Introduction to Automating Your Testing

The ability test consistently is a critical factor when troubleshooting, baselining or lab testing. This becomes a bigger issue when you are part of a team and need to replicate a test that your colleague performed weeks or months ago.

In inability to perform the same test, with the same steps can lead you to make incorrect conclusions and cause general confusion.

The tried and true way to document your testing methodology would be to write or type out your steps. Heck you might include the odd screenshot or video to ensure the reader follows your steps exactly.

This is where I add a little something extra and suggest automating your tasks with some sort of scripting language so you literally just press a button, sit back and collect the data. Scripting ensures that every step is performed the same way, with the same delays, etc. every time.

The most basic script in the Microsoft world would be a batch file. I’ve been tinkering with batch files since 1990 and am always impressed how Microsoft has added more functionality, added Powershell and other goodies over the years. Of course our Linux friends have bash scripts which server the same purpose.

If batch files aren’t your cup of tea there are tons of scripting packages and languages out there. One of my favorites out there is Autoit (https://www.autoitscript.com/site/autoit/) since it s afree Basic like scripting language. Autoit now has a portable version and you can compile your scripts to stand-alone executables.

In this video I walk you through a simple batch file I created for some lab testing that I was doing today. I hope you find it helpful and will consider scripting for your future tasks.