test' to go to the Canvas page.

### Step 2: Build a Test 


While on the canvas dashboard, clients can begin making situations for cycles to be tried. For each test situation, make a specification that incorporates all client activities you'd need to check or approve. 

The left panel shows a flow that has a complete initial part, the browser on which the execution occurs, and the conclusion. The Right Panel shows environment on which the execution is taking place. 

TestCraft additionally gives bit by bit visual displaying, so you just need to tap on the components that appear on the screen to add activity streams to your experiment.


This sequence shows the navigation of the environment through TestCraft. It includes all the passages from entering the environment, to logging in and finally including the credentials.

### Step 3: Run Test


You can click on the RUN option to visualize the test. TestCraft will automatically identify if there is something broken within the flow. You need to fill the details regarding the target platform and the environment on which your test executes.

### Step 4: Finish Test


Once the test is completed, the flow will indicate the error taking place in the Testing.

It allows you to conduct tests efficiently.

## Conclusion 

In this article, keeping the above considerations intact, we now understand the importance of Front-End Testing & how it can impact their user experience before going in a production environment. 

Since most web applications run dynamically these days, end to end testing has now got a 'greater than ever' responsibility in tracking a proper user experience and its successful execution that can result in a prolific web/mobile application usage for end users. 

In a vast computer science industry where everything is going digitalized, scope for new possibilities is bigger than ever now. Users are now experiencing applications that they never thought would be possible to access within one tap of their mobile screens. 

With that point of view, Front-End Testing plays an extremely sensitive role; successful execution of Front-End Testing enables the Developers, Analysts and Project Managers to identify limitations, longevity and scope of an application even before it goes live and how application will behave in end-users' environment.

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