Tools/Code used for Regression Testing

29 January 2021

What is Regression Testing?

Regression is a type of testing to verify that a recent program or code change has not adversely affected existing features. This testing is done to make sure that the existing application is flawless with the newly added features.

Regression Testing Techniques

1. Retest All – This is the technique where all the existing test cases are executed without missing any. This technique is quite expensive as it requires a massive amount of time and resources.
2. Test Selection – In this, test engineers select a subset of test cases based on the impact analysis. Test chosen cases categorized as:
   • Reusable Test cases
   • Obsolete Test cases
3. Reusable cases are used in succeeding Regression cycles.
4. Prioritization – Prioritize test cases depending on a business impact and frequency of use.

Regression Testing Tools

Manual execution of test cases increases test execution time as well as costs. The automation of regression test cases is the best choice in these cases. The scope of automation depends on the number of test cases that remain re-usable for successive regression cycles. There are many tools that are reliable and scalable they are:

1. HP Winrunner – It was an automated functional GUI tool that allowed a user to record and playback user interface interactions as test scripts. Functional test suite, worked with HP QuickTest Professional and supported enterprise quality assurance.
2. QTP – It is an automation testing tool by HP which is now known as HPE Unified Functional Testing software. It supports the VB scripting language to specify the test procedure and also contribute to GUI.
3. Watir – It represents Web Application Testing In Ruby. It helps in writing automated tests by imitating the behavior of a user interacting with a website. It works on multiple browsers like Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. Its current version is Watir WebDriver which is based on the Selenium API.
4. Selenium – It is a set of tools used to automate web applications across all platforms. It supports multiple programming languages. It has the support of many of the largest browser vendors who are taking steps to make Selenium a native part of their browser.
5. actiWATE – It is a Java-based software platform intended to make the test automation process simple and cost-effective for automation of regression testing of web applications. It subsists on the actiWATE framework and additional modules. It executes tests without a real Internet browser. These tests are fully compatible with JUnit and can be run by any JUnit test runner.
6. Rational Functional Tester – It is a tool for automated testing of software applications from the Rational Software division of IBM. It allows users to create tests that pretend the actions and assessments of a human tester. It is predominantly used by Software Quality Assurance teams to perform automated regression testing.
7. SilkTest – It is a tool for automated function and regression testing of enterprise applications. It was initially developed by Segue Software which was acquired by Borland in 2006.
8. TimeShiftX – It is a date and time shift testing software that lets you time travel software into the future or past for temporal testing all date and time sensitive functionality and code such as the end of year-month, daylight savings time, leap year, billing, rates, policies, etc. Perform time travel testing without changing system clocks, editing code, or isolating servers.
9. CloudQA – It provides a unified platform for various testing requirements. It have a record and playback tool with integrated reporting which is absolutely simple to use for creating and scheduling testing suits. It provides integration with various third-party tools, for example:
   • ALM tools (TestRail, TFS, Asana)
   • Bug Tracking (Jira, BugTracker)
   • CI/CD (Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, and DevOps support)
   • Team communication (Slack, SMS, webhooks)
10. Katalon Studio – It is a powerful automation solution that simplifies web, mobile, API, and desktop apps testing with robust CI/CD integrations and smart analytics. Offering flexible approaches, Katalon Studio verifies all testing needs, from basic to advanced level.