Systems | Development | Analytics | API | Testing

July 2022

1 year ago we were acquired. Here's what happened next. (k6 Office Hours #58)

In June 2021, CEO Raj Dutt announced that k6 had become part of the Grafana Labs family, and the year that followed has been replete with changes in features, organizational structure, and overall culture within the k6 team. In this video, Nicole van der Hoeven and Paul Balogh reflect on everything that's happened in the last year and how k6 has fared 1 year after the acquisition.

Software Test Automation: False Positives & How to Avoid Them?

Software Testing is primarily an information-gathering process that assists stakeholders in making informed decisions. However, it can be problematic to gather information if the testing process is constantly interrupted by diversions and interruptions. Software Testing tools and test automation scripts can lead to false positives if proper measures and considerations are not taken when setting up the testing and automation process.

Cover Your Bases with BitBar

Releasing high-quality products is crucial for developers and QA teams. At SmartBear, we’re always looking for ways to improve the software development lifecycle. We want to help developers and QA teams make the best use of their time before releasing products. Testing web or mobile applications ensures rich, robust functionality. With BitBar, your application works.

Migration Of An Application Frontend To TypeScript

In Loadero we always look for ways to improve our product and make it more robust, secure, and maintainable. As we add more features to our product, the complexity of our code base increases and it makes it more difficult to add or refactor the code without introducing regressions of the functionality. Since our frontend was written in plain Javascript and React, there was no way to ensure type safety of passed data between components and functions.

Kubernetes Load Testing Comparison: Speedscale vs K6

In this article, you’ll be introduced to two different load testing tools that are both able to work with Kubernetes; Speedscale and K6. Throughout this post you’ll be given a comparative view of how each tool performs in five different categories: Ease of setup, developer experience, working with the CLI, creating tests, and integration into CI/CD pipelines.

An Overview of HIPAA Compliance Testing in Software Applications

Are you using any software that is related to an individual’s information? Anything that deals with patient data? Any applications or tools that deal with the data of a person or a group of people? If your answer is yes, then this question is for you. How compliant is your company’s software with HIPAA while dealing with all those details?

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Apple's recent announcements - the impact for developers and testers

At its Worldwide Developer Conference in late May, Apple shared a sneak preview of what to expect in the autumn, including news around iOS 16. This gives app developers and testers a bit of time to get their heads around the implications, including new test requirements. Here are some of the highlights from the conference.

[Tutorial] AI-Driven Visual Testing | Katalon Platform

Introducing the AI-infused visual testing capabilities on the Katalon Platform. More about Katalon AI-Infused Visual Testing: Save your quality engineers from the mind-numbing game of spotting subtle differences and hours of reviewing false positives. Using AI, users can select different levels of strictness and testing scope to avoid flagging every difference as a failed test. The layout-based visual comparison focuses on the shifts in misplacements of a group of elements, whereas content-based visual comparisons look into flaws from typos or spelling mistakes.

What Our Game Dev Customers Think of Helix DAM

Helix DAM lets creative teams streamline art & game asset management. It offers a visual library of their game art and smart search tools so they can quickly find the file they need. It also enables them to simplify the review process and quickly check the status of an asset. See what our customers thought about Helix DAM when we announced it at GDC 2022. (Hint: they’re excited about the efficiency and organization it offers + the time it saves.)

A Primer on Digital Therapeutics Software Testing

Digital therapeutics (DTx) companies provide software-backed therapeutic interventions to help prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. For example, health tech unicorn Hinge Health partners advanced wearable sensors, mobile applications, and a clinical care team to enable digital physical therapy for elective musculoskeletal (MSK) surgeries, driving lower costs and a reduction in medical claims.

How to Use Strings in Javascript Using Selenium Webdriver? [2022 Updated]

The blog post’s title mentions two essential things working in today’s technological world – Javascript and Selenium Webdriver. As an engineer, it would probably be a rare instance if you have never encountered Javascript and Webdriver or heard their names. Currently, there are 1.17 billion websites on the internet today, and the popularity of Javascript is evident that 98% of all websites use Javascript today.

Puppeteer vs Selenium | A Reviewed Comparison Between Two Automated Testing Libraries

Automated user interface testing is an essential but frequently overlooked component of the software delivery cycle. Users access the software by interacting with the User Interface (UI) for the application’s basic functionalities, which makes the User Interface (UI) the most integral component of any web or mobile application, also known as the Graphical User Interface. GUI requires a mechanism to test the UI to maximize a smooth user experience continuously.

15 Best Postman Alternatives for Automated API Testing [2022 Updated]

Postman is arguably a great collaboration platform for API management. Postman is an excellent tool for deconstructing RESTful APIs created by others or testing ones created by yourself. It provides a slick user interface for making HTML requests, eliminating the need to write a bunch of code to test an API’s functionality. Moreover, Postman is ideal for RESTful API tests. It is not a good design for SOAP APIs and other APIs.

Perfecto Mobile Alternatives : 8 Best Tools For Test Automation

Perfecto is indeed one of the best options for doing automated tests on mobile devices. However, if you’re looking for Perfecto Mobile alternatives, you’re in the right place. We made a list of mobile cloud providers that can do both manual and functional testing. Thankfully, we managed to find eight different mobile applications that can put up a good fight against the likes of Perfecto Mobile.

The Impact of Digital Transformation on the Insurance Industry

Whether a company is small or large, digital transformation is essential. Every lecture, panel discussion, article, and study about how firms can stay competitive and relevant as the world gets more digital makes that point loud and clear. Many corporate leaders are unsure of what the term “digital transformation” actually entails. Is it merely a memorable way of saying “going to the cloud”? What concrete actions do we need to take?

5 Best qTest alternatives in 2022 [in-Depth Comparison]

Software testing tools have become a necessity when it comes to scaling software delivery. qTest is the first option that comes to mind when you’re starting off. It’s an affordable and easy-to-use cloud-based automation solution. But what if it’s not the right fit for you? Not to worry – there are plenty of great options, each with unique strengths and weaknesses. Here we’ll look at some of the best qTest alternatives available today.

Establish a Code Ownership Loop with Collaborator and Bugsnag

This blog is derived from the webinar, “Accelerate Releases Through Code Ownership with Collaborator and Bugsnag”, focused on establishing a culture of code ownership and its benefits through the lens of the SmartBear tools Collaborator and Bugsnag. Taking a line from the SmartBear 2021 Annual State of Software Quality Report: "Quality is top of the mind for every individual and every team.

How one telehealth app scaled with healthcare software testing

As the rapid digitization of healthcare grows, telehealth apps face a unique challenge in delivering continuous care on familiar devices. The demand for telehealth apps only compounds the need for healthcare software testing to ensure a great user experience while scaling quickly and efficiently. Partnering with a crowdsourced testing vendor opens up immediate access to coverage for devices and locations, accelerated testing velocity, zero operational overhead, and increased ROI.

Producing JMeter Tests from OpenAPI

Swagger in conjunction with OpenAPI is a way for REST API’s to be build, documented and consumed. It is defined in either YAML or JSON. OpenAPI and Swagger are both open source, and their use is commonplace amongst development teams and can make the life of a performance tester a lot easier as it allows us to build JMeter tests directly from the definition of the endpoints. The object of this post is to look at how we can produce JMeter tests directly from a Swagger definition.

The Licensing and Pricing Model Associated with FinOps Tools

Cloud cost management tools help organizations get better value from their cloud investments by reducing wasted cloud spend. Many organizations use multi-cloud leveraged third party tools, popularly known by many names, including FinOps tools, Cloud Management Platforms (CMPs), Independent CCMO tools, etc. These tools offer many advanced features and functionalities compared to native CCMO tools, says SRS Vijayaraghavan, Director, Cigniti Technologies.

Software Testing Linked to Health, Wellness and Medical App Successes

July 20, 2022 — Testlio, the originator of networked testing, has released a comprehensive report that identifies trends and benchmarks in medical and health app software testing. The report examines the release frequency, app store ratings, and testing device coverage practices of health, fitness, and medical apps.

Announcing Katalon AI Visual Testing GA & TestOps July 2022 Release

Over the past few months, we have slowly rolled out and enhanced our AI Visual Testing solution during the trial period. This month we are proud to announce the general availability (GA) of Katalon AI Visual Testing that includes additional enhancements. The following reviews all the combined AI Visual Testing features in the GA.

Medical apps need a unique healthcare software QA strategy

Across nearly every industry, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a period of immediate digital disruption. With lives at risk, the healthcare industry quickly innovated to provide fitness, wellness, and medical care on familiar devices. Now, two years after the pandemic’s start, medical apps face compounding pressures to match the speed and quality of consumer demands.

Getting Started with API Contract Testing

Learn what OpenAPI-driven contract testing is, how and when contract testing is performed and scaled for massive microservices programs, and how it can provide relief to development teams that have been overwhelmed by testing bottlenecks and increasing rates of code errors in production. The world runs on apps and platforms built from microservices – and microservices run on APIs.

10 Best Testlio Alternatives That You Should Try Out

Testlio is an automated testing tool that allows users to get a hierarchical view of the testing workflow. It also lets the testers move and copy the test results and do parameterized testing. And the no-code approach of this testing platform makes things a breeze for customers. However, with a lack of flexibility on rollover hours, it just might not meet your testing requirements. Here are some Testlio alternatives that bridge the gap.

The Importance of Reviewing Medical Device Labels

Medical device companies who wish to sell their products in their respective countries must adhere to the regulations provided by the country’s regulatory bodies for labeling medical devices. Do you know? One-third of all medical errors are caused by poor labeling. Labeling and packaging issues are the leading causes of medication errors. Instructions on medical devices or labelling are things that should be understandable to the user who reads them without any medical knowledge.

Accelerating the Banking Transformation with Digital Assurance

Many banks make the error of attempting several independent digital efforts, which fail because they lack the support or coordination necessary to compete with digital-native solutions. Instead, a top-down strategy incorporating digital systems, customer experience platforms, apps, and infrastructure is required for banking's digital transformation.

Why is everyone talking about chaos engineering? with Vince Huang (k6 Office Hours #56)

Why is everyone talking about chaos engineering anyway? How different is it from testing? What does it have to do with performance? In this k6 Office Hours, k6 Technical Program Manager Vince Huang joins Developer Advocates Nicole van der Hoeven and Paul Balogh to talk about these topics and more.

Testim and qTest integration for broader visibility into your web application's quality

In February of 2022, Tricentis acquired Testim, an AI-powered SaaS-based test automation platform for UI testing of cloud-native and web applications. Upon joining the Tricentis product family, one of the key goals was to create valuable integrations between Testim and other Tricentis products.

The Unpleasant Phenomenon In Agile Testing

The iterative approach to software development emerged around the 1990s. What started as a small co-located, self-sustaining team approach was widely adopted by many development teams. The agile mindset paved way for multiple development frameworks, including the infamous “Scrum methodology”. With time, processes undergo metamorphoses, during which a few unpleasant practices sneak in causing distractions within the teams.

Getting Started with XPath in Selenium

Selenium is the industry-standard, open-source testing automation framework. To implement Selenium, developers first need to use a locator to find dynamic web elements that help automate the cross-browser testing of their web applications. Selenium uses several locators, including XML Path (XPath). This blog explains how to use XPath as a web element locator in Selenium.

7 Automated Software Testing Tools for Fast & Reliable QA

Automated software testing tools are used to automate interactions with software so tests can be run without a human having to perform each action. This lets one person run multiple tests at once and eliminates most of the human error associated with manual testing. Although there are many types of software testing, functional testing is the most common and the one most teams start with. That’s why we’ll be focusing on functional testing in this article.

How to Avoid Getting Your Pod OOMKilled

In this blog, understand why your pod has OOMKilled errors when provisioning Kubernetes resources and how Speedscale can aid with automated testing. When creating production-level applications, enterprises want to ensure the high availability of services. This often results in a lengthy development process that requires extensive testing for the applications or a new release.

Fireside Chat - Accelerating the Banking Transformation with Digital Assurance

Banking has undergone a significant digital transition, which goes far beyond simply switching from a traditional to a digital environment. To evaluate, connect with, and serve their clients, banks and other financial organizations must use a comprehensive digital transformation plan. Understanding client behavior, preferences, and needs is the first step in the fundamental approach to digitalization in banking and fintech.

A Brief History of Disastrous Game Launches - and How to Keep Your Title Off This List

This summer marks the 40th anniversary of one of the most beloved American films of all time, E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. E.T. was by all accounts a smashing success to the tune of $800 Million at the box office and cemented Stephen Spielberg as one of the most talented young filmmakers in the world.

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Using Open Source for API Observability

API Observability isn't exactly new, however it's popularity has seen rapid growth in the past few years in terms of popularity. API Observability using open source is different from regular API monitoring, as it allows you to get deeper and extract more valuable insights. Although it takes a bit more effort to set up, once you've got an observability infrastructure running it can be immensely helpful not only in catching errors and making debugging easier, but also in finding areas that can be optimized.

The Various Facets of IoT Firmware Analysis

Firmware is a code or software on the device that allows and enables the device to perform various tasks. The most common architectures for IoT devices are ARM and MIPS. Firmware provides the necessary instructions on how to communicate with hardware. Firmware is held in non-volatile memory devices such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and code running on embedded devices. Updates to Firmware: Firmware updates are often pushed to fix bugs, roll out new features, or improve security.

Software Regression Testing Guide: Definitions, Tools and FAQs

In software testing, regression tests are a series of tests run right before releasing a new feature or update to make sure the critical functionalities of your software are still working. Regression testing is done to make sure a new build didn’t introduce bugs into other, existing features of your software.

Cloud Migration - Security Risks and How to Mitigate Them

In the traditional data center model, customers have clear visibility over the various resources that are there at each location and have the proper segregation of roles and access controls to these resources as per the organizational business policies. While in cloud environments, customers lose some visibility of the resources due to a lack of a migration strategy and subsequent assignment of access controls for each resource and application, says, Chandrashekar Kodiguti, Senior Manager, Cigniti Technologies.

How to migrate to Kubernetes, with Carlos Ruiz Lantero (k6 Office Hours #55)

k6 Cloud Backend developer Carlos Ruiz Lantero joins Developer Advocates Nicole van der Hoeven and Paul Balogh to discuss how to migrate to Kubernetes. Carlos has been working on migrating k6 Cloud services from ECS to EKS, and in this video, he shares his best practices for migration and things he wishes he'd done differently.

Accelerating Releases with Quality: Contract Testing vs. E2E Functional Testing

Good API testing should give developers confidence that services will run and perform as expected in production. But how much contract testing vs. E2E functional testing is really needed for quality at speed? This blog was first published on September 9th, 2021. It has been updated with the most current information.

Becoming a Test Automation Engineer | Myths, Strategy & Plan

From prowling forums and boot camps, watching testing tools tutorials to choosing a programming language is all too familiar to test automation engineers. Automated testing or test automation has grown by leaps and bounds. The demand for test automation engineers is unsurprisingly high across industries, increasing the difficulty of staying competitive. Whether you’re a manual tester looking to grow or just interested in the automation tester career path, this comprehensive guide is for you.

Strategies to Deal A Software QA Engineer's Salary

Information technology and software development has become a rapidly evolving field with various specialized careers. Software and applications are used in almost every industry, and fixing a problem late in the game can cost way more than resolving a problem in the early stages of a project. Therefore, professional software QA engineers with lucrative testing skills are in high demand.

The top 7 Best PractiTest Alternatives [In-depth Comparison]

The platform for a centralized solution for all testing efforts, PractiTest, is well known amongst many agile teams. Although nowadays, several features within this tool, which was once well reputed for testing effectively, have been claimed to be absent or contain various issues. For such reasons, QA engineers are looking ceaseless for the top PractiTest alternatives, and this article will mention some of the best ones! Table Of Contents.

Build vs. buy? A startup's case for outsourcing QA

So your AWS bill is on fire and suddenly your all-hands takes up multiple screens on Zoom. Users are doubling. Your investors are thrilled to see your startup hitting its stride. But your rapid growth has led to a couple of scary-looking bugs in production. Users in new locations and on previously unseen devices are popping up in your activity log. Your unit tests aren’t cutting it anymore, and an untimely bug puts your growing user base at risk.

Smoke Testing 101 for Software Applications

Smoke testing is the practice of running a small set of tests to ensure the basic functionalities of an application or website are working before moving on to other, more comprehensive types of software testing. For smoke testing to be the most effective, it needs to be completed very quickly so that developers can get fast feedback about the stability of the new build.

How to inspect elements in mac

An integral part of a web designer, a web developer, and a web tester’s work revolves around testing elements on the web application. For someone unaware of the inspector’s strengths, the first thing that would come to your mind to initiate testing is sharing the code. But the next thing you know, you are restricted from doing such a task as the source is confidential and should not be shared with people other than those related to the development team of the same project.

NEW Visual Testing Enhancements | Katalon Platform

Previously, only a single baseline collection was allowed when scheduling test runs. This created situations where baseline images were marked as “missing” in different test suites that did not test the same application sections. With this update, users can now choose to use different baselines when scheduling a test run. You may view baseline collections as well as their captured images via the “Visual Testing” tab.

Fireside Chat w/ Forrester: Accelerating Digital Transformation in Banking through Digital Assurance

Forrester expects the tech spending by banks to achieve double-digit growth in 2022. They predict that leading banks will embrace a future-fit technology strategy and accelerate their end-to-end digital transformation to not only survive but compete in an increasingly unpredictable, post-pandemic world. As banks bolster their digital ambitions with technologies such as hybrid and native cloud, automation, and Agile & DevOps, they would need to put Digital Assurance at its very core to ensure faster delivery of better software.

Featuring NelsonHall | Next-Gen Digital Tech Landscape & Cigniti's Propulsion Into the Digital Orbit

Dominique Raviart, IT Services Practice Director at NelsonHall, in conversation with Sairam Vedam (CMO, Cigniti), talks about how the growing adoption of next-gen technologies is enabling a Digital-First ecosystem, worldwide across industries. As Cigniti continues to invest in augmenting capabilities to power the digital journey of our global customers, Dominique offers insights on why Cigniti has been continuously positioned as a leader in the NEAT charts over the years. Listen to Dominique in a fireside chat with Sairam in this latest episode of Cigniti Digital Dialogues.

Cross Platform End To End Testing (E2E) Feature by Testsigma

In modern apps, user journeys span several devices. For e.g., the user books a flight on a travel site and then later cancels it on the mobile app. How do you test cross-platform E2E scenarios, but not individually? We'll demonstrate a simple method combining multi-device test flows into one user journey.

15 Proven Techniques for Using Gherkin

Following on from our post on Cucumber and Gherkin Language Best Practices we have compiled a list of 15 expert suggestions to bear in mind when working with Cucumber. Following on from our previous post on 'Cucumber Best Practices,' we have compiled a list of 15 export suggestions to bear in mind when working with Gerkin language and Cucumber.

Speedscale Traffic Replay is now v1.0

Nate Lee here, and I’m one of the founders of Speedscale. The founding team’s worked at several observability and testing companies like New Relic, Observe Inc, and iTKO over the last decade. Speedscale traffic replay was borne out of a frustration from reacting to problems (even if they were minor) that could have been prevented with better testing.

We Tried 10 Best Headspin Alternatives [in-Depth Comparison 2022]

An automated testing tool is a must-have tool for every developer. Without making the web and mobile apps go through automated tests, you can never be sure how optimized they actually are. Now, for checking the web and mobile applications on different real mobile devices and multiple browsers, Headspin is a typical pick for many. But what if we told you that you have nothing to worry about if you do not have access to Headspin?

Top 5 Playwright Alternatives | Which One Is Right For You?

Playwright is a software testing platform designed to permit reliable and quick cross-browser web automation. This ever-green automation software has been winning the hearts of developers for its competence in automated testing and execution of parallel testing. However, this test automation software comes with a lot of disadvantages that can turn out to be major disappointments for software testers.

SAP EWM: Optimizes Inbound and Outbound Processing of Warehouse Management

The ever-rising competition in the e-commerce business has put unprecedented pressure on companies to maintain seamless supply chains. Globally, companies spend an average of €300 billion every year on warehouse management, either by outsourcing to a third party or managing in-house. Today’s consumers expect instant delivery of products, and to cater to their demands, companies must optimize end-to-end warehouse management.

Code Coverage vs Test Coverage: Differences You Need to Know

People often use the terms – code coverage and test coverage interchangeably, which is wrong because they are two different things. As both of them are used to measure the efficacy of code, the terminologies get tricky at times for the development and testing teams. So if you are wondering how – code coverage is the evaluation of the code that is executed, and test coverage is a measure of the features being tested that are covered by the test.

A Virtual Event Planning QA Checklist

Nearly two years into the mass adoption of virtual experiences, many industries are just starting to get a solid footing on fitting virtual events into the flow of their businesses. Leveraging virtual events requires a virtual event planning checklist and QA to ensure attendees can log-in, view, participate, and have outstanding experiences. Maybe you’ve run hundreds of online events, webinars, and conferences and feel confident in your quality.