Automated Test Framework
The first part of the platform I will be highlighting for the Orlando release is the Automated Test Framework(ATF). The reason I choose ATF first is the relationship between upgrading and testing. Automated testing helps accelerate validation after deployments and upgrades to the instance. Check out the overview page for ATF changes for Orlando.
Testing Agent Workspace Forms With the addition of the Now Experience and Agent Workspace, which is the first part of the platform leveraging the Now Experience, automated testing was not initially available.
As we discuss the new features of New York, it is only natural I should discuss first one of my great loves in the platform - the Automated Test Framework. Every release since it was introduced expands the capabilities of this tool and New York is no exception. Here are the highlights but the full list is here.
Parallel Testing and Mutually Exclusive Tests In previous releases, ATF ran effectively a single thread of testing.
One of the unsung features in the Automated Test Framework is that you can use it to test your Scripted REST APIs. I’m a fan of having as much robotic coverage as possible, so backstopping API development with tests is a good thing. Let’s look at how to do that.
I will use an example of a relatively recent API that I developed, the commenting system on this very blog. I’ll create a test that:
During our flurry of posts about Madrid features, I posted about some of the changes to Automated Test Framework . There were a few pieces that I didn’t mention so I am going to round that out over time, starting with testable components. Speaking personally, ATF is one of my favorite new development tools of the last three years. What can I say, I love having robots working for me.
One of the things that I personally enjoy exploring each release is what has changed in the Automated Test Framework. This is a capability that I love and I like watching it improve to the point where organizations can capture ever more of their testing needs with it. Let’s look at some of what is new in Madrid.
Parameterized Tests One of the impediments to using the ATF at scale has been the handling of large quantities of test data.
When the Automated Test Framework (ATF) was first released, I published an introductory post about it . I didn’t intend it to be 20 months and several family releases between parts but such is life in the big city. One of the upsides of a slow release schedule is that there are many advances to talk about when you get to Part 2.
The introductory post talked about the basics and authoring a test.
If you have followed my work as a developer advocate for ServiceNow at all, you will have noticed that I love automated testing. Even before the original release of the Automated Testing Framework, I presented on testing at Knowledge15. This is really a chunk of the platform close to my heart. This year at Knowledge18, Boris BC
The Istanbul release included the Automated Testing Framework. This is the first time that the platform itself has included any significant mechanism for automated testing. There are third party solutions such as Cerna’s CapIO but none actually included in the product until Istanbul. Let’s take a look at this framework in depth to see what it includes.
Tests: A list of all Tests cases defined on the system. A Test is basically one transaction from beginning to end and is composed of a series of Test Steps.
