Innovation in QA: Leveraging AI, Chrome Testing, Real-Time Selector Change Detection TGNS85

[00:00:00] Joe Colantonio Want to know a free tool for improving automation's stability? Detecting selector changes in real-time? What is the Chrome test? And is it possible to leverage artificial intelligence for QA in testing digital health products? Find out in this episode of the Automation and DevSecOps News Show for the week of June 18th. So grab your favorite cup of coffee or tea and let's do this.

[00:00:20] Are you looking to take your automation projects to the next level? Look no further than Applitools and their Visual AI Validation testing platform. Trust me, it is a game-changer. Plus, you could try it out yourself by creating a free account. Just click on the special link down below in the first comment and see the difference for yourself.

[00:00:38] Joe Colantonio Speaking of Applitools, do you want to learn how to navigate the challenge of testing at scale? And learn lessons from some of the top-performing teams? If so, we awesome resource for you. So tomorrow, on Tuesday, June 20th at 11 a.m. Pacific. Daytime, Applitools has got a great panel discussion planned with leaders from top-performing teams, including leaders from Dominos and Netflix, Andy Knight will be leading the group as they talk about the challenges of testing at scale. And as you know, testing at scale presents unique challenges that demand innovative solutions and strategies. To address this, they're going to bring together a panel of technical leaders to share their experiences and empower you to do more with what you already have. And the experts are going to share their experience with the tools and techniques that are proven successful in their companies. Along the way, they can discuss the journey of testing at scale and which technologies and strategies to help them reach their goals. So definitely check that out in the link down below. Hope to see you there.

[00:01:34] What is Chrome for testing? Well, Tristan Lombard let me know all about it. I think you need to know all about it as well. So if you haven't heard, Google has introduced a new variant of its Chrome browser called Chrome for testing, specifically designed for web app testing and automation. And this new version, not intended for daily browsing, seeks to fix the challenges that web developers face when creating browser testing environments. And one of the notable changes is the ability to disable the auto-updating feature, which, while beneficial for users, can really impede developers and testers seeking consistent reproducible results across repeated tests. Chrome for testing also provides versioned browser binaries to cater to the need to reproduce bugs in older chrome versions or maintaining capabilities with specific versions of chrome driver for browser automation.

[00:02:22] And another thing you might be struggling with when you're trying to do automation against the browser is trying to not have your automated test being picked up by your Google Analytics. In this article is by Luc Gagan and he discusses how to block Google Analytics data collection during the Playwright integration test that run in your production environments. The highlights are test case data can skew analytics insights. And Gagan presents three methods, blocking the G collect endpoints, injecting a script, or enabling Google Analytics debug mode, and he emphasizes that the best approach depends on the testing context for blocking the G collect endpoints tends to be the most straightforward and efficient. So definitely check it out. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

[00:03:05] Do you want to know how to improve your automation stability and detect selector changes in real-time? We'll have a great free open-source resource for you. So addressing a significant challenge in automation testing developer Hanan Malka introduce selectors Watcher, a tool that detects changes in element selectors in real time. And these changes, often communicated by developers, can lead to test failures and increase maintenance efforts, which can be very, very frustrating, as you know. So selectors watch is designed as a Git book, analyses code changes, identifies modifications to selectors, and promptly alerts relevant stakeholders via Slack notifications. This tool not only reduces test failures and resource wastes but also promotes efficient communication and shared responsibility. Thus significantly, improving automation project stability, A really cool free project that you definitely should check out. Thank you, Hanan, for pointing this out to me.

[00:04:01] And once again, Jason Arbon is really stirring the pot here. This blog post pushes back against skeptics of AI and software testing, and Jason really stresses the importance of critical thinking and adapting to technology advancements. So Jason critiques those testers who dismiss AI as a metric or fear for the job security, arguing that embracing A.I. could enhance the profession and lead to significant advancements in software quality. Jason also urges testers to engage with AI and help in refining these systems rather than rejecting them out of hands, which I think is a great philosophy. And Jason then concludes that resistance to A.I. mirrors historical apprehensions about new technologies which are ultimately proven unfounded. Thank you, Jason, once again for leading the way with A.I. and testing, and definitely check that out in the first comment down below.

[00:04:51] And speaking about how you can use A.I. to help you with your automation and testing efforts, I found an article, a real worlds article on how you can actually leverage artificial intelligence for QA and Testing Digital Health Products. This is by Diego, and he talks about in a fast-paced realm of digital help generative AI or Gen AI is reshaping the future of quality assurance and testing. Diego, in his latest blog, discusses the wide-ranging challenges faced by QA professionals and how Gen AI can combat these hurdles. With his examples of assuring HIPAA compliance with synthetic datasets, creating realistic test environments, or addressing interoperability issues, Gen AI seems to have a solution. And also, despite its promise, ethical considerations about AI model judgments and transparency must be overlooked. And so this blog highlights how to utilize AI-powered tools like ChatGPT to help you uncover critical test strategies and help you with automated testing. Generative AI's potential extends the development predictive models for risk management, which will help streamline regulatory compliance and also protect patient data leading to improving patient outcomes and protecting patient data, which can help lead to improving patient outcomes and groundbreaking healthcare innovations. And obviously, in this A.I. digital healthcare landscape, the priority should always be the pursuit of quality and patient safety. And this article dives in how this can be done at the right level. I really can help you with your automation testing efforts, so great article. Thank you so much, Diego, for this. Definitely check it out and let me know your thoughts.

[00:06:28] So I know a lot of you also struggle with how to run your Cypress tests in Azure DevOps pipelines. If that is you, this resource is a must-read. So in a world where users demand a smooth application experience, understanding how to effectively run automated testing is critical. And this recent blog post explores how to run Cypress test and Azure DevOps pipelines. This article delves into the essence of DevOps pipelines that emphasize its pivotal role in modern software development and deployment. And it also goes over some key components of a successful DevOps pipeline continuous integration, continuous delivery, continuous deployment, and continuous testing. In the blog further discusses strategies like planning, development, building, testing, deployment, and monitoring, but assures a smooth flow from conception to user-ready software. So Kailash really has created an in-depth tutorial that provides a demonstration of setting up Cypress test and Azure DevOps pipelines and an e-commerce website, promising readers a practical understanding of the process.

[00:07:33] Besides Cypress, I know another popular tool a lot of you all use is Postman. Well, I have another article by Beth that talks about five ways Postman's Postbot AI to help your tester. So if you don't know, Postman has introduced an AI tool called Postbot and its API platform now revolutionizes the way tests are written. Keep formulating assertions and translating ideas to work and scripts. Postbot is designed to assist rather than replace quality engineers. Beth talks all about it in this in-depth blog post, which goes over key functionalities, including the automatic generation of tests, crafting custom tests, refining existing tasks, storing response values as variables, and visualizing response data. And initial feedback suggests approximately 90% of generated code works as intended. Just crazy. And while this powerful tool has some fine tuning left, has been hailed as a game changer, especially for users who find code writing time intensive. However, users are reminded to exercise caution and thoroughly test the tests to ensure their effectiveness.

[00:08:39] Hey, do you know whose anniversary it is? If not, Grafana has just released its version 10 in its 10-year anniversary as the surpasses 20 million users. If you don't know, Grafana Labs is a pioneer in open-source Data visualization. And has marked its 10-year anniversary with the launch of a Grafana 10 at the annual GrafanaCon. The new version improves the developer user experience promotes collaboration and offers advanced troubleshooting with fresh correlation capabilities featuring enhanced security and scalability, including an expanded role base access control system. Grafana 10 is designed to quickly retrieve data while facilitating team collaboration with over 20 million users and capabilities with more than 150 data sources. Grafana remains the preferred visualization tool for developers.

[00:09:29] For links to everything we covered in this News episode. Head over to the links in the first comment down below. And while you're there, make sure to check out our awesome sponsor Applitools Free Account offer and discover how to take your automation testing to the next level Leveraging Visual AI. So that's it for this episode of the Test Guild News Show, I'm Joe, and my mission is to help you succeed in creating end-to-end full-stack pipeline automation awesomeness. As always, test everything and keep the good. Cheers.