A Framework to Reduce the Testing Time of a Mobile Application Using an Automation Tool

With the widespread use of android mobiles, the urge for the development of new and properly customized android applications has exponentially increased in the past decade. However, in order to ensure the deployment of quality applications, the latter require adequate testing in the least time frame possible.

As per an analysis made on all the recent android application testing tools , the deployment of a software automation testing tool based on the Capture and Replay method namely the Robotium Tool has stood out best to ease the testing process of android applications. Based on the test results obtained, Robotium detects issues the user interface presently has and provides suggestions on how to amend the interface for rapid testing.

Below is the Robotium Android Framework using Android Studio:

Below are the guidelines of how to minimize the process of testing android applications using robotium:
Guideline 1: Using Error prompt messages rather than toast messages.
Guideline 2: Using dialog box rather than activity (Screen).
Guideline 3: Using search rather than scrolling through a list.
Guideline 4: Using date hint format v/s text format.
Guideline 5: Using Grid layout and scroll view instead of Relative layout.

The total time taken to test an android application having basic functionalities without the use of guidelines is 49.258 seconds.Testing the same application using guidelines yields a total time of 27.649 seconds which resumes to a signification reduction of 50% in the testing life cycle. The guidelines identified are very precise as they aim at making testing easier with the use of proper design UI.