Deep Link and its Testing via Automation

 

I get these question consistently from my fellow testers and community.

1. How to automate the mobile apps and web applications using Deep Links?
2. How to automate the business flows using Deep Links?
3. How to achieve end-to-end business flows testing on using Deep Links?
4. How to automate scenarios in mobile apps using Deep Links?
5. What is the best approach to automate the mobile apps using Deep Links?
6. What is the best practice to automate using the Deep Links?

And, more questions on same pitch.

No Deep Dive into - What is Deep Link?

A hyperlink in HTML is a kind of deep link within a website or to another website.

Deep Link is known with different names for web, Android app and iOS app.  All these names have the same understanding and intent at some point.

The Deep Links are URIs that takes me directly to a specific part (activity or fragment) of the app that I'm using or testing.  The Deep Link will have an intent which tells where I will be taken on using it.

When we converse on diving deep technically into testing and automation of Deep Link, will share more insights into its internals.

Deep Link and Challenges

This question is discussed with me often:

How to do end-to-end testing using the Deep Link?

Automation of a mobile app using Deep Link poses a challenge which is not experienced in web application.  

One such challenge is, say you have not installed the mobile app.  [This is solvable!]

• On using a Deep Link, I should be taken to Apple Store or Play Store based on the app.
• I have to install the app.
• Post this, in the traditional automation, I should start traversing the business work flows via GUI.
• Is this adding to the flakiness aspect of automation via GUI?

When we talk so much about flakiness and how to avoid (not prevent), should we exercise business workflows when automating using Deep Link?  What you are thinking?  Let me know!

Scoping of Automation Using Deep Link

Back to the fundamentals.

• We have to automate, no escape from it.  Let us automate what must be automated!
• Let us not fall into trap of "Automate everything!"
• For today, I'm in this mindset and attitude,
• What we automate depends on the objective or goal that we want to accomplish.
• Each test should have precise and deterministic goal.
• A test via automation is not an exemption to it.
• A test defined in automation should be precise, deterministic and have a single objective - Single Responsibility Principle.

What is the objective of my testing via automation for the Deep Link?  This define the scope and extent of my automation.  This will minimize the number of checks that I do using Deep Link.

The purpose of Deep Link is to take me to specific part of the mobile app.

• Should I start the end-to-end or exercising the workflow to be included in the Deep Link tests?
• If included, am I not complicating the testing via automation?

Automation using Deep Link

I ask this question to myself and to my team.

What is the goal of testing via automation using Deep Link?

This question helps me to pick minimal and necessity flow actions.   It has lead and leads me to define minimal tests for Deep Link based on what we want to learn from automation of same.

To me, the purpose of Deep Link is not end-to-end testing.  It's purpose is,

Am I taken to the intended state and data when used the Deep Link?

I have kept the test intent to this.

With this, I have come with tests that has minimal must evaluation and assertion to learn if the app is responding or not to the Deep Link.  This is what the business wants when the Deep Links are created.

The app usage and workflow function is not a problem statement of Deep Link in a general context.

Deep Link is not for end-to-end.  It is to take to you from a point to another point, that's it.

Are you automating using Deep Link?

The Internal Metrics of High Performance Mobile App

 

Do you have a question -- What are KPIs and Metrics and the differences between them?  Then read this blog post.  It will help in knowing the differences and how each help the other mutually and remain exclusive.

The sixth question from season two of 100 Days of Skilled Testing is:

How do you determine the essential performance metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) when assessing the performance of a mobile native app?

Why I Focus on Metrics Here?

Here, in this blog post, I will focus on Metrics and not KPIs.  If you have read the above referenced blog post on KPIs and Metrics, you will learn,

• The KPIs are defined objectives by the business.
• Knowing this is important.
• But, to accomplish the KPIs objective, one has to extract the contextually suitable metric from the system and have to evaluate it.

As a test engineer, I evaluate from technical perspective with an orientation of business thoughts.

• So, the identifying and defining the metrics makes more sense to my role.
• Hence, I pick the Metrics.

A KPI example for a mobile app,

• The set percentage [what percentage?] of five start rating in store with positive emotions in a review.

What may be the KPIs, I will have to correlate it with [a] metrics so that we work towards accomplishing the KPIs set.

What is Performance to Mobile Native App?

The Native App

A native mobile app is an app developed for a particular mobile device or platform like Android and iOS.  The native apps developed for one platform cannot be run on another platform.  That is, Android app cannot run on iPhone, and vice versa.

The Android apps are written in Kotlin, today.  The iOS apps are written in Swift.  The native apps can be developed in a way that it can run both in offline and online mode based on its business objectives.

An example of the native app which we can easily understand is,

• WhatsApp for Android and iOS devices

Performance and Native App

For first, my mobile device is not my customers device.  The Android device fragmentation makes it much more challenge with computing power offered for devices by OEMs.

Though, iOS have its fragmentation on OS version and device's computing power, it is not huge when compared with fragmentation of Android devices.  This is a challenge for Android mobile app in all aspects and especially in performance.

The performance will indicate different advantage, risks and problems to a native app on a platform and its devices.  The performance can be classified into different areas for native mobile apps.

It can range from, being deep technical areas to the experience a user expresses in using the app in a given context.  Everything is performance here!

Hence it is not easy when talking about performance in the mobile's app space.  While it is so ambiguous and hard subject, how one can pull the metrics for the performance here?

From a technical perspective, the word "performance" is not specific; it is vague.  If one says, the mobile app is performing well, what does it mean?

• Is it fast?
• Is it consuming low battery power?
• Is it consuming less memory?
• Is it not consuming much network?
• Is it smooth to interact, responsive, and no jank experience?
• Is it intuitive and secure?
• Is it number of crashes?
• Is it having a consistent update and bug fixes?

What you say?

All these leads to a question - What is a high performance app?  You ask this question to yourself and to your tech team, business team and consumers.  Figure out what is a high performance app to them.  This helps!

The Common Metrics - Android and iOS

Below are some of the common metrics for which a Test Engineer extracts data and evaluate it via testing and automation.

1. App Install Time
2. App Launch Time
1. Cold Start
2. Warm Start
3. Hot Start
3. Private Memory Size of App on available Heap
4. Number of Views
5. Garbage Collection - Frequency
6. Data Residual Size and Sharing
7. Network Payload Size
8. Energy Consumption in Workflows
9. Wakelocks and its Impact
10. Frames Skipped
11. Open Threads and Processes
12. Storage & Data Size
13. App Size

And, more.  Each of these are own deep area for analysis and tuning the performance.

I have been practicing this for last 11 years in my testing.  It is one of my research areas in Software Testing & Engineering

These days, instrumentation also offers different metrics for the mobile apps which can correlate with the KPIs set for the native mobile apps.

To conclude, start understanding the internals of Android and iOS.  It opens up you to the performance and practice of high performance apps.

I'm happy to share if you are interested in practicing these subjects and testing.  Let us connect and converse!