Best Python Tools for FullStack Automation Testing
Why Python?
Well, Al Sweigart, author of automate the Boring Stuff explained it best in episode fifty-four of my weekly TestGuild automation podcast.
Python has forever been his language of selection because:
It has a delicate learning curve.
It works on Windows, Linux, and MAC.
It’s still a significant programing language that skilled developers use.
It says “Hello world” in one line, not like Java, wherever your form of simply have to be compelled to keep in mind the general public, static, void, string, ban, bracket, etc.
Easy-to-remember syntax
It does not force you to find out object-oriented programming.
Python code is incredibly compact. reasonably like Perl, except readable—unlike Perl.
So what are a number of the simplest Python libraries you’ll use to assist you along with your testing and automation efforts?
The following are many of my past interviewees’ favorite Python automation libraries, also as many that I’ve in person found useful.
For useful Python check Automation
Selenium
Of course, you have got the Selenium-Python binding for browser UI automation.
This selenium package is employed to modify applications program interaction from Python.
Selenium is that the trade commonplace once it involves browser-based automation.
If your team is created of largely check engineers that have development skills or SDET‘s, this is often an ideal choice.
Splinter
A cool wrapper kind library for selenium in Python is Splinter.
Splinter is an open supply tool for testing internet applications exploitation Python. It enables you to modify browser actions, like visiting URLs and interacting with their things.
It makes writing python selenium tests easier as a result of it’s a high-level API that creates it straightforward to develop automation scripts for your browser applications.
Robot Framework
If you would like to use Python for check automation, you cannot get it wrong with the automaton Framework. This mature product, created for testers, uses a keyword-driven approach to form tests clear and straightforward to make.
It additionally includes a bunch of check libraries and different tools. The automaton Framework is Python-based, however, you’ll additionally use Jython (Java) or IronPython (.NET).
While the Selenium WebDriver library could be the most-used external check library, robot Framework may also check different things like:
FTP
MongoDB
Android
Appium
APIs
Mainframes
Much more
If your team is usually created of testers, robot Framework could be a nice choice for your automation framework.
Behave
How concerning behavior-driven development libraries?
Python has are a bunch of Cucumber like BDD frameworks to decide on from. the foremost standard one is perhaps Behave. It’s virtually a twin of cucumber however it’s in Python.
Requests
Need to do REST API testing or any form of HTTP activities?
Requests is an Apache2 authorized HTTP library, written in Python. This library is I feel is one in all the foremost standard python libraries by the sheer range of downloads. it’s indispensable for your automation efforts.
Tavern Python
Tavern
Speaking of API testing another library counseled to me by Andrew Knight, the Automation Panda is building. It makes your REST API testing far more declarative
Tavern describes itself as a command-line tool and Python library and Pytest plugin for machine-controlled testing of reposeful Apis, with an easy, compact and versatile YAML-based syntax
Hypothesis
A popular testing topic I have been hearing additional concerning is property-based testing. If you have been desperate to attempt it yourself and you are into python take a glance at Hypothesis.
Hypothesis for property-based checking wherever you’ll test integers in a very sure vary and hypothesis we’ll simply crank through all varieties of variations for you mechanically. thus it facilitates to seek out edge cases in your code you almost certainly wouldn’t have thought to seem for.
Pywinauto
For non-browser-based useful automation, offer pywinauto an attempt.
pywinauto could be a set of Python modules you’ll use to modify Microsoft Window GUIs.
You can use it to send keyboard and mouse actions to Windows dialogs and controls. It additionally has some support for additional complicated operations, like procuring text knowledge.
Automagica
Automagica is an open-source, sensible Robotic method Automation (SRPA) platform supported the Python language. what is cool concerning Automagica is you’ll quickly modify a bunch of various cross-platform processes like:
Browser automation
PDF manipulation
File and folder manipulation
Email operations
Word and surpass automation
Tons more
How concerning automating different activities that don’t seem to be useful testing related?
When I say “automation,” I mean not solely useful check automation, however, any activity which will assist you to speed up your software development method.
Beautiful Soup
One of the Python libraries I exploit for propulsion knowledge out of HTML and XML files is gorgeous Soup.
Although the most framework I exploit is Java-based, I actually have a directory in my framework that has all types of Python helper scripts—most of that leverage lovely Soup.
Python Helper LibrariesFor example, I actually have some scripts that facilitate me take apart my Serenity automation framework reports quickly.
It’s also nice for internet scrapping. If you have got an easy static webpage wherever you would like to seek out some tiny little bit of data buried somewhere within the HTML, beautiful Soup is your library of alternative.
You can use the requests library to assist you to transfer the webpage itself, and delightful Soup can assist you to take apart it.
NumPy
During my interview with Brain Okken the host of the Python primarily based podcast check & Code, he named NumPy as his Python library of alternatives for things like engineering testing.
NumPy is the basic package for scientific computing with Python.
PyTest
According to Andrew Knight pytest is one in all the simplest check automation frameworks in any language.
One reason is as a result of it’s thus compact and centered on the tests. In pytest check, your write check functions– not check classes– check functions. And if you would like to try to set and clean up, you write different functions that are labeled as fixtures, and you’ll declare them in a very dependency injection means.
So the fixtures are going to be automatically decision supported their scope, and no matter they come gets injected into your check functions. This makes setup and cleanup far more ascendable a lot of far more reusable.
Brian additionally mentioned that though it’d take you a moment to wrap your head around pytest fixtures, it’s well well worth the effort as a result of they are very powerful. If you’re unaccustomed Python testing pytest could be a should learn library.
*Make certain to explore Brian’s book Python Testing with pytest: straightforward, Rapid, Effective, and ascendable to find out all concerning it.
Tensor Flow Python AI
TensorFlow
If you have been following the most recent news in automation space for the past few years, you recognize what quantity of a hot topic AI is.
TensorFlow could be a Python library for quick numerical computing created and discharged by Google. It’s a foundation library that will be accustomed produce Deep Learning models directly or by exploitation wrapper libraries that alter the method engineered on prime of TensorFlow.
TensorFlow was really one in all the libraries that Tariq King accustomed to produce final Software’s Python-based, open-source AI generation and explorative testing tool Agent and AgentX.
PDFMiner
How many times have you ever found yourself eager to check the content of a PDF?
I was really shocked to seek out out what number Python modules there are for interacting with a variety of various technologies, like surpass files or parsing PDF files
If you would like to check or validate PDF text content, you will realize PDFMiner useful. This library is essentially a text extraction tool for PDF documents.
Jest Automation With Javascript
Pyjest
Have you detected the unit-level, automatic testing framework known as Jest?
Created by Facebook, it’s options that build it easier to perform test-driven development; as an example, its interactive watch mode, that you’ll use to boost workflows.
It’s also intelligent enough to understand that tests to run that are relevant to the files you have modified since your last attempt to your code repository.
This feature is super useful if you have got a whole bunch (or even thousands) of tests that take an extended time to run since it’ll run solely those who are relevant to your changes.
Kent C. Dodds turned me on to a Python-based implementation of Jest known as pyjest. though it’s still thought-about to be within the experimental stage, it’s all of constant watch mode options that Kent favors.
