Workshop Recap: Katalon Studio for Web and API Continuous Testing
On March 28th, the KMS team was joined by other Atlanta-based testers for the Ministry of Testing Atlanta Meetup.
Ministry of Testing (MOT) is a global software testing community consisting of local groups of professional testers. The organization offers online content, conferences, and networking events for its members. The Atlanta community of MOT brings professionals together to learn, ask questions, share resources, and have a good time!
MOT Workshop: Using Katalon Studio for Web and API Continuous Testing
KMS hosted the most recent MOT meetup, a workshop focused on using Katalon Studio for Web and API Continuous Testing.
The evening opened the way any good event should…with pasta and wings. After grabbing some grub and chatting with other testers, KMS Director of Testing Services, Nilesh Patel began the workshop
It was not long into the presentation that the conversation got moving. The group covered everything from how to not sacrifice quality for speed, understanding non-tester’s perspectives on shift-left testing, and how testers navigate unrealistic business goals.
But, as fun as the free-form conversation was, it was time to dive into Katalon.
Katalon Overview
For any readers unfamiliar with Katalon Studio, it is a free test automation tool supporting web, API, and mobile automation.
Patel demoed the program. He highlighted various features including different ways to build test cases, the outcomes of running parallel tests, the Katalon user forum, analytics features, different plugin options, and more.
Q&A
Some attendees already use Katalon at their companies, while others were unfamiliar with the program. Naturally, the group posed a lot of questions–and answers were provided by both Patel and other attendees who had experience working with Katalon.
Which programs integrate well with Katalon?
Katalon is built on top of Selenium and Appium and integrates with multiple programs such as Bamboo, Jenkins, JIRA, GIT, etc.
Patel then went on to show the group Katalon’s newly launched plug-in store. The store already offers both free and paid plug-ins that support Slack integration, custom keywords, and more. Katalon users are encouraged to upload customizations they have built as plug-ins. Other members of the Katalon community can then take advantage of these plug-ins to enhance their experience using the platform.
How is the user experience?
For this question another attendee chimed in, explaining how his manual testing team was initially intimidated by automation. However, Katalon is designed as a tool for all levels and intended to be user-friendly. That said, he went on to explain that within about a week of using Katalon, his team had easily picked it up and have been loving the new skillset.
Another user shared a slightly different experience. His team was comprised of test automation engineers who were developers by trade. They too were hesitant to move away from their programs and adopt Katalon. However once again the transition was successful and his team found that with a few exceptions, they could do most of the same things in Katalon that they could do in IntelliJ or Eclipse.
How useful are Katalon’s support programs and product documentation?
Patel began answering this question, explaining that while Katalon is free, they do offer paid support packages.
However, there is a Katalon support forum that is free for everyone to use. As Patel showed the group the forum, other attendees weighed in on problems they have had in the past and various solutions provided on the forum.
As for tutorials and product documentation, Katalon offers a wiki-style platform which includes tutorials made in-house and those uploaded by independent users.
After the demo, the event ended with the group breaking off into smaller conversations about Katalon, testing challenges, and more. Overall, the meetup was a great success and many asked for a second demo to dive deeper into the program…stay tuned!
In the meantime, check out our post on selecting automation candidates for Katalon.
Get Involved with Ministry of Testing
Missed out on all the fun and interested in joining us next time? Check out the Ministry of Testing Atlanta Meetup Group. We will see you at the next event!
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