Effective yet time-consuming manual QA and code-based automation have always brought the highest product quality possible. But such an approach doesn’t fit the fast and ever-changing IT market. The optimistic route is to transform QA testing by combining manual and codeless automation technology.

So what exactly is codeless testing and how does it work?

Codeless Automation Testing And How It Works

In simple terms, codeless automation testing is testing without the need to physically write test scripts. Its uniqueness lies in that it offers testers with little to no coding skills the opportunity to get more involved in the test automation process.
While codeless automation is especially useful for manual testers, other members of a company’s QA and development teams can benefit tremendously from it as well.
 
Adopting the mindset that testers are programmers can cause issues. Perfection can takes years of practice to master  in any craft; coding is no different. Coding also takes away from precious testing time, which is the testers’ primary function. 

Why Codeless Test Automation

Codeless test automation has a lot of benefits/advantages, some are obvious and some are not. Here are some reasons why you should consider implementing codeless testing into the QA process:
  • No automation setup time is required: Scripting needs more effort and time, with codeless testing individuals could automate test cases quickly.
  • Low maintenance: Automating tests by following best practices with visual UI workflow makes it easy to maintain and scale.
  • Not dependent on a specific language: Codeless testing is independent of a specific 
  • Ease of use: Teams spend less effort as codeless testing tools include CI/CD, test coverage and hence improve the level of software QA. QA engineers can regulate even the most complex test scripts with these kinds of tools. You can also couple it with other modes like device testing for a holistic testing process.

Codeless Test Automation Tools

Having talked about the benefits of codeless testing, the question is “How do I get started on codeless testing? What  are the needed tools?”. 
Looking at the market, there are quite a number of tools having no-code or low-code concepts. For test automation specifically, however, we need to redefine what “codeless” truly means, as a good number of tools actually make testing more complex.
Codeless should make things simple
“Codeless” tools are supposed to help avoid the hours of programming that are usually invested in testing logic. A lot of tools took the easy way out and addressed programming complexity by simply ignoring the code to develop a no-code approach. While this isn’t always bad, it doesn’t address the logical complexity of a snippet of code. 
Codeless test automation doesn’t need to completely avoid code. This would actually be a disservice to the program, as users would soon begin hitting roadblocks and bottlenecks. In fact, test scripts must still rely on a backing program to know how to test a scenario. 
How this evolves is that now, there’s no need for hard-coding the test scripts. While you need some flexibility for logic development, it is possible to do it in a way that the user is not affected by syntax.
Test management and extendibility
At times, out-of-the-box support may not be enough; having an easy way to extend functionality while maintaining simplicity is paramount. 
Accessibility
Codeless automation should be accessible and transparent for extended teams to use and contribute. In moving towards a continuous delivery environment, it is best for a team to adapt to codeless automation.
Another type of solution that companies often look into for test automation is test recorders, also known as “record-and-playback” tools. This principle is super popular for web-based product testing; in this process, a QA engineer manually performs a test and records every step using the tool. 
This tool, in turn, automates the test by creating the required scripts. This removes the need for QA engineers to repeat the same test on all products and consume more time and resources than necessary. If required, testers can always take a look at the automated scripts and edit them to adapt the QA strategy to the product requirements. 
 
The “record and playback” tools are an especially tempting choice for UI test automation, as they simply record different actions that happen in your web application in real-time in order to create new test flows.
They are easy to use and work quickly, presenting themselves as an attractive option. While many of these “record-and-playback” solutions also self identify as “codeless”, they fall short when it comes to improving and simplifying the test automation process.
Anytime there is a change in the code or if the test breaks, a tester needs to re-record the scenario and let it run all over again.
Recorders are therefore limited to only helping with automation for simple scenarios, and do not have the sophistication to scale by handling complex processes.
Due to this setback, many test automation professionals determined that these “codeless” offerings caused more trouble than they were worth.
So which would you prefer – be glued to your computer screen debugging a script for #AutomationTesting sleepy face or would you prefer to click on a user interface or type in simple commands in plain English, while you watch the English premier league or UEFA champions league hugging face hugging face hugging face? The choice is yours!
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