Early integration automation

Since partial automation has already taken place as part of BDD and TDD, and is integrated with the CI server, the service level components can be targeted next as the User Interface (UI) is yet to be made available.

Also, there are times when basic UI automation can be accomplished using mocks and stubs. However, the scripts undergo changes once the final UI is ready. The effort to modify the existing scripts is directly proportional to the quality of mocks and stubs that were provided during the initial automation work.

To enable integration, the CI server builds the system on demand, on schedule, or even as soon as the code is checked in.

• Each developer can run and test the code on his/her system to ensure that the code is not broken
• For an early and extensive integration testing, the test team can utilize the features of service, application, and network virtualization

Whether it is UI integration with service a or database layer, or it is the integration of one system with other systems and utilities, virtualization provides solutions in many ways, focusing on the shift-left approach for testing and the ability to run end-to-end scenarios. The service virtualization tools such as CA LISA, IBM Rational Integration Tester, HP Service Virtualization, and Parasoft Virtualize, help with the following:

• Shortening the release cycle
• Identifying bugs early in the software life cycle

Since the availability of dedicated test environments at an earlier stage of software lifecycle is rare, virtual test environments or server virtualization can be used to create an environment to run service-level tests and other automated scripts. Refer to the following diagram:

The interacting and dependent systems' behavior, data, and performance characteristics can be captured and simulated using service virtualization.

The captured services and simulated test data can be deployed on the test environment to represent the dependent system for a seamless early integration test to occur. Take a look at the following diagram:

Apart from identifying and simulating the services, automating the API interfaces that interact with each other by understanding the API signature allows the early discovery of the underlying defects before the UI is developed. Any change in the API signature by the development team should ideally be communicated to the automation team for a timely update of scripts and to avoid leakage of defects into the next phases.

This kind of integration testing requires the test teams to possess enough technical knowledge on using service virtualization tools and to write API/interface testing code bits. The value and benefits achieved through service virtualization the following:

• Faster time to market
• Reduced number of defects
• Continuous availability of services