Today’s lesson delivers a hands-on analysis of a functional testing instrument known as Parrot QA. It is a tool utilised for testing websites without requiring any coding skills.
In this specific tutorial, we will be navigating through the entire platform, starting from the easiest method of setting up a website test, and then advancing to more intricate functionality testing.
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Along the way, we will demonstrate using screenshots and a brief overview of both the QAmcorder – a Chrome extension used for recording user operations – and our cloud application for managing mind map tests.
This walkthrough will give you all the knowledge you need to test the functionality of your website using the Parrot QA tool, from recording a test to setting up dependencies and expectations for the tests to dealing with bugs and regressions once they are identified.
Parrot QA Guide: The Easiest Approach for Checking Your Website’s Functionality
To set up a test, there are two possible methods: Quick Start and QAmcorder.
What You Will Learn:
#1) Quick Start
If you merely wish to test whether a web page loads correctly, Quick Start is the ideal solution. Simply type in the URL of the web page, and you are ready to proceed!
[NOTE – Click on any image for a zoomed view]
Watch the following brief 2-minute introductory video on Parrot QA:
#2) QAmcorder
The QAmcorder is specifically designed for testing more complex operations. It allows you to record user interactions on your website, such as logging in or making a purchase. The QAmcorder can be downloaded from the Chrome Extension Web Store here.
Once you’ve installed the QAmcorder, go to your website and press the vibrant button located at the top right corner of the screen.
If you have already registered on the parrotqa.com website, you can log in to the QAmcorder using your existing email and password. If not, you can sign up for Parrot directly within the QAmcorder.
Once you’ve logged into the QAmcorder, you can record user operations by choosing “Start Recording”.
You are allocated 1 minute to navigate through a user operation. It is recommended to keep each recording as short and clear as possible.
For example, if a user must log in before making a purchase, it is better to record the “Log in” process separately from the “Make a purchase” process.
While recording, a green bar appears on the left side of your screen to indicate the time left.
Hovering over the bar reveals the number of clicks and keystrokes that have been recorded.
After you finish capturing a user operation, merely click the colourful box in the top right corner once more and save the recording.
Congratulations! You have successfully preserved your initial recording.
Test Setup
Tests are performed frequently at pre-determined intervals (hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly). Each time a group of tests is executed, a new session is initiated as a fresh website visitor. As such, it is advised to split up user operations into numerous short recordings, a few of which are focused entirely on preparing the session.
As shown in the example above, you would select “Log in” as the first recording to run while setting up the “Make a purchase” test.
Helpful tip: If the “Make a purchase” test by default verifies that the user was able to log in, you can stop the “Log in” test by clicking “Pause” located at the top right corner. This implies that the paused recording will run only if it is a prerequisite for another test, but it would not verify its expectations at its own scheduled time.
You can access the test setup view shown above by toggling the title of your test. This view permits you to adjust the timing, speed, and browsers at which your test should operate.
Typically, it is encouraged to run a test at the fastest speed (which is the default setting) unless you are testing a feature that takes some time to load. If a test cannot operate at the fastest speed, it suggests that your users might also find the experience rather slow.
Setting Expectations
Each test has a set of expected outcomes related to the HTML contents of your web page.
For example, you could:
- Expect a header to always display the same text
- Expect a link to always bear the same href attribute
- Expect an image to always carry the same src attribute
Setting expectations in Parrot QA does not demand any coding or HTML expertise.
For every test, we save a complete copy of your web page (its DOM) when the test is run. You can view a thorough “rebirth” of the web page as seen during the test by clicking on any of the test’s screenshots.
Clicking on any part of the “rebirth” allows you to tick off the expected outcomes that you wish to test. Once you’ve selected the expectations, click “Save” and “Run the Test”.
In the example below, we are testing whether the header constantly displays the text “Example Domain”.
Once the test is established, it will operate as frequently as you indicate, and you will be notified if the resulting web page does not meet the expectations you have laid out.
Test Colors
Each test in the dashboard is colour-coded based on its status. A green colour signifies a successful test, blue represents a test in progress, yellow refers to a paused test, and red denotes a failing test.
Failing Tests
If there is a disparity between your expectations and the existing appearance of your web page, you will receive an email or Slack alert with a comparison. You can also view the most recent comparisons by clicking on a recording in the dashboard and selecting one of the browser-specific screenshots. This interface is the same one used to set the expectations, as mentioned previously.
By hovering over a red rectangle, you can clearly see what has changed.
In the example below, the expectation that the subheader would refer to “functional testing” failed because the text was altered from “functional testing” to just “testing”.
When dealing with failing tests, there are at least three possible actions:
- If a particular expectation is no longer applicable, you can remove it by clicking on the highlighted change and unchecking any previously checked boxes.
- If you are pleased with the current look of the web page and want to test against this version in the future, hit “Approve Changes”. For instance, if you want to mention “testing”, instead of “functional testing” in future tests, you would approve the changes.
- If you aim to restore the web page to its previous look, you should fix the bug, deploy the changes, and click “Run the Test” again to make sure the test returns to a passing state.
Conclusion
Parrot QA is a straightforward-to-use instrument for automating web application testing across multiple browsers. It lets you record tests using a Chrome extension, schedule these tests, and report any noticeable bugs and issues.
Thank you for going through this tutorial! If you have any inquiries about Parrot QA, feel free to reach out by clicking the yellow chat icon located at the bottom right corner of every Parrot QA page or by leaving a comment below. We are here to assist you with all your testing requirements.