Desktop test automation framework built from scratch
| Challenge | |
| Approach | |
| Outcome |
Challenge
Two C++ desktop applications had no test automation: releases were verified manually, and automating one hour of manual testing cost about 50 engineering hours. A second team needed its own automation built from nothing after an intern was prepared to take over the first team's testing.
Approach
A Python and Robot Framework test automation framework was developed from scratch for the first application, controlled through PowerShell and Apache Thrift. Test automation tools for the second application were built with pywinauto. An OpenAPI/Swagger REST API client was developed and maintained throughout product development, and more efficient automation methods were introduced across the suite.
Outcome
The effort to automate one hour of manual testing fell from 50 to 20 engineering hours — a 60 percent reduction. The neighboring team received a working framework of its own, and the intern handover kept the first team's testing running without interruption.
Article author: Andrei Olegovich
| Business cases | |
| RFID self-service storage | |
| Desktop test automation framework | |
| Docker/Kafka test pipeline | |
| Legacy framework modernization | |
| Load testing with Docker scaling |