Test Automation framework - Tools important?

Question

I have been working on Test Automation from last few months and have been using the tool named "Testcomplete". But I have noticed that the tools do not matter a lot in the field of automation. Only thing you expect from an automation tool is the ability of the tool to spit out the recognition strings for the different controls used in the test application. Apart from this, you will always have to build a automation framework which will serve your needs writing code.

So my question is, Is my thinking that automation tools do not matter a lot in the field of automation correct? In the sense, you can use any tools to get your automation running. Or Do the tools really matter? (Please ignore the costs factor of the tools). Also if I need to learn a new automation tool, then what do I concentrate on? Or how do I go about learing the tool? In short, what exactly does "learning a tool" mean?

Answer 1

My 3 best reasons for choosing which tool to use:

• it works. This is important, not all tools work in all scenarios i.e. flash, silver light, adobe air, legacy apps with no automation support, etc.
• whole team skills. This includes not only testers, but also developers. Test automation shouldn't be an isolated effort, developers should also collaborate on it. This is far easier when dev and test are using the same language/platform.
• price. Doesn't have to be free (but it could), but of course its an important factor.

Personally we use the same test runner as the one for the unit tests. That along with extra third party automation pieces that do the plumbing for you.

Answer 2

Some additional thoughts on why the tool is important:

• Community - What's the user community like? Are there a lot of user-generated resources out there to help?
• Support - (if vendor) What's customer support like? Do they fix problems quickly? Is it easy to find solutions to common problems?
• Extensibility - Often in test automation, you'll need to roll your own or code work-arounds, if the tool does not support a particular type of object in your application. How easy is it to extend the product? What programming language does the tool use? What kind of support do you get from the IDE?