Test automation is one of the most critical parts of software development life cycle nowadays because of its great advantages like, more coverage for testing processes, reliability and efficiency.
Being a simple and readable language, Python is one of the preferable languages for automation testing. This article goes a level deeper and talks about core Python libraries that can help in automation testing resulting in solid test suites, and maintainable tests.
Overview:
Selenium is one of the highly-used frameworks for the testing of web applications. It provides testers with the ability to automate browser interactions through Python scripts.
Selenium has been used as a fairly adaptable instrument in web testing because it can work with different browsers and platforms.
Key Features:
Cross-Browser Testing: Selenium supports different browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, among others, and Edge.
Platform Versatility Testing: It does operate across many systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Language Support: Along with Python, it also supports Java, C#, Ruby, and JavaScript.
Integration: Integrates well with all major continuous testing platforms like CI/CD tools – Jenkins, Maven, and Docker.
WebDriver: Selenium WebDriver provides a programmatic interface for creating and running test cases.
Overview:
Pytest is a well-known Python instrument used for carrying out various types of tests, ranging from basic unit tests to intricate functional tests. Its main benefit is its simplicity, which renders it particularly well-suited for handling extensive collections of tests.
Key Features:
Fixtures: It has a powerful fixture mechanism for setup and teardown code.
Plugins: A large variety of plugins includes pytest-cov to compute coverage, pytest-xdist to distribute the load, etc.
Assertions: It also improves assertions through good error reporting.
Parameterization: Supports parameterized testing.
Test Discovery: Test discovery happens automatically by naming conventions.
Overview:
Robot Framework is a free, open-source automation framework that employs keyword-based methods for acceptance testing and acceptance test-driven development. It is very flexible and works seamlessly with various other tools.
Characteristic Features:
Keyword-driven: It uses keywords for explaining what actions will be taken and hence returns tests which are self-descriptive and at the same time easy to maintain.
Extensibility: Custom libraries and extensions are supported.
Integration: Integrates very nicely with Selenium, Appium, and other automation tools.
Data-driven testing: Data-driven testing is supported out-of-the-box.
Reports and Logs: It generates in-dept4. Unittest (PyUnit)
Overview:
PyUnit, also referred to as Unittest, is the standard test framework integrated into Python, taking its design from Java's JUnit. It acts as an essential instrument for creating and running tests.
Key Features:
Standard Library: It is a part of the Python standard library; thus, installation is not necessary.
Test Discovery: It has integrated test discovery.
Fixtures: Supports set up and tear down at higher levels, such as module, class, and method.
Assertions: It has many different assertion methods.
Test Runner: It has test runner which runs the test and collects results.
Overview:
Nose2 is a better version of the Nose. Nose2 works together with Unittest and make the testing easier.
Key Features:
Extensibility: Nose2 is highly extensible via plugins for adding new functionality.
Test Discovery and Organisation: Improved test discovery and organisation
Fixtures: It has flexible fixture management.
Assertions: Much improved assertions and error reporting.
Parallel Testing: It provides running tests in parallel for faster overall test execution.
Overview:
Behave is a Python framework for Behavior-Driven Development. It allows tests to be written in natural language style, with Gherkin syntax.
Key Features:
Gherkin Syntax: Using Given-When-Then syntax, one may write whole test scenarios.
Integration: Integrates smoothly with other testing tools and libraries in Python.
Reports: Has readable test reports generated.
Reusability: They encourage reusability of test steps.
Collaboration: Provides collaboration between developers, testers, and non-technical stakeholders.
Overview:
TestComplete is a sophisticated tool created to simplify the process of automating tests for various programming languages, including Python. It provides a comprehensive approach to automated testing for applications on desktop, web, and mobile platforms.
Key Features:
Multi-Platform: desktop, web, and mobile application testing is supported.
Object Recognition: Advanced object recognition.
Scripted Testing: Not just in Python, it also supports a few different scripting languages
CI/CD Integration: Integrate with CI/CD flows easily
Reporting: Detailed reporting and analysis
Overview:
Pytest-BDD unifies BDD with all the features of the PyTest framework. The package enables writing BDD test scenarios with the PyTest Python package.
Key Features:
Supports the given-when-then syntax by default for BDD style.
Using fixtures and plugins, it supports all the possible PyTest features.
Allows writing fixture functions that represent reusable test steps.
Generate reports post test execution.
The tests may be flexible and modular.
Overview:
Locust is an open-source load testing tool that allows you to write user behavior scripts in Python. It is developed to be scalable.
Key Features:
User Behaviour – Simulating Real User Behavior
Distributed Testing – Distributed and Scalable
Load Testing Web Interface – Web-Based UI to Monitor Tests
Integration –It should be integrated with any other tools and CI/CD pipeline.
Flexibility: Highly flexible and extensible.
Overview:
A Python web application testing tool with a simple and intuitive API that makes browser automation fantastically easy. It's on top of Selenium.
Key Features:
Simple API - An easy-to-use API for browser interaction is provided.
Browser Support: Many browsers are supported by using Selenium core.
Integration: Integrates very well with other testing frameworks in Python.
Screenshots: Allows capturing screenshots for debugging. Makes form handling and interaction easier.
Overview:
It is an open source, mobile application UI Automation Framework or tool that supports native, and Hybrid mobile applications on Android and iOS platforms.
Key Features:
Cross-platform: Android and iOS
Language Support: It supports various languages include Python
Integration: Integrates their functionality with Selenium WebDriver
Community: Has a strong community and thorough documentation
Device Support: Supports real and as well as emulated devices.
Overview:
Requests is Python's wonderful library for realizing elegant and simple HTTP. It's widely used for API testing and interaction.
Some essential features:
Simplicity: This provides a really simple API for making the HTTP request.
Methods: Has support for various ways of HTTP requests like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.
Session Handling: Manages session cookies and authentication.
Error Handling: It definitely handles such failures.
Integration: It allows easy integration with other test frameworks.
Overview:
Beautiful Soup is a set of tools. Beautiful Soup is created to pull data out of HTML and XML documents. Beautiful Soup is often leveraged for fetching data from websites, web pages and collecting information.
Key Features:
Parsing: It parses HTML and XML documents, and then comes up with a parse tree.
Navigation: It provides ways of navigating, searching, or modifying the parse tree.
Integration: Works out of the box with requests when web-scraping.
Data Extraction: It aids in extracting data from web pages.
Compatibility: Supports various parsers like lxml and html5lib.
Overview:
Pylint is a program created to examine code without executing it. It looks for errors in coding, checks if the code follows coding standards, and looks for issues with the code.
Features:
Error Checking: It can detect many types of programming errors.
Code Quality: Enforce coding standards and best practices.
Customization: Can be customized using configuration files.
Integration: Can be integrated with several IDEs and continuous integration pipelines.
Reporting: Produces reports showing quality metrics about your code.
Overview:
Coverage.py is one of the best Python libraries for automation testing and measuring code coverage in Python programs. It helps ensure that your tests are covering the intended code paths.
Key Features:
Code Coverage: Measures how much of your code is executed during tests.
Reports: Generates reports in various formats, including HTML and XML.
Exclusions: Allows excluding specific parts of code from coverage.
Integration: Integrates with testing frameworks and CI/CD tools.
Analysis: Provides insights into untested parts of your code.
Overview:
Hypothesis is a property-based testing library for Python. It generates test cases based on the properties your code should have, rather than specific inputs and outputs.
Key Features:
Property-Based Testing: Focuses on testing the properties of code.
Test Case Generation: Automatically generates diverse test cases.
Edge Cases: Discovers edge cases and unexpected behaviors.
Integration: Works with existing test frameworks like PyTest.
Reproducibility: Ensures that failing test cases are reproducible.
Overview:
Mock is one of the best Python libraries for automation testing. It allows you to replace parts of your system under test and make assertions about how they have been used.
Key Features:
Mocking: Supports creating mock objects and methods.
Patching: Allows patching of objects and methods in the context of tests.
Assertions: Provides methods to assert calls and interactions.
Integration: Works seamlessly with Unittest and PyTest.
Flexibility: Highly flexible and easy to use.
Overview:
Testinfra is also considered one of the top Python libraries for automation testing. It is built on top of PyTest and provides a simple way to test servers' configuration and state.
Key Features:
Infrastructure Testing: Focuses on testing infrastructure components.
Integration: Integrates with configuration management tools like Ansible, Chef, and Puppet.
Assertions: Provides assertions to check the state of servers.
Remote Execution: Supports executing tests on remote servers.
Modularity: Modular design with a rich set of built-in modules.
Overview:
tox is a tool for automating testing in multiple Python environments. It automates the setup of virtual environments and the execution of test commands.
Key Features:
Environment Management: Manages multiple virtual environments.
Automation: Automates testing across different Python versions and dependencies.
Integration: Integrates with CI/CD tools for continuous testing.
Configuration: Uses a simple configuration file for defining test environments and commands.
Reporting: Provides detailed test reports.
Overview:
Allure is a flexible, lightweight multi-language test reporting tool. Among the Python libraries for automation testing, this provides clear and concise test reports with detailed information.
Key Features:
Detailed Reports: Generates detailed and interactive test reports.
Attachments: Supports attaching screenshots, logs, and other files to test results.
Integration: Integrates with various CI/CD tools and testing frameworks.
Customization: Customizable report layouts and content.
Visualization: Provides visual insights into test results and coverage.
Python offers a rich ecosystem of libraries and frameworks for automation testing. Each library has its unique features and strengths, catering to different testing needs. Whether you are performing web testing, API testing, mobile testing, or infrastructure testing, there is a Python library to help you automate and streamline your testing process.
By leveraging these libraries, testers can ensure robust, maintainable, and efficient test suites, ultimately contributing to higher software quality and faster delivery cycles.
Basic library automation involves using software tools and systems to manage library operations like cataloging, circulation, and digital resources, enhancing efficiency and user experience.
It typically includes functions like book check-in/out, inventory management, and user account management.
The Python library commonly used for network automation is Netmiko. It provides a simplified way to manage network devices via SSH.
One of the most widely used Python libraries is NumPy. It provides support for large, multi-dimensional arrays and matrices, along with a collection of mathematical functions to operate on these arrays.
You can learn Python automation through online platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and Codecademy, which offer courses specifically on Python programming and automation.
Yes, Python is extensively used for machine automation, leveraging libraries like PyAutoGUI for GUI automation and ROS (Robot Operating System) for robotic control and automation tasks.