Automation Testing has become a compulsory standard of modern app development practices. This is because the current applications have become so complex and demanding that a human developer needs help to keep up with the testing practices. Moreover, human test cases are always prone to errors that arise due to human involvement.
Finally, experts believe that complete automated test cases help companies to execute all the testing processes within a few days. During the early years of test automation, Selenium was the only option for verifying the proper functioning of web applications. However, with the advancement of technology, many new companies like Playwright have arrived to challenge the dominance of Selenium.
Various features are available with the playwright that the developers were craving while using Selenium test cases. So, in this article, we’re going to discuss some of the most important reasons to justify the use of Playwright in automation testing.
An Introduction to Playwright
A playwright is an open-source testing tool that helps developers to verify the proper functioning of modern web applications. Moreover, the experimental version of playwright allows the developers to verify the working of mobile applications. However, it is worth noting that since it is an experimental feature, the developers might encounter various glitches and errors.
The open-source nature of playwright helps the developers to access all of its features without paying any license fee. It is one of the essential features as it makes Playwright accessible to developers and companies who cannot afford to pay licensing fees. Unlike competitors, Playwright allows developers to perform multiple test cases like unit testing, functional testing, and end-to-end testing.
To have a basic idea, unit testing is the process of dividing all the components of a web application into various small elements for ease of testing. This process also helps the developers to quickly detect errors that might be present in the core framework of the application.
Also Read: Tips and Best Practices for Using Cypress, Including Strategies for Setting Up and Organizing Tests
Reasons to Use PlayWright in Automation Testing
Now let’s discuss some of the most important factors that can help justify the need for automation testing considering the standards of the app development market:
1. Support for API Testing
API checking out is one of the maximum crucial parts of the current application testing lifecycle. This is due to the fact, using this system, the builders can verify that each one the visible additives of an application are correctly placed and working as predicted. A playwright can help the developers to automate the API test cases by randomly creating the support requests and displaying the system results.
While using Playwright, the developers can also automate the user interaction process and understand how the application behaves when a real user interacts with different visual components of an application.
Playwright helps the developers to maintain a bug report after every API test case. These reports are critical for performing debugging processes later. All the above steps help the developers to improve the efficiency of the API test cases.
2. Support for Mainstream Browser
The browser market is one of the most diverse markets that are currently evolving. This is because a major statistic shows that almost hundreds of new browsers arrive in the market yearly. Therefore, it becomes impossible for app developers to keep track of the major browsers for testing their applications.
Playwright helps to simplify this process by keeping track and natively supporting all the mainstream browsers. Browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge have the highest audience base and are the most important to have the proper support on. It is also vital for app developers to conduct thorough market research and gain a proper understanding of the preferences of their target audience.
3. Synchronization between Teams
Playwright provides various provisions to improve the collaboration between different teams of an app development project. It focuses on improving the understanding and working between the development and the testing teams. This is one of the most important practices, as the early practice was to develop an application ultimately and then forward it for the testing process.
This was a very innovative process, as whenever a bug was detected in the application, it had to be rolled back to the development phase for debugging processes. This process of Playwright testing helps the testers to continue testing the application during the active development phase.
4. Integration of Cloud Platforms with Playwright Scripts
Currently, the device industry is very diverse, as thousands of devices appear in the market annually. Therefore, it becomes impossible for individual creators to maintain a physical device testing lab consisting of multiple devices. Moreover, maintaining a physical device testing lab will cost almost a fortune, which is impractical for small companies.
Therefore, the best solution to this problem is the integration of cloud platforms with the testbench. These platforms help the developers to conduct the test cases in a cloud environment. We will learn more about the integration of cloud platforms in the later part of this article.
5. Prioritize the test Cases
App developers must understand that all applications and test cases do not have the same priority. So, sorting the test cases according to the preference depending on their role in the application’s performance will help the developers majorly improve the final product’s quality.
With the integrated test sorting option available with Playwright, developers can easily complete this process. It is worth noting that the best time to perform the sorting process is during the test planning phase. Early sorting will help the developers avoid any unexpected errors or obstacles that might arise during the development and testing phase.
6. Maintenance of Debugging Records
Debugging records is one of the most important components to verify the functioning of an application properly. These records also help the developers save a lot of time when looking for specific bugs in the framework. Playwright maintains an activity log of test cases and keeps track of all the test case reports.
This is very important as it provides vital data maintaining all the field elements and their specific location in the application. Moreover, the developers also have the option of choosing the time duration for holding these reports.
7. Introduction of Automation
Playwright makes it very easy for the developer to introduce automation testing while verifying the functioning of web applications. Automation testing is very important as it helps the developers to eliminate the hassle of manually conducting the repetitive processes in the application development lifecycle. The system uses predetermined automated test cases to conduct these repetitive processes like regression testing. The developers must remember that the initial costs of introducing automobile testing are high.
While we are on the topic of automation testing, it is worth mentioning that even with the massive advantages, it is almost impossible for test automation to eliminate the need for manual test cases. This is because certain testing processes, like visual and exploratory testing, are almost impossible without a seasoned developer’s involvement. Visual testing, for instance, depends on the experience of a human developer to verify the proper placement of all web elements irrespective of changes in display resolution and screen size.
Also Read: 3 Common Pitfalls to Avoid when Conducting End-to-End Tests
Role of Tools and Platforms in Automation Testing with Playwright
Tools and platforms are an essential component of automation testing with Playwright. Since Playwright is relatively new to the application development market, much still needs to be discovered about this test automation framework.
Moreover, it can be a lot overwhelming for developers who are new to this segment. So, tools and platforms play a critical role in not only simplifying the process of automation testing with Playwright but also introducing certain unique features to improve the testing process’s efficiency.
One prominent example is that many developers cannot afford to integrate a real device test bench in their company. This is because real device test benches are not only very expensive but also very hard to maintain. However, releasing a final application by only testing it on emulators and simulators can be highly deceptive.
Various cloud platforms help developers check their applications’ performance on hundreds of real devices stored on multiple servers. Developers can access these servers from anywhere worldwide and conduct the test cases by paying only a minimum license fee. Let us further improve our knowledge of cloud platforms and cloud testing by considering LambdaTest as a reference point:
To begin our discussion, LambdaTest is a cloud-integrated platform to initiate cross-browser compatibility test cases on a secure grid. Cross-browser compatibility testing is one of the compulsory practices of the modern web application development process. This is because it helps the developers ensure they provide the best customer experience irrespective of multiple shifts in the browser version and operating system.
Other than conducting standard cross-browser compatibility test cases, LambdaTest also provides various features to improve the efficiency of this testing process. For instance, it helps the developers to initiate parallel execution of test scripts to improve efficiency by almost 15 times.
LambdaTest can execute automation test scripts from multiple frameworks like Playwright, Selenium, and Cypress. While using Playwright testing, the developers can initiate the test cases on more than 50 different browsers at the same time. Also, it can generate highly accurate test reports by combining multiple results from hundreds of emulators, simulators, and real devices.
Conclusion
All the reasons discussed in this article justify Playwright as the company’s important component of modern automation testing. This is because, using different test cases available with the Playwright, developers can completely verify the proper functioning of all the elements present in a web application. Moreover, by integrating Playwright testbench with different tools and platforms like LambdaTest, the developers can simplify the testing process and improve their experience as a tester. Considering the importance of automation testing in the modern and future application development segment, app development companies must spread awareness of this testing practice. App developers should also consider the knowledge of automation testing as one of the important components of improving their profile.
