Frequently Asked Interview Questions on Test Automation

1. What automating testing tools are you familiar with?

Win Runner , Load runner, QTP , Silk Performer, Test director, Rational robot, QA run.

2. How did you use automating testing tools in your job?

1. For regression testing
2. Criteria to decide the condition of a particular build

3. Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool.

The problem of winrunner identifying the third party controls like infragistics control.

4. How do you plan test automation?

1. Prepare the automation Test plan
2. Identify the scenario
3. Record the scenario
4. Enhance the scripts by inserting check points and Conditional Loops
5. Incorporated Error Handler
6. Debug the script
7. Fix the issue
8. Rerun the script and report the result.

5. Can test automation improve test effectiveness?

Yes, Automating a test makes the test process:
1.Fast
2.Reliable
3. Repeatable
4.Programmable
5.Reusable
6.Comprehensive

6. What is data - driven automation?

Testing the functionality with more test cases becomes laborious as the functionality grows. For multiple sets of data (test cases), you can execute the test once in which you can figure out for which data it has failed and for which data, the test has passed. This feature is available in the WinRunner with the data driven test where the data can be taken from an excel sheet or notepad.

7. What are the main attributes of test automation?

software test automation attributes :
Maintainability - the effort needed to update the test automation suites for each new release
Reliability - the accuracy and repeatability of the test automation
Flexibility - the ease of working with all the different kinds of automation test ware
Efficiency - the total cost related to the effort needed for the automation
Portability - the ability of the automated test to run on different environments
Robustness - the effectiveness of automation on an unstable or rapidly changing system
Usability - the extent to which automation can be used by different types of users

8. Does automation replace manual testing?

There can be some functionality which cannot be tested in an automated tool so we may have to do it manually. therefore manual testing can never be repleaced. (We can write the scripts for negative testing also but it is hectic task).When we talk about real environment we do negative testing manually.

9. How will you choose a tool for test automation?

choosing of a tool depends on many things ...
1. Application to be tested
2. Test environment
3. Scope and limitation of the tool.
4. Feature of the tool.
5. Cost of the tool.
6. Whether the tool is compatible with your application which means tool should be able to interact with your application
7. Ease of use

10. How you will evaluate the tool for test automation?

We need to concentrate on the features of the tools and how this could be beneficial for our project. The additional new features and the enhancements of the features will also help.

11. What are main benefits of test automation?

FAST ,RELIABLE,COMPREHENSIVE,REUSABLE

12. What could go wrong with test automation?

1. The choice of automation tool for certain technologies
2. Wrong set of test automated

13. How you will describe testing activities?

Testing activities start from the elaboration phase. The various testing activities are preparing the test plan, Preparing test cases, Execute the test case, Log the bug, validate the bug & take appropriate action for the bug, Automate the test cases.

14. What testing activities you may want to automate?

1. Automate all the high priority test cases which needs to be executed as a part of regression testing for each build cycle.

15. Describe common problems of test automation.

The common problems are:
1. Maintenance of the old script when there is a feature change or enhancement
2. The change in technology of the application will affect the old scripts

16. What types of scripting techniques for test automation do you know?

5 types of scripting techniques:
Linear
Structured
Shared
Data Driven
Key Driven

17. What are principles of good testing scripts for automation?

1. Proper code guiding standards
2. Standard format for defining functions, exception handler etc
3. Comments for functions
4. Proper error handling mechanisms
5. The appropriate synchronization techniques

18. What tools are available for support of testing during software development life cycle?

Testing tools for regression and load/stress testing for regression testing like, QTP, load runner, rational robot, winrunner, silk, testcomplete, Astra are available in the market. -For defect tracking BugZilla, Test Runner are available.

19. Can the activities of test case design be automated?

As I know it, test case design is about formulating the steps to be carried out to verify something about the application under test. And this cannot be automated. IHowever, I agree that the process of putting the test results into the excel sheet.

20. What are the limitations of automating software testing?

Hard-to-create environments like “out of memory”, “invalid input/reply”, and “corrupt registry entries” make applications behave poorly and existing automated tools can’t force these condition - they simply test your application in “normal” environment.

21. What skills needed to be a good test automator?

1.Good Logic for programming.
2. Analytical skills.
3.Pessimistic in Nature.

22. How to find that tools work well with your existing system?

1. Discuss with the support officials
2. Download the trial version of the tool and evaluate
3. Get suggestions from people who are working on the tool

23. Describe some problem that you had with automating testing tool.

1. The inability of winrunner to identify the third party control like infragistics controls
2. The change of the location of the table object will cause object not found error.
3. The inability of the winrunner to execute the script against multiple languages.

24. What are the main attributes of test automation?

Maintainability, Reliability, Flexibility, Efficiency, Portability, Robustness, and Usability - these are the main attributes in test automation.

25. What testing activities you may want to automate in a project?

Testing tools can be used for :
* Sanity tests(which is repeated on every build),
* stress/Load tests(U simulate a large no of users,which is manually impossible) &
* Regression tests(which are done after every code change)

26. How to find that tools work well with your existing system?

To find this, select the suite of tests which are most important for your application. First run them with automated tool. Next subject the same tests to careful manual testing. If the results are coinciding you can say your testing tool has been performing.

27. How will you test the field that generates auto numbers of AUT when we click the button 'NEW" in the application?

We can create a textfile in a certain location, and update the auto generated value each time we run the test and compare the currently generated value with the previous one will be one solution.

28. How will you evaluate the fields in the application under test using automation tool?

We can use Verification points(rational Robot) to validate the fields .Ex.Using objectdata,objectdata properties VP we can validate fields.

29. Can we perform the test of single application at the same time using different tools on the same machine?

No. The Testing Tools will be in the ambiguity to determine which browser is opened by which tool.

31. What is 'configuration management'?

Configuration management is a process to control and document any changes made during the life of a project. Revision control, Change Control, and Release Control are important aspects of Configuration Management.

32. How to test the Web applications?

The basic difference in web testing is here we have to test for URL's coverage and links coverage. Using WinRunner we can conduct web testing. But we have to make sure that Webtest option is selected in "Add in Manager". Using WR we cannot test XML objects.

33. what are the problems encountered during the testing the application compatibility on different browsers and on different operating systems

Font issues,alignment issues

34. how exactly the testing the application compatibility on different browsers and on different operating systems is done

Please Send Your Suggestion

35. How testing is proceeded when SRS or any other document is not given?

If SRS is not there we can perform Exploratory testing. In Exploratory testing the basic module is executed and depending on its results, the next plan is executed.

36. How do we test for severe memory leakages ?

By using Endurance Testing .
Endurance Testing means checking for memory leaks or other problems that may occur with prolonged execution.