Abstract: It’s kind of difficult to distinguish if this is another marketing-created buzzword in the software development world, and even worse because it appears in many flavors: “low code”, “no code”, “codeless”, “scriptless”, and probably I’m missing some. If you try to find some objective opinion it’s hard to find any article or talk that is not provided by a vendor. In this talk I want to give my perspective and experience, analyzing when it makes sense, in which contexts, and most importantly, which considerations we should have to take into account to avoid the “automating chaos brings faster chaos”. Also, how does this ML and AI really help to your testing goals? I’ve been researching about the different low code solutions for test automation. My team has been using some of them in different contexts. We’ve seen that, if correctly used, is an interesting approach, especially now that it’s being harder to find people with coding skills to work on test automation. If you join me in this conversation you will learn about: - some bad practices that can lead to useless results, so you want to avoid, related to how these tools work with selectors, modularization, etc. - some practices that’s been useful for us, to get the results we expected and even faster, like how to structure the team and distribute responsibilities, how to integrate them in your ci-pipelines, etc. - and also how we’ve been using some of these tools to help our team members to grow, defining a new career path for test engineers, that in other ways wouldn’t have been possible or would have taken much longer.

1. abstracta.us
Low code for
test automation,
state of the art
Federico Toledo
@fltoledo
federico@abstracta.us

2. abstracta.us
About me
abstracta.us/blog
federico-toledo.com

3. abstracta.us

4. abstracta.us

5. abstracta.us
Time-to-market requirements
=> early and quick feedback
We need to use automation in our testing
Traditional tools require coding skills
Shortage in available software engineers
Alternative:
Low code tool for test automation

6. abstracta.us
- It is hard to find some
important information
- It’s difficult to find the best
option for your context
Why state of the art?
Thanks to Danny Gutiérrez!
danny.gutierrez@abstracta.com.uy

7. abstracta.us
01
Low code for test automation
02
Research results
03
How to choose a tool
04
Closing remarks
Agenda

8. abstracta.us
Low code for test automation
01

9. abstracta.us
Low code: alternative
approach to software
development, not
requiring coding skills

10. abstracta.us
Low code for test
automation:
alternative scripting
(record & playback,
graphical editor)

11. abstracta.us
Low code - examples

12. abstracta.us
Research Results
02

13. abstracta.us
Sources Search String
Keywords, synonyms
Inclusion and
exclusion criteria
Results form
Research method
Kitchenham, B.: Guidelines for performing Systematic Literature Reviews in software engineering.
Information sources: what the vendors claim in their website, tutorials, reviews, calls.
Low code
Scriptless
Codeless
No code
+
testing
Test automation
Web and mobile
Not specific for a
platform (SAP,
Salesforce, GeneXus)
SaaS / Cloud
solutions
- Years on the market
- Link to resources
- Features: Web / mobile,
API, version control,
parameterization,
modularization, cross
browser testing, visual
testing, self healing,
etc.

14. Research
results -
Asking for
feedback
Abstracta Blog: Low Code for Test Automation – state of the art
https://abstracta.us/blog/software-testing/low-code-for-test-automation/

15. abstracta.us
How many tools did we find?
Try to guess

16. Research results: 52 so far

17. abstracta.us
New tools per year

18. abstracta.us
Results per platform (WIP)

19. abstracta.us
How to choose a tool
03

20. abstracta.us
As when choosing any type of
tool, check for:
- Community
- Documentation
- Time in the market
- Customers reviews
- Compatibility

21. abstracta.us
It’s not only about making sure you
can author tests quickly
We need to be sure that:
- tests are easy to maintain
- we can collaborate seamlessly

22. abstracta.us
Version
control
abstracta.us

23. abstracta.us
Data driven
testing
CSV
Data base Others
Test case

24. abstracta.us
Call APIs
abstracta.us

25. abstracta.us
Flexibility

26. abstracta.us
Modularization
Encapsulation
Reutilization
abstracta.us

27. abstracta.us
CI/CD

28. abstracta.us
Cross browser
testing

29. abstracta.us
- Self-healing locators
- Visual testing
- Performance metrics
- Accessibility checks
- Email validation, 2FA support
Nice to have

30. abstracta.us
Results per capabilities

31. abstracta.us
Low code maturity levels (WIP)
Most complete solutions
Competitive test automation
Not yet there

32. abstracta.us
Closing remarks
04

33. We need more
success stories

34. abstracta.us
Takeaways
- There is a momentum, an established new
alternative for test automation
- Great solution for the current context
- Choose the tools wisely
- Follow good engineering practices
- You don’t need coding skills, but you need
an engineer in the room (coding mindset)
- Mixed teams
- Win-win situation

35. Call to action:
feedback
Abstracta Blog: Low Code for Test Automation – state of the art
https://abstracta.us/blog/software-testing/low-code-for-test-automation/

36. abstracta.us
Low code for
test automation,
state of the art
Federico Toledo
@fltoledo
federico@abstracta.us
Thanks you!