The Power of Parallel Execution in Provar Using Apache ANT
In today’s fast-paced Agile and DevOps environments, the demand for efficient and scalable test automation is higher than ever. Provar, a leading test automation tool designed specifically for Salesforce, enables robust, repeatable, and reliable testing. But as test suites grow, execution time becomes a critical bottleneck. To reduce test execution time and enhance overall performance and productivity, teams can employ parallel execution using Apache ANT.
In this blog, we explore how to leverage parallel execution in Provar using ANT, allowing teams to run multiple test cases simultaneously across different environments or browsers. By distributing test execution effectively, organizations can achieve faster feedback loops, improved test coverage, and optimized resource utilization.
Whether you're working on large-scale Salesforce implementations, Service Cloud, Sales Cloud, or complex integrations, adopting parallel test execution can be a game-changer. Let's dive into the benefits, setup, and best practices for implementing parallel execution in Provar with ANT to accelerate your Salesforce testing.
- Reduced Test Execution Time: Speeds up testing by running multiple tests simultaneously for quicker feedback.
- Enhanced Test Coverage: Enables execution of more tests across various Salesforce environments concurrently.
- Improved Resource Utilization: Optimizes resource use by distributing tests across multiple machines, minimizing idle time.
- Cross-Browser and Cross-Machine Testing: Ensures compatibility across different browsers and machines by running tests in parallel.
- Scalability for Growing Projects: Easily accommodates more test cases as Salesforce projects expand.
- Isolation of Test Cases: Running tests in parallel helps identify issues with shared resources or dependencies, ensuring tests remain independent and resulting in more reliable outcomes.
- Faster Feedback Loops: Provides timely insights for developers to enable rapid bug fixes and improvements.
Provar supports parallel test execution, which can significantly reduce the overall test execution time. By running multiple test cases or test suites simultaneously, you can optimize test cycles, especially when dealing with large test suites or complex applications.
Below an overview of how to set up and manage parallel execution in Provar.
- Create Provar automation test cases.
- It is crucial to design test cases to be largely independent or compatible for batch execution across parallel threads.
- Make sure that Apache ANT and the Java JDK are installed and that their environment variables are properly configured.
- Email configuration with authentication must be set up to send the results of the automation execution.
In the example below, we will explore how to run multiple test cases parallelly.
1. Navigate to any automation test case in Provar, right-click on it, and choose 'Run Under ANT.’
2. The below screen is displayed.
3. Please perform below changes on the above screen.
- Detail Section->
- Change Build File Name, if required.
- Select the Test Cases i.e. Test Cases that need to be added in the XML file for the Parallel execution.
- Select Test Environment (i.e. Dev, QA, UAT, Staging, PROD)
- Uncheck ‘Start ANT Execution’
- Web Browser Resolution to 1920*1080
- Browser name to ‘Chrome’ (for now, later we can change).
- Test Cycle Section-> Use the default options and make changes as needed.
- Metadata and Logging-> Use the default options and make changes as needed.
- Email-> The 'Email' section generally enables you to configure email notifications for your test execution results. You can specify the subject, recipients in the To, Cc, and Bcc fields, and select checkboxes to attach various reports.
4. Click on Run.
5. Go to the Navigator section and locate the XML file created earlier in the [PROJECT]/ANT folder.
6. Open the file and maximize the window; the XML file will appear as shown below.
7. Let's learn using the below examples.
- The first requirement is Run all 5 Test cases on three different browsers (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, IE) parallelly.
To meet the above example, modify the XML file to incorporate the parallel execution. We used ANT’s parallel tag under which we defined our Run Test Case Tags. In the Parallel Execution.xml file, we have a total of five test cases which are added under each Run Test Case Tag (i.e. Total 3 tags); which are inside a parallel tag so that 5 test cases can be executed in parallel on three different browsers (i.e. Chrome, Firefox, IE).
- The second requirement is to run all 5 test cases in parallel.
In the Parallel Execution.xml file, we have a total of five test cases which are distributed across three Run Test Case Tags, which are inside a parallel tag so that test cases related to each Tag can be executed in parallel on three different Chrome browsers.
8. Next, go to the Navigator section, right-click on the Parallel Execution.xml file, select 'Run As,' and then choose '2 Ant Build.’
9. The execution results will be sent to the email addresses provided, and the report can also be found in the ANT folder within the Provar project directory.
Overall, parallel testing in Provar enhances efficiency and accelerates the testing lifecycle, ultimately contributing to faster and more reliable software releases.
The following execution times were recorded from our Automation Project, highlighting the time differences between sequential execution and parallel execution.
As you can see, parallel execution significantly reduces overall test execution time, allowing us to run multiple test cases simultaneously. This approach not only accelerates the testing process but also enables quicker feedback and more efficient use of resources, ultimately leading to faster development cycles and improved software quality.
Our experts at Cloud Peritus are well-versed in Provar Testing, parallel execution and ANT-based automation strategies. Reach out to us at info@cloudperitus.com to schedule a free consultation and learn how Cloud Peritus and Provar’s powerful features can streamline your Salesforce test automation and help transform your organization.
Cloud Peritus has been at the forefront of innovation since its inception and has since played an integral role in delivering game changing solutions to its clients time and again, resulting in 5 star reviews from across the board.
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