Salesforce Automation Testing: Benefits, Types, and Challenges
Tags: salesforce, automation, testing
Published: 2023-07-24 10:04:02

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Salesforce is a famous cloud-based service. As it is the leading CRM platform in the world, it brings businesses closer to their customers and assists them in understanding in a much better manner. It helps in making more robust relationships with the customers which in turn leads to customer retention.

To add more value to customers’ investments, Salesforce rolls out seasonal updates thrice a year. These updates bring new features and functionalities. However, updates and modifications released by Salesforce may have a high chance of impacting the existing functionalities. This is why testing becomes a crucial aspect. Testing help ensures updates are implemented in an appropriate manner. The ever-increasing use of this platform makes it important to automate Salesforce testing.

How is Salesforce Automation Testing Helpful for Businesses?
Automation testing is one of the most effective ways to ensure whether the functions of Salesforce are working properly and integrated with the business ecosystem in the right manner or not. More specifically, some of the key benefits are given below:-

**Early Identification of Issues**

Through test automation, the problems can be identified in the early phase of Salesforce implementation. The issues can be solved before they escalate and ensure that business applications remain functional.

**Better Coverage of the Test**

Through automation, hundreds of test cases built can be executed which in turn increases the coverage of the Salesforce testing. Due to this, the changes can be handled with ease and can ensure the reliable performance of the application.

**Improved Overall Testing Performance**

Test automation enhances the overall level of testing capabilities. In comparison to the manual procedure, the automation testing method is less time-consuming and error-prone. It speeds up the process and the test can be executed any number of times.

**Optimum Resource Utilization**

Through automated Salesforce Testing, the amount of time and effort required to test regularly can be reduced. The repetitive task can be run faster with minimalistic error. Due to the automation of test cases, the resources can be used for other high-value activities.

**Detailed Reports**

The test automation process can produce detailed reports regarding the state of the Salesforce application. Based on the information provided in the detailed reports, the risk can be easily identified and resolved on time.

**Different Types of Testing Carried Out in Salesforce**

**Unit Testing**

Through this testing, the units or components of the Salesforce application are tested. The main objective of unit testing is to test whether each unit is working as intended and meets the requirements. It is typically performed by the developers and is performed in the early phase of the development process before the integration of code. Furthermore, it enables the programmer to refine the code and help determine whether the code is working properly or not. It also minimizes the cost and time required in the later phase of testing. Through unit testing, developers can feel more assured about their code, as they can validate each unit of Salesforce CRM code without having to wait for full system testing.

**Integration Testing**

As Salesforce is a highly versatile and dynamic application that can be integrated with other applications to provide a seamless experience. This is why the role of integration testing comes into the picture.

The test cases in this testing differ from the other test cases. It focuses majorly on the interfaces, flow of data, and information between the modules. The priority is given to integrating the links rather than the unit functions which are tested already.

**User Interface Testing**

It is a testing technique that is used to identify the presence of defects with the help of a graphical user interface. In this, the tester takes into account how the application is working and how it looks.

The tester points out the visual changes that may impact the experience of the end-user with the application. Sometimes, the user interface meets the functional requirements but visible defects are still present.

**Complexities That Encounter While Salesforce Testing**

There are many cases in which testing of Slaesforce becomes hard to test. Below given are a few characteristics of Salesforce that make it challenging to implement automate Salesforce testing:-

**Dynamic Attributes**

The UI elements of Salesforce change constantly, due to which the testing becomes frustrating. Without a robust locator strategy, it becomes difficult to maintain the test cases and it will also consume a lot of time.

**Contextual Pages**

Undoubtedly, Salesforce is a powerful yet complex application. It comprises the front-end interface based on dynamic frames. The management of these frames is difficult because automation testing tools do not have direct content access.

Apart from this, attributes within the frame cannot be identified quickly. To achieve all this, advanced scripting skills are needed.

**Hidden Characteristics**

For component creation, shadow DOMs are used in Salesforce. As a result, it becomes difficult for the automation tools to find the elements because shadow DOMs hide the properties of the component.

**Choose Opkey: To Accelerate the Salesforce Testing**

In a nutshell, Salesforce is a beneficial tool for any organization. Proper testing is the need of the hour for its stability and efficient functioning. To streamline the testing process in Salesforce Opkey is a no-code test automation platform that is built specifically for automate Salesforce testing. Even business users can build automated test cases without requiring any programming knowledge. It supports any custom app built on the Salesforce platform.