2. What is Keyword-Driven Testing
How to Create Keyword-Driven Tests
Keyword-Driven Testing by examples
Overview
3. Definitions of Keyword-Driven Testing
Keyword-driven testing: A scripting technique that uses data files to
contain not only test data and expected results, but also keywords
related to the application being tested. The keywords are
interpreted by special supporting scripts that are called by the
control script for the test.
[ISTQB – Glossary Standard Glossary of Terms used in Software Testing Version 2.4]
Keyword-Driven Testing is a way of describing test cases by using a
predefined set of Keywords. These Keywords are names which are
associated with a set of actions that are required to perform a
specific step in a test case. By using keywords to describe test steps
instead of natural language, test cases can be easier to understand,
to maintain and to automate.
[ISO/IEC/IEEE 29119-5: Keyword-Driven Testing]
4. What is Keyword-Driven Testing
Keyword-driven testing, also known as table-driven testing or
action word based testing, is a software testing methodology
suitable for both manual and automated testing
The basic idea in Keyword-Driven Testing is to provide a set of
reusable “building blocks”, referred to as Keywords, which can be
used to create manual or automated test cases without requiring
detailed knowledge of programming or test tool expertise
5. Goals of Keyword-Driven Testing
The final goal of Keyword-Driven Testing is to provide a
comprehensive set of keywords so that all required test cases can
be entirely composed of these keywords
6. Keyword-Driven Testing
In Keyword-driven testing every
(testing) action like a mouse
click, keystrokes, opening or
closing a browser or other
actions is described by a
“keyword” such as Click,
TypeText, Select, OpenBrowser,
Login, …
The actions include interactions with the User Interface,
verification, specific actions to set up a test scenario …
7. What are Keywords
A keyword is a synonym of a “function” (in the context
of programming languages) doing “something”
A keyword is a defined combination of one or more
actions on a test object
Keywords define actions that drive or get information
“from – to” test objects
8. Keyword and Arguments
Keywords may or may not take arguments and may or
may not return a value
void TypeText <text> ⇒ e.g. TypeText “Hello World!”
void StopApplication <>
string GetText<>
void Login<UserName , Password> ⇒ e.g. Login “Joe”,
“21Joe74.”
9. Keywords
Keywords are usually characterized by:
an action-descriptive keyword name (using at least one verb)
none, one, or more arguments
a return value
at a lower level, each keyword is associated with a detailed set
of actions that describes the exact steps to be performed
for GUI applications, each keyword is associated with one (or
more) GUI objects
10. Hierarchy of Keywords
Keywords can refer to actions at different abstraction levels
Low level keyword : a keyword responsible only for one
(or very few) atomic actions and is not composed from
other keywords ⇒ e.g. Click, TypeText, Select, …
High level keyword : a keyword responsible for complex
activities, that may be composed from other keywords
⇒ e.g. OpenBrowser, Login, …
11. Keyword-Driven Test Cases
A keyword-driven test is a sequence of high level and low
level keywords, including the keyword arguments, as
applicable, which are composed to describe the actions
of a test case
12. Roles in Keyword-Driven Testing
Keyword-driven testing is a testing methodology that separates
the test creation process into design and implementation stages
It allows the involvement of additional professionals, e.g.
business analysts, in the test (automation) process
Business analysts / testers will only work with keywords and test data
Specialized test automation programmers will implement each of the
keywords
13. Keyword-Driven Automation
A test automation approach where test data and also keywords
instructing how to use the data are read from an external data
source
Each keyword needs to be associated with at least one command,
test script or function, which implement the actions associated
with that keyword
When test cases are executed keywords are interpreted by a test
library which is called by a test automation framework
15. Keyword-Driven Automation
A Keyword-Driven Testing framework for automated test
execution shall :
1. Parse the test case / file
2. Interpret the sequence of keywords.
For each keyword :
Call the respective command / script / function,
which execute the actions related with the
keyword
3. Provide execution results at the keyword level
16. Pros & Cons
Advantages of Keyword-driven testing /1
Test cases become clear and understandable
Concise, readable, maintainable (easy to modify) …
Tests can be developed without programming knowledge
Not dependent on a specific tool or programming language
17. Pros & Cons
Advantages of Keyword-driven testing /2
Tests can be developed earlier in the software development
life cycle even before the application is delivered for testing
by using existing keyword libraries
by defining new keywords
High degree of reusability
New test cases can reuse existing keywords
18. Pros & Cons
Disadvantages of Keyword-driven testing
High initial investment : developing the keywords and its related
functionalities might take longer
Personnel has to be trained to use keywords for test case
specification
Moderately high learning curve initially
Require knowledge of meta-languages
19. Pros & Cons
Disadvantages of Keyword-driven testing
Difficult to implement the framework
Significant upfront investment for the design and
implementation of the framework
High automation expertise required
Keyword limitations restrict the complexity of test cases
…
20. How to Create Keyword-Driven Tests
Major activities involved in Keyword driven Testing:
1. Identifying keywords (low level ⇒ high level)
2. Implementing the keywords as executables
3. Composing test cases
4. Creating the driver scripts
5. Executing the automation test scripts
22. The Test Tool – Maveryx
Maveryx is a
professional, test
automation tool for
functional and
regression testing of
Java™ & Android™
applications.
23. The Test Case
Test Case
1. Enter username
2. Enter Password
3. Click "Login" button
4. Check the results
5. Click “OK" button
24. Keyword-Driven Testing Step #1
1. Identifying keywords
2. Implementing the
keywords
3. Composing test cases
4. Creating the driver
scripts
5. Executing the
automation test scripts
Test Case
1. Enter username
2. Enter Password
3. Click "Login"
button
4. Check the results
5. Click “OK" button
Keyword
1. Set_Text
2. Click
3. Has_Text
25. Keyword-Driven Testing Step #2
1. Identifying keywords
2. Implementing the
keywords
3. Composing test cases
4. Creating the driver
scripts
5. Executing the
automation test scripts
26. Keyword-Driven Testing Step #3
1. Identifying keywords
2. Implementing the
keywords
3. Composing test cases
4. Creating the driver
scripts
5. Executing the
automation test scripts
Test Case
1. Enter username
2. Enter Password
3. Click "Login" button
4. Check the results
5. Click “OK" button
32. Lessons Learned
1. Keyword-Driven Testing is a software testing methodology
that uses keywords (or action words) to symbolize a
functionality to be tested
2. A keyword is defined as the set of actions that must be
performed during the execution of one or more test cases
33. Lessons Learned
3. Keywords can refer to actions at different abstraction levels
Low level keyword → High level keyword
4. With Maveryx you can separate much of the programming
work of test automation from the actual test design
35. Maveryx is a professional, award-winning test automation tool for
functional and regression testing of Java™ & Android™ applications.
Maveryx provides testers with automated testing capabilities for
functional, regression, GUI, Keyword-driven and keyword-driven
testing.
Maveryx
37. No GUI Maps
No Recording. No Object Spy.
No Object Maps. Nothing.
o No GUI MAP needed to create and run the test scripts
o No Object Repository to learn & maintain, maintain, maintain…
o No pre-recording or screen capture
o Independent of screen coordinates and resolutions
⇒ Test scripts immediately executable!
43. Useful Links
o Maveryx – http://www.maveryx.com
o User guide – http://www.maveryx.com/en/support/learn-
more/user-documentation.html
o Forum – http://www.maveryx.com/en/forum/index.html
o Training – http://www.maveryx.com/en/services/training.html
