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Testing the Tests - Mutation Testing for UI Automation

13th January 2023

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Louise Gibbs

Senior Automation Tester

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Talk Description

As testers, we would never let a new feature get released without first testing it. Automated tests are a software application in their own right and should be treated that way. This means that all new tests should be rigorously tested the same way a new feature might be rigorously tested.

Mutation testing is typically used for verifying the feedback of unit tests. It involves making changes to the source code, which should cause the unit tests to fail. Similar methods can be used for assess the quality of UI Automated tests.

In this talk, I will be discussing various methods for testing UI Automated tests. The aim of these tests are to reduce the risk of false positives, test flakiness and wasted time in test runs.

What you’ll learn

By the end of this talk, you'll be able to:

Understand common mistakes when setting up locators, steps and assertions that could cause false positives
Identify areas of a test that are slow or unreliable which can reduce confidence in the tests
Test each step of a test to ensure each step will fail if there is an issue

Louise Gibbs

Senior Automation Tester

Louise is a Senior Automation Tester at PebblePad. Her main job is to review and maintain the automated tests that are run overnight, and investigate the causes of any failures. She has also worked for companies in the e-commerce, scientific research and automotive industries, and runs a personal blog at louisegibbstest.wordpress.com, where she talks about her experiences as a software tester. She enjoys improving her testing skills and her main method for achieving this is by speaking to other Testers and discussing ideas.