dbCONNECT Overview
The most interesting part is that you will be able to integrate your automated tests with your databases behind your firewalls without any programming or coding.
The SQL statements that you use to perform CRUD operations may be executed within your automated tests as a:
- Prerequisite or Precursor Step prior to the execution of your automated tests in Worksoft SaaS to get the data in your databases to a state where the automated tests could begin execution OR
- Intermediate Step Between the execution of automated tests to further process the state of data to a point where subsequent automated tests could begin execution OR
- Post Step to clean up the data or restore the data state back to the original state or to purge records to keep the database clean once the automated test execution completes successfully for a test cycle
Please note that you have to obtain and add-on a separate subscription for dbCONNECT to your existing Worksoft SaaS Product Subscription. To understand more about dbCONNECT Subscription please click here.
Use Cases for dbCONNECT:
- The User-Interface of your Application-Under-Test (AUT, as we refer to it) does NOT display all the data elements you are interested in verifying as part of your tests and such data is available for verification only within the database(s) behind your AUT.
A perfect example of this use case is an Insurance Quoting application where the user-interface typically only shows the total premium to be paid by a customer but the database typically stores all interim sub-totals or component values of the total premium, and as part of your test you have to verify not only the total premium but also the sub-components that make up the total premium.
- The test inputs for your automated tests frequently change and "static" Data Files that you may have used to feed your "Data-driven" tests in Worksoft SaaS may be taking too much manual time for you to constantly/frequently update with the most current data that is available within your databases behind your firewalls.
A great example of this use case is an eCommerce company where in the list of products and/or their details (price, discounts) in your product catalog that may be changing frequently. Instead of periodically spending manual time (supported by some SQL queries) to create Data Files that you have to use to replace previous versions of the Data Files that were uploaded into Worksoft SaaS, you can use dbCONNECT to dynamically pull the appropriate data directly from your databases and avoid the effort to constantly update the data in your Data Files.
- The test inputs for your automated tests are of "one-time use" and your tests always need new data before they are executed the next time.
A great example of this use case is an eCommerce Store-Front applications that need Coupon Codes or Promotion Codes that expire after a Single-Use. You can use dbCONNECT to dynamically retrieve the next set of Promotion or Coupon Codes for your automated tests to use directlyfrom your databases.
- Not all workflows within your application are automation-friendly and you need a mechanism to move the processing along to account for workflows that are not automation-friendly
Using dbCONNECT you can update/inserte data directly in the database behind your AUT or if possible, trigger those workflows using SQL statements so that automated tests for subsequent workflows (that are automation-friendly) could be executed. Worksoft SaaS dbCONNECT could be your missing link for end-to-end automation of your tests.
- There is usually nightly or infrequent processing of data that happens within your application and you can't wait that long during your automated test cycle executions and you want to reduce the overall testing cycle times.
You have some automated UI tests in Worksoft SaaS that are responsible for testing your application workflows that interact with your OLTP databases and some automated UI tests in Worksoft SaaS that are responsible to validate the application workflows/functionality that needs data from your OLAP database(s). In a normal cycle, the OLTP system loads only happen night time (or every few hours) and you cannot afford to spread the execution of your automated tests across calendar days. Using dbCONNECT you can trigger the execution of OLTP data loads on an ad-hoc basis so that all your automated tests within your test cycle can be executed within a short window of time.