In recent generations, app developers have understood the role of proper testing methodologies and the implementation of test cases. This is because modern applications are so complex that it is only possible to guarantee their performance with extensive test cases. Moreover, the current apps are available on multiple platforms like desktops, smartphone tablets, and even smartwatches. The developers must maintain and ensure all the user interface elements are properly placed and usable on all these devices. A recent survey conducted in the app industry shows that mobile devices control more than 52% of internet traffic. While performing mobile testing, Appium is one of the most important names in the discussion. A significant role is played by browser simulators or emulators in the app testing process.
However, the developers might not have access to browser simulators or emulators during the application testing phase due to certain situations. In such cases, some ways help the developers to verify the proper functioning of web apps. This article will discuss some of these processes and the role of various platforms and tools in this integration.
Diversity of the App Market
To understand the role of testing in the modern app development process, the developers must have a clear idea about the current status of the app industry. This is because, during the initial years, the end users could only access these apps and use the Internet on the desktop platform. However, smart devices have arrived in the market with improved technology and increasing demand for portability. These devices consist of smartphones, tablets, and even smartwatches. These devices’ major advantage is allowing the developers to achieve desktop-like performance with devices that fit in their pockets. So, to ensure the seamless integration of apps on these devices, the developers must also improve the dependability of the test bench. This process is easier said than done. This is because the smartphone market is very diverse.
The three most popular smartphone platforms are Android, iOS, and Windows. For reference, we can consider that only in the Android platform, more than a thousand new devices come into the industry every year. These devices are unique regarding hardware, display resolution, and screen input. So, the developers have to ensure the core functioning of the application and the proper placement of all the user interface elements present in these applications. So, developers must focus on modern app development technologies like automation testing and integration.
Mobile Testing
As we discussed earlier, the mobile segment is one of the most popular platforms in the industry. Due to its domination in the end-user market, app-developing companies must pay proper attention to maintaining their compatibility on these platforms. Currently, Appium is the most popular framework for verifying the performance of modern applications on the mobile platform. Using Appium, the developers can verify the proper functioning of not only native mobile apps but also cross-platform mobile apps. Cross-platform app development is a modern technology that allows developers to simultaneously use a single app interface on multiple platforms. It saves the hassle and time involved in developing individual app frameworks. Moreover, the code framework of Appium is open source and allows the developers to access all of its features without worrying about license expenses.
Appium also has a community of tech lovers who always work to improve the testing experience with this framework. The developers can always refer to this community whenever they are stuck with any feature of Appium. It is also possible for the app developers to integrate automation testing while running the test cases of Appium.
How to Test Web Applications without Browser Simulators or Emulators
Based on our research and understanding, we have discovered some alternatives developers can use to replace browser simulators or emulators in their web app test cycle. They are as follows:
- The most generic solution to this problem is the execution of manual testing. In this process, the developers have to manually verify the web application’s performanceon all their target browsers and devices. Considering the complexity of modern apps and the thousands of elements present in them, it will be a time taking process. Moreover, while executing manual test cases, certain errors might arise in the testing process due to the involvement of human developers. Finally, it is a resource-consuming process in terms of money and time to set up and execute manual testing in the modern app development industry. We would like to mention that a complete manual testing process would take several months compared to only a few days of automation test cases.
- The developers can implement command-line tools to verify the web application’s performancewithout using simulators and emulators. While using command line tools, the developers can send specific HTTP requests to the servers and receive responses. This is a much faster process compared to the implementation of manual testing. However, the app developers must remember that while implementing command line tools, they can only verify the functional features of the application and not its user interface elements. This means that with command-line testing, verifying the proper placement of all the UI elements in a web application is impossible. Some of the most popular command line tools include cUrl and wGet.
- Unit testing is a very efficient way to verify the proper performance of a web application by dividing all of its components into separate units. The developers can easily initiate and execute unit testing with the help of modern automation testing suits like Selenium. Selenium allows developers to verify the proper performance of web applications by replicating user interaction and generating reports based on the application’s behavior. Unit testing is much more efficient thancommand line tools and manual testing. Moreover, with the help of unit testing, the developers can perform functional and UI testing on web applications. Using automation test cases helps improve the coordination between a company’s development and testing teams.
- Other than performing unit testing, the developers can also implement load testing to verify the performance of a web application without the involvement of browser simulators and emulators. Load testing tools like JMeter help developers verify the application’s performanceunder various user loads. In simple terms, it helps the developers to understand how the application responds to increasing and decreasing user traffic. This is a crucial parameter as it helps to verify the application does not crash while the customers are using it. The final report of load testing will help the developers to understand various bottlenecks and performance issues that might be present in the application.
However, we recommend the application developers and testers use simulators and emulators if they have access to this software. This is because, with simulators and emulators, the developers can better understand the application’s behavior on various browsers. Moreover, with the help of this software, it is possible to access certain versions of modern browsers that are no longer available on the market. Since updating browsers isn’t one of the most popular user trends, maintaining compatibility with older versions is one of the most important parameters to continue expanding the user base.
Integrating Platforms and Tools with Web Testing
Real-device testing has a critical role in improving the accuracy of the test results while working with mobile devices. However, setting up and maintaining an in-house mobile test lab is expensive and very hectic. On the other hand, cloud platforms allow developers to achieve similar test results while executing all the test cases over the Internet. This is because, with the help of cloud platforms, the developers can run the test cases on real devices present on remote servers. These servers also contain devices that are no longer available on the market. These devices are crucial as various market studies reveal that over 75% of end users have not updated their devices for two years. Moreover, with the help of cloud platforms, the developers can eliminate the location barriers in the application test bench.
We can further learn and understand the rule of cloud-based test cases in modern app development by bringing in LambdaTest as our discussion point:
For the general introduction, we can define LambdaTest as a modern cloud-based digital experience testing platform that allows developers and testers to perform manual and automated tests on complex web and mobile apps over more than 3000+ browsers and OS configurations. LambdaTest also offers additional features like parallel test execution to improve the dependability of the test cases. Moreover, it also allows integration with automation testing frameworks and test suites like Selenium, Cypress, and Playwright.
While working with Selenium-based automation test files, the developers can subsequently run them on more than three thousand modern browsers. LambdaTest also helps developers to integrate the test reports from real devices with thousands of existing emulators and simulators to improve the dependability of the results.
Conclusion
With this article, we tried to focus on the perspective of verifying the performance of web applications without the presence of browser simulators and emulators. Although we wouldn’t recommend the developers eliminate simulators and emulators from the test bench, they may be unavailable to small companies and individual developers in certain cases.
Moreover, we also tried to emphasize the importance of automation testing in the modern app development market. This is because various market experts believe that automation testing will continue to grasp a huge segment of the test market in the coming years. Therefore, app developers must continue updating their knowledge and information regarding this segment’s latest additions.
The app companies can also maintain their position in this market by conducting awareness campaigns and spreading the required knowledge. Lastly, it is important to understand the role of tools and platforms in a healthy test execution process.