Selenium or Rational Functional Tester [closed]

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What do you recommend for testing purposes in Java environmen开发者_JAVA技巧t (Selenium or Rational Functional Tester)? Could you write some pros and cons? I heard about MicroFocus TestPartner, do you have experience with it?

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Both automated test tools offer some of the basic capabilities of automation. However there is a massive difference between Rational Functional Tester (RFT) and Selenium. IF your aim is basic testing, where the outcome is short term -1-3 months and you don't mind that the scripts will need a high level of maintenance, then Selenium is fine. RFT provides a number of critical differences from Selenium that impact your ability to have a long term automation solution. These are:

1. RFT uses an object map between the script and the application under test. This means that as the application changes you don’t need to find and replace object properties in the scripts. This will save you a lot of time
2. RFT uses datapools for driving large datasets into a test. this allows permutations and combinations to be created.
3. RFT has very powerful connectors to multiple application styles like SAP, Siebel, Oracle, VB, PowerBuilder, various web and terminal server functions. This means one tool for every situation where selenium provides only one solution.
4. RFT works with RQM for full end to end test management. The net result of all this is time and longevity of the automation. I would not choose Selenium for a long term solution because RFT will cost substantially less in maintenance than RFT ever will - even for a novice.

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Please clarify 'Java environment'.

If Java environment == a web based application delivered through a browser, then you have tons of choices at your disposal, not just Selenium, Rational Functional Tester and TestPartner. There are a number of open source and commercial tools for testing web apps.

If, however, Java environment == standalone Java application, that runs on your desktop, then your choices are more limited. Selenium will not work, as Selenium only supports browser-based web apps. Functional Tester and TestPartner are both good tools, I have worked extensively with both, and both support the Java platform. There are other tools, such as HP QuickTest Pro, and there are probably some Java-specific open source tools.

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I'd recommend mixing the two: When there are things that you cannot do in RFT, you can get help from Selenium, which is simply a Java API which can be used in RFT. Writing cross-browser script can be a good point to use this mixed approach.

One more point to consider is: Selenium is a free and open source tool.

Another point is: Selenium has a much more activity in its discussion forums. Its is more likely to get a faster answer from other users of Selenium.

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Since you mentioned TestPartner which is a commercial tool.
QTP and TestPartner have a comparable pricing level. So you should consider other important factors: integrity of the tool, learning curve, level and quality of commercial support, level of community support.
You may also want to look at TestComplete, which is also very powerful, and incorporates support for Load Testing, and Unit Testing, but has significantly lower price.
Generally, I would say, automation success is much more dependant on automation skills of a person rather than on capacities of a specific tool.

Thank you,
Albert Gareev
http://automation-beyond.com/

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Take a look at TestMaker by PushToTest.com . It's written in Java and runs Java and Selenium scripts as well as soapUI, Groovy, Ruby, Python, PHP, VB and .Net. TestMaker allows you to take the Selenium scripts and run them as automated regression tests, load or performance tests and production SLA monitoring scripts without having to write the tests in multiple languages or for multiple tools. You can also run them in clouds such as EC2, GoGrid, Rackspace and CollabNet.

There is a free community version and a commercial Enterprise Version. When you purchase the Enterprise version, you get support for the tools including support on Selenium. You can download TestMaker from the website.

If you're not sure, there are free webinars several times a month on how to get the most out of the latest proven Open Source Testing tools. Definitely worth checking out.

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If you are targeting only web based application with UI having HTML , we can use selenium. If you want to use commerical tool you can go ahead with RFT and it supports different UI interfaces when compared to selenium