As we know, the field of software application testing is rapidly growing. This is due to the huge availability and demand of software and web applications. These days, most of the services and work are done using software applications. Also, there are a huge number of devices and configurations available for which you need to make your software application work and stand out. But during the test execution, you face exceptional errors many times.
There are many tools and frameworks available in the market for automation testing purposes. But Cypress and Appium. Cypress is a very popular and often recommended automation testing tool for web components and web testing. It is an open-source and easy-to-learn tool that is helpful for even beginners. On the other hand, Appium is another popular automation testing framework for software applications.
In the Cypress and Appium testing, you also face some sometimes errors that you need to debug to make your automation testing successful. In this article, you will first see what error handling is, and then you will see a brief introduction to Cypress and Appium testing tools. Finally, you will learn some advanced error handling and debugging techniques in Cypress and Appium automation.
What is Exceptional Error Handling?
Exceptional handling is defined as the process in which a program faces runtime errors. These errors occur when you try to execute an application program. Exceptions are generally thrown when something unexpected or unusual happens during the execution of a program. For example, any exception on the web page can throw an exceptional error in the code. Exceptions in your test degrade the testing efficiency as it could make your test abruptly fail and provide unclear error messages. This will also make unclear and faded testing insights, and you will not be able to understand what mistake you made when the test was under execution.
It is always suggested that you should never underestimate or neglect the exceptional errors. It will result in poor testing output and decrease the overall testing team performance. So, to prevent this kind of result and situation, exception handling is used. It helps to prevent system crashing, and without this process, exceptions would disrupt the normal operation of a program.
Exceptions can be seen due to several reasons, such as invalid user input, code errors, device failure, the loss of a network connection, allocation of insufficient memory to run an application, a memory conflict with another program, a user attempting to open files which are not present in the system, etc. Apart from this, exception handling helps to prevent your tests from failing due to errors that are not under your control. For example, network or server issues. By handling these errors and continuing to execute your tests, you can ensure that your test suite is as robust as possible.
Need for Error Handling in Automation Testing
Now, let us see the various factors that reflect why you need error handling in automation testing.
1. Error handling helps you to check the maximum ability of the system and show whether the system is able to handle the errors or not.
2. Error handling in automation testing also helps to check the highest soak point of the system.
3. It makes sure that the system can manage all the errors in the future without system failure.
4. The system is also capable of handling exceptions.
Steps involved in the Error Handling in Automation Testing
While performing automation testing, if you want to tackle error handling, then you need to follow the steps described in the below steps.
1. Test Environment Set up
Setting up the test environment is the first step towards handling errors in automation testing. This step consists of test execution planning for the specific system that will undergo automation testing with Cypress or Appium. You should make sure that there is not much important data in the system as there are changes in the system crash during this step.
2. Test Generation
In this step, you need to make the various tests that are expected to make an error during the automation testing process. For example, let’s say there is software that operates on fractions and then sets the denominator of the fractions as zero. Test case generation is associated with the developing team because if you do not have information on internal code, test cases can’t be designed.
3. Test Execution
Now, that you have generated the tests, then the main process starts. It is considered as one of the crucial parts of the testing so you should be attentive while doing this step. In this step, you need to run the program in the system for which the tests were designed.
4. Testing Result and Analysis
After running the test case, you get the testing results and then you need to make an analysis of it. In this process, you need to check various parameters of the testing results, such as inconsistency. Here, you check if the testing results are as intended or not. There may be some chances of the program going into an infinite loop. And this will end up in software application failure.
5. Re-Test
The last step in this process is to re-run the tests. After making an analysis of the testing output, you will come to know which tests are passed or which tests are failed. So, you need to re-run the tests which get failed.
Error Handling and Debugging Techniques in Cypress and Appium Automation
Now. let us see the various steps that can be implemented in your Cypress and Appium automation testing for error handling and debugging.
1. Using Standard Framework
Using a standard framework is a very important and one of the best methods for error handling and debugging in Cypress and Appium automation. The standard framework is defined as a set of guidelines, utilities, and methods. These are used to design and develop the Cypress and Appium automation projects. Using the standard framework for error handling helps to implement a consistent and robust automation testing process. Also, this helps to easily simplify the debugging process. There are many standard frameworks that are used for error handling and debugging the Cypress and Appium automation tests such as UiPath REFramework, Blue Prism Robust Process Automation, and Microsoft Power Automate.
2. Using try-catch-finally Blocks
Using Try-catch-finally blocks for error handling and debugging is a very popular method. These blocks allow the developers and QA team to define the actions that should be taken if there is any test case failure or error occurs. It also works in conditions such as what actions to take regardless of whether an error occurs or not. You can use the try-catch-block in the given way:
try:
# do something that might cause an error
except:
# handle the error
finally:
# do something that always needs to be done
Using try-catch-finally blocks enhances the automation testing process from crashing any essential steps every time an error occurs. It also ensures that the automation processes are ended properly and cleaned up.
3. Using Retry and Recovery Mechanism
Using the retry and recovery mechanism is another useful way to handle error and debugging in Cypress and Appium automation testing. The retry and recovery mechanism is used by the developers and QA team to define the time for how many times an action should be taken in case any error occurs. Also, it is used to decide what actions to take to restore the normal state of your Cypress and Appium automation testing processes. Let’s take an example to better understand this. Suppose, in UiPath, you can use the Retry Scope activity, which will help you repeat any pre-decided action. This action will be continued unless it is successful or it reaches the maximum attempt limit. Using the retry and recovery mechanism for Cypress and Appium automation testing helps the team increase the testing reliability and resilience. It also reduces human involvement in executing the automation testing process.
4. Using Logging and Reporting
Logging and reporting are two very important factors for monitoring any automation testing process. It helps to make a detailed analysis of the testing output, whether it is up to the mark or not. Logging is defined as the process of recording the testing details of each step involved, as well as all the actions and errors that occur during the execution of your automation testing processes. Reporting is defined as the process of generating and presenting a brief summary of the testing process and insights into your automation processes. Logging and reporting also play a very important role in identifying any kind of error and, hence, help in error handling and debugging for Cypress and Appium automation testing.
5. Validate the Automation Process
Testing and validation of your automation testing process is a very important step as it helps to check whether your software application meets the stakeholders’ needs. Also, it helps to check if the software application is working as it is intended to be. Validation of the testing process involved the process of checking testing results against various conditions and scenarios. While doing this, you will get to know various errors in your Cypress and Appium automation process. So, testing and validation is also an advanced technique for error handling and debugging in Cypress and Appium automation.
You can also perform leverage the error handling and debugging ability on the cloud like LambdaTest. It is AI AI-powered test orchestration and test execution platform that allows the running of both manual and automation testing on 3000+ real device and OS combinations. It integrates Appium and Cypress automation testing tools where you can leverage their true capability on LambdaTest’s real device cloud. It makes debugging and error handling easy with its user-friendly interface and uses various debugging log options for your failed tests and fixes them easily.
LambdaTest also offers a HyperExecute feature where you can perform the test at a 70% higher speed. In addition to this, you can also perform the Cypress and Appium automation on different browsers, devices and OS that ensure cross-browser compatibility of the software application. You can also run parallel tests at the same time and this not only saves your time but testing effort too.
Conclusion
Automation testing is a very popular approach to perform software application testing these days. It enhances the testing stability and efficiency. To perform automation testing, Cypress and Appium are the two most recommended tools. To prevent and minimize the error, you are recommended to use some best strategies, such as using test retry, logging, and reporting. Try-catch-final blocks are another error handling and debugging technique that allows the developers and QA team to define the actions that should be taken if there is any test case failure. Hope you got an understanding what are the advanced error handling and debugging techniques in Cypress and Appium automation.