Jenkins for Test Automation: Build, Test, and Deploy Efficiently

Software development is fast-paced, and so is the need for its efficiency and reliability. To achieve this, it is important to have a robust testing process. Jenkins, a powerful open-source automation server, revolutionizes the software testing landscape. Jenkins offers a flexible platform for continuous integration and continuous delivery(CI/CD) and allows seamless integration with different tools and frameworks. 

Jenkins, when used with test automation not only enhances software quality but also accelerates release cycles, and improves development efficiency. It becomes easier for teams to catch issues early in the development cycle, hence reducing the time and cost associated with fixing bugs.

In this article, we will explore Jenkins Test Automation and see how it can help us create robust pipelines and improve efficiency.

Understanding Jenkins and its use in Test Automation

Jenkins is an open-source software that automates the test process by creating continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, hence making it easier to implement robust test automation.

When used with test automation, Jenkins acts as a centralized hub that facilitates the different test activities. You can enable automatic triggering of tests whenever code changes are pushed to a repository, which ensures that the changes do not introduce bugs. This serves as an important point where continuous testing helps maintain the software quality throughout the development cycle.

Jenkins can be leveraged across different test levels like unit testing, functional and integration testing, performance testing as well as security testing. By implementing a continuous testing approach one can achieve:

1. Faster Feedback, through immediate test results.
2. Consistency, by running tests in a standard environment.
3. Scalability, by distributing tests across multiple machines.
4. Visibility, through detailed reports and dashboards.

Jenkins Testing has changed the way how the testing process can be integrated with the development cycle and made it an important component of modern DevOps practices.

Setting Up Jenkins for Test Automation

To set up Jenkins for test automation, you may follow the steps below-

1. Install Jenkins from the official website per your system requirements and follow the installation instructions.
2. Once installed and configured you can run the Jenkins server using the below commands-

mac:
brew services start jenkins-lts

Windows:
Jenkins.exe start

3. Once started, if Jenkins has already been set up, you can see the dashboard when you navigate to http://localhost:8080/.

You may add plugins like Git, Maven, or JUnit to support your test automation.

4. Now that Jenkins is up and running, we will create a New Job in the Jenkins dashboard. Click on New Item on the dashboard and choose Freestyle Project or any other project type that fits your needs.

5. Once the project is created, you can configure it and update the different sections.

6. You can also configure source code through Git or select None if you do not wish to use Git integration. I am using Git integration, and for that, we will enter the repository URL along with the Git credentials, if the repository is not public. If your repository is public, you can ignore adding the credentials to access it. Now, my Jenkins project will be referring to the Git repository that I have used.

7.You can also specify the branches to be built in the project.

8. Build triggers can be set up for your project to execute as required. For example, you may choose to build periodically, like every 4 hours on the 1st, 15th, and 30th of every month, and write the schedule as below-

H H/4 1,15,30 * *

9. Select from the multiple available options to add build steps to your job. For example, you may want to use Maven commands to execute your automation project. I am selecting Execute Shell and using the command to get the Java version-

java -version

10. You can also add Post Build Actions for test results or configure email notifications for test failures based on your requirements.
    

11. Once you save it, the configurations will be applied to the project. Let us now click on Build Now and see the execution of our project.

As you can see from the snapshot above, the build is successful depicting the latest changes. Additionally, the output for the build step that we added to execute the shell script is also being displayed.

You can also see the changes in the new builds by clicking on the Changes tab. I have added one more file to my project, and rerun the jenkins build.

And this is how you can use Jenkins with your automation projects to implement continuous integration with better efficiency. You can easily execute tests as soon as any code changes are done and get the report for quick feedback.

Best Practices for Using Jenkins in Test Automation

Jenkins can help you utilize your resources more efficiently, and using some best practices will only help you elevate your test process. Some important points to keep in mind while implementing Jenkins are-

1. Jenkins and its plugins should be up to date to ensure the latest features are in place.
2. Always make sure to use version control for your Jenkins configurations and pipelines.
3. For testing a large number of test scripts, try to distribute the tests across multiple machines by using Jenkins’ master slave architecture.
4. Use parameters in build configurations to make the jobs reusable.
5. Use access-control to ensure secure access.
6. Manage disk space effectively by regularly cleaning up the older builds.
7. Set up notifications to update team members about latest builds and errors.

Challenges in using Jenkins for Test Automation

Jenkins comes with its fair share of challenges, but when solutions are used for those, the path to using Jenkins can be smooth. Some common challenges and their possible solutions are highlighted in this section.

1. Tests that take too long often slow down the pipeline. To tackle this, you may use distributed execution to spread out the load.
2. Flaky test scripts can lead to false negatives, and in such cases, you may use some retry mechanisms in your scripts. 
3. Maintaining test data can be challenging in test automation projects. But if you use database seeding techniques, or some data generation scripts, this can be handled.
4. Projects can scale to a large extent and it can be difficult to handle the infrastructure. Jenkins master slave architecture can come to the rescue along with certain cloud technologies.
5. Dependency management and version control can be cumbersome, and to ensure ease, always try to use tools like Maven or Gradle.

Executing TestGrid Test Cases on Jenkins

TestGrid is an efficient test automation solution that allows you to create codeless test cases for automation. The test cases that you create in TestGrid can be executed through Jenkins too! Let us look at how you can utilize Jenkins to run your TestGrid test cases. You need to create test cases using TestGrid as per your requirements. You can speed up the process by using the codeless test case creation feature of TestGrid. 

I have created a simple use-case of logging in to demoqa.com.

Now, navigate to the Versions and click on the information icon on the top.

You will see the user token, application token, and other access details corresponding to your test case on the screen.

Next, you need to add the different tokens, version details, etc for TestGrid continuous integration in your Jenkins project using a cURL command. Since I created a web test case, I will be using the below syntax:

curl --location 'http://{your_domain}.testgrid.io/ci/app_build_run' \
--form 'user_token="{{Enter_Your_UserToken}}"' \
--form 'app_build_id="{{Enter_Your_app_build_id}}"' \
--form 'version_module_id="{{Enter_Your_version_module_id}}"' \
--form 's_device="{{Enter_Your_s_device}}"' \
--form 'process_type="OW"' \
--form 'application_token="{{Enter_Your_ApplicationToken}}"' \
--form 'version_token="{{Enter_Your_VersionToken}}"'
--form 'test_website_url="{{Enter_Your_Test Website}}"'

You need to add these details in the Jenkins Build Step as shown below-

Click on Save and you are all set to execute the TestGrid automation test case using Jenkins.

Click on Build Now, and look for the execution results.

Detailed build logs can be seen in the console logs.

Let us also look at the execution status of the test case on the TestGrid test results.

And with this you can now easily integrate your TestGrid test cases, whether for mobile or web applications, just a couple of access tokens and you are done. The seamless way will enable you to test your applications faster and maintain the efficiency when a team of testers is working together.

Conclusion

Jenkins is a powerful and effective tool that enables teams to create an effective test automation project by providing pipeline capabilities. It can be easily integrated with Git and utilized to run tests as the code changes are committed. Jenkins test automation pipelines can be created to fetch code from the repositories and steps be performed to carry out the processes. Jenkins can be easily integrated with TestGrid test cases to speed up the process of software testing. With just a few tokens, your automation test suites can be executed through Jenkins. With careful assessment, and compliance to best practices test automation in organizations can be more robust, reliable and efficient.