Creating automation frameworks from scratch query

[Irfan Arif]

Hi

Just a general question. I got to admit I am beginning to have fun as at the driver automation doing things. The recipe books are certainly coming handy.

Maybe a way off and unless I missed something in the books what is the strategy for actually creating a framework from scratch then?

Lots of roles asking to be able to create a framework from scratch. I understand we have the existing frameworks such as cucumber, rspec which have been covered.

Is there a set sequence or procedure that should be followed

Any knowledge departed would be appreciated.

[Zhimin]

Glad to hear you find the recipe book helpful. 

Selenium WebDriver recipes is a problem reference book, for a general view of test automation, check out my other book https://leanpub.com/practical-web-test-automation, it covers an open-source framework I created: RWebSpec. 

> Lots of roles asking to be able to create a framework from scratch

Your observation is correct. Frankly, many probably will agree that creating a new framework from scratch is not easy. On top of that, very likely you need to create a tool (or customize one) to support the framework to work efficiently. Speaking for myself (have done work in RWebSpec, TestWise and BuildWise), it is not easy and cannot be done in a short time.  Check out this article,   http://www.wired.com/2013/04/linkedin-software-revolution/, if LinkedIn need to lure someone from Google to implement, very few companies can. 

So, what does that ("jobs asking creating a framework form scratch") mean then?  In my opinion, it is a sign that lack of understanding of Test Automation, and it is common. Some companies look for  and wish for a magic sliver bullet.  In fact, frameworks are already there: Selenium-WebDriver + RSpec.  It is how to use them. From my experience, test automation is not that hard,  it is simply very easy to get it wrong (like your recent posts, trust me,  a lot more challenges when you have more test cases to maintain everyday).   As I said in 'Practical Web Test Automation' book, the most efficient and economic way to seek help from experienced test automation coaches (look like LinkedIn did, and Facebook somehow get Simon Stewart, WebDriver lead, from Google as well). 

I have started working on a new book: "Web Test Automation Clarified", to answer some confusion over test automation. 

Zhimin

[Irfan Arif]

Hi Zhimin,

Thanks for the reply. I have actually purchased the practical web automaton and I found it to be very useful indeed. Looking forward to the new book. As for the moment I will be probably looking here as the main source as my test automation coach.  

Irfan

[Irfan Arif]

Hi

In terms of automating websites is there anything that cannot be automated due to limitations of existing frameworks or tools such as selenium? Also in terms of complexity what would be the most complex thing you would need to automate. I appreciate this is probably a difficult question and would depend on the different types of websites being worked on.

Any wisdom departed would be appreciated.

Irfan

On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 7:30:11 PM UTC, Irfan Arif wrote: