How to Build a Fully Open Source Test Automation Framework

Automated testing can be difficult, slow to implement, involve expensive and non-compatible software, and require a high level of technical expertise to use. Join Matt Joste as he presents Ryerson University's Automation Framework, put together using best-in-class open source software. The framework allows software developers, product owners, and testers without a technical background to write and run automated scripts. This modular framework addresses both functional and nonfunctional automated tests—performance, security, and accessibility—and is both agile and expandable. Matt explains the benefits and constraints of using an integrated set of open source tools such as JMeter (for performance), Robot Framework and Selenium (for functional testing), ZAP (for security), Appium (for mobile) and Pally (for accessibility)—all connected to Jenkins (for continuous testing). Matt discusses his team’s journey and key learnings in defining the framework and provides some ideas for using tests in production for proactive monitoring and alerting.