Overcoming the Challenges of Salesforce Testing With AI-Driven Test Automation

December 28, 2020

/Iffat Ara Khanam/

The future of Salesforce will be bright and enthusiastic, it will continue to grow and reach new heights. First of all, Salesforce CRM is the market leader in the CRM domain and generates huge revenue. As business dependencies are increasing on Salesforce, testing of the ERP becomes the prime concern. Salesforce Testing is a critical element of Salesforce administration and implementation. All Salesforce specialists must apply testing methodologies to their areas of expertise. In this blog, we are going to emphasize the challenges of Salesforce testing and how a predictive test automation tool Opkey with the power of AI overcomes all your challenges.

The automated testing of Salesforce is challenging as most web pages are dynamic in nature on the Salesforce platform. Therefore, Salesforce demands that automation testers create a strong automation framework to sustain in the future. In the search for the best automation tool to automate Salesforce testing, many choose Selenium as their go-to tool. If you’re also considering using Selenium to test Salesforce, read on to ensure you make an informed decision and learn about the challenges that await you.

Combined, the Selenium toolset offers a number of possibilities for Salesforce test automation. Selenium is a popular software testing tool that is open-source and supports most browsers and operating systems. It is perhaps best known for allowing testers to automate in any preferred programming language. The problem is, not all testers know how to program. Because of this, testers can end up spending a lot of time setting up and maintaining automation flows. So the question is: Is Selenium worth the time investment?

While Selenium has many benefits, it also lacks a number of features to make it the ultimate Salesforce test automation tool.

• First of all, Selenium only allows you to test web apps, not mobile or desktop apps. So, end to end test automation across all enterprise ecosystems becomes a big challenge for enterprises using Selenium.
• Useful features like reporting and data-driven testing are only possible with the integration of additional tools.
• Test scripts that are created with Selenium, require a significant maintenance effort to keep the scripts up to date with regular changes coming with every Salesforce update.
• Selenium-based scripts don’t understand the impact of change after any update nor perform any risk-based analysis.

In other words, Selenium is by no means an “all-in-one” platform.

Let us look at some technical testing challenges with Selenium scripting, particularly to Salesforce test automation, and how a codeless automation tool Opkey relieves many headaches for software testing teams.

• Handling Dynamic Elements
  Dynamic elements are more common in ERPs such as Salesforce and SAP. These elements change locator with each page load. Oftentimes, this is the ID that changes, as it is dynamically generated with each page load. Consequently, the test may fail where a dynamic element is present, creating many false positives when initiated.

Opkey offers its intelligent AI-powered recorder, which can use self-healing technology to update location strategies when dynamic elements change locators. Best of all, Opkey’s test builder is updated with a more robust localization strategy, so your test will run smoothly on subsequent runs.

• Navigation through windows/tabs
  It’s common in today’s complex application landscape to have tests across multiple browser tabs or even windows. Oftentimes, you may also need to interact with multiple sites, validating that information flowed from one system to another. Maintaining browser state and user data across multiple tabs or windows can be a monumental task. Especially when it comes to recording and playback solutions, they are often confined to a single browser tab, making it impossible to properly capture these complex scenarios.

Opkey automated engine navigates through multiple tabs and windows while maintaining test status and transferring test data. Even Opkey’s smart recorder can keep pace with these scenarios, letting you take advantage of both recording and playback approaches, even in the most difficult situations.

• iFrames
  An iFrame is basically a web page within another web page. They are commonly used in more complex packaged applications such as Salesforce and SAP. Additionally, they are a popular way to embed third-party content into a web page. Working with iFrames with Selenium is not an easy task. You need to create sound logic using code to select the right frame to interact with. Otherwise, Selenium will fail to find your locator because it is not looking for the right place to start.

Opkey’s Smart Test Builder can manage iFrames with ease. Just click on your test case normally as any user would, and Opkey’s smart test automation will handle all of the frame switching and complex logic creation for you.

Opkey is uniquely qualified to automate dynamic Salesforce applications with its predictive autonomous testing platform. Key features include:

• Zero-code Test builder– Opkey’s zero-code test builder can easily handle dynamic objects and specific controls provide 70% faster test creation as compared to Selenium. The test builder is also updated continuously to be in sync with the latest Salesforce updates, freeing you from all maintenance worries.

• Salesforce API testing– Opkey’s automation engine generates tests automatically for all your REST and SOAP services. It can automatically detect API endpoints for your Salesforce org, ensuring 70% faster API test creation.

• Model-Based Testing approach– With Opkey’s model-based testing approach, you can easily create a model of your application with drag and drop canvas. Provides 50+ Pre-Built Salesforce models for the most comprehensive Salesforce test automation.

• End to end impact analysis– Based on risk-based testing, Opkey’s foresight solution gives you information on the scope of Salesforce testing after each update. The impact analysis feature identifies what exactly will break, and automatically updates your test scripts.

Go ahead and try the Opkey test automation platform for all your Salesforce testing worries.

Iffat Ara Khanam

Technical Content Lead

Iffat is the content lead at Opkey. She has expertise in writing technical content focused on ERP testing, Cloud apps, automation, and other IT-related topics. She has rich experience in writing content for marketing collateral like whitepapers, case studies, newsletters, etc., which helps in funnel creation for sales.