E2E testing is a software testing technique that includes testing an app’s workflow from start to end. This method aims to simulate real-time user scenarios to validate the system for integration as well as data integrity. Essentially, the testing goes through all operations the app can perform for testing how the app communicates with network connectivity, hardware, databases, external dependencies, and other apps. End-to-end testing can help automate UI testing, saving time. Upon deciding on the test cases, you can write them as test code and integrate them with an automation testing tool.
E2E testing uses methods that simulate a real-time user navigating around the software system. It simulates activities that a user would take to find out and make certain whether the results align with the expected outcome or software requirements.
These major risks can be controlled and can be avoided by this kind of testing:
- Regular checking and performing system flow verification.
- Enhance the testing coverage areas of all the sub-systems implicated with the software system.
- Identifies glitches/ issues, if any, with the sub-systems and therefore boosts the productivity of the complete software system.
Test automation pyramid functions at 3 levels:
- Unit testing
- Integration testing
- End-to-end testing
Some Examples of End to End Testing
When QA’s verify the Gmail account functioning, these features have to be tested:
- For launching the Gmail login page, you type the URL into the address bar
- Log into the Gmail account with important credentials.
- Access Gmail Inbox. Compose a new email.
- Open both Read as well as Unread emails.
- Forward and Reply to an existing email.
- Open the Spam folder. Check important emails there.
- Open the Sent items folder. Check important emails there.
- Log out of your Gmail account by clicking ‘logout’.
What are the Types of end-to-end testing?
There are two core forms of E2E Testing, Manual and Automated.
Manual Testing
In manual form of testing, the QA’s will use E2E Testing as they pretend to be a user using the functionality of the software. The QA engineer would typically use a series of devices and screen sizes to detect whether the app functions as it is intended in numerous environments.
For instance, testing the steps included in buying a product online. The QA would use mobile gadgets and PC devices for navigating the product, adding it to the cart, opening the cart and buying the item. This type of testing aims to decide if there are any steps in the flow that could break. Test implementation is done manually by one person, stage by stage.
Automated Testing
The definite objective of automated end-to-end testing is similar to using the manual technique. The disparity is that E2E testing cases are pre-scripted and then implemented by test tools. Automated tests make it simpler to validate that the software is functioning correctly and meeting necessities as it provides extra advanced capacities and the ability to perform multi-test cases at the same time.
Manual Testing vs. Automated Testing
- Manual testing includes a tester executing tests by hand, as mentioned above. Human fault can contribute to poor tests. For automated testing, tests are carried out automatically. So concerning the accuracy, automated testing can be far better in several scenarios.
- Manual testing is simpler to set up as well as understand. Many times, an automated test is complicated to set up. The learning curve is usually high for automated tests.
- Manual testing comprises less financial as well as resource investment at the start. Whilst automated testing may include extra initial investment, it provides important ROI as you are testing process matures and scales. Therefore, this is something to consider while keeping your choice on automated test tools.
- In manual testing, it is simpler to simulate a production environment. However, a few automated tools don’t make that procedure simpler. For instance, it is simple to make certain that some situations are met before a feature functions manually, yet automated testing tools might be hard to configure.
Checklist in End-to-End Testing
End to Endisn’t just about testing the UI because multiple pieces form a user interface. For a web blog site, the content may be recovered from a database via an API. In such a case, it is clear that the database, the frontend design, and the API should be tested separately, perfectly, and together.
Here is a checklist that can be followed during End to Endtesting:
- Performance: A website page might navigate accurately yet the speed also matters for user experience. Thus, it is significant for testing the performance of a web page or feature.
- Usability: As elements are functional, they must be usable. Users are as vital as the tool, so tests should cover events (such as clicks) on proper navigation, elements, and so on.
- Database: The database used for the particular system would require being well-tested. You could test to make certain that data is organized properly, appropriately stored, can be updated, and read correctly.
- Functionality: This is the major reason to test in the first place. All traits might function as expected. Unit testing can additionally be applicable here.
- Security: Web app security determines how safe and protected an application is for the user and the company. Vulnerability test tools are particularly vital in this case.
E2E Testing Vs System Testing
| E2E Testing | System Testing |
| Validates simply the software system and interlinked sub-systems. | Validates the software system as per the necessary specifications. |
| It examines the whole E2E process flow. | It examines system features and functionalities. |
| The entire interfaces and backend systems will be taken into consideration for a test. | Functional as well as Non-functional tests will be considered for testing. |
| It’s executed once a system test is done. | It’s executed after Integration tests. |
| End-to-end tests include examining external interfaces which can be intricate to automate. Thus, a Manual test is preferable. | Both automated and manual tests can be executed for System testing. |
Best Practices that enhance E2E Testing
Certainly, E2E Testingis a miracle solution to ensure the working of apps; however, it needs properly planned practices that can increase the output.
Such practices ensure effective cost management and a smooth test procedure.
1. Main Concern to be given to the End-user
End-user know-how is the key pain point related to app use. End-to-End Tests solve this issue; thus it is significant to concentrate on and prioritize the experience of the end-user. The QA tester should get into the thinking procedure of the customer who is experiencing the app’s functioning and analyze the issues at their levels. This testing will help the QA engineer assess, design, and perform test cases as per the end-user experience.
2. Concentrate on Common Testing
It is best to avoid going into exceptional user situations and build test cases. The commonly used scenarios give a better perspective and extra success to perform the best test cases.
3. Organize the Test Procedure
The entire procedure of E2E Testing is tremendously tiresome as it requires testing from start to end. Therefore, it is compulsory to organize and form a specific order to finish the End to End testing smoothly with zero errors. The approach to resolving the main bugs is to conduct integration testing and unit testing.
4. Optimization of Teardown Mechanisms & Setup.
It must take the least time to set up procedures and erase information after the testing is done. Optimization of the test environment makes certain simple teardowns of test data and faster setup of upcoming test procedures. Planning a test is a crucial part of any test procedure, and it should be emphasized to succeed in conducting testing
Tools Used for E2E Testing
Here are the most popular tools that are used for E2E testing:
LambdaTest
LambdaTest is an E2E test platform for Cypress, Selenium, Puppeteer, Playwright, and several more test suites. With this pristine tool, you can carry out E2E testing across 3000+ browsers and Operating System combo. It provides various traits that software developers require to scale E2E tests, counting dashboards to monitor flaky testing, and parallel testing. Now they are taking performance one step more with their newer HyperTest solution.
Selenium WebDriver
Selenium WebDriver is a free or open-source automated testing framework that lets you write and run testing for your web app in different environments. It enables you to interact with the web page components, counting checkboxes, textboxes, and buttons. Selenium WebDriver also offers ease of infrastructure management by giving the test environment for your team.
It is a tool that lets you click & access components within a web page using Javascript, making it simpler for testing dynamic elements of the DOM. You can utilize multi-programming languages like Ruby Python, Java, and C# with Selenium Webdriver js. If you have an Application Programming Interface-centric business, you have admin and frontend components of your app. Thus, end-to-end tests eventually test frontend apps.
It is the standard tool to run end-to-end testing. This tool provides an Application Programming Interface to talk to the web browser & interact with the DOM, letting you fill in inputs, type into text fields or click around on buttons. With Selenium, you could automate anything a real-time user would do with your app. Even though the Selenium WebDriver Application Programming Interface seems intimidating at first glimpse, forming a few convenience functions to ease some of its complications will get you productive in zero time. The best way to write reliable and efficient E2E tests is to comprehend a few fundamental concepts about Selenium WebDriver. Once you understand these concepts, writing E2E testing will be really fun and easy and assist you to increase the test coverage of your apps.
Cypress
Cypress is a front-end JavaScript-based automated testing tool that you can utilize to debug your User Interface. Cypress offers a built-in debugging trait and lets you build up retries and waits to make sure that all the tests are passing. It also lets you organize your test executions within a Continuous Integration/ Continuous Deployment pipeline to automate this procedure.
It is a new test platform that aims to triumph over the challenges of frontend automation testing for apps built with AngularJS and React. It is faster, simpler, and highly reliable than Selenium for executing testing on actual browser instances. As Cypress runs tests on a browser instance, you would not require downloading browser drivers.
Cypress is a better and faster choice to debug E2E testing and run them parallel to any pull request as part of Continuous Integration. It is simple to learn who is previously familiar with JavaScript. The E2E test with Cypress is the go-to option to test the integration between two or more systems. Undertaking so can make certain that several dependencies of an app are working perfectly and that exact information is being communicated between multi-system elements.
Conclusion
Multiple testing platforms don’t require a patchwork tests strategy —many offer some test features, but not all. That leaves room for redundancies, bugs, and inconsistent data. There is only a perfect testing platform that provides users the luxury of ditching the patchwork tests strategy and relying on one source for testing from beginning to end. You can also make use of LambdaTest’s cloud platform to execute your first end-to-end testing.
