Parallel testing is defined as a software testing process in which multiple apps or features are tested simultaneously, resulting in reduced time consumption of the testing process. It is mainly done when a new version is released for an application. Many types of cloud-based tools and frameworks can be used to perform parallel or distributed test automation on the cloud.
Rest Assured is a Java library mainly used for RESTful web services. It can be used to perform domain-specific language that helps write maintainable tests. Maven is a famous tool among software application developers and testers to build automation and project management. Maven uses a Project Object Model (POM) file to manage the project’s configuration and build process.
Integrating Rest Assured with Maven for performing parallel testing or distributed testing helps the developers manage dependencies and configure the build process of your software application. In this article, you will first see a brief introduction about parallel or distributed testing and then see how you can use Rest Assured Maven for parallel testing.
Introduction to Parallel or Distributed Testing
Parallel or distributed testing is a software testing process that allows the QA team to test their software application simultaneously against many types of devices, browsers, operating systems, etc. The ultimate goal of parallel testing is to reduce testing time and resource constraints. The testing team generally does parallel testing when a new version of a software application needs to be released.
Generally, two or more parts in parallel testing are used to check the features and functionality of an application separately. Unlike traditional testing processes, where you need to execute each test individually, parallel or distributed testing allows you to run multiple tests simultaneously. Parallel or distributed testing accelerates your release cycles, resulting in fast and more accurate testing results with minimal effort. Let us see the benefits of using a parallel or distributed testing approach.
Benefits of Parallel or Distributed Testing?
Let’s look at some of the benefits of performing parallel testing.
- Better Development Flow: Reporting and feedback on on-time testing are significant in software testing. Parallel testing or distributed testing is definitely to do so. It allows the developers to share the test results with all the stakeholders. Using parallel testing also helps to boost CI (continuous integration) efforts. This effort saves time, and the team can deliver the software in the given period. Parallel testing helps developers communicate efficiently, and the QA team and developers communicate as the testing and reporting are done on time.
- Better Test Coverage: Test coverage is defined as the various configurations, types of devices, and browser-OS combinations for which you can perform your software testing application. The testing coverage increases when you perform software testing using parallel or distributed testing on more and more devices. This ensures that the software experience increases and the end user gets the best experience while using the software application. Thus, parallel testing helps to deliver a better software experience, which means better ROI.
- Time Efficient: Parallel testing helps software developers save time, and that saved time can be used to perform exploratory testing. Suppose you are performing a parallel test of your application on two devices; your testing speed needs to increase by two times. Also, there are chances of human error that may give you incorrect data, so using parallel testing for such repetitive testing is recommended, which can also be boring.
- Less Script: When you use parallel or distributed testing, you need to write the test scenarios once. Then, these test scenarios get replicated in another version and on other devices. You can install older and new versions of your software applications on various devices to check compatibility and software consistency. The aim is to ensure that the new version of the software application works well in the new versions and that the existing features and functionality function correctly.
Implement Parallel or Distributed Testing with Rest Assured Maven
Let us see how you can implement parallel or distributed testing with Rest Assured Maven. You can combine Rest Assured and Maven for parallel test execution. In the given section, you will see step-by-step instructions on performing parallel or distributed tests with Rest Assured Maven.
1. Dependencies
The first step is to set up all the necessary files and dependencies in your Maven. There is an “.xml” file. Inside this file, use the command below:
<dependencies>
<!– Rest Assured –>
<dependency>
<groupId>io.rest-assured</groupId>
<artifactId>rest-assured</artifactId>
<version>4.4.0</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
<!– TestNG –>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.testng</groupId>
<artifactId>testng</artifactId>
<version>7.3.0</version>
<scope>test</scope>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
2. TestNG XML configurations
The next step to perform parallel testing using Rest Assured Maven is to create a TestNG file. The file should be like “testng.xml.” In this file, the developers must define the test suites and all the configurations necessary for parallel test execution. This file contains all the classes that contain your Rest Assured tests. It also determines how they should be executed in parallel testing.
<!DOCTYPE suite SYSTEM “http://testng.org/testng-1.0.dtd”>
<suite name=”RestAssuredTests” parallel=”methods” thread-count=”5″>
<test name=”API Tests”>
<classes>
<class name=”com.example.api.tests.TestClass1″/>
<class name=”com.example.api.tests.TestClass2″/>
<!– Add more classes as needed –>
</classes>
</test>
</suite>
3. Creating Test Classes
The next step includes creating the test classes for your Rest Assured Maven testing. For example-
package com.example.api.tests;
import io. Rest assured.RestAssured;
import io.restassured.response.Response;
import org.testng.annotations.Test;
import static io. Rest assured.RestAssured.given;
import static org. Testing.Assert.assertEquals;
public class TestClass1 {
@Test
public void testApiEndpoint1() {
RestAssured.baseURI = “https://api.example.com”;
Response response = given().get(“/endpoint1”);
assertEquals(response.getStatusCode(), 200);
// You can make more assertions according to your need
}
// You can use more test methods according to your need
}
3. Maven Surefire Configuration
In the next step, configure the Maven Surefire Plugin in your existing “.xml” file. Using this, you will be able to use the TestNG XML file. To do this, use the following code in your XML file.
<build>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<groupId>org.apache. Maven.plugins</groupId>
<artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
<version>3.0.0-M5</version>
<configuration>
<suiteXmlFiles>
<suiteXmlFile>src/test/resources/TestNG.xml</suiteXmlFile>
</suiteXmlFiles>
</configuration>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</build>
5. Running the Tests
The final step is to run your tests for parallel testing using Rest Assured Maven
. To run the test, execute the code given below:
mvn test
You can run parallel or distributed testing using the above steps using Rest Assured Maven.
Challenges of Parallel or Distributed Testing?
The various challenges faced by software developers when they use Parallel or Distributed testing are as follows:
- Infrastructure Limitations: Parallel or distributed testing has many advantages, but infrastructure has some limitations. Setting up the test environment for parallel testing may cost a lot of money. Also, there is a need for mobile and networking devices to perform parallel testing, which will affect the company’s financial status. After all that, there will be a need for highly skilled professionals to maintain the setup. So, sometimes, the developers choose cloud-based tools to perform the software testing. One reliable and scalable tool that can be used is LambdaTest.
LambdaTest is an AI-powered test orchestration and execution platform to run manual and automated tests at scale. The platform allows you to perform real-time and automation testing across 3000+ environments and real mobile devices.
LambdaTest effectively addresses infrastructure limitations by offering a cloud-based testing platform that eliminates the need for extensive in-house infrastructure. With LambdaTest, testing teams can access a vast array of browsers, operating systems, and the actual device cloud. This eliminates the challenges of setting up and maintaining diverse testing environments, ensuring seamless scalability and adaptability to varying workloads.
By providing on-demand access to a rich library of testing resources, LambdaTest empowers teams to overcome infrastructure limitations, enabling parallel testing, efficient resource utilization, and the flexibility to test in diverse environments. This approach significantly streamlines the testing process, accelerates time-to-market, and optimizes overall testing costs by removing the burden of managing complex infrastructure setups.
- Data Dependencies: In parallel or distributed testing, the test cases depend on some specific. It takes a lot of work to make a strategy for parallel testing in such cases. There may be situations when the test scripts run for a user log-in, and any other script might run first if not done sequentially. This will delete the user credentials from the database. Another script may also run that requires a user to enter the data. In such cases, it becomes difficult to integrate the test scripts into parallel testing. This happens due to data dependency. In this way, data dependency is one of the challenges of parallel and distributed testing.
Conclusion
Parallel or distributed testing is a software testing process that allows the QA team to test their software application test automation simultaneously, saving time and increasing testing efficiency. There are many benefits of using parallel testing or distributed testing. It improves development, saves time and human effort, and there is less script writing in parallel testing because you can use the same script against different configurations and environments.
But also, there are some challenges and limitations of using parallel testing or distributed testing. Some of the challenges to be considered are data dependencies and infrastructure limitations. I hope you get an idea of how you can perform parallel testing with Rest Assured Maven.