Introduction:
LeanFT, the new testing tool from HP, provides a set of tools that makes testing in Selenium easier. Along with LeanFT, HP provided an upgrade to UFT and HP BFT. The upgrades have been referred to as UFT 12.5 and BFT 12.5. UFT 12.5 is supposed to share the same license as LeanFT.
Lean Functional Testing (LeanFT) extends the functionality of Unified Functional Testing (UFT) and combines it with those of Selenium. LeanFT has not been designed as a strategy to replace UFT. They are two different products that are used for different issues. It targets to address the issues faced by DevTesters, Test Automation Engineers and Subject Matter Experts. It has provided a merger between Selenium and UFT, thus providing the user with the best of both. While installing LeanFT, a set of API’s are installed which help writing tests in Visual Studio and Eclipse.
The new release UFT 12.5 has enhanced the functions of UFT. Main enhancements of UFT are as follows:
It has enhanced the recording ability of Chrome and has made it easier to create cross browser test scripts. This enables the use of one test script across all the major browsers – Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Safari. It is also possible to specify the browser to test against. A single report is generated that shows all the test results across all the browsers.
UFT12.5 can be integrated better with HP Mobile Solution. The UFT SPY can be used to highlight on the mobile user interfaces.
The report feature in UFT12.5 has an HTML base. This has made sharing information easier among team members.
It was difficult for UFT to fit into the new workflow of continuous delivery and integration. UFT 12.5 has made this possible.
The only scenario to move from UFT to LeanFT would be to take the advantage of the Object Oriented Programming Features. Free License can be obtained for LeanFT with UFT12.5
LeanFT is a part of UFT 12.5 and can be installed as a plugin.
Major benefits are as follows:
– Efficient Error Handling
– Programming language of personal choice(Java / C#)
– Utilization of Object Oriented Programming Concepts
– Memory Management
– Test integrations with unit test frameworks.
– TDD/BDD framework integration
– Better Integration with Jenkins
However, it does not come without its drawbacks:
– LeanFT does not test Web Services
– Integration of Business Process Testing is not available.
– Record and Playback cannot be used
LeanFT is best for developers looking for automation more than Unit Tests, for testing apps and for engineers working in Agile Methodology. UFT Developers could never integrate BDD or TDD testing techniques. But with the inclusion of LeanFT, core programming languages can be used which further enable BDD or TDD automation testing. LeanFT is useful for extending the possibilities with Selenium for windows based testing by including the LeadFT APIs to automate the windows based testing actions. Using LeanFT does not imply that UFT functions can be forgotten. When LeanFT namespaces and packages are used then some functions used in UFT will also need to be retained.
Conclusion:
It will be wrong to say that LeanFT can replace UFT as they address very different problems. Test cases in UFT are written to fit into testing environment while LeanFT is used for authoring test scripts that will fit into Agile and DevOps Environment. Users can mix and match LeanFT and UFT 12.5 to best suit their requirements. Hence, we can say that both UFT and LeanFT complement each other and can be used in combination for better test coverage.